Archives for August 2018

Rainbow Fruit Salad

August 28, 2018 by Sarah Baade 2 Comments

My husband and I are pretty active in our church and this naturally leads to potluck meals a few times per year. My husband’s answer to bringing a dish is always “Let’s just pick something up from the store on the way to the party.” I, on the other hand, never even think of this as an option until he mentions it. Instead, I go through my mental rolodex of easy recipes and some sort of cookie usually wins out. I’m honestly not sure why I feel obligated to bring something homemade. I don’t expect it of others and I’m pretty confident others don’t expect it of me. Then again, homemade always tastes better than store bought, even with a simple recipe.

This weekend we attended a pool party and you guessed it, it was a potluck situation! I’ve been obsessed with fresh fruit lately so cookies didn’t even make the short list of ideas for once. Instead, I made my rainbow fruit salad. Guys, this is so easy and so delicious! I promise, the hardest part of this recipe is cutting some fruit and there isn’t even very much to cut. This fruit salad is so refreshing but it will also satisfy your sweet tooth – this counts as a win-win in my book!

Tips:

Don’t be afraid to swap out some of the fruits for whatever is seasonal. Ultimately, the goal is about 8-10 cups of FRESH fruit.
I always like to add a few berries to my fruit salad because they don’t require cutting. Just wash and toss them into the mix!

Rainbow Fruit Salad

1 large peach, rinsed and cut into bit sized pieces (I left the skin on)

3 kiwi, peeled and cut into bit sized pieces

1 mango, peeled cut into bit sized pieces

12oz raspberries, rinsed

11oz blueberries, rinsed

2 teaspoons agave syrup (or honey if you prefer)

1 teaspoon fresh mint, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

Directions:

Toss all fruit into a large bowl. Drizzle with agave syrup then add mint and lime juice. Gently stir until fruit is evenly coated with the syrup and lime juice. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Rhubarb Bread

August 20, 2018 by Sarah Baade 6 Comments

Rhubarb. I feel like I need to admit that prior to this recipe, I had never eaten rhubarb. I’m not a big fan of celery and it just looks like giant pink celery so why would I want to eat it? What is particularly astonishing about this situation is that strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my dad’s favorite desserts. I grew up with this pie being made in my household somewhat regularly. Still, I never tried it. As I sifted through my grandma’s recipe box I knew I needed to get over myself and give this a go.

I feel like you need to know your fruits and vegetables in raw form before cooking with them. So, I did it. I took a bite of raw rhubarb – BITTER!!! Clearly sugar is needed to balance this out, no wonder I’ve only ever seen it in desserts. I also tasted the batter before pouring it into the loaf pans (I know, I was risking salmonella with the raw egg). I was expecting it to be sweet like a muffin or pumpkin bread but it was actually quite mild. My second confession for this recipe is that I was starting to think this might be my first fail of Grandma’s recipe box. I. Was. Wrong! The brown sugar crumbles on top added just the right amount of sweetness to make this bread completely delightful and the bitterness of the rhubarb subsided as it baked. Alright, rhubarb lovers of the world, I get it and I’m now a member of your club!

Tips:

Sometimes your hands are better tools than anything you can buy. I found it easiest to mix the topping ingredients together by hand.
You can grease your loaf pans if you don’t have parchment paper.

Rhubarb Bread

Bread:

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ½ cups diced rhubarb

½ cup walnut pieces

Topping:

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, slightly softened

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F and line two loaf pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together all bread ingredients in order listed. Pour equal amounts of batter into each loaf pan.

In a small bowl, mix together topping ingredients. Sprinkle equal amounts of topping over each pan of batter.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until test until a test stick can be inserted and removed clean. Once loaves are baked, let cool 20 minutes before removing from pans. Slice and serve slightly warm or let loaves finish cooling on a wire rack.

Original recipe source unknown. Recipe has been modified from this version for the purpose of this blog.

Watermelon Salad

August 1, 2018 by Sarah Baade 3 Comments

I keep wondering if I’m getting wimpier with age or if this summer really has been excruciatingly hot. I’m leaning toward the latter but the honest answer is that it’s probably both. I’ve been thinking back on all those summers I spent working at YMCA camps (shout out to Camp Wood and Camp Cosby!) and wondering how I survived living in little cabins with no air conditioning. I’m confident that I survived by being preoccupied with lots of fun activities and friends. I mean, who has time to think about the heat when you’re guiding a group of kids through a mud hike?! Still, we’ve been hitting triple digit temperatures on a daily basis with not much relief in sight. I give a lot of credit to all the summer camp staffers out there who have pushed through this heat to give kids the best week(s) they could imagine.

When it’s this hot outside, I have no interest in turning on the oven. Simple fresh ingredients are the way to go and summer provides such delicious seasonal produce! Naturally, I had to use this to my advantage. My daughter has been on a watermelon kick lately so I opted to use that as my base. I’m all about use what you’ve already got at home when possible. With just five ingredients, the hardest part of this salad will simply be cutting the watermelon. Other than that, this is as easy as a recipe can get. Enjoy!

Tips:

Although more expensive, you can certainly buy pre-cut watermelon to make this recipe even easier to make.
You can certainly toss the salad together a day ahead. Just be sure to cover and store in the refrigerator and don’t add the salad dressing until you are ready to serve it.

Watermelon Salad

Salad:

8 cups watermelon, cut into bite sized pieces

2 cups blueberries

½ cup feta cheese, crumbled or cubed

1 Tablespoon fresh mint, chopped

Dressing:

1 cup blueberries

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:

In a large bowl, toss together all of the salad ingredients. In a blender, liquefy the dressing ingredients. Drizzle dressing over individual servings of salad, as desired.