Any Old Bottle of Fruit Cake Recipe

I've been meaning to share this recipe for a while, but never remembered to find it at the same time I wanted to blog. This is a great recipe when your fruit turns a little brown in the bottle and you don't really want to eat it. I still need to make it, but I wanted to post it before it got lost again.

Here goes:
Any Old Bottle of Fruit Cake
Ingredients:
1 quart fruit
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil (or you can use 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oil)
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:
Pour entire bottle of fruit into blender and blend until smooth. Mix all dry ingredients together into a mixer bowl. Add blended fruit and oil to dry mix, mix until fairly smooth.   (IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are in a hurry and decide to just add everything to the blender and mix until smooth - this will work most of the time. However, if you are using rhubarb as your bottle of fruit, please note that rhubarb and baking soda do not mix well together, they cause explosions and will create a large mess in your kitchen!)

You may also add 2 cup raisins and/or 1 cup nuts.

Bake in a 9 x 13 (greased) cake pan at 375 for 55-60 minutes.

It is served best with cream cheese frosting or a caramel frosting (see below)!  =)  Enjoy!



Caramel Frosting:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light cream or milk.

Barely bring mixture to a boil on the stove, then take off heat. Gradually stir in 2 cups of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. (YUMMY!!)


p.s. I've eaten it, but not made it. When I do, I'll be sure to post pictures!!

Raspberry Delight (Dessert)

We keep having Raspberries at the farmer's market, so I thought I would share one of my favorite desserts using raspberries. Of course, just eating them and putting them on ice cream or with some cream or half and half is a fantastic way to enjoy raspberries - not to mention they are loaded with all the healthy anti-oxidants a body could use.

But this is cool and refreshing and WONDERFUL!!

I call is Raspberry Delight. My sister calls it Raspberry Dessert on her blog: Taste the Joy

I'll giver her the credit because she takes better pictures than I do and already has the recipe typed up for us to use. In fact, I just hand wrote it down in my most favorite, most used cookbook so I could have it a little more handy. I might just make this today and DOUBLE the recipe!! I only get this about once a year, you know, so I'd better make it worth it, don't you think?

Have you ever had this recipe or something similar? Please share!

p.s. Don't forget to go get the raspberry recipe on Taste the Joy blog and buy raspberries from us at our farmer's markets we are at. See you there!

Fruit Cocktail

Hi! I have been lost for a minute, but I promise I'm here. We have been running our fruit stand this summer and have been harvesting our crops on our farm (actually, we just finished harvesting the grain for the year!)

Anyway, I wanted to share my lastest adventure in canning! I am so excited about it, too. I made my own fruit cocktail! I heard of a lady making her own a few years ago and have thought about it ever since. Why not? Why can't we make our own fruit cocktail? I only wonder about the grapes, but everything else processes for the same amount of time in my handbook.

Ready? Here is what I used, with the specific varieties grown in my favorite orchard in Caldwell, Idaho: white (canning) peaches (summersweet), yellow peaches (I think I used the last of my flamecrests), nectarines (honey royales), and bartlett pears and a few green grapes that I had in the fridge. (If anyone knows of a reason I shouldn't use grapes, please let me know.)

I took a half of a fruit per jar and had plenty. (For example, I needed 7 jars and used 4 peaches - half per jar, make sense? It worked out pretty close to what I needed.) I blanched and skinned the peaches - both white and yellow peaches, chunked them up, and threw them in a jar on top of the grapes. Do you know you can bottle nectarines and you don't have to skin them? Well, I skinned these - just like peaches - boiling them in water for 20 seconds, first, then to cold water and slip the skins. I mostly did it for looks in the jar. Then I peeled, chunked, and added the pears and then poured the sugary syrup over the top, topped the jars, and processed my jars in a water bath - just like I would for pints of peaches.

We tried some on Sunday, just to see what the jars and the fruit were like. They look a little mushy, but they really weren't when we tried the fruit. It was really a nice combination - and everything was ripe - unlike most of the store\-fruit cocktail I usually use.

Although, I think I have to try quart jars next time! It was a hit! And I'm so pleased with myself for doing it.

What do you think?

Frozen fruit Smoothies

Last fall, I froze some fruit for my storage and also purchased some frozen fruit in "large" (14 lb) quantities. I bought blueberries, marion berries (like blackberries), and whole strawberries. I froze my own cherries and peaches.

Since I have so much fruit in my freezer, I needed to find something to do with it, so we have been experimenting with making fruit drinks - smoothies included. I confess I haven't been very confident in my smoothie making skills - I always felt like I needed a recipe. Well, now that we've been experimenting, I've learned a few things I would like to share.

1. Use a base for your smoothie - I prefer sherbet, and ice cream, but I know people who enjoy using vanilla or plain yogurt.
   
   
2. Fruit juice adds flavor - you don't have to just use water or milk. Though, I usually use 1 part fruit juice and 1 part water or milk.
   
   
3. Any fruit goes - your imagination is the limit. Add whatever you have - fresh or frozen.
   
   
4. Adding Flaxseed to your smoothie is a great way to get that extra fiber your body needs.
   
   
5. Ice adds thickness and can be easily added to your base.

So, here is one "recipe" we tried last night in our smothie adventures. It was really good... just the right sweetness and a little tangy twist to add some "spice."

Let me know if you try it - and what you think.


RECIPE:
1 cup orange juice (not concentrate)
1/2 cup milk
4 large scoops pineapple sherbet
3-4 large strawberries
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon ground golden flaxseed

Blend in a blender. (We blend in stages - we don't just throw EVERYTHING in and then mix... put in a few things and then mix, add a few more and blend... get it?)

Enjoy!

p.s. I use my blender on my Bosch Universal mixer and LOVE it - it mixes everything up so it is very smooth. Very rarely do I find "chunks" in my drink - unless I really try to create chunks.

p.p.s. I am also bringing this up because we have the opportunity to place an order for frozen berries - blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc. Orders need to be placed by Feb. 20, 2010 and delivery to my house will be close to the first week in April. You have to pick up your own berries... at my house. Let me know if you would like more information.