Eppa Sangria Cranberry Preserve with Easy Yogurt Pannacotta

There is a tangible sense of excitement and expectation in December. I always feel like something amazing is going to happen, a feeling echoed perhaps from thousands of years ago at that very first Christmas... December has since always been a month of hope, and is definitely the happiest month of the year. In my life December has always been the month of new beginnings-T and I were married in December four fleeting years ago, we came to this country on the last day of the month to bein our new life together here, and it is also the month that I began another beautiful new journey as a mom to my little monkey. I am always excited to see what December brings! 

One of the things I enjoy the most about this time of the year is getting together with friends and family. Everyone takes the time out and makes the extra effort to get together, sit at one table, share stories, laughter and create memories. Food is festive, rich and plentiful and wine always seems to flow more freely.
Living close to Napa Valley I always like discovering new wines to try and I was only happy to accept when the people of Eppa Sangria asked me if I would like to review their wine.

On a whim I also used it to make a cranberry preserve or dessert topping for a creamy panna cotta that I made lighter replacing half greek yogurt in place of cream. I think I came up with the perfect Christmas time dessert- it is a light refreshing end to a heavy meal, is super easy and takes only a few minutes, a saucepan and a spoon to put together, you can make it ahead to set and chill in your fridge and it doesn't take up oven space. With a seasonally apt red cranberry topping infused with spices and wine how much more perfect can it get?

I made the dessert for some friends who came home for dinner and I also served them the wine which I was not so surprised to note was preferred more by us women because of its sweet taste and fruitiness. I think Sangria just looks so pretty too, with the bobbing bits of fruit that infuse the wine with their bright fresh flavors.

Eppa Sangria is a combination of Cabernet and Syrah from beautiful Mendocino County, blended with fruit juces from antioxidant-rich fruits, including pomegranate, blueberry, Mediterranean blood orange and acai. I was pleased to learn that this makes it nearly twice as antioxidant rich as a glass of red wine and it is also certified organic- something that is not very easy to find. You can buy it in Whole Foods or other stores mentioned on their website and you can also have it shipped to most states. It came to me well packed in thermocole bottle savers and could be a good gift idea to send friends and family who don't live close by.

I made the cranberry preserve by simmering the red berries until they burst with spices and citrus zest and it is even more delicious than it looks, especially when paired with the refreshingly light and so easy to make pannacotta. I'm sure it would taste great with crackers or cookies, plain yogurt, or even with cheese. I would probably spoon it over ice cream especially this one.

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blueberry coconut vegan scones - no butter, no eggs

Hope you are all having a good summer. Can you believe that it's almost August already? I think this is my favourite season (but then, I do say that every season! ) Picnics, trips to the beach, bbqs, road trips...summer is just the perfect time for fun and for portable, finger friendly food, that you can pack and take along, like these blueberry coconut scones. 

We made a trip up to beautiful Carmel some time ago and I baked up these blueberry scones to take with us.  I made them with coconut milk so my little dairy allergic munchkin could have them too, but you could use any kind of milk. For good measure I tossed in some shredded coconut and blueberries which bubbled and burst in the oven, leaking rivulets of purple juices.

Isn't it kind of weird that blueberries are actually a translucent green inside? When you bake them, the inside turns purply too. Baking really makes blueberries even better, turning them jammy and juicy and wonderful.

These are not exactly like the traditional butter scones. These are super simple and quick to make- everything gets mixed together in one bowl with a fork.  The batter is somewhat loose and you drop them by the tablespoons and bake. That's it. They are as delicious though, with a crisp exterior and all tender and soft inside- good on their own, fantastic with some buttery spread and preserves. 
You can skip the coconut if you are not a coconut lover and replace the coconut milk with any other milk. Play around with them- a little zest, some spice, dried fruit?  

Here is a picture from Carmel, on a drive to Big Sur. I had to walk down small trail, braving poison oak and stand on the edge of a cliff, risking my neck to take this pic for you all. It is a truly beautiful place, simply spectacular sights and if we stopped every time I wanted to enjoy the jaw-dropping view and take pictures, the drive would have taken us several days at least. 

