Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

Smoothies are filling and refreshing. They can be made so many different ways.

If you don't have fresh apricots, you could use canned apricots. If you don't have apricots, what other fruits would you like to try?

I froze the leftovers in a shallow pan. After it was frozen, let it thaw about 10-15 minutes. You might have to break it up with a fork, but you can eat it instead of ice cream.

We're at the tail end of the apricot season here in the United States. You can start the day with this protein and calcium packed Apricot Smoothie or have it as a refreshing treat as you sit in the shade of the elm tree tonight.

Apricot Smoothie
Ingredients
8 ounces fresh apricots, washed, pitted, and quartered
1/4 cup instant non-fat milk powder
1/2 cup apricot nectar
1 1/2 cups apricot or apricot-mango yogurt
6 ice cubes

Combine apricot, milk powder, apricot nectar, and yogurt in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes. Pulse until "crushed."

I like my Apricot Smoothie a bit tart. Depending on ripeness of the apricots and personal taste, you might want to add a bit of honey or other sweetener.

Makes about 4 cups.
Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

Although making a Fourth of July Star is fun, it is also a bit of work. What can you do to make it easier?

When I'm busy, I leave the rind on the watermelon and serve in slices to eat "out of hand." After all, the hot days of July nothing tastes better than cold watermelon when the juices can run down your chin and drip onto the ground. Splat!

You may want to stand up and salute this Red, White, and Blue Fourth of July Star centerpiece.

Ingredients
1 small watermelon
1 small honeydew melon
2 baskets of blueberries

Wash the fruit.

Depending on the size of the watermelon, cut it in quarters lengthwise. Cut across to make sections. Cut the rind off of one quarter, making a straight cut so you now have triangular shapes like you see in the photo. Cut the remaining watermelon into sections for people to eat using their hands.

Cut the honeydew melon in quarters and remove the seeds. Using a 1-inch star shaped cookie cutter, cut stars from the white part of one quarter of the honeydew. Set aside. Cut the other three-quarters into wedges that people can eat with their hands.

To assemble the centerpiece: On a large plate, arrange the rindless watermelon wedges to make a hollow star. Put the blueberries in the center. Garnish with the honeydew stars.

Put the extra watermelon and honeydew melon wedges on a plate next to the centerpiece.

It is difficult to give you a number of people this will serve. A 20 pound watermelon cut in quarters and then in to 3/4 inch thick wedges, should make about 50 wedges, according to the watermelon board.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

I keep thinking about how I could use waffles instead of French toast. I tried sticking raspberries in the holes of the waffles to make a heart but they were too big. I really wanted to make a heart design so I didn't try other things. I really wanted the heart to be red so didn't try other things. I could have tried strawberry jelly to fill the holes but I wanted to use fruit.

But, as soon as I let go of heart and red and fruit, I can think of all sorts of things I could use in a waffle: strawberry jam, blueberries, almond butter, or cream cheese came to mind. The design could be my mother's initials. Or a cat or flower. It could be almost any color food that would work. I bet you can think of all sorts of yummy foods to make a design.

And it wouldn't have to be put on a waffle either, would it? I could do any of these on French toast or regular toast.

Children used to fill baskets with flowers and give them to their friends. Sometimes it would be a secret so the flowers were left on the doorstep.

Instead of flowers and instead of leaving the basket on the doorstep, I made a basket from a cantaloupe and put it on the table.

May Basket Salad
Ingredients
1 ripe cantaloupe
1 basket of ripe strawberries, washed, stems removed, and sliced
1 cup green grapes, washed and stems removed
2 to 4 ripe plums, washed and sliced

Wash the cantaloupe. Cut carefully to make a handle like it shows in the photograph. (Or you can make two handleless baskets instead. Simply cut the cantaloupe in half.) Scrape out the seeds. Cut the cantaloupe flesh from the pieces you removed to make the handle. Put it in a bowl. Add the rest of the fruit. Toss gently to combine. Fill the cantaloupe basket with the fruit mixture.

Serve any leftover fruit in a bowl.

You don't have to use the fruits I suggested. You can use an fruits you want for your basket. If you use cut up bananas or apples, dip the pieces in orange juice or lemon juice so they don't turn brown.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

You can make a whole family of Beetle Bops. Use a canned apricot half instead of a peach half for babies.

Can you think of something else to use for legs? Pocky Sticks? A skinny carrot stick? A piece of celery.

What kind of beetle would it be if you put pretzel twists under the peach half for legs?

Could you stick raisins or dried cranberries on top of the whipped cream cheese dots?

