Leah’s Birthday Potluck Surprise

This trifle recipe is a cool, no-bake dessert, which is very easy to assemble.

Ingredients:

1 lemon

powdered sugar (or splenda)

1 box instant lemon custard/ pie filling and 1 ¾ cup milk (can use sugar free)

fresh or frozen strawberries

lady fingers

Method :

If strawberries are frozen, take them out to thaw

Make lemon pie filling and put in fridge to chill

Squeeze out the juice from ½ of the lemon into a square, glass Pyrex pan

Put some powdered sugar into a sifter, and sift some over lemon juice until sweetened. You might add some of the extra juice from the strawberries.

Line the bottom of pan with lady fingers

Layer lemon pie filling over lady fingers

Arrange strawberries over lemon pie filling

Squeeze juice from the other ½ of lemon over the strawberries and repeat sprinkling of powdered sugar

*may be served with whipped cream
* drizzling Limoncello is also recommended

Berry Good Sangria

Ingredients:

1 Florida Juice orange, sliced in thin rounds
½ a lemon, sliced in rounds
¼ cup fresh mango, cut into small chunks
a sprinkling of blueberries
2 handfuls of Black Raspberries (not blackberries)
2 cups Libby’s Cranberry & Pomegranate juice
2/3 a bottle of white wine, I used this
2 capfuls of Bacardi Rum

Add all ingredients together in a Sangria pitcher like the one in the picture above and let sit at least a few hours (a Spanish woman I know lets her Sangria sit overnight) in the fridge before serving.

Citrus–Mint Iced Tea

In a regular sized tea pot brew:

2 bags of regular, plain black tea
add lemon or orange rinds
add a handful (or two) or fresh mint leaves
Add boiling hot water and let steep.
Pour into pitcher over a sieve to strain out any stray mint leaves or tea if you use loose-leaf.
Add sugar or sweetener and either serve over ice or let cool in the fridge.
* You could add a tiny bit of vanilla extract too.

onion-broccoli dip

Fresh steamed vegetables are nice, when they are just that, fresh. What happens if you have left-overs? They usually become “science experiments” because no one wants to re-heat and eat them. Here’s an idea: use them to make dip. It’s easy and makes a snack/party food a bit more nutritious.

Make an onion dip:
1 16oz container of sour cream
1 packet of French onion soup mix (click here to make your own)

Then use a food-processor to add any left-over veggies. I used steamed broccoli, but you could use most any vegetable (s) including left-over salads.

Beef Tajine

http://www.recipezaar.com/Fragrant-Moroccan-Beef-Date-Honey-and-Prune-Tagine-Crock-Pot-191946



This was my guide for making a Beef Tajine at home, as with most recipes I did not follow it to the letter. The first time I made it I didn't have prunes so I used currants instead. Also the recipes calls for a pint of stock, which proved to make the Tajine too watery, so this time I only used about a cup of hot water to dissolve the bullion. When I browned the beef, I did so with olive oil and 3 cloves are garlic diced. "Fresh coriander" is really cilantro; actually coriander and cilantro are the same plant. This is helpful because you can find cilantro in the grocery store but not "fresh coriander". I only used a sprinkling of chopped dates and I skipped the honey. I used plain, unroasted almonds and I added some olives. I only used carrots 3-4 carrots and I added 3 small red russet potatoes. I served with with a baguette; cous-cous is a different dish than Tajine and in Morocco, they are generally not served together.

vermicelli salad

Last week I made lunch for a friend who is allergic to wheat and peanuts among other things. . I made a vermicelli bowl dish. At SIT I had some Phở which is a Vietnamese soup bowl. I wanted to make something cool and refreshing since it's hot (100F) and humid here in NC.

I used vermicelli noodles, made from mung bean (and thus allergen free) fresh veggies (carrots, lettuce), roasted red bell peppers, fresh herbs from my parents' garden (mint, lemon thyme, and chives), lemon, and Thai hot sauce. I cooked some chicken in lime juice, ginger and garlic.

All ingredients were chilled before serving. When making this, your guests would compose their own vermicelli bowl, selecting the herbs, veggies, meat and sauces at will.