Summer Fruit Bowl

I'm very picky about peaches and nectarines. I only buy them when they have great aroma which could explain why it's been years since I bought either. Anything else and they'll probably be hard and flavorless.

1 perfectly ripe Nectarine

1 Mandarin orange - with peel

fresh blackberries

Wash and cut up the fruit. Drizzle with fresh lemon juice and sprinkle with crunchy turbinado sugar. . .Lin

Mediterranean Olive Oil Cake - 2

This could be the first of a couple variations on my original recipe in the most recent post below.

Nothing changes, from this recipe to the original, in the bowl of dry ingredients. In the egg-oil bowl, follow it until you get to the extracts. Omit the almond and vanilla, instead, substitute:

1/2-1t lemon extract

Then add:

1T fresh squeezed lemon juice

zest of one lemon

1 Cutie mandarin, finely chopped

Use the whole mandarin. Cut the stem and center white pithy parts away with a very sharp knife, then, finely chop the entire thing, peel and all.

Mix as directed in the original recipe. Prepare your 8" or 9" round or square pan by oiling it with EVOO and sugaring it. This gives a nicer texture to the crust than flouring. You could use pure cane sugar, coconut sugar or turbinado - which is what I used. The bigger crystals have the best crunch factor. Sprinkle the top with some spiced turbinado sugar also it you'd like.

Yesterday I stopped at a wonderful restaurant supply store here in Duluth, at 218 E. Superior Street. The Minnesota Foodservice Company. What a treasure trove for any foodie!! I bought my first springform pan - ever! At my age!! As you can see, within my learning curve, I wasn't trusting it completely since a springform pan is actually a ring with a removable bottom. I put it on a baking sheet before filling, just-in-case the cake batter tried to leak out, which it actually did, leaving a very browned thin 'cookie' attaching the pan to the baking sheet. I'm not sure about this pan. Next time I'll add parchment paper before I oil and sugar it.

Bake in your preheated, 350° oven. I baked this 45 minutes, then turned off the oven leaving the cake inside with the oven door cracked a couple inches for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack for at least half an hour before loosening the edges and transferring it to a serving plate. Cut into 8 big pieces or go smaller for 12 servings, 9 in a square pan.

This turned out so well and ended up at my Bible study this morning. I'm thinking this recipe might show up again as a Cinnamon-Cardamom Walnut version. . .Lin

edit: I forgot the glaze recipe: 2/3c powdered sugar, 1T EVOO and 1-3T lemon juice - however much you need to get it to a thick drizzle.

Carrot Fruit Cake-Bread

2 big carrots - finely chopped

1c chopped frozen pineapple 

1 mashed banana

1"cube fresh ginger - minced

1 whole mandarin orange - zest and chop

1/2c coconut sugar

1/2c brown sugar

3 lg. eggs

3/4c light olive oil

3/4c sunflower kernels

- - walnuts or pecans would be better

1/2c plain Greek yogurt

1T white balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350° Chop, zest, mash and combine everything above, in a medium glass bowl. In a larger bowl, whisk together the following dry ingredients:

1T cinnamon

1/2T baking soda

1/2T baking powder

2T ground chia + flax

1t salt

1c corn flour

2-1/2c all purpose flour

Pour the bowl of well combined wet ingredients into the flour bowl. Working quickly with a big silicone spatula, fold and combine these into a heavy batter. Today I transferred this to a buttered and sugared 8"x12"x2" glass baking pan to make a snack-coffee cake. This would have also made wonderful  muffins! Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes. If making muffins, cut the baking time way down, start with 20 minutes then do the toothpick test. Let the cake cool an hour before cutting.

My daughter was here while this was cooling. She suggested a cream cheese drizzle to accentuate the flavors. I didn't have cream cheese, so instead made this butter-cinnamon-vanilla glaze:

3T melted butter

1t Mexican vanilla

1c powdered sugar

1t cinnamon

2T heavy cream

Mix these together until smooth in a small bowl. Pour and spread over the top. 

Have fun with your creative combinations. . .Lin