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Give a boost to your average lemonade stand: Add freshness from the garden!

7/20/2017

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​There’s nothing that helps beat the heat of summer better than a glass of fresh ice cold lemonade.  Oh wait, there actually is. It’s a fresh ice cold glass of STRAWBERRY MINT LEMONADE made by kids straight from the garden!
 
Kids today are extremely savvy and smart when it comes to marketing so differentiating their product these days by adding extra surprises to a traditional lemonade recipe helps elevate the “typical” kid’s stand to a great lemonade spectacular! 
​First ingredient of course is still lemons! The key to helping kids squeeze fresh lemons is let them press down on the lemons and roll them around the table.  Yes, we get to play with our food.  This loosens up the insides and makes it easier for small hands to twist on the juicer.
 
Now comes making the lemonade.  A lot of times we’ve just thrown sugar, water and lemons into a pitcher to make lemonade.  However, when you do that the sugar sinks to the bottom and takes forever to dissolve.  (There definitely is a science lesson there in figuring out why- Keep reading for a cool experiment! )
 
If you have the time, heat the water and sugar together first to make a syrup mixture and then add the lemon juice to the syrup and mix it all together. Here is LISA's LEMONADE RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS
Yield:  about 2 quarts

 
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (strained to remove pulp and seeds if you like)
4 cups of cold water

 
Boil sugar and 1 ½ cups of water to create a sugar/water syrup.  Let it cool and then mix in lemon juice.  Add cold water and you’re ready!
​Now, comes the fun part! Creating different ways to make the traditional lemonade different.
STRAWBERRY SYRUP RECIPE
Basic simple syrup is made by using one part solid and one part water. Begin your recipe by adding 2 cups of water to 2 cups of sugar in to a small pot and give it a stir with a wooden spoon.  Show your kids how when they add the "solid" sugar in to the "liquid" water that it doesn't dissolve right away. In science, the liquid is called the 'solvent". Turn the heat on a medium low and begin stirring every minute. (This can also be done in the microwave using a heatproof bowl and using 30 second intervals.)

Let your kids watch as the sugar slowly dissolves until it completely disappears. You have just created a "solution"! Allow your sugar water "solution" to cool completely. Show your kids how the mixture doesn't fall out of suspension, meaning the sugar doesn't separate from the water. Tell them that's because the water and the sugar have similar molecular properties. Pretty cool, huh? 
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Now for the strawberry part. 
​Using 6-8 large strawberries, clean and hull them by removing the stems. Placing in a small bowl, and allow your kids to mash them with a fork or a potato masher until they are almost like apple sauce. Add them to the simple syrup and stir to make your lemonade stand add-in syrup. 

​Place 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry syrup per glass of lemonade to make Strawberry Lemonade and ENJOY! 
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Giant Strawberries

7/5/2017

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Growing a Giant Strawberry!

Welcome to my daughter’s strawberry patch. It’s just in a small pot, but it’s still a fun place to hang out. 

There are a lot of types of berries to eat in the world, but her favorite is the strawberry, like so many of her friends. It’s sweet, easy to eat and even easier to grow! ​
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Container gardening is a fun way to experiment with your space and give kids ownership of a specific crop!

Experiment Time!

Here’s a great experiment to share with your kids about strawberries:
After only a month of growing, little white flowers will start to pop up on the strawberry plant. Each of these blooms will turn into a strawberry if left alone.  However, if you want to have giant strawberries try picking all the flowers off except for 3.
All the water and nutrients that the plant eats should now go to help just these three strawberries grow!
 
To make the experiment really cool…start with the same size plant in two different pots and then don’t pick the flowers on one.  With the other, just leave 3 flowers and see if the strawberries are bigger.
 
