Tag Archives: fruit

Papaya Avocado Smoothie

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Here’s my latest smoothie crave. Papaya, avocado, coconut milk, and lime! It was rich, creamy and delicious. The only thing that wasn’t great was the color. As you might know from painting, that’s what you get when you mix red (papaya) with green (avocado)! But who cares right?

Happy Thursday! 🙂


Ingredients

  • 1/2 papaya
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup (or more) water
  • 1 tsp (or more) honey (optional)

Directions

  • Combine ingredients
  • Using a blender or inversion blender mix ingredients adding more water as needed
  • Enjoy!

dit-elle-Esther

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

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I posted this for Valentine’s Day two years ago, but it is a timeless recipe. You simply can’t go wrong with chocolate covered strawberries! Need a quick, elegant and delicious dessert? Try this! Happy Valentine’s Day! 🙂

Blog chocostrawberries2 Blog chocostrawberries1

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1-2 lbs strawberries

Directions

  1. Combine chocolate chips and coconut oil in microwave safe dish
  2. Heat for 1 minute and stir
  3. Heat for additional time (in short amounts, stirring in between till chocolate is smooth and runny)
  4. Stir in vanilla extract
  5. Place in refrigerator for 15-30 minutes to thicken a little
  6. Remove from refrigerator, stir – ready for dipping!
  7. Dip clean dry fruit in chocolate and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet
  8. Put in fridge to set/harden
Blog chocorange

Orange wedges dipped in chocolate are pretty awesome too!

Thanks ElanasPantry for the frosting recipe that lends itself so well for dipping! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Pomegranate

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Pomegranates.. what a sweet and juicy and beautiful fruit. Each seed is like a small sparkling ruby. Pomegranates are supposed to be a super food (remember the pomegranate juice craze?), but we think they are just delicious as is and love adding them to all sorts of recipes when the fruit is available.. usually winter season. I add the seeds to drinks (see my New Years Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail here), salads, yogurt, as garnish to oatmeal or cereal for the kids, in fruit salad, or just.. plain!

When I was in Barcelona a few months ago, a restaurant I visited one day served pomegranate seeds in a small oval bowl for dessert. I also learned from a friend that in Persia they sprinkle a little salt on the seeds before eating.. sound a little odd? Try it! Delicious!

pomagranate blog (2) pomagranate blog (1)

dit-elle-Esther

Apple, Whipped Cream and Cinnamon Almond Parfait

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This is a traditional Norwegian dish called “Tilslorte Brudepiker”. The literal translation is “veiled bridesmaids”. Sound lovely? It is! It is a beautiful dessert but surprisingly simple.. layers of apple sauce, cream and toasted almond meal with sugar and cinnamon. It’s one of those dishes you remember forever..

The recipe usually calls for toasted breadcrumbs or cookie crumbs but as mentioned I used almond meal, a little sugar and cinnamon, and it was perfect! Using different shaped glasses (flutes, punch, or even a large glass serving bowl), you can have a lot of fun with the presentation. Enjoy!

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Ingredients

  • Apple sauce, unsweetened)
  • Cream (you can whip it yourself with some vanilla and sugar or just get a can of whipping cream like I do for super short cut!)
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1-tsps cinnamon

Directions

  • In a skillet melt butter on low and add almond meal and sugar and cinnamon, stir constantly and do not let burn or get too toasty! You just want slightly toasted almond meal and to melt and crystalize the sugar a bit so that you get a crunchy topping.
  • In clear glasses (for individual servings) or in a large glass bowl (for group serving) layer applesauce, whipped cream, and almond mixture two or three times.. ending with a topping of the almond mixture.
  • Serve immediately.
  • Enjoy!

dit-elle-Esther

Lemon and Lime Juicing Tips

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Making holiday cocktails with lemon or lime juice? Here’s a quick tip on juicing. First, get yourself a lemon squeezer. Not fancy, you can get a decent one for around $10. They come with single or double ‘bowls’. The double fits a lemon and lime separately, but single works fine!

Once you are ready to do some juicing, slice the lemon in half and instead of placing it into the bowl peel side down, simply turn it cut side down. Now when you press the handles together, the juice will not spray everywhere. Seems obvious now, but it wasn’t at first, so I wanted to pass this little tip along to make your juicing one step less sticky! 🙂

More festive cocktail recipes forthcoming. Have a great rest of 2015!

how to juice a lime blog (2)

how to juice a lime blog (3) how to juice a lime blog (1)

dit-elle-Esther

Heirloom Tomatoes

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Nothing says late summer like heirloom tomatoes! Now I realize it’s fall, especially with the rain in Seattle this week, but I found the last of the heirlooms of the season this weekend!

