Gastroanthropology

Cherry Cream Popsicle

After gorging myself with the better half of 25 pounds of cherries last week there came a point where I could not put another cherry into my mouth. With the mercury rising the idea of making jam or a cherry pie seemed totally unappealing. What to do?  

I've always loved, loved, loved frozen treats. Popsicles in particular. These cherry popsicles have strained yogurt and a touch of cream for a cool, luscious treat.

CHERRY CREAM POPSICLE

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp honey (cherry blossom honey if you can get it)
• 1 lb. pitted cherries (need about 1 1/4 lb. whole cherries to get 1 lb.)
• 1/2 cup strained yogurt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

METHOD

Strain yogurt. Do this by pouring about 1 cup of plain yogurt into a mesh strainer lined with heavy duty paper towel or cheesecloth. Place the strainer over a bowl and leave in the refrigerator overnight. You could also use Greek style yogurt and skip this step.

Heat water, sugar, and honey on medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Set aside and let cool to slightly warm or room temp.

Put sugar mixture and pitted cherries in a food processor and process until smooth. Strain the mixture. Whisk together the strained cherry juice with the yogurt and heavy cream. Pour into your popsicle mold and freeze. Once set, enjoy!

 

Muesli + Greek Yogurt

One of our staple cereals is Raisin Bran. Not because I like it, but because Nate likes it. When its on sale at Safeway, I've been known to buy an entire case. I hate having more than one box of cereal open because it goes stale, so when a box of Raisin Bran is open, that's the cereal I have to eat too. But I despise raisins. I can't think of one thing that I find is enhanced by adding raisins. So, before I pour the milk over my Raisin Bran I take the time to pick out every single raisin. Meanwhile, I'm cursing those two scoops - if they skimped on the raisins I would have less work to do. 

The particular brand that has two scoops of Raisin Bran is not easily found here in Europe. And when we first moved to Europe, Switzerland was home, where we discovered how much we loved muesli. I think of muesli as an uncooked, healthier version of granola. But, like my usual quips about cereals and trail mixes, no brand has just what I want. Its always too much of this and not enough of that. Solution? Make my own.

My muesli has a little bit of oats, spelt, and bran flakes, lots of almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and dried cherries, cranberries, and pineapple. 

Rather than drown all these delicious bits with milk, I add greek (strained) yogurt on top, with a drizzle of honey, and freshly grated apple. It's my new favorite thing to eat.

A Fool for Gooseberries and Twitter

I was the anti-internet. I did MySpace many years ago for about two weeks when this weirdo I avoided all my life since junior high school contacted me via MySpace. I cancelled my account immediately. I even made it a point to only check my email once every few days. My husband, on the other hand, is a bit of an internet junkie and I often used to joke that soon he would reach the end of the internet. 

Then I moved away from my entire life to Europe. First, I was in a Swiss city, Geneva, small by most city standards, where it was clear my four years of French study in high school meant relatively nothing. After about a week of exploring I had been to every farmers market, church, museum, chocolate shop, landmark, grocery store and Swiss watch shop within walking distance of our teeny apartment. We still had a few months left before we moved to London where I could work and go to school. What was I going to do? Yes, I was in Europe and spending every weekend traveling around to very cool places, but during the week I was bored out of my mind and watching reruns of Seventh Heaven (the only thing I could get in English during the day). Not to mention an emergency abdominal surgery that kept me off my feet for some time. The internet saved me.

It was then that I discovered the vast world of food blogging. I now have some wonderful friends via the internet that have made my transition to a life away from home much easier. Some back home are shocked that I created this website - I don't divulge how helpful Typepad has been! 

A few weeks ago I joined Twitter. I didn't want to at first and then Ashton and CNN had this thing and I took a look at the site and it seemed relatively simple. It was. So I signed up and started tweeting. That was about a month ago. Last week I even upgraded my beat up, cell phone so old my mom asked me where the slot for the coins were, so I could more easily manage my "on-line" life. I only just figured out that people had been responding to my tweets and I feel awful because I didn't acknowledge, but it was only because I had no clue someone was tweeting to me!

I've been doing a bit of Twitter (is that correct? - Can you do Twitter, or is it twit or tweet?) on my plight with what to do with a gooseberry and got no advice. But I did! I just didn't know it. So, fellow blogger, Daily Spud, suggested Gooseberry Fool, a few days ago actually, but I just realized this today. I'm a twitter fool so this is a perfect recipe for me.

Gooseberries are an interesting bunch. Paley green and covered in funny stubble - think a seventh grader's mustache - they are super tart for the tongue. 

GOOSEBERRY FOOL 

• 2 cups gooseberries, trimmed top and bottom, then halved
• 1/3 c sugar 
• 1/4 vanilla bean, split  
• 1/3 c whipping or double cream 
• 1/4 c superfine sugar 
• 1/4 c creme fraiche 

OR, the first three ingredients and about 2 cups of greek yogurt.

This recipe serves 4.

METHOD

Cook the trimmed and halved gooseberries, sugar, and vanilla bean for about 10 to 15 minutes on low to medium heat. The fruit will break down and then start to thicken a bit. When the consistency is like a loose jam, remove from heat. Gooseberries are quite tart so adjust the sweetness to your liking. Chill overnight or at least for four hours. Whip cream and slowly stream in superfine sugar - when it reaches soft peaks, whisk in the creme fraiche. Layer with the chilled gooseberry puree (remove the vanilla bean). Alternatively, stir the gooseberry puree in with greek yogurt. 

I recycled some of my yogurt pots and put gooseberry-vanilla puree on the bottom and thick, greek yogurt on top.