Fruits & Veggies
When I was growing up, a constant refrain (at dinner time, anyway) was, "Eat your vegetables!"
This, of course, could include fruits. But since they are a little sweeter (most of the time), it was frequently easier to get us to eat fruits, even if it was only a little easier.
Here are six fruit and veggie desserts that might just make it a little easier to get the family to go after their fruits and veggies. Check out the Baked Peaches with Caramel Sauce, the Kiwi and Orange Compote with Almonds, or any of the other yummy desserts in today's post. Enjoy!
ORIGINAL PLUM TORTE
This is from The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. It begins, “The Times published Marian Burros’s recipe for Plum Torte every September from 1983 until 1989, when the editors determined that enough was enough. The recipe was to be printed for the last time that year. 'To counter anticipated protests,' Ms. Burros wrote a few years later, 'the recipe was printed in larger type than usual with a broken-line border around it to encourage clipping.” It didn’t help. The paper was flooded with angry letters. “The appearance of the recipe, like the torte itself, is bittersweet,' wrote a reader in Tarrytown, N.Y. 'Summer is leaving, fall is coming. That's what your annual recipe is all about. Don't be grumpy about it.' We are not! And we pledge that every year, as summer gives way to fall, we will make sure that the recipe is easily available to one and all. The original 1983 recipe called for 1 cup sugar; the 1989 version reduced that to 3/4 cup. We give both options below. Here are five ways to adapt the torte.” Yield: 8 servings; Time: 1 hour 15 minutes.
This was featured in “Eating Well” and can be viewed online here.
Ingredients
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup unbleached flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt (optional)
2 eggs
24 halves pitted purple plums
Sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, for topping
Preparation
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well.
Spoon the batter into a springform pan of 8, 9 or 10 inches. Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and lemon juice, depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, depending on how much you like cinnamon.
Bake 1 hour, approximately. Remove and cool; refrigerate or freeze if desired. Or cool to lukewarm and serve plain or with whipped cream. (To serve a torte that was frozen, defrost and reheat it briefly at 300 degrees.)
Tip
To freeze, double-wrap the torte in foil, place in a plastic bag and seal.
KIWI AND ORANGE COMPOTE WITH ALMONDS
This is from the May 2005 issue of Vegetarian Times (page 42). It is in an article titled Calci-yum!, and begins, "This is a very simple dessert: nothing more than fresh kiwi, oranges and a spiced syrup, but it tastes heavenly. " Makes 4 servings
To view this online, go to https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/kiwi-and-orange-compote-with-almonds/.
Ingredients
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 whole cardamom pods, crushed
2 whole allspice
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large oranges, peeled and white pith removed, cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices
4 kiwis, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices
2 Tbs. sliced almonds, toasted
Preparation
Combine 3/4 cup water, sugar, cardamom, allspice and cinnamon in saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and cook until liquid is syrupy and slightly reduced, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Put orange and kiwi slices in shallow bowl. Pour hot syrup over fruit. Let cool to room temperature, cover and chill at least 1 hour, up to 4 hours. Sprinkle with almonds, and serve.
PEAR AND GINGERSNAP CRUMBLE
This is from the November/December 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times (page 42), and begins, "Canned pears are already tender, so this crumble only needs to bake until the juices bubble, cutting the cooking time to less than half that of making this dessert with fresh fruit." Makes 8 servings
To view this online, go to https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/pear-and-gingersnap-crumble/.
Ingredients
2 29-oz. cans pear halves in heavy syrup
3 Tbs. diced crystallized ginger
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
10 oz. (about 40) gingersnap cookies
3 Tbs. dark brown sugar
1 pint low-fat vanilla ice cream
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375F. Coat 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and set aside.
Drain all but 1/3 cup syrup from canned pears. Cut pears into large chunks. Toss pears, reserved 1/3 cup of syrup, ginger and 1 Tbs. butter in prepared baking dish.
