Strawberry Sorbet

I mentioned that we made some strawberry sorbet in my post about the kiwi sorbet, and here it is.

I used a recipe from the booklet that came with our Cuisinart ice cream maker. Below is an edited version. I didn't bother removing the seeds.

Fresh Strawberry Sorbet
Makes about 10 1/2-cup servings
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 qt. fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
4 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice

1. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until sugar is fully dissolved. Let cool completely.
2. Combine strawberries and lemon (or lime) juice in food processor and pulse to chop, about 15-20 times. Process until completely pureed. (Optional: strain to remove seeds.)
3. Combine puree, cooled sugar syrup, and corn syrup. Chill for 1 hour.
4. Process in ice cream maker for about 25-30 min. and transfer to freezer container.

Kiwi Sorbet

Lots of fruit has been on sale recently, so we've been consuming it in various forms. We got some kiwi on sale (8/$1), so I made some kiwi sorbet. I used this recipe, except I didn't bother straining out the seeds. It looks more like kiwi with them in there. The best part is that it only took three ingredients: kiwi, sugar, and water. We actually made this a few times last year, but for some reason, we never took photos until now.

I also made some strawberry sorbet around the same time, which I'll post about soon. We have been stretching both batches by putting scoops of both together for a strawberry-kiwi combination. We think it tastes good. We decided against making a batch of strawberry-kiwi sorbet (instead of two separate batches), because we figured it would probably turn out some shade of unappetizing brown and wouldn't make for the best photos.

Blueberry Quick Bread

Blueberries were on sale, so we ate some and I baked some quick bread with the rest. Thought you might like to try the recipe if you get a good deal on blueberries, too. I can't remember where I got this recipe; I just wrote it on a card.

Blueberry Quick Bread
Makes 1 9x5 loaf or 3 mini loaves (I always make 3 mini loaves--they're way cuter)
1 egg
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (depends on how sweet you want it; I've been using about 2/3 to 3/4 cup)
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
2. In a large bowl, beat egg, milk, and oil.
3. Combine (whisk) flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in another bowl.
4. Gradually add combined dry ingredients to egg mixture, beating until just combined.
5. Fold in blueberries.
6. Pour into greased pan(s).
7. Bake for 50-55 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.

In Our Back Yard

We started a little container garden this year. Just some patio tomatoes, basil, scallions (re-planted from store-bought ones), and chives.

Back: Patio tomato plant; Front from Left: Basil, Scallions, and Chives

We've already picked three tomatoes. It's been pretty hot and dry, so two of them cracked, despite watering them regularly.

Another one is close to getting picked:

We're not sure if we'll get more from this tomato plant this summer. It seems to be struggling with the heat.

We've also already used some scallions for taco salad. We cut most of what had grown so far on Friday of last week, and here's what has grown since then:

The basil is flowering:

It's about time to use some of the chives. They're getting a bit long.

They're budding, too.

And this isn't part of our garden, but the other shrubs are blooming again, though not as abundantly as the first time. We neglected to take photos the first time, which was after the lilac bush bloomed.

Knitted Washcloth #4

Sorry for the long absence. I'm still plugging away, off and on, at the washcloths. I took a little break from knitting, but I got motivated again and finished the next one. So, the next one I completed from More Than a Dozen Dishcloths is from the pattern called Neapolitan. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream yellow cotton yarn and US size 7 knitting needles. This one didn't involve any techniques I didn't already know--just knitting and purling.

I don't know how obvious it is, but this yarn actually had some stains on it (My hands weren't THAT dirty when I was knitting!). I didn't let that stop me from using it, though.

Lessons learned:

1. Vitamin Water will stain yarn.
2. Make sure your drink bottle cap is properly threaded and tightened before putting it in the same bag as the yarn you intend to knit with (This will also help you avoid having to use an insane amount of paper towels to try to dry out your backpack in the airport bathroom and getting strange looks from people while you're doing it.). Maybe it'll come out in the wash.

Anyway, moving on....

I like the kind of zigzag pattern. The book called for a multi-colored yarn (Guess which colors. Hint: The pattern is called Neapolitan.), but it's more difficult to see the pattern with all of the different colors distracting you, so I went with a solid color instead.

 My collection is slowly growing!

P.S.--My Vanilla washcloth is featured on the pattern page in Ravelry! (I think it's because I used the "right" color of yarn for that one.) If you know what that means, go check it out!