Downtown Carmel is like walking into a fairytale. There are moss covered cottages filled with sweets, quaint tea shops, galleries and secret passages. The Monterey Bay aquarium is also close by so if you are making a trip that side, it is definitely worth visiting too.

It was quite sad to come away from a truly dreamy weekend there, but I'm glad to have the memories, pictures and these scones!  

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balsamic roasted wild strawberries with greek yogurt

Each trip to the farmer's market that I have the great blessing of living just walking distance to,  is like a treasure hunt. I am always excited about what I will find that day. A few weeks ago when berries ruled, where now there are mountains of peaches and nectarines and plums, I chanced upon a stall with tiny strawberries. The cheerful woman missing one front tooth, who had woken up at 3 am to bring this bounty to us, pointed  out that this was the same variety of the regular larger strawberries, just those growing wild on the mountains.

I bought some of each, the regular ones and these tiny ones to compare. The wild berries had a concentrated strawberry flavour and tartness and crunchy seeds while the plumper ones were juicier, being fleshier and I actually preferred those to eat. 

The mountain berries however, would be wonderful in dessert and jam, being incredibly flavorful. 

small wild mountain strawberries 

larger fleshier regular strawberries sliced 

Both types were nothing like the tasteless ones from the supermarket. From thinking that organic produce was just overpriced hype, I have become a locavore convert! Seriously the difference in taste between something that is grown in small farms organically and brought fresh to the market to that which is grown on a large scale God-knows-where to look pretty and last longer on supermarket shelves but taste like water balloons is something you have to taste yourself to understand! So get yourself to your local markets or farms where ever in the world you are, if you haven't already! 

I had grand ideas of making balsamic roasted wild strawberry ice-cream and cut up whatever strawberries remaining I hadn't greedily eaten ( both kinds) into a roasting dish with a tablespoon or so of sugar,  a squeeze of lemon juice, a scraped vanilla bean and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and after about 8 minutes at 350 F in the oven I just about died when I tasted the sweet  juicy warm goodness.

Forgotten was the ice cream and we happily ate it by itself or topped some greek yogurt with sweet juicy red spoonfuls. It would make a great cake or ice cream topping too, but sadly it was all gone before I could investigate further!

Roasting fruits is a great way to experience them completely differently. Adding just a few spoonfuls of sugar and nothing else even, while roasting or stewing with a little water on the stove top, turns fruits that are slightly tart and sour and thus untouched on your dining table into something that everyone will fight to finish! They break down a little and become soft and slightly jam like, releasing delicious juices.
I had tried this with peaches last summer, (and again this time in roasted peach and bourbon icecream) where the edges get browned and caramelized. Bananas are great to roast too, as are a lot of other fruits. 

Am playing around with my camera settings and very slowly learning about exposure and the other nuts and bolts about photography. The awesomely talented and wonderful Xiaolu, Aparna, Prerna have been awesomely patient and not laughed at my embarrassingly noobie questions. Thank you! 

I submitted the first photo to Food Pixel's fruit as core ingredient themed photography event. I am now liking this darker feel that I achieved shooting against a dark back ground and by reducing the aperture and also reducing the exposure bar by a couple of points, and further increasing the shadows on a simple editor like Picasa tho I need to look into a more powerful editor soon. This is new for me, after  years of obsessively trying to make my pictures brighter! 

For those of you who want to learn more like me, here is what I'm reading and trying to get into my small brain!

• My Take on Food Styling and Photography by Xiaolu of 6Bittersweets
• Food Photography series by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen
• Understanding Light by Prerna of Indian Simmer 
• 31 days of Food photography Tips at Learn Food Photography
• Creating moods with Ilva Beretta
• A highly recommended book is of course Helene Dujardin's book on food photography Plate to Pixel

Will update this list with more as I find them, but first, going to have to force myself to read beyond the first few pages of my tedious and boring camera manual :(

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Boysenberry Yogurt Parfait- Berry Happy Fourth of July!

granola + yogurt + ripe juicy boysenberries 

This really doesn't need a recipe.The top layer is just juicy berries mashed with yogurt ( I used plain, non fat) and a teaspoon of sugar if the berries are too tart. Just stir them up with a spoon in a coffee mug. ( that's how I eat it when I don't have to make it look pretty for pics- in a coffee mug). No food colouring, that beautiful pink (not quite red) came from the berries.  The middle layer is plain yogurt with or without sugar to sweeten  and the bottom layer is granola, graham craker crumbs, cereal, whatever you want.
Top with berries and enjoy a chilled fresh and fruity healthy dessert, breakfast or snack.
Berry Happy Fourth of July everyone! 