Pulse cookies in food processor until coarsely crumbled. Add sugar and remaining 4 Tbs. butter, and pulse to blend. Sprinkle cookie mixture over pears. Bake 18 minutes, or until juices bubble. Spoon into bowls, top with dollop of ice cream, and serve.
RHUBARB-STRAWBERRY REFRIGERATOR CAKE
My family spent several years in northeast Connecticut. When I was 15, my parents bought a new house in South Woodstock (we'd lived in Thompson).
One of the new house's charms was a good-sized garden; a large patch of rhubarb threatened to overrun the entire garden. While Dad claimed most of the garden (as “John’s Pea Patch”), Mom decided that the rhubarb was hers. This is one of the many rhubarb desserts we had that year.
This recipe can be found in my e-cookbook Off the Wall Cooking.
Ingredients
6 C rhubarb, cut in 1/2” pieces
1 tsp. vanilla
3 dozen lady fingers, split
1/2 C sugar
whole fresh strawberries
2 pks. (3 oz. each) strawberry gelatin
2 C heavy cream, whipped
Directions
Combine rhubarb, sugar and 1 C water in saucepan. Bring to boil. Boil 6 – 8 minutes until soft. Drain 1 C syrup and save. Put rhubarb and remaining syrup in blender. Make pulp (3-1/2 C). Bring pulp to boil. Pour over gelatin and stir until dissolved. Chill until slightly thickened but not firm. Fold in whipped cream. Add vanilla. Line 9” springform pan (3” deep) with ladyfingers. Alternate layers of rhubarb mix and ladyfingers, ending with rhubarb. Chill overnight, or until firm. Top with glaze and strawberries.
Glaze: Mix reserve syrup and 1/4 C sugar. Bring to boil & stir in 1 1/2 T cornstarch. Blend with small amount of water. Boil and cook, stirring until thickened and clean. Add a few drops of red food coloring. Cool.
BAKED PEACHES WITH CARAMEL SAUCE
This comes from Vegetarian Times, and begins, "Serve the peaches topped with your favorite frozen dessert." Serves 6.
While it was on page 59 of the July/August 2005 issue, you can find it at https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/baked-peaches-with-caramel-sauce/.
Ingredients
2 lb. peaches
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup rice syrup
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 pint frozen dessert
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400F.
Bring large saucepan of water to a boil. Add peaches; blanch 1 minute. Using spoon, remove peaches; slip off skins. Halve peaches, and remove pits.
Combine maple syrup, rice syrup, 1/3 cup water, cinnamon stick and salt in 8×11-inch baking dish; blend. Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Open bean, flatten and scrape out seeds. Add seeds and pod to dish. Arrange peaches in syrup, cut side up.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes, turning peaches once after 10 minutes, or until tender. Using spoon, remove peaches from syrup; set aside. Remove and discard cinnamon stick and vanilla bean pod. Pour pan syrup and lemon juice into skillet. Bring mixture to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Serve peaches warm, topped with scoop of frozen dessert and drizzled with caramel sauce.
MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH BERRY TRIFLE
This is from September 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times (page 85), and begins, "Even though you can use fresh berries in this trifle, frozen work better because they give off more juicy goodness for the chunks of pound cake to absorb." Makes 16 servings
To view this online, go to https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/melt-in-your-mouth-berry-trifle/.
Ingredients
2 10-oz. bags organic frozen strawberries, thawed
2 10-oz. bags organic frozen blueberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup low-fat sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 16-oz. fat-free pound cake
1 cup raspberry jam
Preparation
Toss together strawberries, blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in large bowl. Combine yogurt, sour cream and vanilla in separate bowl.
Stand pound cake on side. Cut cake into 4 thin slices lengthwise. Spread first slice with 1/4 cup jam, and top with second slice. Continue with remaining slices and jam, and finish with layer of jam on top of cake. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Line bottom and sides of clear trifle dish or large glass soufflé dish with prepared cake slices. Spoon in half of fruit. Top with half of yogurt mixture. Layer with remaining cake slices, fruit and yogurt mixtures. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill 4 hours, or overnight, to allow trifle to set.
