Frozen Fruit Yogurt Desert

Summer time and the living is easy. My Canadian friends are complaining about the heat. I just feel like MrD and I are back home in Manila. Of course it is more humid there but the heat is similar.
The best thing about the heat is cooling off with some home made frozen deserts and here are a couple of ideas for super fast and always easy frozen fruit and yogurt recipes. I keep several kinds of fruit in the freezer compartment of my refrigerator so I have some handy ingredients when I need a fast desert or a cool down snack.
Just add a couple of scoops of frozen fruit in a food processor or blender and add enough low fat yogurt and a little fruit juice so the mixture blends evenly. I often use frozen bananas which are very sweet so you don’t need extra sweetener but sometimes a splash or two of maple syrup is added to bring out the sweetness of the berries and add a dimension of flavour. This kind of frozen desert works best made on demand and eaten right away but in a time crunch you can do it before your guests arrive and leave it sit in the freezer until you need to serve it.
The two examples in the photos are frozen blueberries with cherry yogurt and the other is frozen mango, banana and fresh cranberries blended with lemon yogurt. Remember these fruits are frozen, not fresh so the desert comes out frozen.
Next time I want to try frozen banana and peanut butter with a spoon of nutella and plain yogurt.

Last week’s guests have gone home and MrD and I are adjusting to scaffolding set up in our great room. About 3 months ago the workers renovating our upstairs neighbour’s condo damaged a major water pipe that created a trail of disaster for 18 floors. I was back home in Manila when all that happened but fortunately MrD was here to handle the immediate mess. Because the flooding affected so many units a disaster team was called in to do the whole job for all the units. The results are such that three months later workmen are finally here on site fixing up the dry wall. The ceiling in that room is 21 feet high so they had to install scaffolding. I am told the industrial monkey bars will in all likelihood be set up for about two weeks while they dry wall and then paint and texture. This weekend I took advantage of the equipment and had a ceiling fan installed to circulate some of this rare hot air summer has brought us.
In spite of the chaos I keep putting meals on the table for MrD. Here are this week’s three easy to prepare dishes that even you, my silent reader can make on your own.
The heat of summer always seems to keep my hunger level down. The higher the temperature the less time I want to spend chewing food. Salads, sandwiches and nibbles are perfect summer choices.
At this time of year so many of the local tomatoes are being featured at the markets. I found some perfect tiny yellow miniatures that are packed full of flavour. I sliced these babies up, added some fresh herbs, salt and pepper, tossed them with capers in a light vinaigrette and served them as both a salad and a topping for a puffed pastry tart. Puff pastry is not a difficult thing to work with. You buy it frozen in your grocery store and let it thaw out a couple of hours before you roll it out. Don’t have a rolling pin? Use a wine bottle.
In this heat I like to serve chicken drummettes as nibble finger foods. This version I divided the wings into 4 groups and mixed different rubs for each pile. Then, I just baked them all in the same oven at 350 F or 175 C for 45 to 50 minutes. The baby drums are perfect hot or cold. You can use your favourite marinades for the chicken. I used pesto for one of the marinades, spicy hot curry for another, maple syrup and ancho chili powder with lots of black pepper for the third variety and some sun dried tomato paste with balsamic vinegar and mustard for the fourth flavour. Go wild with the combinations but don’t use too many ingredients or the taste gets lost.
I hope this summer weather holds for a bit. Canadians are an entirely different race of people in the warmer season than they are in those colder darker wet months.

Two easy slow cooker recipes.

Here are three easy but not quick trophy H recipes to add some zip to your cooking life. They also make great gifts to give to other food fans. Slow cookers or crock pots as they used to be called are not just for pot roast anymore. Here are two simple ideas even a new cook can master.
Mushroom pate. Puree a kilo of fresh mushrooms in a food processor or a blender with a bit of red wine or vegetable stock. If you don’t have a machine, get someone who loves you or works for you to chop the mushrooms as finely as possible. I used morel mushrooms for this the last time because they were in season but you can use any kind of mushrooms. This is actually a time where even those tasteless white button mushrooms can be utilized or try a combo of mushrooms. Put the mushroom blend in a slow cooker and add some salt and a good amount of black pepper. I sometimes add a teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary but you can leave out the herbs and just go with the mushrooms and salt and pepper.
Turn the cooker on low and leave the lid off to allow the liquid to evaporate. Scrape down the sides with a spatula every half hour or so and give the mix a stir. When most of the liquid is gone, after about 4 hours, you are left with a mushroom concentrate perfect for adding to sauces, marinades or just eating as a spread on your favorite toast.
I used this pate to stuff chicken breast two ways. I put a layer under the skin and I made a pocket incision in the side and filled that with a mixture of the mushrooms, chopped black olives and capers. I served this with a side of fried polenta with herbs to MrD.
The extra pate freezes well or you can store it in the fridge for about a week before a blue mold starts and you have a whole new fungus food group but you are likely to eat it all before either of those things are required.
My second trophy H recipe is even easier and just as useful. Blend together equal amounts of maple syrup and regular, not your 25 year old 150 dollar balsamic vinegar, in a slow cooker and let cook on the low temperature with the lid off. I usually make this at night time and just leave it simmer away until the morning. You don’t even have to stir this. You are left with a truly trophy glaze that works on everything from chicken to ice cream and lasts for months in your refrigerator. Store the maple balsamic glaze in one of those squeeze bottles so handy for plate decorating.

Morel Mushroom BBQ Sauce

1/3 cup smooth Dijon mustard
1/3 cup tomato paste
½ cup banana or regular ketchup
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup equal parts Balsamic and malt vinegars
¼ teaspoon ancho chili powder
½ cup precooked morel mushroom paste
½ cup precooked chopped morels

Stir all ingredients together and cook uncovered in your slow cooker on the low temperature setting for about 2 hours. Excellent for grilled leather, feather, fin or even veggies.