Corn Salad with Lemonade Mustard Dressing
Corn Salad with Lemonade Mustard Dressing
Continuing with my cooking with lemonade assignment I came up with a simple salad dressing. It’s only 4 ingredients and while I used it on this corn salad it would also be great tossed on a green salad or maybe a potato salad. I am always looking for new salad ideas. This is one I will be making again soon.
Corn Salad with Lemonade Mustard Dressing
6 c. cooked corn, off the cob
1 sweet pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small sweet onion, diced
½ c. chopped fresh parsley
1 recipe lemonade mustard dressing- recipe follows
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and chill at least an hour before serving. Serves 8.
Lemonade Mustard Dressing
½ c. oil
1/3 c. lemonade concentrate, thawed
2 T. whole grain mustard
1 t. hot pepper sauce, or to taste
1 t. salt, or to taste
Place all ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Serve as a salad dressing on mixed greens or with assorted veggies.
Ice Cream Day at Mentor Camp
Making ice cream in bags
We made our own ice cream in camp yesterday. We used plastic bags, ice and salt for our ice cream “machines”. We made both vanilla and chocolate bases with half and half, chocolate syrup, sugar and vanilla extract. We poured some of the base into a sandwich size Ziploc bag and sealed it tight. Then we put ice and salt in a gallon sized Ziploc bag along with the sandwich bag of ice cream base. The kids went outside and tossed the bags back and forth. In about 10 minutes we opened our bags and had ice cream. We did have a few leaks- dropping the bags will do that :). It was fun, though.
We also made mini ice cream sandwiches with vanilla wafers and chocolate covered frozen banana slices.
Ice cream sandwiches
Frozen bananas in white chocolate with sprinkles
Chocolate ice cream in a bag.
Lemonade Glaze for Chicken or Pork
Lemonade Glazed Chicken
When I was asked by a local television station to do a segment on cooking with lemonade my first thoughts went to desserts. I made several sweet dishes but I also wanted to go for some savory uses. I ended up creating this lemonade glaze. I’ve tried it on chicken a couple of times and I could see it going well with pork or even seafood. The sweet/sour nature of lemonade works well as a base for sauces. I used homemade lemonade concentrate, but store bought is fine, too. Here is the recipe. I hope you’ll try it. It really is good.
Lemonade Glaze for Chicken or Pork
2 T. oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 t. minced garlic
12 oz. lemonade concentrate
¼ c. red wine vinegar
2 T. hot sauce, or to taste
1 T. prepared mustard
3 T. honey
1 t. cumin
1 t. ginger
2 t. salt, or to taste
Heat oil in pan and cook onion until lightly browned. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute. Add remaining ingredients and cook until mixture has cooked down and thickened- about 10-15 minutes on medium high heat. Stir occasionally. You should end up with about 1½ of glaze.
To use: Brush on meat during last 15 minutes of cooking if baking or grilling. Add in last 5 minutes if cooking in a pan.
Here is the recipe for the lemonade concentrate.
Lemonade Cookies
Lemonade Cookies
These are a perfect summertime cookie. With the sweet tangy flavor of lemonade they are a great addition to any picnic or cookout. They are soft, cake-like cookies with lemonade in the batter. Once baked they are brushed with a little lemonade concentrate and sprinkled with sugar for an extra lemonade flavor.
Lemonade Cookies
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 eggs
1/2 c. lemonade concentrate, plus extra for brushing on cookies
2 t. lemon zest
3 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
In medium bowl beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and then add the lemonade concentrate and lemon zest. Combine the flour and baking soda and stir into the butter mixture. Chill dough 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease baking sheets. Scoop dough in rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until light golden. Once cookies have cooled brush with a little lemonade concentrate and sprinkle with sugar. Makes about 5 dozen.
Cooking Camp in Mentor- Cooking with Fruit
Warm Blueberry Cake
Today was all about cooking with fruit. We made blueberry soda with blueberry syrup and club soda, warm blueberry cake, grapesicles- which are frozen grapes, fresh strawberry jam and chocolate dipped strawberries. A good time was had by all.
