Grilled Peach with Ice cream

Summer is coming! O(∩_∩)O~。。。More and more fresh seasonal fruits are popping up in the market.  I bought some yellow peaches on my last grocery shopping trip.  They turn out to be quite tasteless and disappointing.  So I give them a little makeover.  I grill them with brown sugar and top with a couple scoops of ice cream.  Wow! What a huge difference in flavors!  

Ingredients:

4 to 6 yellow peaches
3 to 4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons cooking oil
a couple scoops of ice cream (I prefer vanilla or coffee flavor ice cream)

Directions：

Rinse and pat dry the peaches.  Remove peach cores and cut each peach into 6 wedges. 

In a big bowl, toss the peach wedges with oil and brown sugar until they are evenly coated. 

Heat a grilled pan on medium high.  When the pan gets hot, places peach wedges onto the grill pan cut side down.  Grill about 2 minutes each sides or until they get beautiful grill mark and brown sugar gets caramelized. 

Remove the pan from heat.  Transfer peaches to a bowl or plate, and top them with a couple scoops of ice cream.  I use coffee ice cream this time.  They really go well together. 

Actually you can grill a lot of other fruits in the same way.  But I think the peaches work a lot better than others. O(∩_∩)O~ 

Raspberry Yogurt

Did I mention that the best yogurt I have ever had is my own blueberry yogurt?  Well, the raspberry yogurt here is equally good if not better. 

I love making yogurt at home so that I can have as much berry sauce/jam as I want.  The best part is that no additives are added!   We all know yogurt is really great for digestion and health.  So we should start asking “got yogurt”? 

ingredients：

4 cups of whole milk
1 pack plain Greek yogurt (172g)
2 cups frozen raspberries
1/3 to 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoon blueberries
1 to 2 tablespoon water
fresh raspberries
confectioner’s sugar

I have posted homemade yogurt before.  For more detailed information: http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/homemade-blueberry-yogurt

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high until it boils.  It might take 6 to 8 minutes give or take depending on the microwave oven. 

When the milk cools down, remove the milk skin on top.

Empty the plain Greek yogurt to a large clean bowl; whisk until it becomes smooth and runny. 

Gradually add milk while whisking.

Distribute evenly into the glass jars that come with yogurt maker.  Or you can use any small glass jars as long as they can fit in the yogurt maker.

over with lids and place them in the yogurt maker (buy from AMAZON).  Turn it on.  In 5 to 7 hours, transfer them to refrigerator to settle down overnight.  You will have 7 jars of tasty plain yogurt the next day. 

Leave them in the yogurt maker longer if you prefer firmer yogurt texture. 

When the yogurt maker is doing its job, we can make raspberry sauce.

Combine raspberries, blueberries, water, brown sugar and lemon juice in a small pot; heat over medium high heat until it boils.  Reduce the heat to medium low; cook until the sauce thickens up; stir from time to time to prevent burning on the bottom.

Raspberries will lose their beautiful bright red color once cooked for a certain amount of time.  so I add blueberries to make the color more vibrant.  Just a couple tablespoons of blueberries will do the job.  Don’t add too much, otherwise it is going to be dark red or purple instead of red. 

Remove the raspberry sauce from heat.  Allow it to cool down before transfer to a mason jar.  Seal the jar and store in the refrigerator.  It should be able to last for a week.

Add one layer of raspberry sauce to a glass bowl or jar, add one layer of yogurt, and repeat it again.  Sprinkle on top with fresh raspberries and powder sugar.

Isn’t it pretty? 

Macaroons

中文：马卡龙

More macaroons!  I do love making these little sweet treats. 

I have posted the recipe several times before.  Here we go again.  I add some super fine ground coffee to half of the batch.  That is why some of them are darker color. 

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites

110g powder sugar
24g granulated sugar
60g almond flour (available at Meijer)

Direction:

Combine powder sugar and almond flour.  Pour the mixture into food processor.  Run the processor for about 10 seconds.  And then shift the flour mixture.  Discard any big almond pieces.

Beat the egg white with an electric whisk at medium speed for a couple minutes.  Add sugar when beating, little by little.  Stop beating when the stiff peak forms.

Fold the shifted almond flour mixture into egg whites. Fold it gently until the batter can fall smoothly like a silky ribbon.

Prepare a medium/large size pastry bag and NO. 12 tip.

Line a cookie pan with silicone baking mat.

Fill the pastry bag with almond batter.  Squeeze a dollar coin size batter onto the silicone mat, about a quarter inch in height.   Repeat it until all the batter is finished.  You should be able to get 18 to 22 ones. 

