Cantaloupe and Cucumber Sorbet

Esi of Dishing up Delights has a great blog. Really. Everything she cooks or bakes is so scrumptious. Most days I just want to put a fork into the screen. Seriously, if scratch-and-sniff stickers have been popular since the 80's, why can't we someone create a way to eat what we see on the Interwebnets?

Well, until that much needed invention comes along, I just have to make some of Esi's delicious treats. Recently, she made Cantaloupe Sorbet...and I just had to make it, with a little cucumber twist.

I think cantaloupe and cucumber have refreshing flavors so I combined the two in a sorbet.

I meant to add some vodka to keep the sorbet from getting rock hard, but didn't have any. I'll just have to eat it all really fast.

Esi adapted a recipe from Chaos In the Kitchen who adapted it from David Lebovitz. All roads for any frozen dessert come via Mr. Lebovitz! :)

Here is what I did:
Cantaloupe and Cucumber Sorbet
1/2 cantaloupe, or 2 cups seeded and chopped cantaloupe, or 15 ounces of chopped cantaloupe
1/2 cup seeded and chopped cucumber
1/2 c sugar
2 teaspoon Meyer lemon juice

Blitz the cantaloupe and cucumber in a food processor until smooth. In a bowl, combine the puree, sugar and lemon juice. Freeze in an ice cream maker.

Happy Summer! This sorbet is really refreshing. I had some for breakfast this morning (hey, it has fruit and veggies!)

Meyer Lemon and Ginger Sorbet

Oh dear. I'm having an affair with the ice cream maker. You know I'm in a committed relationship with the Bundt pan (as evidenced by my 1,000 bundt cakes), but my brand new ice cream maker makes me weak in the knees. Oh man, it is fantastic! It's like magic!! Perhaps it will only be a summer fling...we'll see.

I adapted the recipe straight from the Cuisinart instruction booklet! They had a plain lemon sorbet, but I love anything ginger so I infused some ginger into the simple syrup mixture. Next time, I would infuse more ginger for a longer period of time to give it more ginger flavor (I love love ginger)

Meyer Lemon and Ginger Sorbet

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 inch fresh ginger, cut into 1/4" slices - next time, I would use more
3/4 c fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Bring water, sugar and ginger to boil, reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes until sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Strain the ginger from the mixture. Refrigerate until you are going to use it.

Add lemon juice to syrup mixture and stir. Pop in the ice cream maker until thickened, about 25-30 minutes.