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

Sunset Slowdown

One discovered delight of time apart is a pace which allows taking note of creation.  On these blazing summer days, I'm often outdoors at dawn and in the evening I sit on the patio watching for wildlife in the woods beyond our boundary of backyard azaleas, lulled by peaceful cicada song.  I chill with a frozen treat and bring a book to read in last light until the fireflies begin to twinkle.  This tropical sunset paleta seems apropos for an evening's indulgence.  

Tropical Sunset Paletas Recipe

Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

3 cups pineapple

6 T sugar, divided

3 cups strawberries, hulled

3 mangoes, peeled and pitted

1 lime, juiced

In a Cuisinart combine pineapple and 2 T sugar.  Blend until smooth.  Pour through fine mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on solids with a spoon.  Catch puree in bowl.  Rinse Cuisinart, repeat process with strawberries, adding 2 T sugar, pressing solids through a fine mesh sieve, catch strawberry puree.  In rinsed Cuisinart, combine mangoes, 2 T sugar and lime juice, blend until smooth, pour through sieve and catch puree.

Divide pineapple puree among 6 small plastic cups.   Freeze until set about 1 hour, insert sticks.  Pour strawberry layer over pineapple layer, return to freezer until set, about 45 minutes.  Remove from freezer, top with mango layer and freeze 4-6 hours. Any fruit you favor can be substituted in this layered paleta.

Layered Flavors Pineapple and Strawberry

Puesta del Sol Tropical Paleta

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.