SRC: Strawberry Melon Smoothie

It's Secret Recipe Club time!  This month I was assigned Simply Food.  Nayna's blog has so many delicious recipe's to choose from.  Her pictures are mouthwatering, and I love that her recipes are made with real food.  Her blog is all things vegetarian which was so timely for me as my hubby has recently taken on a vegan lifestyle.  She also has tons of authentic international food, another thing I love to learn about.  Nayna describes herself as a home-cook without culinary school training striving to make her dishes feel complete without being complicated.  Her blog accomplishes that.  If she hadn't said so, I would not know that she hasn't had any formal training.

So after browsing through her yummy dishes I landed on the Strawberry and Melon Smoothie.  It was a warm Sunday afternoon, we had recently returned from vacation and I was trying to get back into the routine of life but felt a little draggy.  This smoothie caught my eye and was the perfect refreshing pick-me-up!

2 cups strawberries, washed and hulled
2 cups sweet honey dew melon, peeled and chopped into large chunks
2 mint leaves. torn
6 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to the blender and blend throughly.

Pour into tall pre chilled glasses and garnish if you wish with mint, melon balls, and/or strawberry.
Serve immediately.

St. Patricks Day Mystery Diner Part 2

In honor of St. Patricks day coming up, please enjoy this re-post.  This particular St. Paddy's day was one of my favorites because not only was it just plain fun, but it was 80 degrees in Michigan!  Unheard of in March!  

Finally, I'm posting about our wonderful celebration!  I've just been too busy soaking up the sun, running the household.  :D  If you missed Part 1 or our Mystery Dinner, you can see it here.
So, we had our lovely friends The Lubberts over for dinner.  They were great sports and totally up for our Mystery Dinner.  A good time was had by all.

Here's my daughter, all decked out in her green.  She was even wearing green corduroy pants--and it was 80 degrees here in Mi.

also very excited about her stick-on earrings.

Originally, it was just going to be for my family, but when we added our friends, I changed a few of my ideas really just to make it easy on myself.  You'll notice some changes here from my Part 1 post.  Things have to be ready to serve up, so, I did prepare some things in advance (and prepared easy things)

Here's what we had:

Shamrock Shake:  Pour the dressing on the veggies and shake her up!  (kids totally dig this)

Leprechaun Pie (recipe here) 

Spoon Bread   (recipe here)

Taste a Rainbow

Emerald Isle (recipe here)

U-Pick Clover (sour cream cookie recipe here)  This was a decorate your own cookie dessert.

Irish Kiss (napkin)

Blarney Stone (fork)

St. Pat's Sword (knife)

Digging for Gold (Spoon)

As you can see, some of the menu items are your utensils.  This keeps it really interesting!  

Here's our Menu's:

The first thing we do is fill out our menus.  You'll want each person to keep a copy and give a copy to the chef.  All the fun names are listed and 3 courses.  We all eat 1 course at a time, then I serve up the next, and so on.  

How do you celebrate St. Patricks Day?  Or don't you?   I would love to hear from you!  Please share your traditions in the comments.  

I hope you find a reason to celebrate today!

Blessings

~Chellie

Emerald Isle

This was our St. Patricks Day Beverage.  You could do this in a punch bowl for a party, but we did it in individual cups so we had just the right amount.

Ingredients:

Lime-aid

7-up

Lime sherbet

Pour equal parts Lime aid and 7-Up in a glass and top it with a scoop of Lime Sherbet.  Enjoy!

If you are doing the Punch bowl thing, just do 1 bottle of Lime-aid (I buy Simply Lime-aid) and 1 2-liter of 7-Up, and top with several scoops of Lime Sherbet.

Christmas Eve Open House 2011

As many of you know, we host an open house on Christmas Eve.  We've been doing it for a few years now.  This year was another blessed evening.  I was so blessed by those that came, and hope they were too.  This is the Menu:

Cold

Caprese Salad on a Stick

Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites

Cheese Plate

Olive Plate

Fruit Plate

Warm

Sweet Potato Cakes with Black Bean Salsa

Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Pies

Apricot Bacon Wraps

Desserts 

Assorted Christmas Treats  (see the bottom of this post for a photo)

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle

Blizzard Bars

Beverages

Sparkling Jubilee

Candy Cane Punch

Hot Cocoa Bar

The recipe's that are posted should be highlighted.  If they aren't, just hover your mouse over, and you should be able to click to the recipe.  

In case you are wondering "Sparkling Jubilee" is 1 bottle of White Grape juice,  and 1 2 liter 7-Up in a punch bowl.  I add fresh cranberries and fresh mint to garnish.  I just thought it needed a fun and festive name.  :-)

Candy Cane Punch

This is almost dessert rather than punch.  It was sooooo good!  I mean, I thought it would be good, but it was way better than I expected.  I was going for festive, and it was, along with deliciousness!
I found the recipe on Pinterest, and it's actually from Taste of Home.  My guests at the open house loved it!  My only regret... no picture!!  I was bummed.  But, you can see a photo of it here.


Ingredients
2 jars (10 ounces each) strawberry jelly
2 liters lemon-lime soda, divided
2 quarts peppermint stick ice cream
Miniature candy canes, optional

Directions:
In a large saucepan, melt jelly with 2 cups soda. Chill the jelly mixture and remaining soda. Just before serving, place 6 cups ice cream in a punch bowl. Gently stir in jelly mixture. Add remaining soda. Add remaining ice cream by scoopfuls. Garnish with candy canes if desired. Yield: 3-1/2 quarts.

Pumpkin Pie Shake

This recipe is adapted from a little freebie magazine I saw in a coffee shop, called, "Food for Thought".  I think I've seen them at the local health food store as well.


2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
2/3 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pepitas for garnish (optional)


Throw it all in the blender (except pepitas), mix it up and serve!  This really did taste like pumpkin pie.
You could also just use pumpkin ice cream, which is sold seasonally in the grocery store.  Makes about 4 servings.

Don't forget to share with a friend!

Salted Caramel Apple Cider

This is for those that like that sweet and salty combo.  If you're not one of those, just omit the salt and you'll have a nice sweet treat.


12 oz apple cider
1 1/2 tbs caramel sauce
whip cream
salt


Warm your apple cider in a sauce pan until it is steaming.  Meanwhile put caramel in a mug, or the cup you'll be serving in.  Add the cider and stir.  Top with whip cream and a dash of salt. Drizzle with more caramel sauce if desired.  Mmm mmm, I love the flavors of fall!

Strawberry Lemonade

6 lemons
1 cup strawberry puree' or to taste
1/4 cup sugar
Water


Squeeze the juice of 6 lemons into a basic pitcher.  Add the strawberries and sugar, stir.  Add water to almost full.  Add ice if desired.


You'll have to adjust the taste on this as preferences are so different.  Some like more tart lemonade, and some more sweet, but either way, this is so refreshing!

Ground hog day hot cocoa

Is'nt he cute?  Okay, his eye looks a little bloodshot, maybe he's just tired of winter.  :-) 

I made my own hot cocoa.  I will share the recipe, but I'm warning you, it is pretty rich.  My daughter usually wants it, but won't finish it.  Is there such thing as too much chocolate?  I'm just not sure.  This recipe comes from Real Simple Magazine

2 cups cocoa powder

3/4 cups sugar (personally I think it needs more sugar)

8 oz mini chocolate chips

blend together and store in an airtight container. When you make it, use 1/4 cup cocoa mix to 8 oz very warm milk.  I think it blends best when you whisk it together on the stove. 

For the cute groundhog and his shadow, you can find the instructions here.  I used an oreo cookie, because it's what I had.