Week 23: Strawberry Orange Sorbet

Strawberry Orange Sorbet.  What can I say?  It was awesome!  My younger sister, yes the same one that made these Pink Popsicles, found this recipe on Pinterest and decided to make it.  Well I 'm glad she did, because it was really good!!  Creamy, sweet, and very Strawberry-y (I know that isn't a real word, but how else do I describe this awesome goodness?)

 

The only thing my sister changed was that she didn't cook the strawberries or use an ice cream freezer.  I asked her how she made it, and she didn't even know that the recipe called for it to be cooked!  She just looked at the ingredients and made it!!  It turned out just fine, though.  So if you don't have an ice cream freezer you can still make this.  She also used frozen strawberries which probably took away the need to freeze in an ice cream freezer.  She just blended the recipe in a blender.  If you need a good blender, the Ninja one is what we have and it works better than any I have ever tried.  We really like it.

 

 



 

This recipe is plenty sweet, so in my mind that means you can leave out most, if not all, of the sugar.

Here is our adapted recipe, or maybe I should say accidental adapted recipe:

Strawberry Orange Sorbet



4 C. Frozen Strawberries

1 C. Water

1 C. Orange Juice

1/8 to 1/4 C. Sugar  (or none)

 

Blend all ingredients in a blender.

Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for approximately 2 hours.

Enjoy on a hot summer day!



Do you like making homemade ice cream/sorbet?

Week 17: Pink Popsicles

So one day as I was browsing on Pinterest, this seems to happen too frequently, I came across a recipe for Homemade Orange Creamsicles.  Well, I was able to talk my younger sister into making them ;).  We used half n half in place of the heavy cream because that is what we had, we also didn't have the orange extract.  They turned out really good!  They were very creamy and orange-y.  I don't have pictures of those.   But, that recipe gave my sister the idea to make a Strawberry Popsicle.  I did manage to get some pictures of those.

 

The perfect treat on a hot Summer day!!

 

 

Or a cool Spring day!!

Even the little boys like them!!

 

 

 

Strawberry Blast Pops

3/4 C. Orange Juice

1/2 C. Half and Half (or whole milk)

1 C. Frozen Strawberries

1/4 tsp. Sugar if needed

 

Blend all ingredients, pour into popsicle molds or small cups.

Insert popsicle stick and freeze for 4 hours, or until frozen.

To remove the popsicle from the mold, run the outside of the cup

under hot water for a few seconds.  This will melt the outer layer next to the cup

and the popsicles will slide out.

Enjoy!!

 

 



Week 8: It's About Thyme!

It's about thyme for another post!  If you haven't guessed already, week eight's photo is a picture of time.  I mean thyme, not time.  This picture was taken in April of 2011.  I had bought a bunch of herb plants for my flower garden the year before.  Thyme was one that survived the winter and came back strong the following year.  I love thyme!  It smells so good!  I always like to go out to the garden and rub a sprig between my fingers and smell the highly fragrant aroma that results.  Oregano is another one that smells wonderful!

The other day I tried a recipe from Pinterest for Homemade Salad Dressing, it had dried thyme in it.
It was really good!  I've made it twice so far.  It goes really well on a kale/spinach salad with dried cranberries, raisins, and sunflower seeds.  Click here for the recipe.

I've also found that fresh thyme leaves are very good in mashed potatoes.  Just add to the potatoes after they've been mashed.  So good!

Do you like thyme?

Week 3 and a Recipe

Well, week 3 of the 52 Photos/52 Weeks is late.  But, there is a recipe that goes along with it, so I think you will forgive me.  Maybe not until you have tried the recipe, but after you have you are sure to forgive!  At least I hope.  Maybe?  Maybe not?  Even if you don't forgive me, do me a favor and try the recipe.  It is amazing!  Gooey peanut butter with chewy oatmeal and sweet chocolate chips.  What more could you ask for?  Unless of course you are allergic to peanuts.  That wouldn't be good.  You could always use Almond Butter.  Unless of course you are allergic to almonds.  Then that wouldn't be good either and you're on your own.

Now, on to the recipe.  How I came about this recipe was flipping through pins on pinterest.  Just minding my own business, and that of a bunch of other pinners, and there it was.  Just sitting there on my screen looking back at me.  It didn't help that the recipe began with the word "healthy".  That really made me look.  After a quick glance at the ingredients and seeing that they were "no-bake" I knew I had to make them!  So I pinned it to my "Healthy Eating" board and went on.  Fast forward a week or two and my closest-to-me-younger-sister was looking through my boards one night and saw it and said "You really should make these."  So the next day I did.  They didn't last long!  I won't mention that I ate quite a few, maybe more than a few, who knows.  Ahem, moving on, even the 1.5 year old brother loved them!  I loved the fact that they were fairly healthy for him, too.  I did manage to snap a few pictures of them before they disappeared.

Update: I was able to upload the picture at a later date.  If you want to see more pictures you can visit my Flickr account.

Again, I will have to direct you to my Flickr.
Click Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobbihphotos/sets/72157632504164563/

You can see more pictures of this recipe in the Culinary set on Flickr.

The original recipe is here:  http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

If you want to browse through my pinterest, it is here: http://pinterest.com/bhh93/

Here is a slightly (very slightly) different version of the recipe, this is how I made the "Healthy No-Bake Energy Bites"

Healthy No-Bake Energy Bites

1 Cup dry Oatmeal  (I freshly rolled some, it adds a lot of flavor)

1/2 Cup ground Flax Seeds

1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Natural Peanut Butter (regular will work)

1/3 Cup Honey (raw is best)

 

Combine all ingredients.  This takes some muscle to get it all mixed in good.