Tap the bottom of the cookie pan when done to smooth the cookie dough tops.

Let the pan sit on countertop until the surface becomes dry to touch.  It might take 30 to 60 minutes depending on the humidity around.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Bake in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes.  DO NOT open the oven to check cookies when baking.

Let cookies cool down on silicone mat a bit before transferring to a cooling rack.

Use any filling of your choice: jam, chocolate, cheese, nutella……….  Be creative! 

Rainbow Popcorn

I brought back a bag of rainbow popcorn kernels from my last trip to Frankenmuth.  They have gorgeous colors: red, purple, yellow, white, and blue. No wonder it is called rainbow popcorn.  However, all the colors are gone once they are heated in the microwave. 

I learned to use lunch bag to make popcorns years ago from Food Network Magazine.  And I have been doing my own popcorns this way ever since.  It is simple and fast.  More importantly, I can cut the butter/oil and sugar in half or more this way.  It is healthier!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup popcorn kernels
1 teaspoon oil
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar (use more if you have sweet tooth)
1 large big paper lunch bag


Directions:

Sprinkle the corn kernels with oil, and then mix with sugar.  Whisk until corn kernels are evenly coated with a thin layer of sugar.   

Add corn kernels to lunch bag.  Fold the bag several times.

Microwave it on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds to 2 minutes.  The time needed depends on microwave.  My old microwave used to take one and half minutes to make perfect popcorn, while the new one I bought needs 1 minutes and 45 seconds to get the job done.  You should be able to know how much time your own microwave needs after a couple times. 

Ta-dah! 

Throw in some beers; we are ready for a movie night at home!  

Blueberry yogurt

中文： 蓝莓果酱酸奶

The best yogurt goes to…tadah…my homemade blueberry yogurt!  I literally can’t get enough of them.  With a yogurt maker, I make seven or eight jar of yogurt at a time.  They are always gone in three days.  So I make yogurt and blueberry jam/sauce twice a week. 

Ingredients:

1 quart organic / regular whole milk (4 cups)
 1 small box of plain greek yogurt （5.3 oz, 150 g per box）

Notes:

I have tried both organic and regular whole milk.  The difference between them is not quite noticeable.  However, the yogurt made with whole milk tastes so much better than the one made with non-fat milk.  Please do use whole milk if you want your yogurt taste good.

Remember to read the ingredients list on the package before you buy any plain yogurt as starter.  It must contain live culture to make it work.

I don’t like to use homemade plain yogurt as starter to make another batch yogurt because the live culture will get weaker.  I always buy Meijer store brand or fage greek yogurt as starter.  

Directions:

Microwave the milk on high until it boils.  It might take 6 to 8 minutes give or take depending on the microwave oven. 

When the milk cools down, remove the milk skin on top.

Empty the plain greek yogurt to a large clean bowl; whisk until it becomes smooth and runny.  

Gradually add milk while whisking.

Distribute evenly into the glass jars that come with yogurt maker.  Or you can use any small glass jars as long as they can fit in the yogurt maker. 

Cover with lids and place them in the yogurt maker.  Turn it on.  In 5 to 7 hours, transfer them to refrigerator to settle down overnight.  You will have 7 jars of tasty plain yogurt the next day.

Leave them in the yogurt maker (buy from AMAZON) longer if you prefer firmer yogurt texture. 

I like to top it with homemade blueberry sauce.  It is way better than any blueberry yogurt I can find in the store, O(∩_∩)O~

I make one jar at a time. My husband and I were quite busy during summer time.  We camped, we hiked, we biked, and we went to farms to handpick blueberries and cherries and freeze them for later use.  I guess that is what makes it taste so good.  The secret ingredient is indeed love! 

For blueberry sauce：

3 cups frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 to 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (use more if prefer sweeter taste)

Place blueberries, lemon juice and brown sugar in a pot.  Heat over medium heat until it thickens.  Stir occasionally to prevent burning at the bottom.  Blend with a food processor (Buy from AMAZON) or hand blender (Buy from AMAZON) to make it smooth sauce. You can skip it if you prefer chunky blueberry sauce. 

When it cools down, cover with a lid and store in the refrigerator. 

How wonderful is this！O(∩_∩)O~ 

Sometimes I make yogurt in these cute pudding jars.  My sister sent them to me last year.  I just love them!

I can fit 8 of them in the yogurt maker at a time. 

You can also stir the yogurt and blueberry sauce together and then use a straw to enjoy them. O(∩_∩)O~