Be sure to take pictures and let me know if it worked.  I can’t wait to try my daughter’s super big red plump strawberries! ​
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Fun Fact: 
There are on average 200 seeds on the outside of every strawberry!
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Looking for something delicious to make with your fresh crop of strawberries?
​Check out our newest Recipe for Fun at www.LisaElyGardens.com
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Fruit Cookie Pizza Pie

7/2/2017

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(Like how I incorporated everything yummy?)
There are so many tasty ways to celebrate America’s Independence Day!  Fresh fruit straight from the garden (or even market) is topping my family’s list.  It’s colorful, sweet, and always refreshing on a hot summer day! 
Throw the word “pizza” onto the dessert menu and you’ll have everyone running, including the cat, to get some! Can you blame Kitty?  This looks so good and is such a cute picture! Mmmmmmmm!
Here’s how you can make your own yummy bite!
What’s Needed:
  • 1 roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
  • Fresh strawberries (approx. 2 cups)
  • Fresh blackberries (approx. 2 cups)  
  • 1 package of light cream cheese (8 ounces)
  • 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel
  • Melted apricot jelly (peach works too)
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​Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, or whatever is listed on the cookie dough package.  Then spray a 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick spray.
The first real step is a lot of fun. 
You get to play with dough.  Break the roll of cookie dough into small cookie sizes and place on the pizza sheet.  Once the pan is covered, press the dough out until the entire pizza pan is covered.  We’re using the already made sugar cookie dough because it doesn’t crumble as much as homemade dough. Of course, either way will work. It’s up to you.
 
Once the pan is completely covered with cookie dough, stick it in the oven to bake.  Be sure to watch the clock and don’t let it burn.  Pull it out of the oven when it’s a golden brown.  It took me about 20 minutes to bake this one.
 
Don’t eat the cookie yet.  It’s too hot and we still need to cover it with our fruit toppings.    
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While it cools, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon peel.  Stir it until it’s nice and fluffy.  Probably about 2 minutes will do it. Now spread it on top of the baked cookie.  Cover the entire thing.
If your kids don’t know how to draw a star yet, give them a hand.  Err, I mean a finger.  Trace the star out into the dough. This is going to be your guideline for placing the fruit. 
We used fresh red strawberries to make the star.  You could use your blackberries if you want to make a blue star instead.  Just plop the strawberries on there until they’ve formed a star.
Now, use the other berries to cover the rest of the cookie. Raspberries with blueberries is a great option.  Our strawberries are fresh and sweet so I wanted to use them for this cookie pizza.
Once the fruit is placed, melt apricot jelly and pour it right on top.  This creates a yummy glaze.
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Enjoy your Fourth of July with this amazing treat!
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FRESH BERRY POPSICLES

6/29/2017

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​​Frozen popsicles are a summer “must-eat” in our house.  (Honestly, we eat them every season but we're able to make them with fruit from our garden now!)

​So, while the BBQ is heating up, games are being played, and you’re waiting patiently for fireworks to fly, try making a batch of your own fruit frozen pops! ​
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Ingredients:
​1 cup fresh berries from your garden, sliced
1 banana
​5 ice cubes
​1 cup yogurt (strawberry flavor is my favorite)
​1/2 cup of milk
​1/2 cup of berry juice
​Cup or fun freezer molds​
Directions: 
​To begin​, be sure that the fruit you use is washed and all the stems are cut off of the berries. Place all ingredients in to a blender and pulse to mix. We like to start with the banana, then added in milk and a cup of strawberry yogurt. Next, we added fresh cut strawberries and 1/2 cup of cranberry-grape juice. You can substitute blackberries or blueberries as a tasty choice if you don't have any strawberries. Add in a few pieces of ice get to a "smoothie" consistency and blend for about 30 seconds until mixture is smooth. Then, pour the mixture in to the pop molds. Try to leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of space at the top of the mold because the pops will expand as they freeze. Place the molds in the freezer and try to keep your hands off them for at least 4 hours (or until they're frozen enough to eat!​ I know! It’s extremely hard to do!
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You may have to run the popsicle mold under warm water to loosen the sides before eating!
​For an extra bonus, pour a few mini-chocolate chips on top of the smoothie mixture before placing it in the freezer.  This is an extremely healthy snack so a couple morsels of chocolate are okay and they’re a really yummy surprise!
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 Also, these rocket popsicle molds are made by Tovolo (www.tovolo.com).
​I love the variety of the mold shapes available and the ease of the popsicles release from the molds. Plus, who doesn't like a rocket pop?

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