Memorial Day marks the beginning of one of our favorite food times of the year. Each week, when I head off to the Hollywood or Barnsdall Farmer’s Market, I know that there will be new fruit coming in, organic and ripe.  Some the kids have requested particular ones, “More apricots, please”;  last week I bought too few. Some will be new at school snack. This week, we will add cherries; this is the first week they look really good. Also nectarines and pluots. The tangerines have more varieties than I realized so this week we are trying the pixie ones. Next week, the boysenberry man promised they would be sweet, if we have sunny days, of course. We will keep another tasting chart this week to record what everyone likes and doesn’t care for. We weave math into our daily life; this time it is graphing and charting to represent our tasting experiences.

Memorial Day also marks the beginning of making ice cream, smoothies,  and fruit bars. On Tuesday, we are taking some of the ripest strawberries that are so good right now and mashing them up to make no- cook strawberry ice cream. We have a Donvier ice cream maker that the children hand crank and then the metal container is put in the freezer to finish the freezing process. The fruit bars and smoothies will be made with the remaining extra ripe berries at the end of the week.

Children’s Center Preschool No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream

Very Kid- Friendly

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ripe strawberries, trimmed, quartered
• 3/4 cup sugar ( can use maple syrup for some of this)
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup Half and Half

• Equipment: an ice cream maker

Preparation:

Mash the  strawberries with sugar, lemon juice, and salt using a potato masher in a large bowl. Let stand, stirring and mashing occasionally, 10 minutes.

Transfer at least half of strawberry mixture to a blender and purée with cream and 1/2 and 1/2 until smooth. (We use the Cuisinart hand blender that can be put directly in the bowl. We have the kids hold it with us. There is no exposed blade.) Return strawberry cream to bowl with remaining strawberry mixture and stir together.

Pour into the ice cream maker and crank handle until it gets very stiff. Put in freezer and stir occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours.

It can be frozen and left in the Donvier in ice cream maker. Otherwise, transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.

Note: Ice cream keeps 1 week but ours never lasts that long. Can be used with other fruit and berries. Enjoy!

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