Fruit and Nut Rolls

Every night I have been reading a couple of chapters of "A Homemade Life" and it is absolutely wonderful. I first bought the book when I was planning to go to a book club. It is the "Wine and Reads" book club and the rule is that you have to bring a bottle of wine and read the book, but they don't enforce the part about reading the book. This time they asked everyone to bring a recipe from the book to share.

The night before the book club meeting I was 2 chapters into the book and googled the location of the meeting. The neighborhood was close to a sketchy one in St. Paul, but it may have been OK. At the last minute I cancelled because I:

1) Hadn't finished the book

2) Hadn't made a recipe from the book

3) Wasn't too sure of the neighborhood

4) I'm not a big fan of wine. I prefer non-fiction to wine any day of the week.

That was two months ago and until now it has been sitting untouched on my bookshelf. As soon as I started reading, though, I have been hooked. Molly tells a story about a time in her life when a certain food was special for her, then she offers the recipe. Not only is she a great writer, she is a sweet woman living an incredible life.

This is the first time I have even considered eating anything resembling fruitcake because it just seems too old. Not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you, but it felt truly odd stocking up on prunes and walnuts.

Any time chocolate is around I think of Aunt Louise. She is the chocolate professional of the family. She isn't actually professional because she doesn't sell her artwork but she makes all these fabulous looking treats that taste every bit as good as they look. If she were here my chocolates wouldn't look so pathetic. Wanna move in, Aunt Louise? I have a spare bedroom with your name on it, and I'm ready to supply you with any and all chocolate supplies you desire.

Fruit and Nut Rolls

1 C walnuts

1/2 pound pitted dried cherries

1/2 pound dried figs

1/2 pound dried apricots

1/2 pound pitted prunes

1-2 T Grand Marnier, brandy, or apple cider

1/2 C powdered sugar

10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

Put the walnuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse to chop finely. Transfer to a large bowl. Put 1/2 the fruit into the food processor and pulse to chop finely, but don't turn it into a gummy paste (no fruit pieces should be bigger than a pea.) Repeat with the rest of the fruit. Stir the fruit and nut mixture well. Add 1 T Grand Marnier and stir to incorporate. Pinch a small piece of the mixture and squeeze it in your palm. If it doesn't hold together in a tight ball add another T of Grand Marnier.

Put the powdered sugar in a pie plate. Use a small cookie scoop to measure and roll into a ball, then roll in the powdered sugar, shaking off any excess. Set aside at room temperature, uncovered, for 24 hours.

To finish line a second baking sheet with parchment paper or a SilPat mat. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave. Working with one ball at a time over the sink, use a spoon to dollop a bit of chocolate on top. Shake the ball lightly to coax the chocolate down its sides. The chocolate will not coat it completely - just the top half, as if it were wearing a hat. Place the ball chocolate side up on a lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls until you are sick of it and then put the chocolate in a baggie and pipe it over the remaining balls.

Place the baking sheet uncovered in the fridge and chill about 2 hours until the chocolate has hardened. Store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 weeks.

Dutch Babies with Rhubarb Sauce

You know it's bad when you start eating babies. I mean....that's about as bad as it could possibly get. But here we are serving Dutch Babies to dinner guests. Just for future reference, I have absolutely no hard feelings for anyone who is Dutch. If they didn't have such tender, succulent babies I would leave them alone.

Dad cut a bunch of rhubarb from their yard and brought it out to us. When he does something, he goes all out and he ended up bringing a WHOLE grocery bag full of rhubarb stems. We had no choice but to get into the kitchen and make something with it.

Dutch Babies

1/3 C milk

1/3 C flour

2 large eggs

1 T butter, melted

1/4 t baking powder

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a muffin pan in the oven to warm it while blending the ingredients. Blend all ingredients until batter is smooth. Put batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 6 minutes, or until puffed and golden, and centers are firm.

While the dutch babies are cooking, hull and halve 1 pint of strawberries and chop 2 ripe peaches. Drizzle 2 T of honey over the fruit and toss to coat.

Remove hot Dutch Babies from baking cups to small plates. Top with rhubarb sauce and fruit. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top of the fruit and serve immediately.

Rhubarb Sauce

1/2 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
3 cups thinly sliced rhubarb

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the rhubarb, turn heat to low, cover, and simmer until rhubarb is soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Mash and chill in the refrigerator, about one hour.

Toasted Coconut Fruit Dip

There was an absolutely fabulous fruit dip at the last work pot luck. I searched far and wide until I found the chef who brought it: Paul finally confessed and gave me the recipe. I was shocked at what he said it contained: sour cream, brown sugar, and macaroons. It certainly doesn't sound like sour cream would be very good with fruit, but it adds a subtle undertone to the dip.

My macaroons came with a layer of chocolate on the bottom. Of course, I did what anyone would do who is truly devoted to a creating a tasty way to eat fruit. I cut the macaroon off the top then ate the chocolate bottoms. All. Of. Them.

Yummy ginger snaps turn a healthy snack into a . . . well, it is still a tasty snack.

Toss it up with a bowl of small fruit for a fruit salad. Blueberries are a bit small to dip, so this is a great alternative way to have coconut flavored, creamy fruit.

Dad said the dip was good three different times. That is a pretty big compliment. The only higher praise anything could possibly receive is that it is "very, very good."


Toasted Coconut Fruit Dip

12 macaroons, crushed

1/4 C brown sugar

1 pint sour cream

Smash the macaroons and then mix in the brown sugar and sour cream. This works well with hard brown sugar if you let it sit a few hours in the fridge. The hard pieces will soften up and will stir right in.

Watermelon Strawberry Slushies

In Vegan Soul Kitchen, Bryant Terry mentions that he used to avoid watermelon because of the racial stereotypes associated with it. That was a surprise to me. The first time I heard about that stereotype was when the mayor in California resigned over the cartoon about the Easter egg hunt using watermelons instead of eggs this year at the White House.

Now I wonder why I was born white. If there ever was a watermelon lover, it is me. Kevin makes fun of me for eating half a watermelon in one sitting. When I buy a watermelon, Kevin will buy an extra one if he feels like eating some because he knows that there isn't enough in one melon for me and anyone else.

At first glance, I took issue with adding honey to the wonderfully sweet watermelon. But who am I to criticize a fellow watermelon lover? The slushies are wonderful with the honey, and I will never again doubt anything Bryant suggests.

Watermelon Strawberry Slushies

8 cups of watermelon juice (blend seeded watermelon cubes until you get the right amount)

2 cups frozen strawberries

2 T lime juice

1/8 C honey

berries or mint for garnish

Fill two large ice cube trays with the watermelon juice and freeze until solid. Mix the watermelon ice cubes, the rest of the watermelon juice, and the rest of the ingredients and blend with a hand blender. If you are using a regular blender you may need to blend in 2 batches.