Papaya

I still remember climbing papaya trees in Mozambique.

This fruit is not my all time favorite but I could not resist getting one at Sprouts.

Food decorations

It was the first time I did this...

At Christmas I am inspired by my sister who goes all out in decking her halls.

Snowden worked on this one.

My workstation.

The supplies.

Happy celebrating everyone!

Juicing

I was introduced to juicing 19 years ago. I watched an expert shop for large bags of carrots and juice them away with a few other fruits and vegetables until he had a 12 oz cup full. He did this everyday.

I embarked on this on and off ever since.

I did it when my father was ill. This juicer was purchased and sent to him. He chose not to pursue this endeavor and it was eventually mailed back to me.

I recently made the decision to juice at least 4 times a week and I have kept up the pace.

I like to use carrots, celery, and apples. But I have juice many different vegetables. I have books too... :-) I have books about everything. Anywhoo, I have this one, and this one. and a few more on the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables.

It is simply delicious. Grasshopper and Snowden like doing the juicing. Now I just have to get them to drink the stuff so they can reap the benefits.

Chidhood memories

Having lived in places where papaya, mangos, and guarana were everywhere, I find going to Lee Lee's supermarked and adventure into times of long ago.

Chinese, and Indian eggplant. A pear. Mangos form Asia. Chorizo from Spain. Fish from an unknown place.

The coconut girl

Grasshopper's request from Lee Lee's supermarket was a coconut. She has had them before, but she recently had it at school as well as part of a lesson on how the conquistadors survived in the places they found.

She set about cracking the thing.

The milk was collected.

She calls this "the meat"

Snowden helps

She is less passionate about the coconut, but loves a challenge.

Fresh off the tree

We do not have citrus trees on our property, but I wish we did.

But we know people who do and when there we grab the fruit right off the tree.

And did you know that in a poor economy, seed sales go up? Yep, people grow their own food more.

Edible Christmas Gifts

That I received:

Edible bouquet.

Chocolate covered strawberries.

Candy made by my baker friend.

Four varieties of cheesecake created in the kitchen of my friend the baker.

Fruit Skewers

The final product. Covered in chocolate pudding. Blogger is adding pictures in reverse.

Some leftover on plate.

Skewered.

She picked out the recipe.

Fruit is carefully cut by Snowden.

The divine smoothie

With peaches... When I do smoothies I don't measure, nor follow a recipe. I know how thick I want it and add ingredients accordingly.

This one has 2 cups of fresh peaches, about 1 cup of vanilla yogurt, 2 cups of milk, a tablespoon of vanilla protein powder, and 2 cups of crushed ice.

It is really tasty. Who knew fresh peaches make a good smoothie. That was today's breakfast.

It's peachy!

The peaches I did not freeze needed to be used pronto. I found this recipe for muffins.

Look at those fresh peaches.

In the oven.

Yum!

Peaches and apricots

Apricots

Peaches

After going to Schnepf farm and picking peaches and apricots I must challenge myself to find ways to use them. We brought home 4 boxes full. Off to finding recipes.

The juicy fruit

Strawberries

Delicious red fruit.

I can't say that I know when strawberries are in season because I usually see them year round at Sprouts. The global supply chain makes that happen. But on to what I did with the 4 boxes of strawberries I purchased recently. I saw that Sara had preserved her batch this way. I've always been fascinated with the idea of canning and freezing but don't do much even with an extra freezer, because that creates a whole new situation that requires a new set of habits and planning time. Anyway, I can do this on a small scale so I decided on strawberries. I leaned a few tips here.