Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Poison ivy and raspberry bushes—when I was a kid, these were the two plants my dad always pointed out to me on camping trips. This summer, as we hiked through Big Elk Meadows (which is not a meadow and there were no elk), the wild raspberries were copious. The dry creek was spotted with small bushes, each of them ripe with red gems. Those wild berries were far better than the ones growing in my own backyard, and not just because we were eating them outside. They were juicier and sweeter. We ate the ripest ones and left the others for the birds.

These popsicles are an end of summer hoorah! A sweet-tart cool down for mid-afternoon.

Raspberry Popsicles with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Published September 10, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 20 active minutes

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Ingredients:

12 ounces fresh raspberries

1/4 teaspoon lemon or lime juice

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons raw sugar or coconut sugar

Equipment: Popsicle molds and popsicle sticks

Directions:

1. Place raspberries in a blender and purée.
2. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a sauce pan, and pour raspberry puree through sieve in order to remove seeds. All of the juice should go through the sieve (into the pot), and you should be left with just seeds in the sieve. Discard of seeds.
3. Place raspberry purée on stove over low heat and stir in lemon juice. Bring to a slow simmer, and add sugar to taste. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow mixture to cool, about 10 minutes.
4. Pour raspberry mixture into popsicle molds with popsicle sticks and freeze for 8 hours, until frozen solid.
5. When popsicles are frozen, prep the chocolate: melt chocolate in microwave (at 30 second increments, stirring in between each until smooth), or in a double boiler.
6. Remove popsicles from molds, and drizzle with chocolate. Allow chocolate to set. Serve immediately, or store in air-tight container until ready to eat.

Peachy Mint Green Smoothie

Sometimes it feels like inspiration finds the maker, not the other way around. Take this smoothie. I’ve been pretty fresh out of inspiration (or maybe motivation, it’s hard to tell the difference), as evidenced by the slow roll of recipes here at Foraged Dish over the last month. I’ll plan out a recipe, and at the last moment decide I just would rather make something else. But while waiting for an extraordinarily delayed flight, I stopped by a small café at the La Guardia airport, and ordered a green smoothie. It was mint-forward, made with summer fruits, and quite good, even though you never expect airport food to be any good. I’ve had so much mint in the garden, it’s been in just about everything these days. Here’s my recreation of that smoothie!

Peachy Mint Green Smoothie

Published June 26, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 2   |    Active Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 banana, fresh or frozen

1 peach, fresh or frozen

2 large handfuls greens, such as baby spinach or baby kale

Leaves from 6-8 sprigs of mint

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup water or juice (such as pineapple or peach juice)

Optional: 4 ice cubes

Optional: 1 scoop unflavored protein powder, such as collagen or whey

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Pour into glasses and enjoy.

Vanilla Chai Spice Dried Pears

A big box showed up in our dining room in mid-September with my name on the shipping label. 

It was my birthday but I still scratched my head. This September, I had been so stressed that I mostly avoided the topic of my birthday or gifts with anyone that asked— I certainly didn’t need anything, but I also just couldn’t find a minute to think about it clearly.

I had ordered nothing (though in the same minute that thought entered my mind I also started doubting myself— had I hit “buy now” on that Dehydrator I had been eyeing instead of “add to cart?”). 

When I got halfway through opening the box with a paring knife and found it was a Dehydrator, I doubted myself even further. So much so, that I stopped right there and pulled out my phone to check my order history.

Relief washed over me when I saw I had placed no orders in the last month, but I still had a mystery on my hands. I finished unpacking the appliance before drilling Oliver on who had bought it. It probably took me four tries to get it right, but when I did land on my dad it all made sense. I had given him a non-answer when he had asked about my birthday in general, so he had asked Oliver.

This new dehydrator was about five times nicer than any of the ones I was planning to buy myself! (THANKS DAD!)

So far, my absolute favorite thing to dehydrate has been pears.

This recipe is inspired by one I found in the book, “Dried and True”, a cookbook that takes dehydrating to the next level, moving it from boring old-fashioned recipes to new, inventive, and tantalizing flavors. I made the Dried Vanilla Pears from the book twice before venturing out on my own.

As soon as our first fall day hit, I immediately was dreaming about warmer flavors, like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Chai. And that’s how these pears came to be — a day dream, like most of my recipes 😉

In real life, each slice of pear was such a treat, I savored every one. We took them hiking, ate them around the house, and packed them in our bags for outings around town. I always looked forward to those delicious pears. I thought, for about 5 seconds, about sharing them with a few coworkers but greed got the best of me and I kept it to myself. Sharing the recipe is almost as good, right?!

This recipe is good for dehydrating-pros or a newbies like me. Make it while the pears are at their peak! I used Starkrimson Pears one round and Colorado Heirloom Pears another; Starkrimson are especially hardy pears so hold up well to the boiling and dehydrating process.

Vanilla Chai Spice Dried Pears

Published October 16, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Yield: 20 slices   |    Active Time: 8-9 hours

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Ingredients:

4 ripe pears (recommend Starkrimson)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

5 slices of fresh ginger - each about the size of a nickel

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/16 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/16 teaspoon ground cardamom

Pinch of ground cloves

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients but the pears in a sauce pan, and bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
2. Wash pears and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices. Remove seeds and cut of stems as you go.
3. Work with 3-4 pear slices at once: submerge pears in syrup on the stove, simmering slices for 10 minutes. Pears should be softened through but should not fall apart easily.
4. Use a slotted spoon to remove slices from syrup and set on a plate to cool for several minutes.
5. When all of the pears are done, spread them out on the wracks of your dehydrator, with at least 1/4-inch of space between each slice.
6. Place wrack in dehydrator and set to 135°F for 8-10 hours, until pears are dried but still chewy.