She started picking up the melons and sniffing them. She handed me one and said that it seemed like a good one but she wasn’t sure. She picked up another and gave it to us in case the first one wasn’t sweet. We picked out beautiful tomatoes, green beans and blue potatoes. We must have gotten the friend discount because she only requested a 10 spot.

On the way out, she ran to our car with yet another cantaloupe. “Just in case,” she said. With that, it became our favorite farm stand.

Smelling a cantaloupe is the best way to tell if it is ripe. It should have a pleasantly sweet aroma. If it has too strong of a fragrance, the melon most likely will be overripe.

Also look at the color underneath the netting on the skin. A ripe melon will be creamy white or yellow. Green indicates that the melon isn’t completely ripe. An unripe cantaloupe will ripen on your kitchen counter, but it doesn’t get sweeter. My understanding that for the sweetest melons, it is best to pick ones that have ripened in the field.

You’ll also want a melon that feels heavy for its size, is firm and doesn’t have any soft spots. Soft spots are a sign that it is overripe or has been bruised.

When preparing cantaloupe, it’s important to wash the outside before cutting. Whatever is on the outside can be transferred to the melon’s flesh when it’s cut. Wash the melon under running water and use a vegetable brush to gently scrub it.

Cantaloupes sport a bit of health prowess. One of my favorite sites for nutrition information is the World’s Healthiest Foods. It is well-sourced and gives nutritional profiles on everything from soy sauce to lima beans. It also makes me want to eat whatever it is I’m researching.

For example, the site gushes about the health properties of cantaloupe. Cantaloupe is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, a very good source of potassium and a good source of vitamin B6, dietary fiber, folate, and niacin (vitamin B3). According to the site, eating cantaloupe promotes lung health, protects your vision and reduces risk of death from heart disease, stroke and cancer. Wow, it’s a veritable wonder drug! Give me some!

As I was looking for recipes, I started wondering why you rarely see any recipes for cooked cantaloupe. I’m guessing it’s because cooked cantaloupe doesn’t sound appealing. I imagined that it would tastes a bit like overly ripe cantaloupe, which, in my opinion, can be summed up in one word: yuck.

Actually, cooked cantaloupe tastes a bit like cooked pumpkin. That’s no wonder since they are close cousins both haling from the Cucurbitaceae family. This explains why cantaloupe worked great in a sweet quick bread but my cantaloupe cobbler experiment didn’t go so well. My husband said that he liked it but I wonder if that is just something a sweet husband tells his wife to keep on her good side.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup coconut oil or melted unsalted butter
1 egg
2/3 cup honey
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cup cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and chopped (see note)

Method

• Heat oven to 350º F.
• Greased and flour an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.
• In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
• In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together coconut oil, egg, honey, milk and vanilla and add to flour mixture.
• Place cantaloupe in a food processor and pulse a few times, until finely chopped. You may also either finely chop the cantaloupe or mash it with a potato masher.
• Add cantaloupe and nuts to mixture and mix until combined.
• Turn mixture into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes.
• Cool and serve.

Note: Cantaloupe 101- After washing the melon, slice it in half and scoop out the seeds. Slice into wedges then carefully cut the orange flesh away from the rind.

I’m sharing this recipe on:
The Nourishing Gourmet

Virginia has memories of him standing outside at midnight in the rain holding an umbrella over himself and the grill.

A man after my own heart.

A couple of weeks ago we went to our friend’s Hallie’s birthday party. We brought hotdogs and cookies. True to form, I decided to start making the cookies about 30 minutes before we needed to leave. Also, true to form, I wanted to experiment. Our kitchen was as hot as blue blazes, so I decided to throw the cookies on the grill. If Andy Anderson can grill a cake, then by golly I can grill cookies.

Being confident that it would work, I loaded up two baking sheet with cookies while the grill heated up. I placed both sheets on the grill and closed the lid. In about three minutes flat, the bottoms of the cookies were all solid black. Oops.

Lesson number one, things burn quickly on an overly hot grill. One day, I will remember that in earnest.

The tops were delicious so instead of tossing the bunch, my husband and I dutifully scraped off and ate the good parts. Not dignified, especially if you use your teeth, but tasty.

Luckily, I had enough dough left over for one more tray. I heated the oven (and yes, in turn, heated the kitchen) and baked the last batch. Disaster averted.

Not willing to give up easily, the next day, I returned to my grilled cookie project and after a few (smaller) test runs, I perfected it. Andy would be proud!

Grilled Shortbread Cookies
The inspiration for these comes from the soft shortbread cookies at Otto’s Market in Germantown. They truly are the best cookies that I’ve ever had. This is a slightly healthier version, plus they are grilled! Besides keeping your kitchen cool, grilling gives the bottoms of the cookies an extra crispness.

I used rapadura in this recipe. Rapadura is dried sugarcane juice. It is rich in minerals, particularly silica and iron, so it offers a little more nutrients than the empty calories that you get from refined sugar. It still is sugar, so using it isn’t license to eat the whole batch.

