The House of Sugar and Spice: a Fruit Salsa

Oh, my sweet summer children...you have to try this fruit salsa!

Unfortunately, for us, we've fallen behind in watching Season 5 of Game of Thrones, but we're making a comeback with this blog and to kickstart what we're hoping will be a very eventful summer, and years to follow, we've concocted an easy and quick fruit salsa for you

Here's the recipe:

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes

You're gonna need strawberries, blueberries, green grapes (but you can try red ones too, let us know what it tastes like in the comments below, we used green for their tartness), honey, lemon juice, and salt.

Here were our measurements, but yours can vary depending on which flavors you want to bring out...

6 strawberries
3/4 cup of blueberries
A dozen grapes
1-2 tbsp honey (to taste)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Cut up your strawberries and grapes so they blend easier, then put them in a food processor (you can try a blender, but we suggest slower speeds because you're aiming for a salsa, not a smoothie, but let us know your results in the comments section). Add the blueberries, honey, and lemon juice then mix to your desired consistency. Lastly, add the salt, try to sprinkle it add evenly, then stir the mixture with a spoon.

You're ready to serve! And, we have a few suggestions:

You can't go wrong with torilla chips (we used Tostitos), plain torillas for a wrap (we spread Nutella on ours before adding the sauce, then add whip cream and syrup on top for ooey gooey perfection), ice cream (you can never go wrong with vanilla, plus we added Nutella again), and waffles. Our dad gave our mom a belgian waffle maker for Mother's Day so she's been making waffles every weekend. We also added Nutella and whip cream to the waffles as well. What can we say? We really love Nutella!

With three episodes left of Season 5, hopefully you'll feel drawn to add our sauce to one of your viewing party menus. Remember: me parties are parties too.

Let us know what you think of our fruit sauce in the comments section below and we'll see you next time!

Dragon's Sweet Teeth: Blueberry Lemonade Popsicles

This Friday isn't a drink (sorry to say, because I'm thirsty). Today, the Hand of the Kitchen brings you a variation on last week's blueberry lemonade: blueberry lemonade popsicles!

Our hand of the kitchen loves to freeze juices into popsicles during the summer and the lemonade last week was no exception. To make the popsicles extra tasty, though, we've mixed a special batch of lemonade with a little less water so the flavor is nice and juicy.

Fresh Blueberry Lemonade Popsicles

Ingredients

3/4 c hot water

3/4 c sugar

1 c fresh lemon juice

1 c fresh blueberries

2 c cold water 

1 popsicle tray

Step 1: Puree together your hot water, sugar, lemon juice, and blueberries until everything is thoroughly mixed. 

Step 2: Pour your mixture into a pitcher through a fine mesh strainer 

Step 3: Stir in your cold water and pour your juice mixture into popsicle trays, add sticks, and freeze. 

These popsicles are so delicious! 

Fresh Blueberries for Blueberry Lemonade

Although House Cook is located firmly in suburbia, this area near Atlanta is a bit odd. It grew so fast that in some ways the landscape never had time to catch up. Down the street from House Cook is a tangle of trees that hides a fantastic blueberry patch. Many of our neighbors like to tromp into the woods and pick fresh blueberries, and a few days ago we joined them.

Grabbing tupperware and boots, we trooped out into the undergrowth to hunt for delicious, ripe berries.

It was fantastic! Many of the bushes still had berries that weren't yet ripe, but we found plenty that were.

Looking for something delicious to do with the berries besides just gobble them all up before getting home, we've decided to bring you fresh blueberry lemonade.

 Fresh Blueberry Lemonade Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 c hot water

3/4 c sugar

1 c fresh lemon juice

1 c fresh blueberries

4 c cold water (or sparkling water)

Step 1: Puree together your hot water, sugar, lemon juice, and blueberries until everything is thoroughly mixed. 

Step 2: Pour your mixture into a pitcher through a fine mesh strainer (unless, of course, you like the pulp in which case just dump it all in). 

Step 3: Stir in your cold or sparkling water, serve over ice and enjoy!