a touch of fruit

I loooooooooooooove fruit.

I mean, actually, I love sugar. A lot. A lot a lot. But wanting to preserve my girlish figure and also to occasionally consume nutrients, I try to most frequently get it through fruit.

Also, I know a guy. Guys. There’re these two guys at the farmer’s market, not my usual year-round Saturday one but the summer Thursday one I occasionally patronize. One is elderly, one is middle aged.

I fancy that they find me charming. And that is why they sold me six peaches and two apples… for one dollar.

   

It was great.

Peaches make a pretty addition to any breakfast. This was so good!

 

Plain yogurt (on a TJ’s Organic European style kick) with slightly stale shredded wheat, chopped up peach, and (awesome) toasted almonds atop.

I usually like to eat like an invalid and have mushy oats for breakfast but this was more textural and very exciting for my mouth.

Also: new and exciting salsa!

I have this tendency this summer to just… end up with a lot of watermelon. And only two people live at my house right now! And one cat, who does not eat watermelon. So you eat a lot of watermelon… and there’s still a lot of watermelon. I’ve also been having kind of mediocre watermelon that isn’t that good eaten straight up.

Anyway, the solution to this is to come up with a variety of creative concoctions, as I already have with my sort-of watermelon agua fresca and my watermelon and wheatberry salad. But this, I think, is my best use-up-the-watermelon recipe to date, and also includes smashingly delicious local produce in the form of TOMATILLOS! Question: is it considered salsa verde when it isn’t actually green anymore? Er… yes!

Watermelon Salsa Verde

1 lb tomatillos
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 mildish green chili
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup parsley (or cilantro, parsley is just what I had)
2 T lime juice
1 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1 cup cubed watermelon pieces

Peel husks off tomatoes. Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add tomatillos, garlic, and chili. Boil 8-10 minutes or until tomatillos are tender. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon, and let cool. When they are cool, remove their stems, as well as the stem of the chili.

In a blender or food processor, combine tomatillos, garlic, and chili with remaining ingredients. Pulse together until combined. Adjust seasonings to taste, and enjoy!

May I recommend homemade tortilla chips as an excellent dipper? With whole wheat, flax-infused tortillas from Trader Joe’s. Just PACKING IN NUTRIENTS.

  

More fridge cleaning… I discovered a third of a sweet potato. (Well, it used to be a half a sweet potato but I get hungry for random things in the night). And that is great, obviously. And I was craving muffins, obviously. It was yet another gloomy day and sweet potato muffins sounded so Thanksgivingy and that was nice. So I found myself a recipe on which to roughly base what I was going to do but decided it’d be better with some FRUIT! And also had an alarming quantity of Craisins to use up. And also decided that the colors would be so so so beautiful together (which, indeed, they were).

    

Sweet Potato Cranberry Muffins

Modified from this recipe.

1 T ground flaxseed
3 T water
Half a small sweet potato, roasted until tender and mashed
2 T maple syrup
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 T vegetable oil
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 c. sweetened dried cranberries

Make your flax “egg”: combine ground flax and water and stir together. Let sit until frothy.
Combine wet ingredients (flax mixture, sweet potato, and syrup through oil).
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour through cloves).
Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined. Then fold in cranberries.
Pour into greased muffin tins (mine made 7). If any wells remain empty in your muffin tin, fill them with water to prevent scorching.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until done.   

Guyyyys these were so tender and sweet and delicious! I may make them for Thanksgiving.