This, of course, could include fruits. But since they are a little sweeter (most of the time), it was frequently easier to get us to eat fruits, even if it was only a little easier.
Here are six fruit and veggie desserts that might just make it a little easier to get the family to go after their fruits and veggies. Check out the Baked Peaches with Caramel Sauce, the Kiwi and Orange Compote with Almonds, or any of the other yummy desserts in today's post. Enjoy!
ORIGINAL PLUM TORTE
This is from The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. It begins, “The Times published Marian Burros’s recipe for Plum Torte every September from 1983 until 1989, when the editors determined that enough was enough. The recipe was to be printed for the last time that year. 'To counter anticipated protests,' Ms. Burros wrote a few years later, 'the recipe was printed in larger type than usual with a broken-line border around it to encourage clipping.” It didn’t help. The paper was flooded with angry letters. “The appearance of the recipe, like the torte itself, is bittersweet,' wrote a reader in Tarrytown, N.Y. 'Summer is leaving, fall is coming. That's what your annual recipe is all about. Don't be grumpy about it.' We are not! And we pledge that every year, as summer gives way to fall, we will make sure that the recipe is easily available to one and all. The original 1983 recipe called for 1 cup sugar; the 1989 version reduced that to 3/4 cup. We give both options below. Here are five ways to adapt the torte.” Yield: 8 servings; Time: 1 hour 15 minutes.
This was featured in “Eating Well” and can be viewed online here.
Ingredients
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup unbleached flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt (optional)
2 eggs
24 halves pitted purple plums
Sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, for topping
Preparation
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well.
Spoon the batter into a springform pan of 8, 9 or 10 inches. Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and lemon juice, depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, depending on how much you like cinnamon.
Bake 1 hour, approximately. Remove and cool; refrigerate or freeze if desired. Or cool to lukewarm and serve plain or with whipped cream. (To serve a torte that was frozen, defrost and reheat it briefly at 300 degrees.)
Tip
To freeze, double-wrap the torte in foil, place in a plastic bag and seal.
KIWI AND ORANGE COMPOTE WITH ALMONDS
This is from the May 2005 issue of Vegetarian Times (page 42). It is in an article titled Calci-yum!, and begins, "This is a very simple dessert: nothing more than fresh kiwi, oranges and a spiced syrup, but it tastes heavenly. " Makes 4 servings
To view this online, go to https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/kiwi-and-orange-compote-with-almonds/.
Ingredients
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 whole cardamom pods, crushed
2 whole allspice
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large oranges, peeled and white pith removed, cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices
4 kiwis, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices
2 Tbs. sliced almonds, toasted
Preparation
Combine 3/4 cup water, sugar, cardamom, allspice and cinnamon in saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and cook until liquid is syrupy and slightly reduced, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Put orange and kiwi slices in shallow bowl. Pour hot syrup over fruit. Let cool to room temperature, cover and chill at least 1 hour, up to 4 hours. Sprinkle with almonds, and serve.
PEAR AND GINGERSNAP CRUMBLE
This is from the November/December 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times (page 42), and begins, "Canned pears are already tender, so this crumble only needs to bake until the juices bubble, cutting the cooking time to less than half that of making this dessert with fresh fruit." Makes 8 servings
To view this online, go to https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/pear-and-gingersnap-crumble/.
Ingredients
2 29-oz. cans pear halves in heavy syrup
3 Tbs. diced crystallized ginger
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
10 oz. (about 40) gingersnap cookies
3 Tbs. dark brown sugar
1 pint low-fat vanilla ice cream
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375F. Coat 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and set aside.
Drain all but 1/3 cup syrup from canned pears. Cut pears into large chunks. Toss pears, reserved 1/3 cup of syrup, ginger and 1 Tbs. butter in prepared baking dish.
Pulse cookies in food processor until coarsely crumbled. Add sugar and remaining 4 Tbs. butter, and pulse to blend. Sprinkle cookie mixture over pears. Bake 18 minutes, or until juices bubble. Spoon into bowls, top with dollop of ice cream, and serve.
