The Plumstatic Fruit of Summer

 

Fresh picked local produce is a summer pleasure. We have a nice selection of summer vegetables grown locally. Growing fruit in these mountains is tougher. We found these large plums in an orchard 160 miles northeast of Morgantown in Thurmont, Md. The plums are juicy and delicious. Each plum yields a cup or more of fruit.

People often ask me for my smoothie recipe. My favorite has just three ingredients-fresh fruit, Greek Yogurt, and liquid for blending (juice or milk). This fruit is so sweet that no additional sweeteners are needed!

Plums have vitamins, minerals and prebiotic fiber. The prebiotics serve as food for the probiotics in the yogurt. Greek yogurt is rich in high quality protein.

My Plum Financier, made with whole grain and almond flour made my breakfast complete.

Fruit Smoothie 

(12 ounce)

3/4 cup Greek Yogurt

1 1/2 cup fruit

4 ounce juice or milk

Blend until smooth.

Financiers are tiny cakes. Recipes are available on line and in cookbooks. These have egg whites, whole grain flour and almond flour.

Cherries 2 Way

 

Sweet cherries have many nutrients-vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. Cherries may help reduce inflammation and could even help one sleep. Sweet cherries are delicious fresh and also cooked. Here’s how to make a cherry mixture to serve with dessert or in smoothies. 

Cherry Compote

(6 servings)

Mix cherries, sugar and water. Cook on stovetop over medium heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice.

1 pound cherries, pitted

2 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoon water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Pictured above over my Breakfast Cheesecake.

The whole cherries with stems were roasted at 425 for 20 minutes.

In Summer’s Kitchen: Cherry Clafouti

 

It was such a treat to find fresh local cherries on our back road trip in rural West Virginia. This simple crustless custard, a “ Clafouti”, is made with those cherries and other minimally processed foods found in the kitchen. 

Cherry Clafouti

(3 Servings)

Whisk together egg, milk and yogurt.

1 egg

1/3 cup skim milk

2 Tablespoon 2 teaspoon Greek Yogurt, plain nonfat 

Add sugar, flour salt and extracts.

1 Tablespoon sugar 

2 Tablespoon 2 teaspoons flour

Dash of salt

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/8 teaspoon almond extract 

Add butter and zest.

1 tablespoon melted butter 

Zest from 1 lemon 

Divide into individual ramekins greased with olive oil spray.

Top with cherries.

1/3 cup pitted cherries 

Bake at 335 F for 30-35 minutes.

Also delicious is the chocolate version made with unsweetened chocolate and cocoa.

Chocolate Clafouti 

(3 Servings

Whisk together egg, milk and vanilla.

1 egg

1/3 cup skim milk

1/3 teaspoon vanilla

Add sugar,, flour, cocoa and ground chocolate.

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon 2 teaspoon whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

2 2/3 ounce 100% cacao chocolate, ground

Divide into 3 greased ramekins.

Top with cherries.

1/3 cup pitted cherries.

Bake at 335F 20 minutes.

These are versatile recipes, easy to make in larger quantities with other varieties of fruit.

 

Loving Food the Whole Foods Way

 

These recipes were inspired by those in the Economy Gastronomy Cookbook. The chefs who wrote this book, Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett, were recommended by Chris van Tulleken in his book Processed People-the Science Behind the Food (2023). Tulleken's book was mentioned in the recent issue of Dietitian Today.  Our local library has the book. I first read both in 2023 and signed them out again after reading the article.

This time I made smaller amounts of recipes, which still produced enough for dinner, with some for leftovers and some to freeze. That's the secret to spending less (time and money). 

 

The ingredients are those found in the home kitchen and little from ultra processed foods. This is not a hard concept. Is that what is meant by "just eat real food"?

Last night's dinner was a simple crockpot meat featuring new potatoes and a top sirloin steak (1 pound), cooked in a cup of cheap wine with onion, garlic, a few cabbage leaves and spices (salt, pepper, parsley, thyme and nutmeg). About 1 hour before eating, I stirred in a non GMO cornstarch mix of 1 teaspoon each cornstarch and cold water. 

Here are the inspired recipes I will keep: 

Pita Burgers with Tzatzki Sauce

(2 servings)

5 ounce ground meat

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground mint

1 tablespoon Tahini

Mix ground meat (beef, turkey or chicken). Shape into 1 tablespoon balls. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 160 F. Serve on pita with Tzatzki Sauce.

Tzatzki Sauce

2 tablespoon feta cheese

5 tablespoon Greek yogurt 

1/3 cup cucumbers 

Mix in food processor until cucumbers are desired size.

Salmon Spread

(4 servings)

3 ounce smoked salmon

Leftover cooked salmon (about 3 ounce)

Squeeze of lemon juice

1 tablespoon Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon horseradish 

Mix in food processor.

