Creamy Orange Pops

One of the best ways to enjoy fruit has to be in a frozen treat!

There’s no shortage of ideas when it comes to the possibilities of fruit and fruit juice combinations  captured in a frozen state.

Last summer the combination of fragrant sweet nectarines and ripe strawberries made some delicious Strawberry Nectarine Popsicles and I was ready to make them once again this week.

I should know better by now not to go flipping through past issues of food magazines but my curiosity often gets the better of me. I can’t resist trying a recipe that comes with a delicious full colour picture and ingredients that are easy to get a hold of.  This was the case when I came across a recipe for Creamy Orange Pops...the strawberries and nectarines will have to wait.

Although oranges are more a winter fruit there’s no reason they can’t be enjoyed any time of the year especially when available as a convenient frozen juice concentrate.  This recipe is too easy not to give it a try, natural ingredients, minimal sugar and a few easy steps.

Waiting for them to freeze is the hard part!

Creamy Orange Pops
1 295 ml can frozen orange concentrate
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups full fat plain yogurt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan combine concentrate and sugar over medium-low heat.
2. Cook, stirring until sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes.
3. Stir in yogurt and vanilla.
4. Pour into ten 3 ounce pop molds and insert sticks.
5. Freeze until solid, about 6 hours or up to one week.Briefly run molds under hot water to release pops.

Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• I filled six 4 ounce molds instead and had a little extra to fill 3 baby size molds for the sweet babies in my life!
• The recipe calls for full fat yogurt, in error I bought one percent but they were wonderfully creamy.  I will have to try making them again to experience the texture of full fat yogurt.
• When stirring in the yogurt it became difficult to blend in the last few lumps, nothing a few seconds with a hand blender didn't take care of.
• I used natural vanilla yogurt and omitted the vanilla extract.
• I like to use wooden popsicle sticks.  Placing 2 strips of masking tape over the molds will be sure to hold the sticks until mixture freezes
• I’m sure this recipe will work with any flavour of fruit juice concentrate.

A little arts and crafts project makes for less sticky fingers…

These are truffle paper cups, I happened to have the two different sizes and coordinating colours.
Just a little smear of glue will keep the cups together, once they are glued together, make a small slit on the base with a scissors then insert on stick under the pop. Totally optional but will help catch any drips.  Also makes a cute presentation.

Zesty Barbecued Corn

We usually make use of our barbecue year round however this past winter's inclement weather made it impossible to reach. Moving it close to the door was not an option as it was frozen solid to the deck, we couldn’t even get the sliding door open to make a pathway leading to it. After the much anticipated thaw it was great to enjoy using it once again!  I see barbecuing as less kitchen cleanup and some carefree summer dinners.

I love cooking corn on the barbecue.  Away with large pots, boiling water and bland tasting corn and welcome to barbecue charred, spicy ears of corn!

Although there are several ways of putting corn on the barbecue, this recipe can be prepped way ahead of time, no last minute fussing and zero cleanup unless you count throwing the aluminum foil into the trash.

Since all the seasonings and butter are added to the corn before cooking it totally absorbs the flavour and richness of the butter and essence of the thyme and pepper medley.  The corn is ready to serve right from the barbecue although I recommend cooling it down a little before indulging!

For some extra flavour a little Lemon Thyme infused butter goes a long, long way!

Zesty Barbecued Corn
corn, husk and remove corn-silk
1 ½ to 2 tablespoons butter for each ear of corn
sprinkle of Zesty Pepper Medley on each corn
salt, if desired

1. After corn is cleaned place on a sheet of foil wrap. (Corn can be wrapped individually or in two’s.  (More than two will make it difficult to turn over while on the barbecue.)
2. Add butter and pepper medley.  Wrap corn in foil sealing it tightly so the butter will not leak out.
3. Place on preheated barbecue and cook for about 5 minutes, turn corn and cook other side for about 5 minutes more.
4. Carefully unwrap (being careful of hot steam) and serve with additional Lemon Thyme Butter if desired.

 Lemon Thyme Butter
4 tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon finely zested lemon peel
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons finely chopped thyme.

