Thursday, January 31, 2013

Fresh And New, With A Twist

Hello Sweets,

Oh man, I cannot seem to catch a break :(  Obviously I did not get my post out yesterday, the reason being I couldn't sleep for the second night in a row and around 1-ish, I crashed...and hard.  I slept until the evening which completely had me disoriented, I honestly thought it was around 4am (I don't have a light up clock in my room) because the house was pretty quiet lol.  On top of that I still don't have much of an appetite (I probably should call my doctor), which then turns into a complete depletion of my energy stores.  So here I am writing yesterdays blog today at 9am and guess what, I didn't sleep last night, wahhhhhh :(  I'm going to try something my doctor's nurse recommended to me, but the hard part will be finding it (and hoping I remember the right name lol).  What do you guys do when you can't sleep?  If I was in Texas right now I wouldn't be having this problem, Nathan has this amazing attribute of making me completely relaxed and I fall asleep much easier :) (maybe it's because I'm in his arms)  But I figured since I'm up, I will try and see what I can get accomplished starting with one of my favorite pastimes, blogging!!

In my last post I was trying to figure out how to get nutrients into me since I have no appetite, which left me with more leftover cantaloupe and I was determine to do something with it that was new to me.  The hardest part was trying to figure out what to create, there were the obvious things like; fruit salad, dried fruit, salsa.  But I wasn't interested in any of those, and then I came across an article (sorry I don't remember which one but I know it was a healthy eating site lol) that talked about alternate ways to eat melons other than the obvious.  Since my regular comfort foods that normally I can eat in situations like this weren't working I decided to try something that was in a close proximity to those, not ice cream and not a Popsicle either, but a sorbet made with fresh fruit.  I have bought a product at the grocery store that is an Italian ice treat, but I think it's what we would consider sorbet because it has the same texture to me, and the flavors are similar.  I did some research to get the basics of what is in sorbet and the process (surprisingly simple and easy), then looked in my fridge to see what mine would consist of.  I now present you with another Canuckette original recipe, enjoy!
*WARNING: mango's are not the easiest to cut up because of the giant pit, don't get discouraged!*

Canuckette's Fresh Fruit Sorbet
Ingredients
2C cantaloupe, cubed
1 mango, cubed
1C granulated sugar
1C water
1/2 lemon, juiced
2Tbs (?) fresh mint, chopped

Directions:
1)  Mix the water and sugar in a small sauce pan, bringing to a boil.  Continually stir while boiling until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Transfer the "simple syrup" to a container and chill in the refrigerator until cool.
 

2)  While the syrup is cooling, combine the remaining ingredients in your blender and mix until the mixture only has small pieces in it (I have a magic bullet so I had to do mine in batches).
 
fresh mint smells so good :)
 

3)  Add the cooled syrup to the fruit mixture and blend until smooth.  Pour the mixture into a shallow metal baking pan, cover and place in the freezer.  Mix the sorbet every 30-40 minutes for the next 4 hours, this is to ensure it has a consistent texture and it's not frozen partially.

4)  Transfer into a plastic container that seals completely, and of course enjoy ;)

There you have it, a simple and fairly healthy frozen treat.  This particular mix has a fresh and clean taste to it (lol probably a weird way to describe something), the cantaloupe and melon are a perfect blend of sweet, the lemon gives it just enough zing, and the mint added a cool refreshing undertone.  This is definitely something I'll be making again, and I am very proud of myself for trying something new and going with my instincts for what flavor I was looking for, and how to achieve them.  I say that because the mint was a last minute decision while picking up some produce that day, something inside of me told me that I would be pleasantly surprised with the final result and I was right!  You can use any fruit that you like, fresh or frozen (allow to thaw prior), and mix in a little bit of spice or fresh herbs if you're feeling adventurous.  I would love to hear from all of you if you try it, and what your twist or version you've created.

Lately I've been reminiscing about when I was just a wee one, and I am going to be using that as inspiration for my next post or two.  Maybe something simple I haven't had in a while with a story, or maybe take a childhood snack and put an adult twist on it.  I guess you're going to have to come back again and see aren't you?  Until next time...............................


Stay sweet,




Jennifer xoxoxo




 

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