We’re still buried under a pile of figs here at the ol’ homestead and I’ll admit I’m a little (a lot) tired of them. That being said, this weeks recipe is super simple and takes maybe 5 minutes to put together and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Which is exactly what my tired brain and body need after a super exhausting week at work. So I’ll get right too it.
Fig and Brown Sugar Ice Pops
5-10 ripe figs, cut into 1/4 ” wide sliced
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 can coconut milk
Soak ice pop sticks in water and set aside. Add a couple of slices of fig to each ice pop mold and set mold aside. Place all the remaining ingredients into a blender and and blend for about 30 seconds until all the ingredients are well combined. Pour mixture into ice pop molds insert soaked sticks, seal molds and place in freezer for at least 6 hours to set. Enjoy.
Well we’re continuing with last week’s figgy theme and making fig jam. As I’ve previously mentioned, we have a crazy number of black jack figs thanks to 2 very healthy trees out back. It’s a constant battle to try to get to all the figs before they start falling off the tree and then become an all you can eat buffet for various critters. This week’s effort to stave off the figpocalypse is jam. Now I can’t be bothered with all the boiling and vacuum sealing of jars, so I prefer to make freezer jams. They last up to 10 days in the fridge and 6 months in the freeze. So they’re an easy and convenient type of jam to make in small batches.
Super Easy Fig Freezer Jam
1 lbs fresh figs roughly chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
zest of half a lemon
1/4 cup water
Toss all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend for 15-30 seconds. Pour mixture into a heavy bottomed sauce pot. Bring to a boil over high heat stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and let boil for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and portion into clean canning jars. Loosely cover with the lids and let cool to room temperature. Place in the fridge and use within 10 days.
Yep, that’s right Figapalooza 2019 is in full swing at the ol’ homestead this week. Our upstairs neighbor is on her 4th batch of fig jam. I’ve made fig ice pops, fig flatbread, fig scampi, fig n’ grits and fig tarts. So this week I’ll share with you my recipe for Fig & Pistachio Honey Tart. The secret to bringing out the pistachio here is to use it as the base for the crust. Blind baking the crust helps roast the pistachios a little to bring that nuttiness more forward. There’s just a slight orange hint from orange zest and a little orange extract to help brighten things up.
Pistachio Crust
1 egg
2 TBS coconut milk
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup shelled pistachios
1/4 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chilled butter cut into cubes
Place 1/4 cup all purpose flour and the pistachios into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the pistachios are ground into a fine meal. Add the powder sugar, salt and the remainder of the flour and pulse 10 times to mix. Gradually add in the chilled butter, and pulse until dough is a sand like consistency. Mix the egg, vanilla extract and milk in a small bowl and slowly add to the flour and butter mixture until dough just comes together.
Form dough into a disk and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. After the dough has chilled, roll out to 1/4″ thick and lay into a tart pan and press the dough into the corners.
Dock the shell with a fork in several places. Line the shell with aluminum foil and fill with rice or dried beans. Blind bake the shell at 400F for 15-20 minutes. Remove the foil with the rice/beans and bake the shell for another 5 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
Filling
8 oz marscarpone
1 cup greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp orange extract
1 TBS orange zest
1/3 cup honey
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Fill the cooled tart shell with the cheese and yogurt filling.
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill until the cheese mixture sets about 2-4 hours.
To serve, top with sliced firgs, chopped pistachios and a drizzle of hone.
Orange and White fruits accent this blue spirulina and nice cream smoothie bowl
Some of you may be aware that I am allergic to melons and strawberries. They’re easy enough to avoid but it means that getting a smoothie bowl at someplace like Jamba Juice or Nekter is out of the question. So I make them at home. This week I’ll share 3 smoothie bowl recipes so you can make your own at home.
A really good blender or food processor is a must for these recipes. I try to keep a good supply of mangos, dragonfruit, berries and bananas up in the freezer. As well as steel cut oats and coconut milk in the pantry and Greek style yogurt in the fridge, I frequently use these to make overnight oatmeal so they’re super handy to have on hand and perfect for smoothie bowls. Things like chia seeds, nuts, puffed rice and shredded coconut are also nice to keep around to add texture and extra fiber to the smoothie bowls. There are also any number of protein powders and supplements out there that you can also add if you choose. I’ve used blue spirulina, butterfly pea powder, matcha powder, and pea protein powder, but they aren’t necessary and I use them more for color than for their nutritional properties.
Butteryfly Pea Powder blueberries and Blackberries give this smoothie bowl is purple color
Butterfly Pea Oat Bowl
1/2 cup steel cut oats
1/2 frozen banana chopped
1 tsp butterfly pea powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
Toss everything into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
PInk pitaya, dried cherries and raspberries give this bowl its pinkish hue.
Very Berry Dairy Free Smoothie Bowl
1/2 cup coconut milk
4 or 5 coconut milk ice cubes
1/2 cup steel cut oats
3 TBS freeze dried cherries
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen pink pitaya/dragonfruit
1 frozen banana chopped
Combine all the ingredients except the coconut milk into the blender, slowly add in the coconut milk to get the blender going. Bend until smooth.
Frozen Bananas and coconut milk make up the base for this smoothie bowl.
Nice Cream Smoothie Bowl
4 frozen bananas chopped
1/4 tsp blue spirulina powder (optional)
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tsp honey or agave syrup.
Blend until its the texture of soft-serve ice cream and serve
Enjoy and as always let me know how you liked these recipes
