Soft Serve Banana "Ice Cream"

Growing up in New Hampshire, we had a soft-serve ice cream shop named King Kone. King Kone had never more than six flavors: usually chocolate, vanilla, twist, banana, black raspberry, and bananaberry. Their soft serve was excellent and the cones were huge, and if you ever visit Merrimack, NH in the summer, be sure to check it out.

This recipe doesn't really have anything to do with commercial soft serve, but it sure is good. And healthy!

Take three bananas (overripe or ripe) and cut them into pieces, then freeze. To make the ice cream, take the bananas out of the freezer and let them soften for a minute or two.

Put the banana pieces in a food processor and blend until the ice cream is light and airy. It will take about 2-3 minutes; scrape down the bananas as needed.

The boys love this - the first time I made it, I told them they were having ice cream for breakfast. It's amazing how creamy, rich, and smooth the bananas become, truly mimicking the texture and flavor of soft serve.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

After our annual strawberry picking, we make copious amounts of jam. Last year I made 36 8-oz jars, and after we gave probably 8 jars away, we ran out of jam by Christmas.

It doesn't take that many strawberries to make jam: 2 cups of sliced/mashed berries will make a little over 5 8-oz. jars. However, it does take a lot of sugar! You may be shocked if you've never made jam before. But there's no high fructose corn syrup like there is in store-bought jam, so you've got that going for you.

This recipe is freezer jam, and it's uncooked, which means the fresh flavor is preserved. Since you store it in the freezer or refrigerator, you don't have to worry about sealing the jars or risking botulism. Store it in the freezer for a year or in the refrigerator for a month. You can pretty much use it straight from the freezer because it doesn't freeze solid.

I've had the best luck using liquid pectin (Certo) vs. powdered - it tends to set up better. As long as you keep the proportions correct and stir the sugar until it dissolves, yours will set up, too. If by any chance it doesn't, it makes a great sundae topping!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 cups sliced strawberries, mashed (you can do this by hand or in a blender or food processor - leave it somewhat chunky)

4 cups sugar

1 package liquid pectin

2 T. lemon juice

Clean canning jars or tupperware with lids

Mix strawberries with sugar and let stand for ten minutes. In a small bowl, mix packet of pectin with lemon juice. Add to strawberry mixture, and stir 3 min. or until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)

Fill all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use.

Thanksgiving - Cranberry Apple Salad

This is another Thanksgiving dish I've been making for almost ten years. My sister-in-law Beth named it, and I think I found it in Good Housekeeping. It's really easy to make if you have a food processor.

Cranberry Apple Salad

1/2 cup chopped pecans (more to taste)
1 bag cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 naval orange, peeled and diced
1 Gala apple, peeled and diced
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced

Put the cranberries in the food processor with the sugar. Pulse until chopped. You can also use a blender or chop by hand.

Pour the chopped cranberries in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Add more sugar if necessary.