Boba Tea

 Bubble tea most commonly consists of tea accompanied by chewy tapioca balls. It can contain fruit juice or milk, and is sometimes a blended frozen drink. Tapioca pears are available at Asian grocery stores and some in a variety of sizes and colors. But! Did you know it is possible to make them yourself? You will need tapioca starch, fruit, sugar, a sauce pan, and a blender. Today we make DIY tapioca pears from scratch!

1. Add fruit to your blender to get 1/2 C. puree

2. Add puree,1/2 C. tapica starch, and 1/2 C. sugar to a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until it turns into a goo.

3. Transfer goo to a bowl with another 1 C. tapioca starch, and blend it until starch is incorporated, and feels and acts like playdough.

4. Roll out a long snake of dough and chop into tiny pieces. Roll pieces into balls. After trying this once, I would suggest that smaller is better as the larger ones remain super chewy even after cooking.  

 5. Next you boil the pearls for 20 minutes.

6. Make a tea and add cooked tapioca and serve.

Kiwi tacos

1 red onion                        1 Poblano pepper

1 Roma tomato                 1 kiwi

1/4 ounce cilantro             1 lime

4 Tb sour cream                1 Tb. Mexican spice blend

10z ground pork                1 chicken stock concentrate

1.5 ounce tomato paste      flour tortillas

Wash and dry all produce. Halve, peel, and thinly slice onion. Mince a few slices until you have 2 Tbs. Core, de seed, and finely chop Poblano. Finely dice tomato. Peel and finely dice kiwi. Roughly chop cilantro leaves and stems. Cut lime into wedges. In a small bowl, combine sour cream and a squeeze of lime juice. Stir in water 1 tsp at a time until mixture reaches a drizzling consistency. Season with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, toss together tomato, kiwi, minced onion, half the cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a large drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add Poblano, sliced onion, and half the Mexican Spice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly charred, 3-4 minutes. Add pork, another large drizzle of oil, and remaining Mexican Spice to pan. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until pork is browned and cooked through, 4-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat under pan to medium low. TIP: If there’s excess grease in your pan, carefully pour it out. Stir in stock concentrate, ¼ cup water (⅓ cup for 4 servings), and tomato paste. Cook, stirring, until everything is coated in a thick sauce, 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave until warm and pliable, about 30 seconds. Divide pork filling, salsa, and crema between tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro. Serve with remaining lime wedges on the side.

Christmas Pudding

Recipe.  A pudding basin is a bowl that can be baked or steamed for several hours. I used an aluminum bowl. This is just a little different from a fruit cake. I liked it a lot.

Candied peels

2 large oranges, ¼ inch of top and bottom cut off

2 lemons, same

4 cups sugar, divided

3 cups water

Cut peel on each fruit into 4 vertical segments. Remove each segment (including white pith) in 1 piece. Cut into ¼-inch-wide strips. Cook in large pot of boiling water 15 minutes; drain, rinse, and drain again.

Bring 3 cups sugar and 3 cups water to boil in medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add peel. Return to boil. Reduce heat; simmer until peel is very soft, about 45 minutes. Drain.

Toss peel and 1 cup sugar on rimmed baking sheet, separating strips. Lift peel from sugar; transfer to sheet of foil. Let stand until coating is dry, 1 to 2 days. Makes about 2 cups    

Strawberry Scones

Frozen strawberries are too watery and release too much liquid, so go with fresh strawberries for this recipe. 

 

2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter into 1/4-inch cubes
1 cup heavy cream plus 1 tablespoon for brushing the scones
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries

2 tablespoons sparkly sugar (like for xmas cookies)

 

Preheat oven to 400*F. Line a large baking sheet with a silpat baking mat or parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or your hands, quickly cut the cold butter into the flour mixture. Mix until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few larger butter lumps. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup heavy cream and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture and stir with a spatula until dough begins to form. Don’t over mix. Gently fold in the strawberries.Transfer dough to a floured countertop and gently push the dough together with your hands, just until it forms a ball. Form the dough into a 1-inch circle by patting the dough and gently pressing the dough. Don’t overwork the dough. You want to work quickly so the butter doesn’t get too warm. Use a sharp knife to cut the scones into 8 triangles.Place scones on prepared baking sheet and put in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. This will prevent the scones from spreading when baking. Remove the scones from the freezer. Use a pastry brush to brush the tops of the scones with the additional heavy cream. Sprinkle the scones with sparkly sugar. For this batch I did not. Bake for 18 to 23 minutes, or until scones are golden brown on the bottom and around the edges. Let the scones cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.  You can make a simple glaze for the scones if you like.

 

Tilapia with mango salsa

Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangoes, cut into cubes

1/2 red onion, minced

1 bunch cilantro, minced

2 jalapenos, seeded, minced

salt and lime juice to flavor

 

 This was a welcome change as well. Lots of fruit and lime coming together to create a fresh bright flavor.  It was nice, but probably won't do this again until some time this summer.