One of my favorite snacks used to be tomato sandwiches: fresh bread, mayo, slices of juicy heirloom tomatoes. Heirlooms in particular are rich in flavor and super delicious. I am strict GF now and eat few grains, but tomatoes are so good just on their own!

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Ingredients

  • Tomatoes, sliced
  • Olive oil
  • Fresh basil, chopped (optional)
  • Sea salt (optional)

Directions

  • Drizzle olive oil on tomatoes and sprinkle with a little sea salt and fresh basil

dit-elle-Esther

Dark Chocolate Covered Figs with Sea Salt

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I recently posted about my fig tree. I finally had a chance to dip some of the figs in chocolate. Something about the combination of juicy ripe figs, dark sweet chocolate and sea salt.. amazing! These were SO yummy!

chocolate covered fig

This fig had just been dipped. As soon as you set these in the fridge to cool the chocolate will harden and set with a matte finish. 🙂

Ingredients

  • 12 figs, rinsed and dry
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (I used 1/2 and 1/2 dark and sem-sweet chunks)
  • Sea salt for garnish

Directions

  • Put chocolate in a bowl and microwave for ~1 minute or until melted
  • Stir chocolate with a spoon to even out consistency
  • Dip figs in chocolate
  • Place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet and sprinkle some sea salt on
  • Set in fridge to cool
  • Enjoy! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Figs

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It’s fig season! My little fig tree has been working hard all summer and I didn’t think the thirty or so little green ‘figlets’ would ripen until a few days ago when they started getting purple and were ready to pick! Yum, they are delicious! The kids enjoyed picking these from the tree just as much as eating them!

You may know figs from the dried fruit category, usually available in abundance during winter season. The fresh version are equally delicious, but not as sweet. Figs are a nutrient dense food and are rich in vitamins, potassium and are also a great source of fiber. Enjoy diced with yogurt, oatmeal, chia seed pudding, or simply as a piece of juicy and sweet fresh fruit.

If they don’t all get harvested and consumed, I will dip some in dark chocolate and post to the blog in a few weeks! 🙂

figs fruit blog

Want to learn more about figs? I found some interesting reading here and some fun recipes here.

dit-elle-Esther

Peach or Nectarine Crisp

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Sweet succulent peaches and nectarines are sprinkled with an almond oat topping and baked till crisp and golden. Served with rich vanilla ice cream, this is wonderful and delicious summer dessert.

I modified this recipe from the original from PCC Natural Markets – but because the peaches were so ripe and sweet and I was planning to serve this with vanilla ice cream, I used a lot less sugar and also substituted tapioca flour instead of the corn starch. You can consult the original here, but here is my version of the recipe and the vote in my house was: this peach crisp is amazing!

Blog nectarine crisp
Ingredients

  • 2 pounds ripe peaches or nectarines, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 3 Tbsp coconut sugar, divided
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 4 teaspoons tapioca flour
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (quick-cooking fine)
  • 6 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into small pieces
  • Vanilla yogurt or vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 375° F.
  • Combine peaches or nectarines, 1 Tbsp coconut sugar, lemon juice and tapioca flour in a 9-inch shallow round baking dish or pie plate.
  • In a separate bowl, combine almond flour, oats and salt. Rub in butter with your fingertips until coarse crumbs form. Sprinkle oat topping over the fruit mixture. Place the dish or pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet.
  • Bake until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving. Top each serving with a dollop of yogurt

Thanks PCC Natural Markets

dit-elle-Esther

Paleo(ish) Strawberry Cupcakes

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Gluten free, grain free, high protein strawberry cupcakes? Yes! Yum! The kids had fun eating these. Whipped cream and fresh strawberries on top optional, but highly recommended! 🙂

Blog paleo strawberry cupcake

Ingredients

  • ½ cup coconut flour
  • 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder (I used tapioca powder since I did not have this ingredient.. arrowroot powder is used as a thickening agent)
  • <¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ cup agave nectar or honey (I used 1/4 cup, and these were plenty sweet)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup finely chopped fresh strawberries
  • Whipped cream and more strawberries for topping

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners (or 12 mini muffin cups).
  • In a large bowl, combine the coconut flour, arrowroot powder, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, agave nectar, and vanilla extract. Blend the wet ingredients into the coconut flour mixture with a handheld mixer until thoroughly combined, then fold in the strawberries.
  • Scoop cup of batter into each prepared muffin cup.
  • Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 1 hour.

Thanks once again –  ElanasPantry!

dit-elle-Esther