Day 20 of the 30-Day Challenge: Procrastination Station
Task: To incorporate healthy eating options into my meal planning and preparation for the weekend.
Reason for Task: Every Friday is my big cooking day. I make sizeable quantities of the main course, sides, and desserts to last through Sunday. So, my time in the kitchen is an all-day event. When devoting that much time and effort into meal planning and preparation, I strive to provide meals that are sure to make all of my family members happy and that are excellent left-over options. However, I’m finding myself recycling through my same old collection of recipes. And, I’ve been thinking that I need to branch out and try some new recipes here and there. Even though my family’s not complaining about the repetition because they are getting some great tasting meals, I’ve decided that now is the time to start bringing some fresh choices to meal time. And, what better way to freshen things up than to add raw foods to a main course, side dish, or dessert.
In today’s task, I’ve chosen to focus on a new dessert to prepare and that dessert had to incorporate fresh fruit in some way. I’ve made fruit pies, crumbles and crisps, fruit sauces, and used fruit (mixed with sugar) as toppings on desserts. But, my goal today was to figure out how to use fresh fruit (with no added sugar) as a main component to my new dessert creation, derived from a brand-new recipe. Here’s what I came up with… a delicious fruit tart.
Duration of Task: 1 day with lasting benefits throughout the entire weekend.
Outcome: This is the first time that I’ve ever made a fruit tart, but I enjoy them every time I eat them. In all honesty, I need to give credit to my daughter; she actually made the two 12″ round fruit tarts and I assisted her with cutting up the fruit for the garnish. I absolutely love this recipe from Taste of Home! Here it is if you’re interested: Vanilla Cream Fruit Tart. I thought the tart was perfect. My daughter and I did change up a couple of things though. We used tapioca flour instead of the cornstarch and we used fresh kiwi instead of the fresh raspberries. Umm… Ummm… Good! Hubby and Little Man were okay with the taste of the tart, but it’s not their favorite. I think the white chocolate chips in the cream cheese spread might have messed with their taste buds a little. Perhaps, I’ll tone down the chips a bit when making it the next time. But again, I enjoyed the recipe and I do believe Toodlez and Junior thought it was really good as well. Plus, think of all the vitamin intake a person is getting from the pineapple and lemon juices, strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi. This is a win-win in my book.
Bonus: My daughter, Toodlez, made some dinner rolls, using a “Hawaiian Buns” recipe from King Arthur Flour’s website. Here’s the link to the recipe: Hawaiian Buns Recipe. The use of 100% pineapple juice was an added bonus to the traditional dinner roll I’m used to eating. Toodlez pretty much followed the recipe with the exception of using organic unbleached all-purpose flour instead of the King Arthur’s flour, Kroger brand yeast instead of SAF Gold instant yeast, and tapioca flour instead of the potato flour. These mouth-watering, fluffy, sweet rolls remind me of the King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls you can buy in stores. I still remember how delicious they taste (it’s been many years ago), but my family and I refrain from eating store-bought breads because of all the additional junk they put in them. Personally, I don’t think that homemade breads can be beat. So, finding a tasty Hawaiian roll that my daughter and I can make at home is SWEET!
Well, it was real y’all. This week was full of tasks that tested my commitment to healthier eating. My family and I have plenty more work to do in this arena, but we continue to improve in our eating habits each year and I’m looking forward to the improvements we’ll make next year. Hope you have a great weekend and I’ll catch up with you on Sunday for Day 21 of the challenge.
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