Apple Pear Tart

[Recipe]

Apricot Muffins

1 cup flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. kosher salt
6 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup milk
2 apricots, halved, pitted and cut in ¼ inch slices
2 Tbsp. raw sugar
recipe

Fruit Water

Studies have shown that drinking water naturally boosts your metabolism, and drinking fruit infused water for weight loss can be an easy way to increase your water intake. Infuse water at room temperature for no more than 2 hours. After that, put it in the fridge to prevent bacterial growth. Cucumbers, citrus fruits, melons, and mint flavor water almost immediately. Apples, cinnamon, fresh ginger root, and rosemary need an overnight soak in the fridge. Melons and sliced strawberries start looking waterlogged after a few hours; citrus, and whole berries look pretty good even after hours in the fridge. After 4 hours, unpeeled citrus can make water taste bitter. To make a big jug of infused water for a party, peel the citrus before soaking. Or you can soak it unpeeled for 4 hours, remove it, and add fresh slices for looks. (And keep that water icy cold for food safety.) If you don’t drink the water within 24 hours, strain out the solids and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Cucumber + lime + strawberry + mint	. .	Lemon + raspberry + rosemary
Orange + blueberry + basil	. .	Lime + ginger root + basil
Watermelon + honeydew + mint	. .	Cucumber + mint + jalapeno
Lemon + thyme	. .	Blueberry + lemon + mint
Lemon + cucumber	. .	Orange + hibiscus + star anise
Orange + cinnamon + cardamom + cloves	. .	Pear + fennel
Strawberry + tangerine	. .	Red Apple + Cinnamon
Mango + Ginger	. .	Grapefruit + Rosemary
Oranges + cardamom + cinnamon + clove	. .	raspberry + lime

Canned Pears

Prepare pears by peeling, coring and halving them. To prevent browning, submerge pears in a mixture of 1/4 cup lemon juice and 4 cups water and drain. To prepare light syrup, combine 2-1/4 cups granulated sugar and 5-1/4 cups water in a stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until needed, taking care not to boil the syrup down. Warm pears in syrup one layer at a time in a large stainless steel saucepan over medium-low heat until heated through, about 5 minutes. Pack hot pears into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar. Ladle hot syrup into hot jar to cover pears, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Remove air bubbles and adjust head space, if necessary, by adding hot syrup. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight. Process pint jars in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

3C. sliced strawberries
2 C. sliced rhubarb
5-7 C. sugar
1 box pectin

Puree fruit in blender. Gently heat fruit, sugar, and pectin and bring to a boil. Boil jelly for 1 minute at a rolling boil. Remove from heat and fill jars immediately.

Belgian Waffles

Belgian waffles have large squares and a light crunchy texture and American waffles are more like an Eggo.

Fruit Plate

I did the fruit plate at work today with pineapple, papaya, cantaloupe, musk melon, grapefruit, starfruit, strawberries, and orchid blossoms.

Strawberry syrup

4 C. granulated sugar
5 C. mashed fruit
6 oz pkg. jello  (2 boxes)
1/2 C. water

Cook sugar,water and fruit in a heavy saucepan for 15 minutes, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add both packages of dry jello. Stir until dissolved. Pour into containers, filling 1/2 to 1-inch down from top. Makes about 5 pints. After opening, store in refrigerator.

This is strawberry jelly syrup is made with tropical fruit and black cherry jello. YUM!

Fruits VS Vegetables

Botanically speaking, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems. The outlook is quite different in culinary terms, however. A lot of foods that are (botanically speaking) fruits, but which are savory rather than sweet, are typically considered vegetables by chefs.

The following are technically fruits: apples, avocado, bell peppers, beans, cherries, corn kernels, cucumbers, eggplant, olives, oranges, peapods, peppers, pumpkin, strawberries, squash, zucchini, sunflower seeds and tomatoes.

Vegetables include brussel sprouts, artichokes, chicory, cabbage, collard greens, rutabaga, turnips, celery, chives, lettuce and kale, cauliflower and broccoli, and beets, carrots, onions, shallots, asparagus, and potatoes, grass and flowers.

Apple Pie

400* 30-40 minutes.

Apple Sauce

4 large apples (I used Empire this time)
1/2 C. sugar
1 Tb. cinnamon

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the apples. Cut apples into quarters, then  use a paring knife to remove core bits.  Slice apples into small wedges.  Add wedges to microwave safe bowl, add sugar and cinnamon. Microwave until apples are soft (about 12 minutes).

Another Peach Cobbler

Hot diggity! I just bought a 5 lb box of fresh peaches for $6 at Whole Foods. I could think of nothing I wanted more than a big scoop of peach cobbler. We are trying a different recipe this time because the other one was a bit heavy like a pancake.

1 C. sugar
1 Tb. flour
4 C. sliced fresh peaches
nutmeg and cinnamon,
Combine together in a bowl, and pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

1 C. sugar	1 C. flour
1/3 C. butter	1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt	1 egg

In a new clean bowl, cut cold butter into remaining ingredients to form a crumbly dough.  Sprinkle on top of your peaches.  Bake 375* about 25 minutes.

Peach Cobbler

1 stick unsalted butter	1 C. all purpose flour	2 C. sugar, divided
1 Tb. baking powder	pinch of salt	1 C. milk
4 C. fresh sliced peaches	1 Tb. lemon juice	cinnamon, nutmeg

Melt butter in 9x13 pan. In mixing bowl, combine 1 C. sugar, baking powder, salt, and milk, stirring just until moist. It will still be lumpy. Pour batter over buttered dish. In a sauce pan bring1 C. sugar, lemon juice, and peach slices to a boil. Pour peach syrup over batter. Do not stir. Sprinkle casserole with cinnamon and nutmeg if desired.

Bale 375* for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

DIY Marachino Cherries

2 lbs cherries
2 C. sugar
1 C. pomegranate juice
1 C. orange juice
lemon juice

Wash and pit your cherries.  In a sauce pan, dissolve sugar in orange and pomegranate juice over medium heat. Add 3 squirts of lemon juice (1/4 C ?). Add cherries to sauce pan, cooking only long enough for cherries to release some juice.  Remove from heat and begin canning procedures.