I just discovered Ladybug, Ladybug: And Other Favorite Poems. How would you change Beetle Bop Salad to make it a Ladybug Salad?

To celebrate my name, today I'm only going to eat foods that start with the same letter as my first name. For breakfast I'll eat muesli with milk. Lunch will be macaroni and cheese, melon salad, and mango nectar. Meatballs in marinara sauce and spaghetti with mushroom salad will make a nice dinner especially if I drink some mint tea with it.

Did you guess my name starts with the letter "M?"

What will you eat today? Can you think of a lot of foods that begin with the first letter of your name? If your name starts with "Q," or "V" or even "Z," you might find only one food that would work. That's okay.

What if you can't find any food that starts with your initial? Aren't you lucky. You can name your favorite food after yourself. My dad's name begins with "V." He couldn't think of any food so I named his favorite breakfast after him -- "Vin's Peanut Butter on Toast." Now he is happy.

Muskmelon and Mint Salad
Ingredients
1 tablespoon marshmallow creme*
1/2 teaspoon milk *
1 teaspoon minced fresh mint
1/2 cup muskmelon balls (In the United States, muskmelon is called cantaloupe)
1/4 cup mango, cut in chunks

Mix the marshmallow creme and milk together. Stir in the mint. Put the muskmelon and mango in a bowl. Add the marshmallow creme. Gently stir to combine.

*This tastes just a good without the marshmallow creme and milk.

Makes 1 serving

Mary Ann Dames, ©2010

What other dried fruits might you use instead of the ones in the Recipe? Looking in my cupboard, I have dried apples, raisins, cranberries, dried pineapple, dried figs, and dried strawberries. Can you think of other ones to try? Maybe you'd want to use all the same kind of fruit.

I might use cashews, hazelnuts or even pistachios. Would you like peanuts? I think they might get soggy while the pudding cools. I might try that someday to see if I'm right.

This time I made the pudding with regular rice, dried blueberries, and almonds. I made a design on top and stirred the blueberries and nuts into the rice instead of layering them. Before I put the mold in the refrigerator, I put a piece of wax paper on top of the rice and then an unopened can of beans to act as a weight. If you look closely at the photograph and compare it to yesterday's, you can see the today's rice isn't as tightly together. It tastes good even if it looks funny.

Do you have a favorite fruit you'd like to use in this salad instead of cherries? My husband likes me to use canned mandarin oranges sometimes because they are a bit tart. I think I'll try fresh strawberries when they are in season. Then I'd use strawberry nectar instead of the cherry juice. Hmm. I can hardly wait.

Valentine's Day makes me think chocolate and candy. I'm sure I'll get enough of those I don't need to add more to these recipes. Presidents Day makes me think of George Washington and cherries. So I started wondering what I could do to combine both holidays. I came up with this sugar-free, heart-filled and heart-healthy molded salad.

Ingredients

1 can (16-ounces) dark sweet cherries, drained, reserving 1/2 cup of the juice
1 tablespoon plain unflavored gelatin*
1/2 large red apple
2 tablespoons lemon juice or orange juice
3/4 cup sugar-free cherry soda

In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cherry juice with the unflavored gelatin. Let it sit, off the heat, while you make the apple hearts.

To make apple hearts, slice the apple in sixths. Cut each section into slices about 1/4-inch thick. The cross section sort of looks like a heart. Sort of. To make it look more like a heart, cut like in the photograph at top. As you make the apple hearts, place them in a bowl with the lemon juice so the apple doesn't turn brown.

You can use a small heart shaped hors d' oeuvre cutter.

After all the apple hearts are made, the gelatin should be soft. Put the pan on the stove and over low heat, stir until the gelatin is melted. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the stove. Stir in soda. It will fizz at first.

Put some apple hearts in the bottom of four 1/2-cup to 3/4 cup molds of one 2 to 3-cup mold. Spoon enough of the gelatin mixture to almost cover the apples. The apples will float. Put the molds in the refrigerator until the gelatin sets, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the molds from the refrigerator and divide the drained cherries among them. Pour in the remaining gelatin mixture. Return the molds to the refrigerator and let set until firm.

Makes 4 servings.

*To make this vegetarian, substitute agar agar powder for the gelatin.

Mary Ann Dames, ©2010

My favorite cheese is cheddar cheese. What kind of cheese might you use to make this sandwich? What do you think this would taste like if you used one of the foods mentioned yesterday (dates, pomegranates, grapes, or olives) instead of figs?

