Cherry Pomegranate Sorbet

Summer. I love you, I do. I spend the last days of winter dreaming about your warmth, every single year. I love your long days, your wonderful light, your abundance of fresh fruit and veggies. You have plenty of things going for you, but there are a few things I’d like to discuss. Namely, your sweltering heat. Your oppressive humidity. What’s with that? Could we at least do something about the humidity? It makes me want to sit in the air conditioning, avoid turning on the oven at all costs and eat nothing but cold things.

Which, actually, isn’t really that bad, now that I think about it. It leads to tasty things like this cherry pomegranate sorbet. So thanks for that, Summer.



A while ago the lovely folks at Pom Wonderful sent me a whole bunch of their yummy pomegranate juice, the moment I opened up the package I knew what I wanted to make - pom sorbet. But then my brother and I drank all the juice. Opps!

I still had the pomegranate sorbet on the mind though, so I purchased some more, this time their cherry pomegranate juice. I had cherries in the fridge and I’ve been loving them so much lately, the idea of cherry pomegranate sorbet sounded too good to pass up.

And oh, honey, it is good. So good. Like I could eat the every day for the rest of my life good. It’s sweet, but the flavors of the cherry and pomegranate just shine through. Please, make this ASAP. Even if it’s winter where you live. This sorbet transcends seasons.



Cherry Pomegranate Sorbet

This recipe makes 1 quart - the vodka is the secret ingredient. It keeps it from freezing into a solid, impenetrable mass. You don’t taste it at all!

1⁄2 cup sugar

3 cups pomegranate juice
1 cup water
2 tablespoons vodka
3/4 cup sweet cherries, chopped

Place sugar, 1 cup water, and pomegranate juice in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until well chilled. Add vodka.

Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. After 10 minutes in ice cream maker, add cherries.

Cherry Rosemary Scones

Life has been a little crazy lately. Just busy, really. I suddenly have lots of work taking portraits - something I said I’d never do! I’ve really been enjoying it though, it’s a whole new experience for me. It’s fun to try and get people to smile and laugh, and to capture their love for each other.

It’s fun, but also sort of stressful, since it’s so new to me. It was nice to spend some time in the kitchen today, decompressing. It’s so calming, I can get lost in the measuring, stirring, kneading. I love the process. That’s my very favorite thing about baking, I think, and why I enjoy it so much.



These scones were originally supposed to be biscuits, I saw a pictures of them on Shannalee’s photostream, a recipe from Fresh365. I knew I wanted to try them right away. I had cherries in the fridge and rosemary in the garden, but no cheese, so they evolved into scones.

I’d never tried cherries and rosemary together before, which is a shame because it is a delightful combination. They work perfectly together. These would be awesome for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I spread some of my homemade sour cherry jam on them and ate them at 4 in the afternoon.




Cherry Rosemary Scones
1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (I use King Arthur)

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup heavy cream


1 cup chopped cherries

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (you can add more or less, depending on your preference)


Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cherries and rosemary. Make a well in center; add heavy cream, using your hands, pull dry ingredients towards center until all is combined.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface; knead a couple of times. Pat into an 8-inch disk. Using a knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 pieces. Cover with plastic wrap, freeze for 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375F. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes. Best served slightly warm.

Plum Berry Crisp plus tips on freezing berries!

You have no idea how good it feels to finally be back here, sharing a recipe with you. My life has been all sorts of crazy lately. Soon after I got my camera back from the repair place (it was gone nearly 20 days!!), we had company staying with us and then my sweet puppy Otis was bitten by a rattle snake.



Since then, it has been non stop Otis care, doing everything we can to get him well. At first his prognosis was not good at all - we were all prepared for the worst. But this crazy dog has too much life in him, the rattle snake wasn’t enough to bring him down. He’s home now, and expected to make a full recovery. It’s so incredible to be able to write out those words, we were so sure he wasn’t going to make it. We should probably rename him miracle!



In all the hullabaloo, the month of July passed me by in a blur. Only today have I had the time to get in the kitchen and bake up something new. I wanted to use what was in season, so I picked up a bunch of fruit from my local orchard. Blackberries, blueberries and plums galore.



This crisp is a celebration of August, with its late summer fruit, and a dash of cinnamon in the topping to hint at fall. It’s sweet, and a little tart, it may be my new favorite crisp recipe, the berry and plum combination is incredibly tasty.



Plum Berry Crisp
adapted from Epicurious

For filling
1 1/2 pounds purple plums, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (I used white sugar, as I was out of brown, you could cut down on the sugar if your fruit is super sweet!)

For topping
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into bits and softened
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in upper third.
Toss together all filling ingredients in a 2-quart shallow baking dish and bake 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, blend together all topping ingredients in a bowl with your fingertips until butter is evenly distributed and mixture is crumbly.
Stir fruit filling, then sprinkle oat mixture over it and bake until topping is crisp and golden and fruit is bubbling, about 30 minutes.



I have tons of berries left, so I thought I’d share my tips for freezing them fresh. I meant to take pictures but, well, I forgot!


1. wash and dry the berries throughly

2. lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet

3. freeze for about 2 hours

4. remove from freezer, place in zip lock bags

5. put them back in the freezer

6. enjoy a taste of summer even in the dead of winter!


Freezing them on the cookie sheet is the most important part, that way you don’t have big clumps of berries in your freezer. You can remove the amount you want to use without having to defrost the whole bag!

Things I'm loving..

Hey guys! My camera is currently in for repairs - and I'm missing it dearly. So while it's gone I thought I'd do a big round up of things I'm loving. I hope you enjoy!


this antique store find. it put a smile on my face.

The music of JJ Heller and Melody Pool.


my sweet doggys paws - always in motion.

Teri Lyn Fisher's gorgeous photography and blog.
Adrianna's blog A Cozy Kitchen. Everything looks so good!
Tina's blog townabovewater. Gorgeous.


cows, of course.

Absolutely beautiful bags from Forest Bound.


the first wild blackberries of the season.

Beautiful clay work from Carnevale Clay. (via the kitchn)


my new toy - i can't wait to get film for it!


summer light. it's the best.

Have a good weekend, everyone!