Strawberry Granita - Hello MoFo!

Hello! Remember me? I'm back again after my long traveling/working hiatus - just in time for Vegan MoFo! As always, I waited until the last minute to register because I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull if off. Will I? Who knows! It's a lot of blogging and I'm quite rusty, but let's give it a try. No theme for me this year again, unless "Lazy MoFo" is a theme because that's what I'm going to be doing. Recipes from other blogs or cookbooks instead of my own will be featured daily (hopefully!) and all I have to do is cook'em, shoot'em, and blog'em. And eat'em. Here we go!



Is there a homemade dessert that is easier than granita? I've never met one. All you have to do to make this Italian ice, is make a smoothie and then freeze it, poking and scraping it with a fork every thirty minutes to keep it from freezing in the shape of a brick. Done! That's the unsweetened version anyway, if you want to make a more traditional granita you need to either make a sugar syrup first, or just let your fruit macerate with sugar for a while. David Lebovitz, whose recipes never let me down, explains how to make it and shares a recipe here. If you want to go with a less traditional unsweetened granita like mine, omit the sugar and skip steps one and two. You can also use coconut water or some sort of fruit juice that wouldn't clash with the strawberries instead of plain water, and of course granita can be made with other fruits too. Peach and pineapple are particularly lovely flavors! By the way, Strawberry Granita tastes absolutely heavenly with a nice scoop of fresh mint-chip ice cream. Good ol' vanilla ice cream will do too!

And now, as it is customary around here, I will leave you with a picture of something cute. This Uinta Ground Squirrel was squeaking something or another at us in Yellowstone National Park a few months ago. We never knew what it was saying, but it sounded pretty hostile. Happy Vegan MoFo! Are you participating?

Squeaky Uinta Ground Squirrel at Yellowstone National Park


Vegan MoFo 2013

Comments

  1. Yay! You're back! Just what I needed to make September fly by for us. :)

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    1. Cindy! I can't even imagine how much you must be missing Maria. I hope time flies by for you until her next visit!

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  2. Yum! Looks so refreshing! Nice to see you in the blogosphere. :-)

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    1. It's very refreshing! Thanks, Jenn! It feels good to be back... again! :)

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  3. Welcome back! You've been missed! I've only ever made one of David Lebovitz's recipes, but it was a total success for me too (pickled turnips). I'll have to check out the granita. It sounds terrific!

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    1. Thanks, Cadry!! Mr. Lebovitz has all the good recipes!

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  4. Yay!! I always love your blog during mofo. well i always love it but yay mofo!!

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    1. And I always love yours! What I love most about Vegan MoFo is that the old "gang" of 2008 sort of gets together again. Makes me all nostalgic and all that good stuff! :)

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  5. Yes I´m also taking part :) sooo excited. Let´s see if I´ll be able to post every day^^ (I´ll definitely be winging my vegan MoFo theme)

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    1. Ha! I see what you did there - "winging" the theme! :D

      Have fun with MoFo, Liane!

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  6. Ha! I knew you'd show up for mofo. The granita recipe sounds great and easy, except for the hard part of remembering to scrape it every 30 minutes. Remembering is hard! Yes, I'm trying to mofo.

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    1. Yes! I had to set my timer for 30 minutes each time after I scraped it with a fork, or else I would have checked it six hours later only to find a big strawberry brick in the freezer! Go MoFo!

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    1. It is! It's been so very hot lately too. Nothing like a tasty little bowl of granita to stay cool and happy! :)

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  8. River!! Welcome back to MoFo. Honestly I was on the fence about mofo this year too, my life has been more hectic and unsettled than usual lately. But, I'm glad I gave it a go - and actually (so far) it feels nice to be back in the saddle. The granita looks so glorious and alive and delicious!

    Also, I love the way that ground squirrel's little toes are lifting off the log. squee!

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    1. Thank you!! MoFo can sure add to life's hecticness, but I'm also glad I gave it a go. The squirrel's little toes lifted off the ground with every squeak! The little thing was so little that his own squeaks propelled him back! Him? Her? How can one tell, I wonder?

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  9. You're back!!! Love the new photo on your sidebar.

    I'm so excited to get a River post every day!

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    1. Katie! I really hope I can stick with it the whole month! Wish me luck!

      Funny story about the new photo. I didn't realize that maybe the cupcake should have had a cherry on top instead of a raspberry (to match the Wing It logo) until after the picture had been taken and uploaded to the blog. Now it's getting on my nerves that I didn't think ahead! Oy!

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  10. I am so glad you are participating, River!

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    1. Thanks, Mihl! Your theme is one of my favorites this year!

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  11. RIVER! You're back, this makes me v.v.v.happy!

    Granita must be the easiest dessert and it's not one I'd think to make, but we have so many gorgeous strawbs avail. now, I will give it a go :)

    Love the squirrel :)

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    1. Mandee!! It's so nice to get the old MoFo gang back together again! Definitely make some granita! Don't you love it when a classic recipe is naturally vegan, soy-free and gluten-free? Score!

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  12. HELLO! I love it when you are back. :D
    Also, hello SQUIRREL!
    Was just thinking the same as Mandee - strawberries are fantastic at the moment, plus the sun is shining... Sounds like granita time. :)

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    1. Hello,beautiful cat lady! No MoFo for you this year? :(

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  13. Happy you're back! I was hoping you'd poke your head up during Mofo :) granita sounds super refreshing and squirrel!!

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    1. Ha! Poking my head out of my hidey-hole for a while! :D

      Your fluffy Newfoundland bread still is and will always be my favorite EVER! Just sayin'.

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  14. That looks so refreshing and delicious!

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