By Debbie Arnold, ARWB Foodista

We tend toward lighter fare during the spring and summer months, and it always seems like we’re on a weight-loss quest. While I do like to monitor my diet, I just refuse to sacrifice seasonal freshness and an occasional treat.

Smoothies are a terrific way to satisfy nutritional balance with great taste. We often drink them for breakfast or a light lunch or supper. I don’t know about you, but when it gets really hot – not unusual during our Arkansas summers — I prefer not to be weighted down by a heavy meal. It’s not difficult for me to give up a hot kitchen either!

Arkansas ranks 10th in the nation in soybean production. As often as I can, I like to support that effort by using soy products, such as soy milk and tofu. You will always find edamame, shelled and unshelled, in my freezer. Soy foods are powerhouses of nutrition. While none of us is lactose intolerant, I still use soymilk in most dishes that require milk and I’m learning more and more about using tofu as well.

This is one of those recipes that can be prepared in endless ways to suit the preferences of your family. I’m not one to carefully measure my smoothie ingredients, but the ones provided can be used as guides to get you started.

Berry Banana Soy Smoothie
Makes 2 servings.
1/4 cup soy protein powder*
1 banana
1 – 1 1/2 cup berries of your choice (I used blueberries in this example. I prefer to use whatever is currently in season.)
1 – 1 1/2 cup soymilk or vanilla soymilk
1 – 1 1/2 cup ice cubes
2 packets sweetener, 1 Tablespoon honey or 1 Tablespoon agave syrup
2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until very smooth. Add additional milk or water if the mixture seems to be too thick.
Leftover smoothie? No worries. Freeze in ice cube trays to use later in other smoothies. Or, mix with a little Greek yogurt and freeze in popsicle trays for a cool, summertime treat.

* I use two different soy protein powders. I purchase vanilla HMR 120 through Baptist Health (also available online) or vanilla EAS Soy Protein available at Wal Mart or local health food stores. Use whatever brand you prefer. The powder provides additional nutrition which is really beneficial especially if you are using the smoothie as a meal replacement.

by Christie Ison, Fancie Pants Foodie

This past Saturday, I got to revisit one of my favorite old haunts, the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market.

I’d been away for ages because of work and school, so it felt like returning to an old friend. And in a way, I was; several of the farmers remembered me and mentioned they hadn’t seen me in a while.

One of those farmers was Ray Dailey, who sells his Dailey Dairy raw-milk cheeses at the market. He remembered me from the time I wrote an article about his product, one which is quite unusual in the fact that it doesn’t use pasteurized dairy, giving it an unusual, deliciously tangy flavor.

“Where have you been?” he asked. I replied about my crazy schedule the past couple years. He smiled a warm, grandfatherly smile and welcomed me back.

Turns out, Mr. Dailey has expanded his offerings a bit, at least from what I remember. I didn’t need any cheese this visit, but I picked up some fresh garlic and eggs. Marvelous, miraculous eggs with rich, golden yolks and thick albumen. More on that another day.

I walked among the 20-odd market booths, taking photos of the bounty that comes this time of year. Greens, flowers, summer squashes and berries were everywhere. One particularly photogenic table of blackberries called out to me and my camera.

At this booth, Dwayne and Shellia of Kornegay Berry Farms tended to the crowds. Dwayne, a little shy around my camera and notepad, said his wife “does all the talking for him.” I assured him it was no big deal and asked him for a quart of blackberries, asking him what he likes to do with them.

He stood a little straighter and told me about Shellia’s blackberry cobbler, then called her over for an accurate ingredient list. Both were excited to share the recipe, simple enough for her to recall by heart.

“It’s just one and one and one,” she said, “really simple. One stick of butter, one cup of sugar, one cup of flour, one cup of milk.” For this foodie, it was a refreshing approach to highlight the fresh, firm berries, likely picked that very morning. But, I still couldn’t help add a few modifications of my own (see below); that’s part of the fun of shared recipes.

With so much growing season left, there is much more to be found at the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market, where every item is guaranteed to be locally grown. Come discover your own treasures and the recipes to go with them!

Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market

6th and Main, North Little Rock

Saturdays during growing season

7 a.m. – noon

Shellia Kornegay’s Cobbler

2 c. berries or fruit, rinsed

1/2 c. sugar

1 stick of butter

1 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1 c. milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven heats, put the stick of butter in a 8” x 8” baking dish and put it in the oven to melt.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the berries or fruit and the 1/2 cup of sugar. Stir over the heat until the sugar is melted and the berries are cooked down just a bit.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and milk. When the butter is melted, remove the dish from the oven and pour this mixture over the butter. Do not stir.

Add the cooked berries or fruit evenly over the mixture, and again, don’t stir. Place the whole thing back in the oven for 45 minutes. The batter will combine and rise over the fruit.

Fancy Pants modifications:

• Use this homemade gluten-free blend rather than all-purpose flour.
• Add 1 tsp. almond extract to the berries after cooking.
• Add 1/2 tsp. baking powder to the batter mixture to give it a bit more lift, or more, up to 1 1/2 tsp.
• About 10 minutes before the cobbler is done, remove from the oven and sprinkle 1-2 T. sugar (regular or turbinado) over the whole thing and return to the oven for a crunchy top.

 Christie Ison writes the blog Fancy Pants Foodie when she’s not wrangling her two kids and husband or teaching cooking classes. She is a Certified Culinarian with the American Culinary Federation and has loved writing and cooking since she can remember. She really likes to sleep and still doesn’t know what she wants to do when she grows up.

By Heather Disarro of  Heather’s Dish

A few weeks ago, during our trip to Moss Mountain Farm for #Bean2Blog, we had some incredible food to eat along with the feast of beautiful scenery we took in with our eyes. Besides the delicious lunch of pork tenderloin, edamame succotach, potato with spicy tofu topping (I was scared of it but it was amazing!) and a fabulous apple cake, P. Allen Smith also demonstrated his favorite edamame hummus recipe.

Edamame hummus is not something new to the blogosphere, you see. It’s been around for a while, but I was always scared because the color – although admittedly one that I love – seemed a little strange to me for hummus. I tend to get in a rut with my food at times, and to me hummus always needed to be a dull neutral color to be good.

However, as is the story with most things I claim to not like, time wore on and my uncanny ability to both eat and love just about every foodstuff that crosses my lips reared its wonderful head. Plus I couldn’t claim to be a food blogger and then not eat what was put in front of me, right?

So on that fateful day a few weeks ago I went for it. I watched the hummus being made, saw that it was indeed good, and (after boldly – for typically introverted me – asking WHERE ON EARTH P. Allen Smith had acquired such a quiet food processor) devoured my little cup in a matter of seconds. Since then, I’ve been itching to recreate that delicious snack, and finally found my own little version of the original recipe that I can’t stop eating. This spicy edamame dip is high in protein and fiber and is best eaten with deliciously sweet veggie chips, carrot sticks or a spoon!

SPICY EDAMAME HUMMUS

Inspired by P. Allen Smith

1 cup shelled edamame
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp sriracha hot sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Serve cold or at room temperature with your favorite dippers!

Heather’s passion for food, writing, photography and travel led her to begin a food and life-based blog, Heather’s Dish, where she blogs on a daily basis. She also coordinates a blog dedicated to encouraging women to see their own true beauty, FacesofBeauty.org, which is run solely from individual contributions. In her free time you can find Heather working out, playing hide-and-seek with her son, kneading bread or hiking with her family. She is a wife, mother, storyteller, writer, hopeful crafter and all-around completely blessed person!