I discovered watermelon lemonade is super easy and so fun to make in the Vitamix. I've made it twice, the second time I added some glucomanan to make it just a bit thicker, so it was a little like drinking sherbet. 

Watermelon Lemonade

• 4 cups watermelon chunks
• 1 1/2 cups lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons truvia
• 1 teaspoon glucomannan (optional)

Blend for 30 to 45 seconds, add 4 cups ice and blend for 12-15 seconds. Serve.  

SnowAngel

I've wanted to post in this thread for sooooo long, but I didn't, and now I've forgotten most everything I wanted to share here.  

So I'll just post one thing tonight, that goes against all this HEALTHY stuff that is being discussed. I made homemade edible cookie dough a few weeks ago. Let me tell you, that stuff is ADDICTIVE and I probably won't make it again any time soon unless I have a large group of people around to share it with.  

Has anyone ever made or eaten grilled watermelon? I saw on the Netflix show Crazy Delicious...

@mm1991, I've had grilled pineapple (which was delicious), but not watermelon. It sounds very interesting.  

I made another lemonade recipe today. My mom dislikes all melon and she had to have some cantaloupe and honeydew melon so she can take a food sensitivity test, so I made mixed melon lemonade. In addition to using cantaloupe and honeydew melon for this recipe, I also used half of a lemon since it was available and I could use it.  Oh, and I used xanthan gum to thicken it instead of glucomannan. I prefer the xanthan gum over glucomannan, the lemonade could have less than 1 1/2 teaspoons that happened to be the measuring spoon I grabbed from the drawer.  

Mixed Melon Lemonade

• 4 cups melon, chunks (I used half cantaloupe/half honeydew)
• 3/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 lemon, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Truvia
• 1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

Blend in Vitamix for 30-40 seconds. Add 3-4 cups ice cubes, blend for 10-15 seconds. Serve.

SnowAngel

I've been playing with the Vitamix again, this time I was trying to make a replacement for yogurt jello (fruit yogurt + jello). I came up with a recipe using kefir instead of yogurt, just because we usually don't have extra yogurt, and gelatin + lemon or lime juice + berries for jello. The first flavor combo I made was lime blueberry, it was so yummy. Then I tried lemon raspberry and it was really good too.

Kefir Jello

1/2 cup water, cold
3 T. gelatin
1/2 cup water, hot
1/2 cup lemon juice or lime juice
1 T. NuStevia
3 cups kefir
2 1/2 cups berries/fruit (can be frozen)

Bloom gelatin in cold water for five minutes, then add to Vitamix. Add hot water, lemon juice, and NuStevia then blend for 30-45 seconds. Add kefir, blend for 15 seconds. Add berries/fruit, blend for 30-45 seconds. Pour into serving dish immediately (especially if using frozen berries/fruit). Will set up in just a few minutes if using frozen berries/fruits.

Oh, I tried whipped cream in the Vitamix, 20 seconds and no more.  

SnowAngel

@SnowAngel, I just realized that the Vitamix wasn't some kind of vitamin supplement thing but a blender. The kefir jello sounds yummy! I've never had kefir before, but I wonder if it's similar to skyr? 

Well, I am continuing my bread-making journey! I recently tried making pizza dough and succeeded! My mom also found a really yummy sauce that we used for the pizza sauce, so it tasted more like the pizza sauce I've been looking for. My family really enjoyed it! Yay!

I think I'm going to try sandwich bread next. I didn't know making bread could be so much fun! I especially enjoy kneading the dough!

~ Wunder

This topic always makes me salivate! That edible cookie dough sounds amazing, fantasia!

'Tis the season (from now until well into Autumn) where every meal we have has at least a few items either from our garden or from the local market (which only sources from farms within 75 kms). Many meals we have are comprised entirely of local produce, meat, baked goods—again, often from our own garden or kitchen (except the meat).

This week and today I made cornmeal, blueberry, and banana chocolate-chip muffins, as well as two peach pies. This is because family is coming to visit this weekend. Tomorrow I am adding angel food cake with whipped cream, and slathered in raspberries. Our veggies will be all from our garden: beans, tomatoes, beets, lettuce. The latter two are supplemented from our local market, as the beets and lettuce are just beginning fully mature.

The peaches 'n cream corn this time of year is phenomenal. We always BBQ ours. I brush olive oil on each cob (husked) before cooking: this is so tasty no butter is needed! Scrumptious.

Ooh, look what I found! A time travel food blog! Highlights include:

• Vintage school lunch recipes and menus
• Victorian rasperry tea cakes
• Portuguese Moorish chicken (of course you have to have cinnamon!)

@snowangel, what all have you been making recently?

@wunderkind_lucy, are you still on a bread making spree?

@jo, yum, yum! Do you do anything special with the peach pie crusts or are they just normal rolled-out ones?

@the-old-maid, thanks for sharing that blog link! I just read through the 1916 school lunch entry, and there were a lot of entries that looked intriguing.