Roll into balls.

Enjoy!

I find they taste best after they have been refrigerated and are cold, that is if they last that long! 

 

  These are so easy to make!  I made these again today and substituted raisins and dried cranberries for the chocolate chips.  They still tasted just as good.  This makes them a bit healthier with a little less sugar.  You could try making these with peanut butter that has no added sugar to make them even healthier. 

 

 Another thought:

 

The sermon at church today was very thought provoking.  It was about praying for a spiritual awakening, or revival, in ourselves and our community.  Praying for God to transform us and open our eyes to how we can be living for Him everyday, not just on Sunday.  To live our Faith.  To take our troubles to Him in prayer (Phillipians 4:6).  I know I need to do just that.  Sure, I pray a couple times a day.  But do I really stop, and take a moment to really talk to God?  More importantly, to listen to what He has to say?  This is what I know I need to be doing, along with studying my Bible more, not just reading but studying.

 

The passage today was Luke 12:1-12

 

The four points were:  1. Beware of hypocrisy-vs 1-3

                                    2. Fear God-vs 4-7  and I'll add Proverbs 29:25

                                    3. Confess Christ-vs 8-10

                                    4. Do not worry-vs 11-12   and Phillipians 4:6

 

These are not things I am trying to tell you that you need to do, these are things that I know I need to do.  I am always wondering "How can I use photography to serve God?  How can I give Him the glory?"  hopefully this is one way that I can do that and encourage someone along the way.

 

 

One of my goals for this year is to study my Bible more and to memorize more verses.  I leave you with the last verse I've memorized.

 

"But He said, Yes, rather blessed are they

that hear the word of God,

and keep it."

Luke 11:28  

Cinnamon Raisin Scones

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted!   Here are some pictures from over the summer and a recipe!

 

I took this picture when my cousin had a birthday party at the swimming pool.

My sister and I went to my cousins house for a week.  It made for a lot of late night movie watching and laughing until we couldn't breathe!

Although we did go for a walk now and then!  These are some pictures that I took down at the creek on one of our walks.

I got so many pictures it took awhile to sift through them all!  I was finally able to narrow it down a little.

It was such a beautiful day I didn't want to miss any pictures!  So I took way too many!

 I couldn't decide if I liked the original or the black and white?  Which is your favorite?



 

These scones are amazing!  My Mom had the idea to use a biscuit recipe and add cinnamon and raisins, and top them off with some icing.

 

It went together very well.  I will definitely be making these again!

 

 You should make some of these! Soon!  

 

Now for the recipe.

 

 

Cinnamon Raisin Scones

 

1 1/2 C.  Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 C. White Unbleached Flour

3/4 tsp. Salt

3 tsp. Sugar

6 tsp. Baking Powder

1 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 C. Raisins

3/4 C. Butter

1 C. Milk

 

Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the raisins.  Next, cut in the butter.

Add the milk and stir just until combined.

Form into biscuit shape with hands, or roll out onto floured board and cut with biscuit cutter.

Place onto un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 450*F for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 9-12 biscuits.

 

For the icing:

1/2 stick Butter, melted

1/4-1/2 tsp. Vanilla

 

Add enough powdered sugar to make it a little too stiff to pour. 

Add a splash of milk to thin it out again.

You want it to be pourable, but not too runny!

Pour over the warm scones.

Enjoy! :)

 

 

 

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends!   Let me know if you try the recipe!  You really should try it!

Crescent Cookies

I know this post is called "Crescent Cookies", but I also had a few other pictures I wanted to post along with the Crescent Cookies.

I love this picture! I like the faint frame, the coloring, and the "old paper" look!
These were pretty much all the blueberries we got this year! The plants are still really small, so I am hoping for more next year!

I posted several different edits of this picture, I couldn't choose! I must say I like the blue one pretty well!

Another blueberry picture!

Chocolate Chip Cookies my younger sister made, they were good!

I have been interested in food photography for awhile, so I finally tried it the other day. A recipe always looks better with a picture! I am going to continue to experiment with it. So you are probably going to see some more food pictures on here! Hopefully!

Okay, now on to the Crescent Cookies!

This was a recipe my Great Grandma Marjorie always made, a favorite of my Grandma's.

Two years ago my Aunt had the idea to start a family recipe book and bring recipes to Thanksgiving and give copies to all the families for their recipe books. I thought it was a great idea! All together I contributed 20 recipes! All favorites! Grandma contributed 21! This is one of the recipes Grandma put in, I finally tried it the other day, I love it!

It is really simple and tasty! They are a lot like Mexican Wedding Cookies.

I tried to use natural light from a window for all of these, I think they turned out better than with a flash.

Now for the recipe.

Great Grandma Marjorie's Crescent Cookies

1/2 C. Butter

1/2 C. Shortening

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 C. Powdered Sugar

2 C. Flour-sifted (I used half whole wheat and half unbleached white)

3/4 C. Chopped Nuts (I used Pecans)

More Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 425*F. Cream butter, shortening, and vanilla until fluffy.

Mix dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture.

Form dough into crescents or small balls. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10 min.

or until lightly brown. Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar, eat some warm

and store the rest in an air tight container.

I hope you like them!