Freezing a Summer Fruit Salad

One of my favorite cookbooks, one I've often mentioned here, is Make-A-Mix Cookery, an invaluable guide to making your own money- and time-saving mixes. Basic Bisquick-type mix, cookie, cake, bread mixes. Meat seasoning mixes, and so, so much more. One recipe in that book has always interested me, but I'd never tried it until last weekend.

It's called Marie's Fruit Cocktail Mix, a combination of green grapes, peaches, melons and blueberries in a lemon- and orange-flavored simple syrup. I hadn't tried it because I couldn't imagine how this mix would freeze and not be all mushy when thawed.

Of course I didn't quite follow the recipe as given... I cut the sugar in the syrup and used less melon than called for. I have a container of the finished product thawing on the counter right now, but this I can tell you: It looked terrific and tasted w-a-y wicked good as a fresh fruit salad. We had company for supper the night I made it, and they raved over the samples I served with molasses crinkle cookies.

Frozen Fruit Cocktail Mix

1/2 watermelon, cut in bite-size pieces
1 crenshaw melon, cut in bite-size pieces
1 cantaloup, cut in bite-size pieces
lots of green grapes
lots of blueberries
peaches to taste, cut in bite-size pieces

You'll need a B-I-G bowl for mixing all this fruit.

Mix together and bring to a boil, stirring well:

3 cups sugar
2 qts. water

Add

1 6 oz can EACH, frozen orange juice and frozen lemonade.

Pour, hot, over fruit, gently mix, pack into freezer containers, leaving 1/2" head room. The orginal recipe said to pack the fruit then cover with the hot syrup, but I wanted to be sure the fruit was well-coated with the syrup to prevent any browning.

Okay, I've just gotten into the almost-thawed fruit...everything's kept its color perfectly, the watermelon, cantaloup and crenshaw have all kept both their texture and individual flavors, and
the blueberries, peaches and grapes are yummy too.

Most definitely, this recipe is a money-saving winner for winter!

Mary

Locavores, Rejoice!

A Bounty of Fresh, Local Produce Available NOW

Blueberries, peaches and cukes, oh my! Local gardens, farmstands and farmer's markets are bursting with fresh produce from apples to zucchini, so take advantage. Home Depot recently reported a surge in freezer sales this past quarter so folks are certainly thinking ahead to the coming winter. But don't overlook fresh treats too. The following recipes are adapted from my Frugal Family Kitchen Book.

Fresh Taste Blueberry-Peach Pie

An unbaked pie with a glace topping, this combines two of our best Maine fruits for just-picked flavor.

4 c blueberries
1 or 2 peaches
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c water
2 TBSP cornstarch
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 8" or 9" pie shell, baked and cooled

Over medium heat, cook 2 c berries with the sugar, water and cornstarch until clear and thick, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, add butter and lemon juice, stir and cool. Pit and chop peach(es) - the huge peach I used was smooth-skinned so I didn't peel - and add to the remaining 2 c berries, pour into pie shell and evenly spread the glace mixture over the top.
Can be served at room temp or chilled.

Pasta Primavera

A perfect way to dress up bits and pieces of any veggies in your garden, the sauce - which goes together very quickly - also makes an excellent veggie dip.

Sauce

2 TBSP basil
2 TBSP parsley
2 TBSP butter
1 8 oz cream cheese
2/3 c boiling water
1/2 grated parmesan cheese
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 c scallions or chives finely cut

Cream togehter the basil, parsley and butter, blend in the cream cheese, parmesan, oil, garlic and scallions or chives. Stir in the boiling water and blend well. To be honest, I usually just throw it all together in a bowl and stir until smooth.

If you're adding broccoli, cauliflower, carrot pieces, summer or zucchini squash, lightly steam and drain well before adding. Things such as tomato chunks, cucumber slices, peppers, even radish slices can go right into the sauce.

Cook up whatever you want for pasta, arrange on a platter, top with the veggie- and herb-rich sauce, a sprinkle of cheese to top and enjoy!