Pineapple Habanero Birthday Sorbet

You may have noticed the radio silence around here for the past three months. That is because, until yesterday, we had no refrigerator.

Right before Christmas, we woke up to room-temperature milk and OJ. The fridge was on, but not cold. We were getting ready to go out of town for ten days, and our budget was already blown on travel and Christmas presents, so we said "Screw it, we don't need a new fridge until January." The weekend after our trip, we did a little online window shopping and decided to get a new stove as well; it'd be nice to be able to cook something without the smoke detectors going off. The cost of a new stove and a new fridge meant we had to save up a bit before we could buy, because we didn't want to put it on credit. It was about 15 degrees outside, so we just put our milk, eggs, OJ, and beer in a cooler and put it out on the fire escape.

All was well and good, until it started getting up to 30, then 45 degrees. On the first day it actually hit 60, we knew it was seriously time to go get the fridge. After four weeks of back-order purgatory, our new appliances arrived!

Here they are, already broken-in with finger smudges, magnets, and bacon-grease.

The first thing I made in the new oven? My birthday cake! The first thing I made with the help of the fridge? Pineapple Habanero Sorbet.

Pineapple Habanero Sorbet

Ingredients

3 cups fresh pineapple, chopped
1/2 habanero pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped
1/3 cups water
1/3 cups light rum
3/4 cups sugar

Directions:
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Put in the ice cream maker your boyfriend's mom gave you for Christmas, but that you haven't been able to use for three months because you didn't have a freezer. Let sit for four hours.

Yields 1 quart.

Recipe from Thursday Night Smackdown.

Watermelon Salad

Aha! An actual new blog post about an actual recipe I actually made!

I've made this watermelon salad at least half-a-dozen times this summer. I've been obsessed with watermelon, and this dish will only work if you've got a nice ripe one.

Ingredients
Half of a large watermelon (seedless if you can)
1 vidalia onion
1 bunch of mint
Balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
Lemon or lime juice
Salt & pepper

Yields
5+ servings

Directions
1. Cut the watermelon into bite-size pieces. I've found the best way to do this is to do the same way you do an avocado: slice a grid then scoop out with a spoon.

(photo from Simply Recipes)

2. Slice the onion. I like mine sliced very thinly, almost translucent. You can do a rouch chop (guacamole style) if you'd like or if you don't have the patience.
3. Chop the mint. I like to roll mine up and then cut it with kitchen scissors, chiffonade-style, but you can chop it how you like.

(photo from Wikipedia)

 4. Dump the watermelon, onion, and mint in a serving bowl. Toss with a dash of balsamic, a splash of olive oil, two or three squirts of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Tastes good cold from the fridge, or room temp. Would also be good with basil instead of mint, or adding cucumbers or tomatoes.

Printable recipe

Banana 'Ice Cream'

This is so simple, yet so tasty, and you won't believe it until you try it.

Ingredient
Bananas

(yep, that's it!)

Directions
Slice up a banana or two, then freeze it.

I've found it's easier to slice then freeze, since cutting a frozen banana isn't easy. It'll take a few hours for your slices to freeze. I usually let mine go overnight.

Whip out your trusty Magic Bullet or blender.

Toss in your bananas and blend.

You can dribble in a tiny bit of milk or vanilla or cream if you want, but your bananas, after a minute or so, will come out looking like this:

Unless, of course, your Magic Bullet dies. Which mine finally did, right in the middle of banana-ice-cream-making magic. The above picture is a screen shot from months ago when I first tried this recipe.

So what's a girl with a broken Magic Bullet and no blender and a serious craving for banana ice cream supposed to do?

She gets creative. And out comes the hand mixer. And guess what? It worked!

A blender is still ideal, to get the ultimate creaminess. Seriously, it gets to the exact texture of soft-serve ice cream.

You can even store it in the freezer, then later serve it to your guests at a dinner party and make them guess the ingredients. Or ingredient.

Or you can add some mini chocolate chips and gobble the whole thing. What? It's just bananas! It's good for you!

Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Bacon and Pear (Apple) Recipe

Ingredients and instructions are probably not necessary, but let’s stick with tradition.

Ingredients
French or Italian loaf bread, sliced
Bacon, cooked
Bartlett pear
Sharp white cheddar cheese (high quality)
Butter, softened and spreadable

Instructions

1. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium high heat. Layer your sandwich - bread slice, cheese, pear slices, bacon, bread slice. Spread butter over the top of the sandwich. Place the sandwich top side down (butter side down) on the hot pan. Butter the exposed side of the sandwich. Let cook for a minute and then use a metal spatula to turn the sandwich over to its other side.

2 While you are toasting the sandwich on the remaining side, press down on the sandwich with a spatula. Alternatively, you can mimic a panini press (albeit without the ridges) by heating a smaller cast iron pan on a separate burner. Use the weight of this pan to press down on the sandwich from above. The sandwich is done when the sides are toasted and the cheese is melted. Cut in half and serve

recipe from Simply Recipes

Notes
I don’t really like pears, so I made mine with granny smith apples. I bet pineapple would be good too.

Chocolate Cakes Grilled in Orange Shells

Last weekend, Ashleylayne and Adam had an end-of-summer grill party. This was my contribution.

Chocolate Cakes Grilled in Orange Shells
(adapted from the Boy Scouts)
serves 12-15

Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix, or 1 batch of batter for a single-layer cake of your choosing
12 large oranges or 15 small oranges (types with a thick rind work best)

Directions

1. Mix cake mix according to the instructions on box; put to the side (do not bake).
   
   
2. Slice the top third of each orange; leave the top pieces to the side (you can use them as garnish later). Scoop the fruit out of the bottom 2/3 of the fruit, so that you have an empty shell.
   
   
3. Fill each orange shell 3/4 full with cake batter.
   
   
4. Nestle each orange within an 8-inch square of foil; place directly on grill.
   
   
5. Grill for 15 to 20 minutes; shift frequently. To check if the cake is done, insert a skewer or toothpick; if it comes out clean, the cake’s ready.
   
   
6. At this point you have two options: you can let them cool, and frost liberally with chocolate fudge frosting and slices from the unused top portion of the orange as garnish; or, you can eat the hot, unfrosted cake directly from the orange. Your choice.

Note
It’s harder to scoop out the oranges than you think. And messier. But it’s worth it!

Recipe and photo via Cakespy