Guest Post: Delicious Ways to Serve Fruit

Hi friends,

I'm pleased to introduce you to Blake Daniels, a stay at home dad and blogger from Upstate NY. Blake reached out to me recently, hoping to post a guest-post on Kim's Kitchen Sink as he plays around with a new subject (food!) before launching his new blog in the Spring. Why not? :) I'm pleased to present his first guest post, about making use of a fruit-of-the-month gift...feel free to say hi and ask questions in the comments below! - Kim

Delicious Ways to Serve Fruit

I am thrilled to have received a very thoughtful Christmas gift from my wonderful aunt. She knows how much I love food, which makes this gift even more welcome. Every month for the year, I will receive a shipment of fresh fruit from Shari's Berries.  With a variety of fruit coming I now need to find different ways to use it rather than just serve it in its raw state. As a stay at home dad my primary goal is to create healthy dishes for my family with the delicious fruit coming my way.  Here are a few of my ideas.

Right away next month in February my delivery will be of Bosc Pears.  For some reason I am excited to try a new dip for the big game, a Pear Salsa. This side dish takes advantage of the juicy and mellow components of the pears.  If there is any leftover I think a pairing with roast turkey or chicken might work.  Adding some nice acidity and brightness of flavor to the savory roast bird. The recipe uses simple ingredients and is easily prepared. I will be using this recipe from Epicurious.com for my salsa. 

Tangerines come “March”ing in next.  This will be a difficult month because tangerines are delicious and I tend to eat three or four of them at a time.  But I will have to restrain myself for the sake of Aunt Alice’s gift.  After trolling the Internet I came across this amazing sounding salad with my featured fruit of the month.  An Avocado and Tangerine Salad with Jalapeno Vinaigrette.  That sounds amazing and right up my ally.  I’m thinking I’ll save this recipe for an intimate night with my beautiful wife.  I found it on Bonappetit.com so feel free to look for yourself.  

With the showers in April come Strawberries.  They are the perfect ingredients for delicious and healthy strawberry smoothies. My kids love the flavor and they provide a healthy drink for any meal or snack.  We like to add almond milk and yogurt to thicken ours up and add even more flavor and texture.  I simply just throw everything in the blender and let ‘er rip!

Skipping ahead to November we get my favorite apple, the Fuji Apple.  They have a great firm texture and a sweet almost pear apple hybrid flavor.  They are an ideal baking apple.  But I don’t want to make the conventional pie.  I still have time to decide about these apples but some ideas I am tossing around are homemade chunky applesauce, doughnuts, turnovers, Apple Dessert Nachos?  I haven’t decided yet!

I love this gift and am very thankful to my aunt for thinking of it. I look forward to the exciting dishes I can create. Each month brings a new fruit and a new adventure.

Bio:

Blake Daniels is a native of Upstate NY and is constantly trying new things in the kitchen. His newly started “hobby” has slowly evolved into a full-on obsession overflowing the pantry and refrigerator (according to his lovely wife) with fresh produce and new exotic ingredients. He's still learning the ropes but is lucky enough to have plenty of willing friends to serve as taste testers (or guinea pigs) for his latest recipes.