Good morning cherries & smoothies

Another beautiful summer week gone by there has been a lot of pool splashing, lots of sock cutting and sewing, some slow crochetting, quilt thinking, a little cleaning and good reading. Also forgetting to do a few things like blog and avoiding a few other things (basement clean up). If you're in need of a really good book to read this summer The Help is incredible.

The cooking has been good around here, we have made stuffed vegetables but I'm not sure how to explain that recipe because I made it up. I'll try to have a post on it next week. I did bake cherry muffins this week (some preferred the starwberry & rhubarb muffins). They did go nicely with the morning smoothies. We're big on fruit smoothies for breakfast especially in the summer when there is more variety for sweet fruits.

The smoothie recipe is 2-3 cups of cut cantelope, 1 peach peeled and sliced, 4 or more strawberries, 1 banana and ice cubes. Blend till smooth and enjoy. I apologize that this recipe is vague about the quantities but it's all based on what we have and how many will be drinking the smoothie. If you have cherries throw in a few without the pits instead of the strawberries. It's a good morning boost.

The cherry muffun recipe was modified from Cucina Nicolina here's my version.

CHERRY MUFFINS

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup unbleached flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 vegetable oil

1 cup soy milk

Mix together 1 1/2 Tbsp. oil, 1 1/2 Tbsp water and 1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups of cherries pitted and chopped (or frozen if you have them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl mix sugar, oil, soy milk and baking powder mixture. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix. The batter will look lumpy and thick. Fold in the cherries. Fill each cup of the muffin pan 2/3 full. Bake till golden brown for about 20-22 minutes. Enjoy!

The first picture in this post is a smoothie with bagels cream cheese and cantelope with jello. We just cut the cantelope in half and then mixed the jello according to the directions and poured it into the cantelope. Let the jello firm and then cut into slices. Refreshing and fun!
Have a great weekend!