Cantaloupe Fro-Yo

Jay and I have been enjoying our farmer’s market and tons of fresh produce from it. We purchased two ears of corn last Wednesday and grilled them in the husks. Best sweet corn, ever. So we ran back to the same stand on Saturday and bought 13 more. We grilled the corn, cut it off the cob and froze it to enjoy for a while. I like to add frozen corn to soups and it also goes in veggie chili. I also love that I know that this corn is good, it came from the ground in Albert Lea, and is sweet and tender.

We got a melon from the market a few weeks ago and it was a dud. Not sweet at all and the flesh was soft in half and crunchy in half. No good, but the light orange color is enticing. We bought another on sale at the store this weekend and it is so sweet, and has the perfect texture. Jay suggested frozen yogurt and I knew we had to use this melon!

This recipe does require some planning to make. You have to drain the yogurt for 6-8 hours before making the yogurt. We drained it over night (probably about 15 hours) and it was fine.

Cantaloupe Fro-Yo adapted from the Jeni’s Ice Cream Cookbook.

Fro-Yo base
1quart plain low fat yogurt
1 1/2cups whole milk
2tablespoons cornstarch
2ounces (4tablespoons) cream cheese
1/2cup heavy cream
2/3cup sugar
1/4cup light corn syrup

Cantaloupe syrup
1/4 cantaloupe
1/4cup sugar

Strain

Strain 1 quart of plain low fat yogurt for 6-8 hours or overnight into a large bowl with a sieve and two layers of cheesecloth. Discard the liquid in the bowl and measure 1 1/4 cups of yogurt and set aside.

Cantaloupe Syrup

Cut about 1/4 of a cantaloupe into chunks and purée.

Add about 3/4 cup of purée to a small saucepan with 1/4 cup sugar. Heat over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves, don’t boil. Remove from heat, let cool.

More prep

Combine 3 tablespoons of the whole milk with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Set aside.

Whisk 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) cream cheese in a small bowl until smooth, set aside.

Fill a large bowl with ice water, set aside.

Prepare a gallon size ziploc bag.

Cook

Combine the remaining milk (1 1/2 cups – 3 tablespoons), 1/2 cup heavy cream, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup light corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and boil for 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and slowly whisk in corn starch mixture. Return to heat and continue whisking just until mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

Whisk in cream cheese until smooth, then add yogurt and cantaloupe syrup and whisk until smooth.

Pour mixture into ziploc bag and place in the ice bath for 30 minutes.

Freeze

Pour cooled mixture into an ice cream maker and churn for about 20 minutes. At this point the mixture will begin coming away from the sides of the ice cream maker and become very thick.

Transfer the frozen yogurt into a container and freeze 4 hours before enjoying (if you can wait that long!). This recipe makes 1 quart of yogurt and the mixture fits perfectly into the container the plain yogurt came in.

Enjoy!

Lemon Frozen Yogurt (also Lemon & Strawberry Frozen Yogurt)

We’re nearing the end of our stay in Texas and I have wanted to make something Texas-y so I could write about some weird things we’ve notice about Texas. We didn’t really decide on anything Tex-Mex to make, but I think this Lemon Yogurt is the summer-y-est thing I’ve ever tasted. It is creamy, cool, sour, and refreshing and is the perfect thing to survive the Texas heat. In fact, I wish we would have made it sooner. This is the best frozen treat we’ve made yet.

Now on to the things we’ve learned about Texas.

1. The entire state of Texas is obsessed with Texas. There are so many things here that show us that Texas thinks it is the center of the universe. From Texas shaped cheese to bridges with Texas shaped emblems and “Everything is bigger in Texas” bumper stickers, Texans want everyone to know that Texas rules.
2. Texas is allowed to be obsessed with itself because Texas is the nicest state I’ve ever been in. This still catches me off guard every day. Everyone here is so friendly. Everyone says hello to one another, everyone says “Yes M’am, No Sir,” and everyone always says please and thank you. At work, cashiers call me by name, and thank me for bagging groceries (P.S. it’s my job, that I get paid for) and everyone is in an unusually good mood ALL the time. So what’s up with Texas? I honestly don’t know. If it’s something in the water, I had a glass this morning and I will be unusually nice for the rest of the day (you’re welcome Jay) but I’m not sure I have caught the friendly bug. I’m not a rude person by any means, but I am not sure I am outgoing enough to go out of my way to be super duper friendly to every single person I lay eyes on.
3. While I’m not catching the friendly bug, I have been guilty of saying y’all and getting a little southern twang now and then. I don’t know if it’s because everyone around me has a twang or if I secretly like to mock everyone around me.
4. We’ve heard some puzzling phrases, most of them we’ve forgotten. Jay’s favorite is when people say they’re “fixin’ to do something.’

Now, for the recipe: Heads up, this recipe requires a lot of prep, so make sure you actually read the recipe ahead of time and drain your yogurt over night!

Lemon Frozen Yogurt

For this recipe you will need:

Frozen Yogurt Base

drained yogurt

1quart plain low-fat yogurt

1 1/2cups whole milk

2T cornstarch

4T cream cheese

1/2cup heavy cream

2/3cup sugar

1/4cup light corn syrup

Zest from 1 lemon

Lemon Syrup

lemon juice

2-3lemons

3T sugar

Overnight prep

• Put a sieve or colander over a bowl and line it with 2 layers of cheesecloth.  (our colander had pretty large holes, but it worked really well.)
• Put the yogurt in the sieve and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours. (I did this overnight but you could do it anytime).
• Discard the liquid, you might be surprised how much liquid is in there!
• Measure 1 1/4cups of the drained yogurt and set aside.

Prep

• Make the lemon syrup. Using a veggie peeler or paring knife, remove the zest in large strips from 1lemon. Be careful not to peel off the white pith along with the zest. If you have a

  

  lemon zest no pith vs. pith

  lot of white on the back of your zest strips, lay them flat on a cutting board and use a paring knife to slice it off (always move the knife away from your body). Set aside the zest strips. Juice your lemons to make 1/2cup of juice. Combine the lemon juice and 3T sugar in a small saucepan, heat over medium heat stirring constantly until it boils and the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool.

• Mix 2T of the milk with 2T cornstarch in a small bowl, set aside.
• Whisk 4T cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, set aside.
• Make an ice bath.
• Prepare a Ziploc bag.

Cook

• Combine the remaining 1 1/2cups minus 2T milk, 1/2cup heavy cream, 2/3cup sugar, 1/4cup light corn syrup, and lemon zest in a 4quart saucepan.

  

• Bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat and boil for 4minutes.
• Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture.
• Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat until it thickens (about 1 minute)
• Remove from the heat
• Whisk a little of the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth, then add the cream cheese to the pot.
• Add the yogurt and lemon syrup to the pot and whisk until smooth

Freeze

• Pour the mixture into a Ziploc bag and chill in the ice bath for about 30minutes. (The mixture is really thick, like the texture of smooth yogurt)
• Remove the zest pieces
• Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and freeze for about 25minutes.
• Store in freezer for at least 4hours (or until you can’t stand it anymore).

Lemon and Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

We used our Strawberry Vanilla Jam as a swirl in the Lemon Yogurt.

Enjoy!

This recipe is from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer (Artisan Books). Copyright 2011.