Alternatives to Sugar

Alternatives to Sugar

Beet and Peach Salad

Beet and Peach Salad

6 small beets, roasted whole then peeled, chopped
2 freestone peaches chopped into bite sized pieces.
6 ounces of fresh blackberries
4 roma tomatoes, sliced crosswise

4 ounces of pine nuts
3 ounces of feta cheese, hand crumbled
small bunch of fresh dill finely chopped
small head of savoy cabbage chopped small

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
4 drops of agave syrup
salt and pepper to taste

Straight from the farmers market were the beets and peaches.
Inspired me to make this salad utilizing both,
may sound strange but somehow both go together.
Place whole beets in aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil,
wrap up till complete covered and bake at 400 F for 50 minutes.
When beets are cool, remove stem ends, peel, and chop bite sized.
Chop peaches into bite sized pieces

Place bed of chopped cabbage on salad plate,
Add beets, peaches, blackberries, feta cheese,
tomatoes, dill, and pine nuts. Whisk remaining ingredients
and drizzle dressing over salad just before serving.
This is a very refreshing salad for a hot summer day.

By the way the lemon sorbet was delicious,
coming up soon I'm going to try an orange sorbet.

Lemon Sorbet

Lemon Sorbet

4 lemons, zested then juiced
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups water
1 egg white (optional)
fresh mint leaves for garnish

Heat sugar and water in small sauce pan.
Boil for 2 minutes. Set aside and elt cool completely.
Meanwhile zest then juice the 4 lemons.
Add half of the zest to the cooling sugar water (simple syrup).
Add lemon juice to sugar water and whirl in a blender till frothy.
Add egg white to mixture and blend for one more minute.
Place mixture in stainless bowl and freeze.
After 30 minutes stir freezing mixture and then continue to freeze.
When mixture becomes soft and partially solidified.
Place in individual serving dishes,
keep in freezer till ready to serve.
Garnish with remaining lemon zest and mint leaves.
What a treat to have for dessert or a palate cleanser on these hot days.

Big Fat Hornworm

Big Fat Hornworm

The moth that lays the hornworm eggs.

Parasitic wasp c0coons which will kill the hornworm.

First hornworms we've seen in 3 years.
Rainy and cool, now dry and hot.
Hornworms strip a tomato plant of leaves overnight.
Careful if you squish a hornworm, they splatter green stuff everywhere.
If you see one with those white cocoons, leave them be.
Parasitic wasps hatch from the cocoons and kill the hornworms.
Nature has it's own balance scales when we let it happen.