Fruitful Life

Ingredients for Paleta de Frutero 

Throughout my adult life, I have strived to be fruitful.  In my chosen vocation as an educator, I was certain not to gain monetary reward, but in forging relationships and caring for my student's intellectual and emotional well-being, I gained infinite compensation.  A teacher's calling is to be purposeful, fruitful in her own life, but true joy comes in observing the fruit produced in the lives of her students.  Through the World Wide Web, I have been fortunate to reconnect with 90 students I taught 27 years ago.  I knew them as adorable fifth graders, in the last year of true childhood.  It has been a beautiful experience to spend time with "my children" who are now adults.  They invite me into their lives, expand my world and I'm privileged to observe the fruitfulness they have gained with maturity.

As I prepared the ingredients for the fruit bowl paletas, thoughts of my "formers" passed through my mind:  the one who has made me a family member, the one who has worked with hurting people all over the world, the one whose life has been redeemed despite regrettable choices in earlier years, the one who is a loving and patient mother, the one who is the most thoughtful and solicitous person I've ever known, the one who rescues people in danger, the ones who have visited my home or invited me into theirs, called, sent messages, gifts and flowers, and the one who is now, to my total delight, developing young hearts and minds as a fifth grade teacher!

If my life were finished today, I would have experienced fruitfulness nurtured, grown and multiplied many times over.  These fruit bowl paletas are a delectable dessert, but thoughts of the fruit of my formers is sweeter still.

Pack Fruit Snugly in Molds

Fruit Bowl Paletas Recipe

adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

3/4 cup hulled strawberries, halved

2 kiwis, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

1/2 cup blueberries

1/4 cup Rainier cherries

1 mango, peeled and sliced

2 cups 100% white grape juice

1 T lemon juice

Arrange some of each fruit in popsicle molds, fitting pieces tightly.  Mix lemon juice with white grape juice.  Pour enough juice to cover fruit, freeze 45 minutes, insert sticks, freeze 4-6 hours more.  Any preferred fruit can be substituted in this recipe.

Fresa, Kiwi, Cerezas, Arándanos, Mango con Jugo de Uva Blanca

Paleta de Frutero

Drunken Cherry Paletas

Paletas de Crema y Cereza con Tequila

What a delight to find specks of vanilla bean in the creamy base of this paleta along with sweet fresh cherries.  A kick of tequila is thrown in for the finish and the flavors are sublime.  This paleta will make your taste buds tipsy!  Like most things we crave, a little tequila gives the perfect punch, but add too much and your paleta won't freeze.

Sour Cream Cherry Paleta Recipe

adapted from Paletas by Fany Gerson

2 cups fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 t lemon juice

2 T silver tequila

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 t salt

1 vanilla bean split 

1 1/2 cups sour cream

Place cherries and powdered sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil.  Lower heat, add lemon juice, cook and stir until thickened to maple syrup consistency.  Remove from heat, stir in tequila, refrigerate until completely chilled.  

Drain cherries, combine milk, granulated sugar and salt in a saucepan.  Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into the mixture and add pod.  Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved and mixture comes to a boil.  

Remove from heat, add sour cream and blend with a whisk until smooth.  Discard vanilla bean pod and refrigerate mixture until thoroughly chilled.  Place about 1 inch of sour cream mixture into each mold and freeze for about 40 minutes, or until set.  Divide cherries among molds, pour in the remaining sour cream mixture and add sticks.  Freeze 4-6 hours.  

Avocado Astonishment

One of the fascinating aspects of concocting paletas is imagining interesting ingredients. When most people think of ice pops, fruity sweet syrups and artificial flavors are expected.  The only common ground between purchased popsicles and paletas is the fact that both are frozen treats.

When asked to name a favorite flavor amongst the paletas I've made, I often answer "avocado." This  usually surprises and confounds the questioner.  Avocados typically bring to mind savory guacamole and trips to a Tex-Mex restaurant. A green fruit which is normally used as a garnish is a startling base for a popsicle.  But add a little sugar, lime juice, some zest and it is oh-so-delicious!

I've recently found that exploring the unexpected is rewarding.  Instead of dreading disorientation, I  found creativity clamoring in a time of disquiet.  On tasting an avocado paleta for the first time, a friend remarked that her taste buds were confusing her mind. In a good way. Exactly!

Avocado Lime Paletas Recipe

4 avocados, peeled and pitted
2 small limes juiced plus zest of 1 lime
1/4 cup sugar or more to taste
1/4-1/2 cup water optional*

Place green flesh of avocado, juice of 2 limes and zest of 1 lime and sugar in Cuisinart.  Pulse until completely smooth.  Add water and pulse again if a less dense, more icy paleta is desired.*  Spoon into molds, add sticks.  Freeze 4-6 hours.   

Brooke <3's Her "Green Ice Cream"

Opposites Attract

In life, attempt to be a complementary flavor; it is the attractive option.  

An often repeated phrase is "opposites attract" and I certainly see the proof of it in life.  My friend from college days, Lisa, is 4'10".  Her husband of 32 years is 6'5", and yes, people turn and stare as these two, on opposite ends of the vertical spectrum, walk past.  How could people be so different?  A dog lover falls for a woman with cats, the party girl pairs with the computer geek, an ISTJ personality type walks down the aisle with an ENFP.  This can make for an interesting combination or instantaneous combustion, once the goo-goo eyes go away.

When the choice is made to appreciate our differences and learn from those who appear to be opposite, we become tempered and transformed into a fruitful, more tolerant version of ourselves.  As I prepared lime pie paletas, I recalled a time when two co-workers, Jon and Cathy, could not have been more opposite from me in their work habits and styles.  We chose to value our differences and in collaboration, let each other's strengths shore up individual weaknesses.  Instead of launching a war to best one another, we loved, and through appreciating our dissimilarities, the individuals were immensely enhanced.  In a few years, those colleagues moved on, if only the cooperative spirit had remained...