Mix all ingredients until well blended and serve.

Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• Use Lemon Thyme Butter on corn before barbecuing instead.
• Lemon Thyme Butter is also good on other vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli etc.
• I used lemon thyme from the garden but any variety will do.

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Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

For some time I’ve been slowly working to organize the numerous recipes saved over the years.  My “recipes to try out file” is totally out of control and the many clippings from magazines and more recently printed recipes are seriously lacking organization.

I felt a certain urgency to speed up the process after finding myself visiting my own blog on occasion to get a recipe. In a recent conversation with my daughter, I proclaimed myself to be a recipe hoarder.  She calmly assured me it was okay and told me she was enjoying the tried and true recipes I passed on to her.

As I was sorting the many recipes, a picture of Chocolate Zucchini Muffins on the page saved from a magazine was too hard to overlook.  Although the recipe for zucchini muffins I’ve been making for a long time is very good I couldn’t resist giving this one a try.

Since putting this post together I have made some progress.  Most of my homeless recipes sit in neat, basically organized piles. The new recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Muffins has now been added to the binder labelled Muffins, Quick Breads and Scones and I’m feeling a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

The muffins?  Absolutely moist, chocolaty and delicious and I know exactly where to find the recipe for the next time!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cups granulated sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
2/3 cups plain yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup packed shredded zucchini
½ cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 teaspoon chipotle ground pepper  (optional)

1. Line muffin tin with 12 paper muffin liners.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In another bowl whisk together sugar and cocoa.
4. Gradually blend milk into sugar/cocoa mixture then whisk in egg, yogurt, oil and vanilla.
5. Stir in zucchini, add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened, add chocolate chips if using.
6. Fill muffin cups and bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 22 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.
7. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• I'll try adding a teaspoon of cinnamon next time I bake these muffins.
• If making  9 large muffins increase baking time by 5 to 6 minutes.
• I omitted the chipotle ground pepper mostly because I didn't have any but feared the heat factor as well.  Perhaps I'll try a pinch of cayenne pepper next time.
• These muffins are borderline cupcakes!

Quick Strawberry Muffins

Along with the month of June comes the anticipation of fresh local strawberries and in a few short weeks these sweet fragrant berries will be ripe for the picking.  Along with old favourite strawberry recipes I aim to try at least one new recipe during strawberry season.

I found two recipes for strawberry muffins and guess you can say I gave them a trial run with strawberries from the grocery store.  Store bought strawberries haven’t been particularly good in the past few weeks so I’m more than anxious for this year’s local crop.

A recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins was the first I tried this week, absolutely delicious but very time consuming to make.  I’ll keep the recipe for more special occasions since it wouldn’t be the recipe of choice for a quick batch of muffins. 

Only a few minutes to put together, simple ingredients and the promise of something delicious coming from the oven was incentive enough to try the second recipe for Quick Strawberry Muffins.
Not having any whole milk called for in the recipe, the half and half  (ten percent cream) in the fridge seemed to be the best alternative. 

Strawberries and cream...who needs the whole milk!

Quick Strawberry Muffins
2 cups flour
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup oil (or butter melted and cooled)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup fresh chopped strawberries
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Topping
2 tablespoons coarse sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon.

1. Combine sugar and cinnamon for topping and set aside.
2. Wash and chop enough strawberries to measure I cup.
3. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
4. In a separate bowl beat together milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract.
5. Combine dry and wet ingredients just until combined, stir in strawberries. (batter will be thick.)
6. Spoon into greased or paper lined muffin cups.
7. Sprinkle sugar/cinnamon mixture over muffins.
8. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F. oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Remove from muffin pan and cool on wire rack.

 




Notes, Tips and Suggestions

• After washing and chopping strawberries, place on paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
• The coarse sugar/cinnamon mixture makes a perfectly tasty, crunchy topping.
• Recipe makes about 7 gorgeous huge muffins, 9 beautiful large muffins or 12 cute regular size muffins! 
• I already see these strawberry muffins easily become peach muffins later on in the summer.