"frozen" news and stories

Kind little rituals seem to go a long way toward making marriage work, so almost every weekend, I make my husband some sweet tea. He's a Southern boy by birth (Brooklynian by marriage), and having a big ol' pitcher easily grabbable in the fridge seems to right any Mason Dixon imbalance he might be suffering at the time. I've got it down to a science, proportion-wise, but this past weekend, his itch for a sugar fix kicked in while I was at the grocery store. What he made tasted divine, but there was just too much for one pitcher, and not enough refrigerator room for a second.

If nothing else, the nuns at St. Scorpacciata instilled in me the mortal fear of wasting food, and seeing how I'd been at the store to buy milk (which neither of us usually drink) for a Bolognese, I decided sherbet would be what saved our souls from eternal damnation. I suppose we won't know for a while if that worked, but it did taste pretty damned delicious.

Are you an avid tea drinker looking for a different way to enjoy your tea this summer? A lot of tea drinkers go iced in the warm summer months, some even adding lemonade to their iced tea, but there is an even colder way to enjoy your tea in the summer months if you enjoy green tea: smoothies!

Below you will find the recipe for my personal summer tea concoction, which will require matcha (powdered green tea). Matcha is high in caffeine content compared to regular steeped tea, so you may not want to indulge in one of these smoothies too late in the day.

INGREDIENTS
1 tsp matcha (powdered green tea)
4 oz. cup of fruit-flavored yogurt (Light 'n Fit works well, low in sugar)
frozen strawberries (or other desired fruit)
frozen peach slices (or other desired fruit)
apple juice

I have always been a fan of cottage cheese. It is a staple in my family, purchased along side the eggs, milk and Trader Joe's Honey Whole Wheat bread for all the years when I was growing up. These days there's always a tub of it to be found in my fridge, as it is the perfect protein addition to breakfast, lunch or dinner (applesauce and cottage cheese is heaven in a bowl). However, it has never occurred to me to alter its curdy state and use it as the primary ingredient in ice cream. Thankfully, there are many creative thinkers in this world and Jessica at Su Good Eats is one of them. She has pureed cottage cheese and used it to make ice cream. The results look pretty darn good and when you couple that with my love of cottage cheese, I think that this is one I'm going to have to try out.

I can't believe that I'm thinking about ice cream when it is so chilly outside, but the flavor combination that Dagmar, from A Cat in the Kitchen, used in her Rhubarb and Caramelized Almond Semifreddo is very hard to resist. A semifreddo is an Italian term that literally means "partially frozen" and is often similar to a frozen custard or ice cream, although cakes and some fruit desserts can also fall under the term. Their distinguishing feature is that that are lighter than other frozen desserts. Unlike ice cream, whipped cream and/or egg whites are folded in before freezing and the dessert a mousse-like texture, but no churning is involved. They are often molded and sliced for serving.

This dessert has crunchy caramelized almonds and sweet, tender rhubarb in a vanilla base. One of my favorite things about this photo is the pink syrup. If you have ever cooked rhubarb, you will probably recall that it looses a bit of its pinkness during cooking or baking. You need to be extremely selective in the stalks you choose if you are going for color, since the greenish stalks will still have a good flavor, but will simply dull to a pale gold when heated.

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Frozen foods were once a technological wonder, but are now often the butt of food jokes, grouped together with fast food as unhealthy substitute for "real" food that is rarely worth eating. But frozen dinners are quick and convenient, though sometimes grouped with fast food on people's "do not eat" lists, they frequently present a healthier alternative to it when you really need something that doesn't require much preparation. There are also so many new frozen food products on the market every year, all made with technology that permits a wider range of textures in the final dish, that even staunch from-scratch cooks might be tempted by some of the organic, all-natural options in the freezer case. Besides, you're not the only one eating them. More than $25 billion of frozen foods were sold last year, peaking in January with the sale of diet-oriented foods. Here are a few more frozen food facts:

• 53% of all American households use frozen dinners at some point.
• They are most popular with 18-24 year olds, those over 75 and single people. Roughly 400 new frozen-food products, from toaster waffles to turkey dinners, are introduced each year by more than 300 companies.
• Despite the fact that they are so popular with singles, there are more 2-person and family-sized meals available than ever before to get in on the "busy family" market.
• Mexican frozen food is extremely popular right now, whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

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