Ingredients
4 ounces grated cheese of your choice
1/3 cup minced celery
1/2 cup finely diced dried figs, about 3 or 4 depending on their size
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 6-inch whole wheat pitas

Put grated cheese, minced celery, and finely diced figs in a small bowl. Lightly mix together with your clean fingers. Add mayonnaise and stir with a spoon.

Cut the pitas in half. Divide the filling between the halves.

Makes four servings.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

I'm so excited. Terry Pierce announced that her Blackberry Banquet is on the National Wildlife Federation's Grab Bag list of recommended books. What better way is there to celebrate than to read the book while eating Bear's Crunchy Blackberry Treat that I created especially so poor Bear won't go hungry.

Do you want more blackberry recipes? Find Terry's recipes here.

Ingredients
3/4 cup fresh or frozen and thawed blackberries*
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 oatmeal raisin granola bar

Set six blackberries aside to use as garnish. Put the rest of the blackberries in a small bowl. Using the back of a fork, crush the berries.

Add the yogurt and stir together.

Spoon half of the blackberry-yogurt mixture into a small dessert bowl. Put the other half into a second dessert bowl.

Divide the granola bar in half. Crumble each half over a serving of Bear's Crunchy Blackberry Treat. Decorate each with three whole blackberries.

*Wash the fresh blackberries just before using them. Drain on a paper towel.

Makes 2 servings.

©2008 Mary Ann Dames, M.S.,R.D.

Here in southern California we enjoyed 72 degree weather for the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game. A tad windy where I live but still a great beginning to 2010. Now that house guests are gone, I’m using up what I find in the refrigerator. Tonight, my challenge was what to do with a handful of dried up dates and Rome apples.

I kept things simple by coring the apples and stuffing them with as many pitted dates as I could mush in. Before putting the apples in individual microwave safe bowls, I scored their tops in eighths. After the apples were in their bowls but before I covered them with plastic wrap, I sprinkled about 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice over each one. (The spice was from a blend I made for Thanksgiving: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.) Into the microwave oven they went. I used the SensorCook on my oven but timed it for you. The apples were done in less than 5 minutes at 100% power. Your oven, the size of apples, or even he number of apples will change the cooking time. The apples are done when soft.

We ate our apples piping hot for dessert. Sometimes we top with ice cream or whipped cream. But in the spirit of New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, we ate ours plain…no added fats or sugars. Yummy. Filling. And feeling a bit decadent as it tasted rich and the smoothness of the almost applesaucy interior warmed our mouths.

To Think About for Kids of All Ages: What other fillings would work in a baked apple? Could you try a different dried fruit or even some cut up chopped fresh ones. Can you think of a healthy topping to replace the whipped cream or ice cream I sometimes use?

For a quick salad that kids will enjoy help making almost as much as they will eating, try this salad bursting with flavor, potassium, and antioxidants.

For dressing combine in a small bowl 1/4 cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, dash hot sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir to combine.

For salad you will need 6 cups mixed lettuce greens, 2 small apples (cored and chopped), about 1/2 pomegranate seeds and 4 tablespoons pecan pieces.

To serve divide the lettuce among four salad bowls or plates. Top each with 1/4 of the chopped apples, followed by 1/4 of the pomegranate seeds and then the pecan pieces.

Pass the salad dressing.

© 2009 Mary Ann Dames, MS, RD

Pomegranates seeds or arils give an extra satisfying sweet-tart crunch to so many recipes. Add them to cooked rice for a sparkle of flavor and color. Toss them into a bowl of steaming oatmeal or a cup of cool yogurt. Or try this Kid Friendly Apple Pomegranate Salad by clicking here.

Tonight I made Red Roast Pork with POMegranate Glaze, created by my food writing friend Mardi for the POM contest. Easily the best pork tenderloin I’ve ever eaten. To find the recipe and/or to vote for Mardi, click here.

Several years ago I was elated to learn how to easily remove the arils in three easy steps. First: cut the pomegranate into 4 to 6 sections. Second: put the whole thing in a bowl of water and gently rub out the seeds. The arils sink to the bottom and the white pith floats. Scoop out the floating pith. Third: pour the water-arils through a sieve and enjoy. I found the following YouTube video which shows the steps. Click here.

While looking for videos for the “let the arils sink to the bottom” method, I discovered this new way of tapping the pomegranate with the back of a spoon. I tried it. It works. Click here.

Each method has its good and bd points. For the water method, I sometimes have a bit of trouble skimming off the pith. For the hit-and-slap method, juice and seeds splatter all over the place, even with trying to keep the cut pomegranate facing into a big bowl.