Lime pie paletas bring together the tart, tangy taste of juicy limes played against the intense sweetness of Eagle Brand milk.  They provide a burst of flavor that combines and contrasts at once.  They are opposite individual tastes, rolled in a graham crust which blend to make a delectable, more perfect whole.
Lime Pie Paletas Recipe
Adapted from Paletas by Fany Gerson

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half-and-half
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 t lime zest
1/4 t salt
2 cups crushed graham crackers

Combine sweetened condensed milk, half-and-half, lime juice and zest, and salt in a bowl and whisk until well-combined. Pour mixture into molds, insert sticks and freeze 4-6 hours until solid.  Unmold and allow to thaw very slightly, roll in graham cracker crumbs to coat and return to freezer or eat immediately.

pastel de lima de paleta

Peaches or Pits?

My walking partner and I made a run on peaches, warm off the tree, juice-dribbling-down-our-chins, sticky, syrupy peaches.  She dreamed of baking crisps and cobblers while I envisioned peachy paletas, sweet and tangy, freshly frozen.  We made a plan and offed to Efurd's Orchards, to bring home as much blushing fruit as my Mini Cooper would carry.

Pleased with our purchases, and having no other appointments or to-do lists for the day, Becky and I drove into town for lunch and a peek into a past century at a tiny museum.  We delighted in our no-plan agenda of selecting produce at the road-side stand and doing as we pleased.  Like the peaches in the boot of the Mini, the day had a cheerful glow, having met our expectations as we headed home.


Then there was a rock that sounded like a boulder.  Sailing through the air it banged into the three-week new windshield, precisely in my line of vision with no chance to ignore it or look away.  The rock, this malevolent speck, bounced away shattering my contentment, leaving a scar so deep it nearly pierced the glass.  My peachy glow paled to liquid green with a punch to my suddenly churning stomach.

There was a decision to make.  Would the rock in the road ruin my experiences at the orchard?  Would it color my delight in creating peach paletas, turning everything lifeless or sour?   Would I add it to my lengthy list of recent woes, or could I choose to patch it up, regain strength and retain the sanguine spirit of the day?

Evil intruded into my life uninvited, but I could not allow it to change my spirit.  It did not take minutes or hours, but days to choose delight over dejection.  Before the Mini was repaired, with the windshield replaced once again, peach paletas were made and pleasure was reinstated.  I picked peaches over pits.  It is always the better portion.

Peach Paletas Recipe

3 cups fresh peaches, pitted and peeled, retaining a few ribbons of skin on each peach

1 lime, juice and zest

1 t fresh grated ginger

1/4 cup sugar, or more to taste

1/4-1/2 cup water or club soda, optional*

Combine peaches, lime juice and zest, ginger and sugar in Cuisinart.  Pulse until smooth.  If a denser paleta is desired, leave out water.  If an icy, crunchier texture is preferred, add water or club soda.  Pour into molds.  Freeze 4-6 hours.  

Season for Collaboration

My passion for making paletas has mostly been a solo business.  I daydream, shop and concoct on my own.  My walking partner, unable to escape my persistant paletas prattle as we trudge four miles daily, has frozen a few for herself.  But for long hours and days, I collaborate in Cindy's Cozy Kitchen with three people: me, myself and I.

The autonomy is appealing.  No one directs my time or dictates the flavor of the day.  I can do as I please, but a question lingers.  Appreciating that artistry is limitless, I ponder if I can be truly inventive without the input of others?  Then, my teenage godchildren stop by.

One would think a teenage boy would primarily have partaking of paletas in mind.  After tasting three treats, Ben requested we make a batch together.   Confident in his choices, we boldly exchanged ideas as we made preparations.  With laughter and splatters abounding, strawberry peach blackberry paletas debuted that day.  Cindy's Cozy Kitchen was transformed into a sensation of creation!

In this season, there has been need for hours alone, sorting thoughts and soothing my emotions.  I could simply keep to myself out of anger and fear of continued hurt.  But in that choice, I become fixed and frozen, like my favorite treats.  So, I open my heart as I open my kitchen, knowing that there will be messes to clean and boil-overs on the stove top.  Experiencing grace in the presence of others, I realize the sweetest taste sensations come with collaboration.

Hibiscus Raspberry Paletas How-To

Recipe adapted from Paletas by Fany Gerson

paletas de jamaica con frambuesa  

My favored herbal drink for many years has been Red Zinger tea.  When I found this recipe using the same base, hibiscus flowers, I knew it was a must try!  This is not a simple paleta, but I believe it is worth the effort.  For your encouragement, I've illustrated the steps taking you from mere dried sticks of flowers to ruby red refreshment.

Agua de jamica is the base using:

1 cup dried hibiscus flowers 

4 cups water

1/3 cup sugar or more to taste

Rinse the flowers in cold water and drain thoroughly.  

Cover flowers in cold water and allow to soak 4 hours or as long as overnight.  

After steeping, bring mixture to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add sugar and simmer only until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.  

Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher, pressing with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.

Add water to make 4 cups of liquid and refrigerate until completely chilled, or go on to next step if making paletas immediately.  

To complete the paletas you will need:

2 cups agua de jamaica (recipe above)

2/3 cup sugar

4 cups fresh raspberries

Rinse raspberries, add 1/3 cup of sugar and let sit until raspberries release their juices, about half an hour.

Combine the 2 cups of agua de jamaica with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar.  Simmer over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Cool in refrigerator.  

Divide raspberries evenly in molds.  

Pour agua de jamaica in molds.  Freeze until set 4-6 hours.  

Find a warm patio with a cool breeze and revel in refreshment!