Crab-Scrub Cakes

(2-3 servings)

1/3 cup cooked potatoes 

4 ounce crab meat

1 tablespoon beaten egg

1 teaspoon flour

1 teaspoon horseradish Mix

1 tablespoon crackers crumbs

Mix in food processor. Portion into cakes. Sauté in small amount of olive oil over medium heat, flipping once to brown on both sides.

The Nutrition Label: This Cafeteria Got It Right

You can too using made from scratch whole foods!

In the last years of the twentieth century, quantity packages of food were not required to have nutrition labels. Many customers wanted nutrition labels at point of service. The work began. With help from the salesperson and a computerized computer program, the work began. First, ingredients for recipes were entered. The highlight of the process: the staff made everything from scratch using ingredients found in the kitchen and storage areas.

I was a retail dietitian.  I used the information to plan meal deals, to meet the Mayo Clinic guidelines for sodium, to meet the American Heart Association guidelines for added sugar, to determine eligibility for the Whole Grains Stamp and to add value before testing.  The nutrition labels gave customers nutrition facts as well as ingredients so they could determine the fit into their eating plan. We used limited manufactured preservatives, additive, flavored and colored ingredients.

The same principles apply in the home:

Use whole ingredients found in the kitchen.

Fit those into a healthy eating plan.

The Perfect Bread with Easter Dinner

 

This Marble Whole Grain Bread champions a Ham, Au Gratin, Green Beans and Pineapple meal. It includes my whole rye sourdough discard and instant yeast. I adjusted the flours in the recipe to include whole rye, whole wheat and all purpose flours with just the right amount whole grain flour to make it 50% whole grain.

Here's the recipe with Cindy's adjustments. Original recipe from King Arthur. 

Marble Whole Grain Bread

(2 Loaves)

Night Before:

44 grams sourdough culture (mine is whole rye)

145 grams whole rye flour

73 grams all purpose flour

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold water  

In mixer with dough hook in place, combine sourdough culture with water, whole rye and all purpose flour. Turn dough into greased bowl. Knead by hand  into sticky ball. Cover and let sit at room temperature over night.

 

Next day:

312 grams all purpose flour

196 grams whole wheat flour

3 Tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 eggs, warmed to room temperature

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoon olive oil. 

In mixer with dough hook in place, combine all ingredients. Knead for 8-10 minutes until dough leaves the side of the bowl.

 

With scraper, break off 2/3 of the dough to and place in greased bowl. Cover. 

To remaining dough, add:

1/4 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa

1 Tablespoon molasses

Mix thoroughly, then place in greased bowl. Cover.

 

Let both doughs rise in warm place until double in bulk.

 

To shape dough:

Divide each in half. 

 

On lightly floured board, roll lighter dough into a rectangle about 12 inches by 10 inches. 

On second floured board, roll dark dough into a smaller rectangle.

Place the dark dough on the lighter dough. Fold shorter ends of light dough over dark dough. From the top of the long side, roll 2 doughs toward you.  Place in greased pan. 

Repeat with remaining dough.

Cover and let rise until double.

 

Bake at 360 F for 30 minutes. Cover with foil the last 10 minutes of baking.

It's Whole Grains Time for Life Long Learners

Whole Grains Sampling Day has become a tradition among life long learners locally. Today's event focused on brunch. Today's participants enjoyed porridge, waffles, parfaits, salads and cookies.

Guests sampled 9 different whole grains today. Most folks have only tried a handful of whole grains in their entire lives. Guests were asked what new whole grain they'd make at home and Millet was the most selected grain. Winners of a drawing received prizes from a local grower of buckwheat, wheat, corn (grits and popcorn).

The grains enjoyed with links for recipes is here:

Millet Porridge  http://cindyshealthymeals.blogspot.com/2024/11/diversify-your-grains-with-millet.html

Amaranth, Oat and Brown Rice Waffle http://cindyshealthymeals.blogspot.com/2025/03/try-new-recipe-every-week.html 

Teff Parfait http://cindyshealthymeals.blogspot.com/2024/11/try-teff-parfait-for-breakfast.html
 

Millet, Amaranth and Teff are C4 Grains . The C4 grains have reduced environmental impact. They are more water efficient and climate tolerant. Amaranth is a complete protein. Teff has 2X the iron of other grains and 3X the calcium.

 

Freekah Salad http://cindyshealthymeals.blogspot.com/2024/11/fire-roasted-freekeh-adds-flavor-to.html

Freekah is a smoky bulgur. Bulgur has more fiber than quinoa, oats, millet, buckwheat and corn.

Ezekiel Cookies http://cindyshealthymeals.blogspot.com/2025/01/ezekiel-cookies.html  

Ezekiel flour has 4 grains (spelt, wheat, barley, millet) and 4 beans.