RHUBARB-STRAWBERRY REFRIGERATOR CAKE
My family spent several years in northeast Connecticut. When I was 15, my parents bought a new house in South Woodstock (we'd lived in Thompson).
One of the new house's charms was a good-sized garden; a large patch of rhubarb threatened to overrun the entire garden. While Dad claimed most of the garden (as “John’s Pea Patch”), Mom decided that the rhubarb was hers. This is one of the many rhubarb desserts we had that year.
This recipe can be found in my e-cookbook Off the Wall Cooking.
Ingredients
6 C rhubarb, cut in 1/2” pieces
1 tsp. vanilla
3 dozen lady fingers, split
1/2 C sugar
whole fresh strawberries
2 pks. (3 oz. each) strawberry gelatin
2 C heavy cream, whipped
Directions
Combine rhubarb, sugar and 1 C water in saucepan. Bring to boil. Boil 6 – 8 minutes until soft. Drain 1 C syrup and save. Put rhubarb and remaining syrup in blender. Make pulp (3-1/2 C). Bring pulp to boil. Pour over gelatin and stir until dissolved. Chill until slightly thickened but not firm. Fold in whipped cream. Add vanilla. Line 9” springform pan (3” deep) with ladyfingers. Alternate layers of rhubarb mix and ladyfingers, ending with rhubarb. Chill overnight, or until firm. Top with glaze and strawberries.
Glaze: Mix reserve syrup and 1/4 C sugar. Bring to boil & stir in 1 1/2 T cornstarch. Blend with small amount of water. Boil and cook, stirring until thickened and clean. Add a few drops of red food coloring. Cool.
BAKED PEACHES WITH CARAMEL SAUCE
This comes from Vegetarian Times, and begins, "Serve the peaches topped with your favorite frozen dessert." Serves 6.
While it was on page 59 of the July/August 2005 issue, you can find it at https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/baked-peaches-with-caramel-sauce/.
Ingredients
2 lb. peaches
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup rice syrup
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 pint frozen dessert
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400F.
Bring large saucepan of water to a boil. Add peaches; blanch 1 minute. Using spoon, remove peaches; slip off skins. Halve peaches, and remove pits.
Combine maple syrup, rice syrup, 1/3 cup water, cinnamon stick and salt in 8×11-inch baking dish; blend. Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Open bean, flatten and scrape out seeds. Add seeds and pod to dish. Arrange peaches in syrup, cut side up.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes, turning peaches once after 10 minutes, or until tender. Using spoon, remove peaches from syrup; set aside. Remove and discard cinnamon stick and vanilla bean pod. Pour pan syrup and lemon juice into skillet. Bring mixture to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Serve peaches warm, topped with scoop of frozen dessert and drizzled with caramel sauce.
MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH BERRY TRIFLE
This is from September 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times (page 85), and begins, "Even though you can use fresh berries in this trifle, frozen work better because they give off more juicy goodness for the chunks of pound cake to absorb." Makes 16 servings
To view this online, go to https://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/melt-in-your-mouth-berry-trifle/.
Ingredients
2 10-oz. bags organic frozen strawberries, thawed
2 10-oz. bags organic frozen blueberries, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
2/3 cup low-fat sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 16-oz. fat-free pound cake
1 cup raspberry jam
Preparation
Toss together strawberries, blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in large bowl. Combine yogurt, sour cream and vanilla in separate bowl.
Stand pound cake on side. Cut cake into 4 thin slices lengthwise. Spread first slice with 1/4 cup jam, and top with second slice. Continue with remaining slices and jam, and finish with layer of jam on top of cake. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
Line bottom and sides of clear trifle dish or large glass soufflé dish with prepared cake slices. Spoon in half of fruit. Top with half of yogurt mixture. Layer with remaining cake slices, fruit and yogurt mixtures. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill 4 hours, or overnight, to allow trifle to set.
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