My cooking of late has been waffles - one batch regular, one batch potato waffles (this was new for me, but turned out pretty well) - and pizza (sweet potato and spinach, no tomato sauce). I've made variations on the pizza before, mostly on pitas, but I actually made pizza dough this time, and added some spinach to the crust as well. I really enjoyed it and have almost finished all the pieces I had frozen, so I think I will try to make another one soon. I also made a batch of cornbread this week; I wouldn't say it was a standout, but it tasted fine - and I've got most of it in the freezer for later, so that counts as a success.  

Posted by: @wunderkind_lucy

@SnowAngel, I just realized that the Vitamix wasn't some kind of vitamin supplement thing but a blender. The kefir jello sounds yummy! I've never had kefir before, but I wonder if it's similar to skyr? 

I've never heard of skyr, but it sounds more like Greek yogurt than kefir. Kefir is thinner than yogurt and thicker than milk, it's more like buttermilk in texture. 

@valiantarcher, I haven't been in the kitchen as much this month, but we did get to pick raspberries at a friends' house a couple weeks ago and we made jam with the berries. We made three batches of raspberry-rhubarb, two rhubarb, and one raspberry. Strawberries didn't drop in price this summer, so we haven't made any strawberry jam this year. Hopefully we have enough jams and jellies (dandelion, fireweed, and clover) to get us through the winter without strawberry.

Yum, pizza. Have you tried pizza waffles, Valia? I have enchilada sauce in the freezer that I really want to use for pizza with chicken, bell pepper, and cilantro. I'm hungry.

SnowAngel

Posted by: @the-old-maid

Ooh, look what I found! A time travel food blog!

I'm really enjoying looking through this too, thanks! Very intrigued by the Portuguese Moorish Chicken as well. The "14th Century Blank Maunger" recipe might also come in useful some day...  

I'd say the jam making is pretty good, @snowangel! I don't know that I'd ever heard of the jellies you made too - do you pick them wild?
I have not made pizza waffles, but it's something I've considered; I mostly get put off by the mess it would make of the waffle maker. I also don't usually like eating a lot of tomato sauce, so I'd probably have to tweak recipes.

I did end up making another pizza tonight. I tried a potato pizza dough instead of a yeast one; the taste was okay, but the dough was incredibly sticky to work with (it probably should've risen a bit longer). I also accidentally spilled too much oil on the dough, so it was swimming in it when I went to add the toppings (spinach, sweet potato, mozzarella & parmesan cheeses). So it turned out okay, but definitely not as good as my previous one.

@snowangel, ditto Valia's question about the jams. Earlier this summer we ran low on sweet stuff to put on sandwiches and all I had handy was rhubarb. 

This year our crabapple tree had a bounteous crop, so my little sister and I picked a bunch and have made a batch of fruit leather and a couple batches of applesauce. I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead and make the rest of the applesauce into fruit leather because that's already gone. Cutting crabapples gets tedious though.

Friends gave us an enormous batch of pears, which cooks up nicely as pearsauce. And I discovered recipes for pear caramel which tastes really good though I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it (does it go in pear pie? on a cheesecake? should I make a flan? drizzle it over apple slices? put it on toast? or ice cream? just eat it with a spoon?)

I have yet to figure out fruit leather made from pears, however. So far it has a tendency to crack instead of be nice and smooth and flexible.

So, @mel, based on my now extensive knowledge* on making fruit leather, is there a possibility of mixing the applesauce and the pearsauce together to reduce the cracking?
I would think any of the options you mentioned for the pear caramel would be good! Can it actually be turned into soft caramel candies too?

(*I read one article. But it was a very interesting and informative article! )

*peeks in*

I guess I've been AWOL for a while. Between job searching and helping around the house, I've been pretty busy.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

@wunderkind_lucy, are you still on a bread making spree?

Yes, I am, actually! This time I've tried baking some cream cheese dinner rolls that have turned out quite lovely. They're delicious with strawberry jam! I've also been baking white chocolate cranberry cookies, and my newest try was almond cinnamon cookies (I should try adding raisins or cranberries to them). Apparently, they're called ugly cookies, but they're not ugly at all! They're just nice and full.  

I've made the pizza dough several times, but I'm still figuring it out as it was a little on the bland side. Adding some garlic powder at the end seems to help though. I really liked using the dough to make pepperoni calzones! They were quite yummy!

I also tried making nacho cheese again. It's so hard to make nacho cheese without using processed cheese, but ever since we've switched over to organic and non-GMO food, my youngest sister has been asking for nacho cheese. The last time I tried making nacho cheese, the sauce was too grainy. This time we went with a simple recipe that called for corn starch, milk, and shredded white cheddar cheese as the base. We added tabasco sauce and red chili peppers to add the spicyness. It was still a tiny bit grainy, but it was definitely better than my first try.

@snowangel, your selection of jams and jellies sounds interesting. I've heard of dandelion salad and clover honey, but not jams or jellies. I do know that you can use the roots and leaves of the dandelion for tea (it's good for people with blood sugar issues).

I'm thinking of trying to bake cakes again, but the last couple of cakes I baked were too sweet and heavy according to my family. 

~ Wunder