I also used whole-wheat pastry flour instead of white flour. Whole-wheat pastry flour is made with soft-wheat and it has a fine texture. This makes it an ideal substitute for white flour when baking.

You can find rapadura and whole-wheat pastry flour at most health food stores or ask your grocer to stock it for you.

Ingredients
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rapadura (substitute brown sugar if you must)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon almond extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans (toasting is optional)

Method

• Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter, extracts, salt, and rapadura until smooth.
• Add the oats and flour one cup at a time and mix well.
• Stir in the pecans.
• Scoop out about a fourth of the dough and place on a sheet of wax or parchment paper. Roll into a log with the diameter about the size of a silver dollar. Be sure the dough roll is firmly compact, so it doesn’t fall apart when you slice it. Repeat with all dough.
• Cover and freeze the dough logs for at least 10 minutes. (You may keep these well wrapped in the freezer for several months. No need to thaw before you slice and bake.)
• Prepare grill for indirect grilling. If using a gas grill, heat one side to medium-high and leave the other side off. If using a charcoal grill, light the briquettes. When they glow red, scoot them to the sides, leaving an empty space in the middle of the grill.
• Cut dough into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place slices on an ungreased baking sheet. This baking sheet will go directly on the grill, so make sure that it fits. If you have a round grill, use a round pizza pan. These cookies don’t tend to spread much, so they can be placed within an inch or less of each other.
• Place the cookie sheet on the indirect heat portion of the grill.
• This is the tricky part. Close the lid but stay close by. You’ll need to keep checking on the cookies. On my grill, using indirect heat, they were done in about 10 minutes. My grill doesn’t heat evenly, so halfway through, I turn the baking sheet around. I only keep them on until the bottoms are slightly golden brown.
• Cool on a wire rack.

If you have a nice air-conditioned kitchen, these cookies work beautifully in an oven heated to 350ºf, bake for 10-12 minutes, but where is the fun in that?

You will need an ice cream maker for this recipes.

This recipe is modified from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

French Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks, whipped
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups hot whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or whole vanilla bean)
2 cups heavy cream (or half and half)

Method

• In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended (no heat).
• Gradually whisk in hot milk and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until custard thickens slightly about 10 to 12 minutes. It is ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not bring to a boil or it will curdle.
• Remove from heat and cool.
• Strain with a fine-mesh sieve (you may have a few eggy parts). Add cream and stir.
• Place in ice cream maker and churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
• If you prefer a firm ice cream, transfer ice cream to a plastic container and freeze until firm, about 2 hours. We can never wait that long, plus I think it is best when it is freshly churned.

Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

Try adding these combos:.

Maple Walnut
Substitute 1/2 cup of maple syrup for the sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Ginger Peach
2 cup fresh peaches, chopped (reserve juice and add to mixture)
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Take a look at last summer’s post for the recipe.

Cherry-Garcia knock-off.

We had a hand-cranked ice cream churner, the kind that used rock salt and ice. We always made ice cream when there was a big crowd. I’m guessing that is because of the abundance of free child labor. If you knew ice cream was being made, you tried to stay away from the porch. If got too close and made eye contact with any adult, you would be summoned to take your turn churning.

These days, I have an electric ice cream maker. No rock salt is needed so the process is much simpler. Here’s how I usually make ice cream: I glance around my kitchen and see what I have and improvise.

This week, I picked up some-fresh-from-the-field strawberries and thought they would be perfect for the summer’s first ice cream. In a bowl, I added a couple of cups of milk (I use cream when I have it). I eyeballed it for two people. Trying to stay on the non-refined sugar train, I added honey. I then added vanilla extract and a dash of salt. I tasted and adjusted for flavor. Then I grabbed the ice cream maker from the freezer, plugged it in and started churning.

Now, when you cook this way, you have some successes and you have some failures. Somehow this honey strawberry ice cream missed the mark. My husband claimed to have liked it, but I didn’t. I think the honey was too floral for my taste.

It would break my heart to throw out perfectly good milk and strawberries so like many of my mistakes, I transformed it. I let it melt, added flour and baking powder and made strawberry bread. It was ok, still not great. From there, my husband sliced it and made French toast—much, much better. Finally, I turned the leftovers into bread pudding, which is the most common final resting place for all things bread in our kitchen—perfect.

But it wasn’t the strawberry ice cream I had been craving, so I started again and used sugar this time. It tasted just like summer!

If I want to make ice cream on the fly, I make a Philadelphia style, which doesn’t use eggs or require cooking and cooling.

You will need an ice cream maker for this recipes. One fun one to get is an Play and Freeze Ice Cream Maker Ball). Once the ball is frozen, you add the ingredients and roll it around until the ice cream is done. How fun is that?

Modified from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

Philadelphia-Style Ice Cream with Strawberries

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups of milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or whole vanilla bean)
3 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

Method

• Whisk all ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved.
• Place in ice cream maker and churn according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
• Serve freshly churned. This one doesn’t freeze as well as the custard.

Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

Ingredients
2 cups sesame seeds, toasted*
1 cup pumpkin seeds (raw or toasted)
1 tablespoon flax seeds, ground
1 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Method

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease it with oil or butter.
• Place honey in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat until it starts to bubble and forms a mass.
• Add sesame seeds, pumpkin seed, ground flax seeds and salt to the pan and mix well.
• Continue to cook over medium-low heat, stirring until the mixture is a rich golden-brown color, about 10 minutes.
• Scrape mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread it to about 1/4 inch thick. You can do this with a spatula or by placing a slightly oiled piece of parchment paper over the mixture and using a rolling pin to thin it.
• Cool completely.
• Transfer the candy to a cutting board (keep it on the parchment paper). Using a knife, pizza cutter or kitchen shears, cut into small pieces (rectangle, triangle, your choice).
• Place in an airtight container.

Yield: Approximately 50 pieces.

* Note: Toasted sesame seeds: Heat seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently. Heat until lightly browned (about 5 minutes). Watch carefully; they burn quickly!

Ingredients
Chocolate mixture
3-4 tablespoons honey
1 cup of coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of salt
1 cup cocoa powder

Peanut butter mixture
3 ounces of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup peanut butter (no sugar added)
Dash of salt

Method

• Heat 3/4 cup of coconut oil, 2 tablespoons of honey and vanilla extract until melted.
• Stir in cocoa powder. Remove from heat and mix until smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness.
• Line a 24 mini muffin tin with cupcake liners.
• Pour a spoonful of the chocolate sauce in each cup. Reserve extra sauce and place muffin tin in freezer for 10 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, add the peanut butter, cream cheese, maple syrup and salt and mix together until smooth.
• Take muffin tin out of the freezer and spoon the peanut butter mixture over the chocolate. Smooth out the peanut butter mixture with a wet hand or spatula.
• Place the mixture in the freezer again for 10 minutes.
• Reheat the chocolate mixture if necessary. Remove muffin tin from freezer and top the peanut butter mixture with chocolate sauce.
• Return tin to freezer for 20 minutes.

Keep either in the freezer or refrigerator, these melt fast!

Makes 24.

Keep these treats either in the freezer of refrigerator. Unlike M&M’s, these do melt in your hand!

This recipe is adapted from The Nourishing Gourmet blog. I love this recipe and have been making it weekly.

Ingredients
Coconut mixture
1/2 cup almonds, plus 24 whole almonds
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Chocolate mixture
2 tablespoons honey (or more if you want it sweeter)
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Method

• In a food processor, pulse 1/2 cup of almonds until finely ground.
• In a small pan, melt the coconut oil and honey over low heat until just melted. Whisk to combine. Add the almond extract, coconut flakes and ground almonds.
• Line a mini muffin tin with paper cupcake wrappers (24).
• In each wrapper, place an almond then add the coconut mixture and press down lightly.
  Place in a freezer and freeze (10 to 20 minutes).
• In a small pan over low heat, melt 1/2 cup of coconut oil, 2 tablespoons of honey, salt and vanilla extract.
• Stir in cocoa powder. Mix until smooth. Remove from heat. Taste and adjust sweetness.
• Take out the frozen coconut flakes mixture and divide the chocolate mixture in each cup over the coconut.
• Place back in freezer and freeze about 20 minutes.

Makes 24

Keep either in the freezer or refrigerator.

Ingredients
5 cups of bread (any bread will do but a stale rustic loaf is best)
1 cups of milk or cream
1 cup of maple syrup
3 tablespoons of butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup of walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash salt

Method

• Preheat oven to 375º
• Butter a 9″ x 5” loaf pan.
• Cut bread into one-inch cubes.
• Add bread to pan and dot with 3 tablespoons of butter.
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Mix milk, maple syrup, eggs, cinnamon, walnuts and salt and pour over heated bread.
• Return to the oven and bake again for 30-40 minutes

Serve warm or cold, as is or top with fresh whipped cream.

Serves 6

I’m on a bit of a no refined white sugar kick. That certainly doesn’t mean that I’m not eating anything sweet! I’ve been substituting maple syrup and honey whenever I can. Using maple syrup is not a free license to scarf the whole batch. Each candy contains about 65 calories, so don’t go overboard like I did. I made a batch to send to my sister-in-law for her birthday. After I got through my “quality control” tasting, I realized there wasn’t much left! Oops.

The New Orleans style pralines are made with pecans, but substitute other nuts if you like. You’ll need a candy thermometer for this. You can pick up one at a kitchen supply store or, if your grocery store has a kitchen tool section, you can often find them there. I saw one the other day for $7.

Click here for a maple turtle recipe.

Ingredients
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup of pecans, chopped
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Method

• Combine the cream, butter and maple syrup in the saucepan. Stir until well mixed.
• Cook over medium heat. You may gently swish sauce, but don’t stir. Heat until temperature reaches 240º F, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly grease it.
• Remove saucepan from the heat and let the mixture stand for a couple of minutes. Stir in pecans.
• Drop small spoonfuls of mixture onto parchment. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Cool. Eat, yum!

Makes 18.