Frozen grapes- great summer snack
Warm Blueberry Cake
2 c. biscuit mix
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. milk
2 T. oil
1 egg
1 1/2 c. blueberries
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9×9-inch pan. Beat all ingredients together, except berries, for about 30 seconds. Fold in berries and pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 35 minutes. Cake should be golden brown on top and test clean with a toothpick. Serve warm.
New Day Cleveland- Cooking with Lemonade
For those of you who may have missed it, here is my appearance on New Day Cleveland today. As always the staff at New Day are great to work with.
Mentor Camp- Snack Day
Tiger Paws
It was all about the tiger paws in camp today. Biscuit dough brushed with melted butter, dipped in cinnamon sugar and adorned with slivered almond “claws” and then baked. We also made yogurt and fruit cups with fresh peaches and topped with homemade granola. Mexican Pizzas were a big hit and we finished off the day making a trail mix.
Peach and yogurt cup with granola
Mexican Pizza
Lemonade Biscuits
Lemonade Biscuits
I know it sounds odd but these are some of the lightest biscuits I ever made- and easy, too. They aren’t sweet, as you might imagine, but do have a slight lemon flavor. Great with almost any savory dish I could see using these as the base for strawberry shortcake, too.
Lemonade Biscuits
3 c. flour
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. prepared lemonade
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add cream and lemonade and stir gently until dough just holds together. Using flour on a board, gently knead the dough using gentle pressure until it just holds together. Dough will be sticky. Press or roll out about 1/2 inch thick and cut out with 2 inch biscuit cutter. Re-roll scraps. You should get 20-24 biscuits. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom and light brown on the top. Cool on wire rack.
Swiss Chard Gnudi
Swiss Chard Gnudi
I love Swiss Chard and have been enjoying a lot of it lately. It is abundant at local farm markets and in my yard. I decided to use some of my chard to make gnudi. What are gnudi? They are little dumplings. Gnudi are similar to gnocchi but you use ricotta cheese instead of the potatoes. When done right they are tender and light. These were like little pillows of flavor. I just served mine tossed in butter and topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese. If you are trying to get your family to eat more greens- try making these.
Swiss Chard Gnudi
1 lb. Swiss chard, stem ends trimmed
1 c. whole milk ricotta
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for sprinkling
¼ c. dried minced onion
1 egg
½ t. coarse salt
¼ t. fresh ground pepper
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
¾ c. flour, plus extra for rolling
Butter
Grated Parmesan cheese
Cut chard leaves from each side of center stem. Cook chard leaves in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain; cool. Squeeze chard leaves until very dry; place in processor. Using on/off turns, finely chop chard. Add ricotta, ½ cup Parmesan, onion, egg, coarse salt, pepper, and nutmeg; process to blend. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Add ¾ cup flour; stir to blend. Cover and refrigerate dough overnight.
Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon some flour onto large plate. Working in batches, drop heaping teaspoonfuls gnudi dough (size of small walnuts) onto plate with flour to form about 36 gnudi. Using floured hands, gently shape each into 1 1/2-inch-long, 1/2-inch-thick oval. Tap off excess flour; transfer gnudi to prepared baking sheet. They can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and chill. Bring large wide pot of salted water to boil. Slide gnudi into pot; cook until they float to the top, about 4-5 minutes. They are very tender so remove from water gently. Toss cooked gnudi in butter and sprinkle with cheese. Serves 4.
Counter Blender
This picture is from the kitchen at Wildwood, where I often teach. Never much paid attention to it until the other day. It’s a built in blender motor and switch. I was curious so I turned the switch and the motor still works!!! Have no idea if a newer blender would work but I think I am going to give it a try. Kinda cool, although I see limitations. If the motor goes probably impossible to fix. Then again, I have no idea how old it is, but it still works. Any idea when these were made and installed? Any body ever have one They are going to be remodeling the kitchen soon so I am sure it will be pulled out.
If you unscrew this knob there is an attachment for the blender inside.
