Prepare fresh fruit now for off-season use

“BUDGET BEATERS.

WE'VE SPENT the past
_weekend dealing with 35

_ pounds of strawberries and
raspberries. By the time you
read this, the strawberries are

to be over; however, there .

may still be a few left for.
‘those who want to pick their

Raspberiés, too, will likely have
“a shorter crop season due to the rain.
Tf ui have any hope of doing either

pfoviding theie isn’t-a lot of spoiled
es, will yield 28 cups of freezer

VS pounds of Fasphenies will give

24 cups. -

OA flat of each is the weight given.
OG For every four cups of prepared
(mashed) berries you will need ong
package of Garden Fare Gel. Find it
in the produce section. If you're
lucky and find it on sale, it will be 98
cents a package.
You may not find it at all! It has

become so popular that the stores are

-“ often sold out.

Garden Fare calls for less sugar
than other mixes, but you can reduce
the amount even more if you like. It
will not affect the gelling properties
of the mix. .

You can substitute Splenda or
another non-caloric sweetener for
the sugar. I found that % to 4 cup of
Splenda per four-cup batch of berries
was about right but add gradually, to
your own taste.

Too much Splenda will result in
far too sweet a product. Use the right
amount and your jam will pass any
taste test.

I] added the grated rind aud juice
of one orange to every eight cups of
mashed strawberries. The jam is
delicious.

I've also been busy developing
new recipes for food that people on
restricted diets can eat but that would
never be singled out as “diet food.”
These muffins are outstanding -—

modesty was never my long suit!

PEACH-APRICOT MUFFINS

This makes six jumbo muffins.

1 c. peach purée, ,

‘To ‘prepare, empty one .14-oz. tin
of canned peaches i in pear juice (no
added sugar) into your blender. This
will provide two cups purée. Pour
half of it into a freezer container to
keep for next time.

t

2 Tbsp. oil (if you aren’t watching
fats, you may use % c. The fie-
vor is the same, but the keeping
guality of the inuffins improves
with extra oll)

2 tsp. vanilla

1c. buttermilk

i-2 Tbsp. Splenda or % c. white
sugar

1c. slow-cooking rolled oats

1c. flour

14 tsp. baking powder

¥ tsp. baking soda

% tsp. salt

% ¢. dried apricots, chopped (buy
bulk)

Add egg, oil, vanilla and butter-
milk to peach purée in blender. Buzz
to blend.

Stir Splenda or sugar, oats, flour,
baking powder, soda, salt and apri-
cots together in a mixing bow! until
well mixed, Stir in liquid just until
no flour shows. Batter will be
lumpy.

Spray six jumbo muffin tins and
divide the batter among them. The
tins will be quite full. Bake at 400°F
about 18 minutes. Watch them — do

‘ not overbake.

LIGHT BAKING
POWDER BISCUITS
Baking powder biscuits are tradi-

‘tionally made with either margarine

or vegetable shortening, both hydrel-

. ogized vegetable fats. Both have

been proven to be Major causes of
heart disease.

I love them, but of all the veg-

etable fats, light Bece/ margarine is

-one of the safest fats to eat. It is usu-

ally shunned by bakers. Can you
make biscuits with it? Yes! And the

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biscuits aren't horrid, either.

Don't expect the lovely, flaky
creations that you make with lots of
hard fat but these are light and quite
acceptable.

This makes six biscuits. Prepare
this quantity for starters because the
dough is softer than normal and
needs very little work. With a big
batch you tend to overdo the han-
dling so get the feel of this first.
1c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
% tsp. salt
2 level Thsp. light margarine
4c. skim milk

With a fork, stir the dry ingredi-
ents together. Add the margarine and

work in with the fork; it takes just —

seconds.

Stir in most of the milk and toss
the dough with the fork — puil it to
one side and add all but about a
tablespoon of the remaining milk.
The dough will be very soft.

Don’t handle it too much — just
enough to get it together. Pat it into a
6” circle on a‘ floured countertop.
Cut into six wedges. Bake at 425°F,
14-15 minutes. These don’t brown as
dark as regular biscuits —- light gold
is all you can expect. Serve immedi-
ately.

We can never have too many
recipes for desserts that can be kept
in the freezer. And, with the warm
summer days, who needs to bake
anything?

This cheesecake is best made
from well-ripened, fresh peaches.
However, you can make it in
December with tinned fruit or, better

Fun & Prizes!

ad

still, with peach purée that you hinye,
frozen at the height of the season. ““
To freeze peach purée, start with.
tree-ripened peaches, To make. life _
easier, use freestones. Drop each’
peach into boiling water for a few.’
oe big to loosen the skin — ton:

Mash the fruit i ina blender. 9
processor and add commercial freez
er powder as directed on the label.
Measure into two-cup lots and freeze.
in freezer bags.

Ef your recipe calls for.an’ uneven:
quantity of purée, the leftovers mak
a delicious topping for i ice’ cream
crépes.

FROZEN PEACH
CBEESECAKEK
4c. margarine, melted ©
1% ec. Graham wafer crumbe
Xe. sugar
2a fresh peach purée. 3 c

ourded

2 250-¢ packages reguiar cream
cheese, softened!’

1 can sweetened condensed milk
— Eagle brand -.

2 Thsp. lemou juice

2 tsp. almond extract 5.

1 500-mL container Cool Whip
combi

: peaches Fold in Cool: SWE

Turn into pan. and:;:
evernight or " to six. weel

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