Time to harvest apples and pears!

fresh-picked pears

Dekalb came over today to pick apples and pears in my neighborhood. There’s just one pear tree in the neighborhood, and all pears within reach of the ground had already been picked by others. We use a ladder and a picker pole to pick the rest. We got about 20 pounds. I set aside a few for snacking, but since … Read more

Recipe in a Flash: Black Raspberry Ice Cream

   Ingredients 1¼ cups frozen pear pieces or cubes of frozen pear sauce ½ cup frozen black raspberries ¼ cup frozen juneberries or blueberries 2 tablespoons heavy cream or unsweetened coconut milk (full fat) ¼ teaspoon or 1 packet Truvia (optional) Instructions Put everything in a blender or food processor (see my previous post for thoughts on blenders) and turn to high power following … Read more

Recipe: Quick strawberry frozen yogurt in a blender

Strawberry frozen yogurt sprinkled with blueberries.

Frozen yogurt with no added sugar, lots of fruit, and a texture as rich and velvety as ice cream? It’s not an impossible dream. This recipe has only strawberries, pears, plain Greek yogurt, a dash of milk and Truvia. Last year I splurged on a Vitamix to simplify ice cream making and other tasks, and I’m glad I did – in … Read more

Recipe: Sunny Citrus Muffins with Lemon Icing (sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free)

I was feeling fancy this week, so decided to make iced muffins. I usually skip icing and frosting because they tend to be loaded with sugar. Plus, I’m a bit lazy! But I’ve been wondering lately if sugar substitutes could create the satisfying, crunchy-but-melty texture of a good icing. My curiosity finally won out over my laziness, and I started experimenting. … Read more

Recipe: Cardamom-spice muffins (vegan, grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free)

I’ve been continuing my experiments in vegan baking with coconut flour. This week, I decided to try a variation on the sweet potato muffins I posted a couple weeks ago. As with the vegan chocolate-orange muffins I made last week, psyllium is the not-so-secret ingredient for holding the muffins together and giving them a nice texture. If you like chai, you’ll love these … Read more

Recipe: Cranberry-buckwheat muffins (low sugar, low fat, vegan option)

I was in the mood for something made with buckwheat, and while racking my brain for flavors that would go well with it, I hit upon cranberries. I almost always have a bag or two of whole, unsweetened cranberries in my freezer – I tend to buy several pounds in autumn when they are cheap and toss them in the freezer. … Read more