Sunday, July 18, 2010

Welcome Paige Shelton!


My farmer's market is
one of my favorite
places to shop, so when
I saw anew mystery series
featuring a farmer's
market, I was delighted.
The first book in the series
FARM FRESH MURDER hit
the extended New York Times
best seller's list and small
wonder -- it is terrific. I can't
wait for the next one.


Now without further ado, here's Paige!




Thank you for the guest blog spot! It’s great to be here.


It has been so darn hot in Salt Lake City. As is typical, we went from

kind-of-cold to really hot in a matter of a few days. Our springs and

falls seem way too short.

This year something fun has happened because of the heat, though. Even

before I started writing the farmers’ market series, I loved shopping at my

local market. I always buy way too much for our family of three. I do freeze

some of the fruits and use them later, but the unbearable heat a couple weeks

ago gave us an idea: what if we blend up some of these fruits and turn them into

something that tastes good and helps cool us down – smoothies were an idea,

but we went further. How about popsicles?!















The idea took off from there and we’ve been playing with recipes and

mixtures. There have been some successes and some amazing failures.

I was shocked at how awful some combinations can taste. We’ve found

the simpler the better, and the following recipes are our favorites. You’ll

see that I like blending in ice cubes. Though it might seem redundant to

blend ice into something you’re going to freeze, I think it makes the final

texture more appealing. Please note that not all of the following ingredients

can be purchased at farmers’ markets.

Molds – Mine are from Bed, Bath and Beyond. My neighbor has some

Tupperware molds that she bought years ago and still uses. Paper cups

and sticks work, too.


Each of my molds holds four ½ cup popsicles, so ½ cup is the

recipes’ serving size.













Becca’s Berry Pops

Named for Becca, the protagonist in the farmers’ market books.

She grows strawberries and pumpkins and makes and sells preserves

and jams at Bailey’s Farmers’ Market. I’m working on a pumpkin popsicle,

but I don’t have anything, yet.

Ingredients:

5 large strawberries

1 rounded teaspoon sugar

½ cup whole milk

1 heaping cup of ice cubes

Directions: Blend strawberries with milk on low until smooth. Add ice cubes

and blend on high for about a minute. Add sugar and blend on high for another

minute or so, until slushy and smooth. Pour into molds and freeze for at least

4 hours. Makes 4 to 5 servings.

Happy Halloween Caramel Apple

Lesson learned – I saw some homemade caramel sauce at our market last year.

I was excited to track it down this year and use it for this recipe, but it’s nowhere

to be found. I wish I’d saved the vendor information. Now, if I find something I like

or something I might want to try in the future, I write down every bit of the vendor’s

information and ask if they have an email.

Ingredients:
1 medium apple, peeled, cored and cut up into chunks (use your favorite kind)

½ cup apple juice concentrate

5 teaspoons caramel ice cream topping

8 – 10 ice cubes

Directions: Excluding ice cubes, blend all ingredients on low until smooth.

Add ice cubes and blend on high until frosty. Pour into molds and freeze for

a good 6 hours. Makes about 4 servings.


Elvis Presley


Elvis loved peanut butter and banana! Originally, this was only supposed to

be a recipe for banana popsicles, but as I was blending the bananas I spied the

box of cereal that still hadn’t been put away – I couldn’t resist, and this is my

favorite.


Ingredients:

3 medium bananas, peeled and cut into fourths

12 ice cubes

1 cup Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter Cereal

Directions: Blend bananas on low until smooth. Add ice cubes and blend on

high until smooth and slightly frosty. With a spoon, gently stir in the cereal and

immediately spoon mixture into molds and freeze for about 4 hours. Makes

about 4 servings.

I love the taste combination and the surprise crunch of the cereal.

I’m sure I’ll keep playing with recipes and combinations – and that’s probably

half the fun. I know I won’t stop until I at least come up with something

pumpkin-y and delicious.


Thanks for stopping by today.
Happy summer, everyone, and stay cool . . .

Paige




Paige Shelton is the author of the

Farmers’ Market Mystery series.

FARM FRESH MURDER is on

the shelves now. The second in the

series, FRUIT OF ALL EVIL,

publishes March 2011.


11 comments:

  1. Welcome to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, Paige! Thanks so much for coming by today.

    I make smoothies, but never thought to adapt the recipe to freeze it! I love the idea of these--the ingredients are simple and I think my family will love having the popsicles. What a great idea (especially the Elvis one! :) )

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  2. I loved your Farmer's Market series debut, Paige. My 9yo daughter Becca loved that her name was the same as the main characters. We'll have to try some Becca's Berry Pops. : )

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  3. With the temperatures soaring between 90 and 100 here these recipes sounds delicious and refreshing.

    Always fun to meet a 'new to me' author. Best of luck with your series, it sounds intriguing.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  4. Wow, these are keepers, Paige. Love them. Welcome to Mystery Lovers Kitchen and congrats on your new book!

    MJ

    Charlotte Adams mysteries

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  5. I'm loving this idea, Paige! Thanks for joining us here at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen today. I have your book on my TBR pile and I have to tell you, that's one awesome cover! My husband and I enjoy visiting our local farmers market every week, so I'm really looking forward to diving into your book!

    Julie

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  6. Thanks for the welcome and the kind words, everyone! I love this site and it's fun to be a part of it today.

    Hope your weekends are cool, comfortable and full of good books and good food.

    Best,
    Paige

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  7. Paige it was nice to see you here and a new series for me to try out. I never thought of making smoothies to freeze either but we are going to try this today as it is another scorcher and we will all love it. Thank you for sharing.

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  8. I was just thinking I could use some popsicles. With only two of us in the house, I always have more fruit than we can eat. What a great idea! And thank you for the recipes to start me off.

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  9. Ah, I can't decide between the caramel apple and the Elvis Presley. I'll just have to make them both! Great post, Paige! Thanks for popping into the kitchen!

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  10. Thanks again! Hope everyone's popsicle experiments are delicious and help beat the heat. Great to meet you all -- thanks for the comments.

    Paige

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  11. Thank you so much for the Popsicle recipes, my grandchildren love popsicles and I am forever trying new things with them. Way better for them than what you are getting in the grocery stores.

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