THE milkshake

If you're looking for the most refreshing way to finish off all those fruit piling up in your refrigerator, well this is it! Our church fundraisers sell boxes of yummalicious mangoes which are perfect the first couple of days but need to be put away real quick. Here's my fool proof milk shake recipe that can be adapted to just about any fruit imaginable. The trick is to use frozen milk, yes, as in a big honking chunk of milky ice! A trick I learned from a small juice shack in Madras, it makes the milkshake thick and creamy even if you're using skim milk! Nobody will know...promise! You can either freeze the milk in small ziploc bags or in multiple ice trays. If following the ziploc method, do your blender a favor and break the ice into pieces. Those of you lucky enough to be in India should try it with either custard apple or chickoo mixed with bournvita (tastes just like the best chocolate milk shake in the world but much more nutritious).

You will need:

2 cups of (skim/whole) milk FROZEN (do your blender a favor and break the ice up into small pieces)
2 cups chopped fresh fruit of choice
Sugar to taste (optional)

Blend first two ingredients together. Taste and add more sugar (if needed), mix again to incorporate sugar.

Strawberry-rhubarb compote

I'm always fascinated by how quickly summer creeps up on us. Its freezing one day, raining for a week and before you know it, its strawberry season and the beginning of summer!!

Munchkin and I went strawberry picking a couple of weeks ago with my parents. And since my mother finally convinced herself that freezing fruit was not a nutritional catastrophe, we hauled home 10lbs of loot! In case you're wondering how much that is exactly, its a LOT! (look below)

About 3 cups of these went into a strawberry-rhubarb compote (delish!) which in an attempt to be healthy I layered with greek yogurt (can be easily substituted with vanilla ice cream) and homemade granola (nothing to write home about so I'll spare you the recipe). The compote is also great spooned over waffles or pancakes or frozen into popsicles.
For the compote:

You will need:

3 cups strawberries (washed, hulled and sliced)
2 cups chopped rhubarb (optional)
1/4 cup of water
1 tsp vanilla essence (or) juice of half a lemon
Sugar to taste (optional)

Bring the first three ingredients to a boil on medium-high heat in a saucepan. Taste the mixture. Add vanilla essence (if mixture is too tart) OR lemon juice (if mixture is not tart enough). If you would like the mixture to be more sweet, add sugar. Refrigerate for about 1 week.