Pomegranates are at their peak during fall and winter. They range in diameter from the size of an orange to a grapefruit. I grow an ornamental lemon-sized one for craft projects and for the birds to enjoy.

I love the taste of pomegranates but not the work involved with getting out the arils (seeds). Over the last several years the juice and the prepackaged arils have become available. Everyone in the family is happy as I’m using pomegranates more.

However, there are times when nothing will do but purchasing a whole pomegranate and starting from scratch. How to choose one? A fruit heavy for its size is a good indication of juiciness. Color ranges from red to pink to orange and even greenish. I don’t mind the blemishes as the skin of a pomegranate is thick but I do avoid ones with cuts or wrinkly skin. Pomegranates keep on the counter for several weeks. According to what I’ve read, they are good for several months in the refrigerator.

Thanksgiving is a perfect time to let kids contribute to the meal with this easy, make-ahead recipe for Cranberry Dip.

Read Hide-and-Seek Turkeys by Judy Enderle and Stephanie Gordon.

Ingredients
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 cups (16 ounces) non-fat or low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup canned cranberry sauce
Fresh and/or dried fruit of your choice

Equipment: medium mixing bowl, measuring cup, chef's knife, cutting board, scraper, mixing spoon, serving bowl and plate

Finely chop the dried cranberries. Place in the mixing bowl. Add the yogurt and the cranberry sauce. Mix well. (This step can be done the day ahead of time, if desired.)

Place Cranberry Dip in a serving bowl. Arrange cut fresh fruit and/or dried fruit on a plate. To eat, using the fruit, scoop up some of the Cranberry Dip. Enjoy.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

I gave part of the cake to my friends without telling them it was gluten free. They loved it! Firstly, they liked that the cake wasn't too sweet. Secondly, they liked the texture, a bit dense like a quick bread. I knew they were being honest as the eight pieces of cake were devoured by the four friends within 10 minutes, one of whom is in culinary school and two who run a food business.

I made the persimmon cake this morning. It’s not too sweet so will make a nice addition to tomorrow’s breakfast, if there is any left. I suspect it will taste even better after aging a day, much like a quick bread would.

Gluten Free Spiced Persimmon Cake - For recipe click on "more".
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup persimmon pureed, about 2-3 persimmons
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups gluten free flour blend
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
½ teaspoon grated lemon peel.
Powdered sugar or whipped cream, optional

1. Grease an 8 or 9-inch square pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine the persimmon puree and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the persimmon puree.
4. Sift together the gluten free flour blend, xanthan gum, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Gradually blend into the batter.
5. Add the pecans and peels. Beat until well blended. Batter will be stiff.
6. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
7. Cool for 10 minutes in pan. Invert cake onto cooling rack. Let cool about 15 minutes more.
8. To serve, dust with powdered sugar or top with whipped cream.

Makes 9 squares.

© Mary Ann Dames, MS, RD

Two weeks ago my son's girl friend gave us a bagful of persimmons. They weren't ripe but she'd picked them to keep the squirrels from decimating the tree. Finally, I think the persimmons are ripe so I've been hunting up recipes. I found one for a spicy persimmon cake. My notes indicate I made it in 1968. I'll have to buy nuts, oranges, and lemons. Once I have those, watch for photos and the recipe. I hope it is as good as I remember.

Saturday my husband and I drove to Tehachapi, about 1 ½ hours north of our home in Los Angeles. We were after apples, dusty with nature and without those ubiquitous grocery store stickers.

Before the apples, we stopped at an organic pear orchard where we bought the last six or so pears of the season. Being (more…)

The mandarin oranges in this quick fruit dish are high in vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber. The dates are also high in fiber and the yogurt gives a boost of calcium. Besides being good for you, these winter fruits can be served as salad, dessert, or even a topping for cereals.

Ingredients:
1 11-ounce can mandarin oranges in juice
1 ripe banana
1 small apple
1/4 cup chopped dates
1 cup plain or vanilla low fat yogurt

Open the can of mandarin oranges. Drain about half the liquid into a large bowl. Set the rest of the juice aside for later. Add the mandarin oranges to the bowl.

Slice the banana and add to the bowl. Stir gently to coat the banana with the liquid. This will keep the banana from turning brown.

Cut the apple in quarters. Remove the core but don't peel it. Now chop the apple and add to the orange-banana mixture, again stirring to coat.

Add the dates. Stir to combine.

Put the yogurt in a small bowl. Pour in the reserved fruit juice. Stir to combine.

Divide the fruit mixture among dessert dishes. Spoon the yogurt on top of the fruit.

Makes about 4 cups.

© 2009 Mary Ann Dames, MS, RD