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Berry Smoothies! The blender is my best friend this summer.

When it comes to appliances I used to have a minimalistic approach. Now I am slowly realizing that some appliances can really save you a lot of time and frustration and although you don't really need them, they sure are nice to have. I do a lot of research before taking the plunge and cluttering up my house (though the ice cream machine I must confess was in a moment of weakness and I hope it will not be banished to some cupboard and never see the light of day.)

That said, I do love my little Cuisinart Mini Prep Food Processor.Tiny but powerful it has served me well in the kitchen, grinding nuts and pureeing veggies. But it was a little too small to make smoothies comfortably and I didn't want a bulky huge blender cluttering up my counter, or have to deal with the washing up of the huge glass blender jar. So instead, I recently bought this Cuisinart Stick Hand Blender and now I feel like a fool for not having done so sooner.

What this stick/immersion blender can do:

Puree veggies for soup (right in the pot) -check

Blend spinach and onions for palak gravy right on the stove top-check

Mash bananas into creamy baby food for Jelly bean-check

Pulverize a handful of frozen fruit and a cup of soy milk into a JambaJuice busting smoothie?- oh yes!

The tip to making great smoothies in a blender is to add  little bit of liquid to liquefy the frozen fruit,- milk/soy milk and use short bursts or "pulses" of about 10 seconds to break up the frozen fruit or even ice cubes instead of letting the machine run for a long time where you end up with mush near the blades and chunks at the top. If using a stick blender, move it up and down so that there is even blending. 

I really like how easy clean up is as the blade part is dismantalable and can be easily dish-washed.

Here are my two little kitchen buddies ( Laurel & Hardy) who will be featuring in a lot of my kitchen escapades this summer:

                                                                                                      

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Berry Banana Frozen Yogurt-Vegan, Dairy Free

Is it getting hot where you live? It sure is, here in sunny California. Good thing I have a big bag of frozen berries in my freezer, ready to whipped up into berry smoothies, berry desserts and this easy-peasy berry banana frozen yogurt.

Berry Banana Frozen Yogurt

Recipe source: My own

Ingredients

• 2 cups yogurt (for vegan version use soy yogurt)
• 2 ripe bananas mashed
• 1 cup frozen mixed berries ( I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and black berries)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbs maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon pwd
• Mint leaves for garnish- a few

Method

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, take the yogurt and the mashed bananas attach the paddle and mix until well combined.You could also use a hand held beater or blender for this
• Add the vanilla, maple syrup and cinnamon powder and continue mixing.
• Transfer the contents into the ice cream attachment of your stand mixer/ice cream maker so that the ice crystals are broken up while freezing.
• Take the frozen mixed berries in your blender and pulse it a couple of times until powdery.
• Mix it with the frozen yogurt in the last 5 minutes of the ice cream maker's rotation. I love how it takes on a beautiful swirly pinkish-purplish colour (depending on the berries used)
• Garnish with a few berries and mint leaves
• The frozen yogurt will have a soft serve consistency so serve immediately. If you are freezing the leftovers, it might become hard in the freezer so leave it out for about 10 mins before serving.
• Serve it over warm lemon cake for extra points!

Verdict
Ease:  ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♡
Taste: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ♡
I don't have an ice cream maker yet, though I have just ordered my Cuisinart ICE-40 Flavor Duo Ice Cream Maker
after a lot of research  and am excited about all the glorious ice creams I'll be making this summer!  You don't really need one you just have to make sure you regularly take the contents out of the freezer and mix to avoid the formation of ice crystals and keep your froyo or ice cream smooth and creamy. 
Check out these useful tips on how to make ice cream without a machine  and how to make ice cream softer
I guess I wasn't religious enough and mine had some crystals. It also melted quite fast so make sure you serve it at the last minute and eat up fast! Which shouldnt be a problem since it tastes goood :)
If you like this you should totally check out my dessert recipes are here

All my favourite vegan recipes are here

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