West Central Georgia News
1-1/2 boxes of tri-colored pasta
cooked per directions
A red, yellow and green small bell pepper
Green onions
1/2 jar artichokes, diced
1/2 jar Kalamato sliced olives
A good helping of Parmesan cheese
3/4 jar Kraft Zesty Italian
1/4 jar Kraft Lemon poppy seed dressing
Mix everything together and enjoy!
Tired of the same old spinach salad? Here's a delicious alternative made with good-for-you broccoli. It incorporates the same flavors as the standard spinach salad, but it can be made up to a day in advance and won't wilt on the buffet table.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
For this recipe, use blanched broccoli. (After cooking in boiling water for 30 seconds, remove from water and plunge it into ice water to stop the cooking. Drain well.)
In a large bowl, combine the broccoli, eggs, onion, and bacon. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar, whisking until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the broccoli and mix gently. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight before serving. Just before serving, toss lightly.
Yield: 8 servings
6 cups vanilla ice cream, softened Combine ice cream, limeade, and cherry juice in a large mixing bowl. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer until blended. Spoon into crust, then freeze 8 hours, or until firm. Top each serving with a dollop of whipped cream, a lime slice, a maraschino cherry, and a mint sprig.
1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained Mix together corn, olives, tomatoes, onion, red pepper, and jalapeno pepper in a large bowl. Gently fold in diced avocado, olive oil, lime juice, and salt.
This salsa is quick and easy to make. It's colorful and most important, it's delicious! Serve with tortilla chips…colored ones are fun!
When the weather gets hot, ice cream can be a refreshing treat, but why not make the most of the fresh flavors of summer with tangy, delicious, and nutritious fruit sorbet. So many wonderful varieties of fruit and berries are in season during the summer, and blending them into a frozen dessert is an easy way to preserve and enjoy them. Sorbet is a frozen dessert made from frozen sugar water and fresh fruit. It is naturally fat free and includes all of the benefits of eating fruit, including vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
The basic recipe for sorbet is as follows: One part sugar, two parts water, four parts fruit. Many recipes also include a small amount of lemon or lime juice to add a bit of extra flavor.
First, make a simple syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until the sugar melts. Allow it to cool and set it aside.
Next, unless you are using berries, cut the fruit into small cubes, place it in a blender or food processor along with the simple syrup and lemon or lime juice to taste (about 1/8 of a cup for every cup of fruit), and purée until smooth.
If you have an ice cream maker, spoon the mixture into it and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If you do not have an ice cream maker, place the mixture in a tall sealing container and freeze it for about 90 minutes. Remove it and stir the sorbet with a whisk. Return it to the freezer and stir once every hour for about four hours. This will incorporate air into the mixture, making it light and creamy.
The types of flavors you can enjoy in sorbet are limited only by your imagination. You can try blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mangoes, peaches, cherries, and more. Don’t feel limited to a single flavor. As long as the ratio of fruit to simple syrup is correct, you can add as many different kinds of fruit into the mix as you like!
Ingredients:
1 loaf of square topped, thin white bread
Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature, optional
1 large or 2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded, grated,
squeezed and patted dry
1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 tablespoon grated Vidalia onion
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 tablespoon of chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish
Instructions:
Put a very thin layer of butter on each slice of bread. After grating the cucumber, place it into several layers of paper towels and squeeze out the excess liquid; repeat if needed. Mix the cucumber with all of the remaining ingredients well and spread between two slices of bread. Cut off crusts and cut into fourths.
Sandwiches can also be made ahead and frozen whole. Cut the crusts off and slice into fourths after thawing.
Increase mayonnaise and include the juices of the cucumber to transform this into a dip.
Variation:
If you are serving a small amount of these for a ladies tea or brunch, a very pretty and classic southern presentation is to cut the bread into rounds. There will be a lot of waste but save those pieces and bag them in the freezer for bread crumbs! Instead of adding the cucumber to the spread, slice those about 1/4-inch thick, either peeled or unpeeled. If you use a fork to scrape along the rind or a peeler to peel away only sections of the cucumber it makes a very pretty edge. Mix up the cream cheese mixture and pipe a dab onto the bread, place a cucumber round on top, and pipe another dab of the cream cheese mixture on top. Garnish with tiny sprigs of dill. Gorgeous!
Tasty and nutritious school lunches can be one of parents' biggest challenges. To please the kids and meet the basic dietary guidelines, make them part of the planning and shopping. Within reason, try to accommodate their lunch requests, keeping nutrition guidelines in mind.
A nutritious lunch doesn't have to revolve around a traditional sandwich; consider different pita breads or tortilla wrappings filled with a favorite sandwich meat or salad, meat and cheese squares, or a macaroni salad. Salsa and chips, assorted pickles, or veggie sticks and slices with dip make a lunch box bonus sure to please most kids. Fun foods like ants on a log or jiggly gelatin desserts are good choices.
Ants On A Log: A very simple snack idea! Fill the center of the celery stick with peanut butter. Place a few raisins on top to be your ants. If you do not like raisins, try tiny chocolate chips.
Confetti Snack Mix:
4 cups Golden Grahams
1 cup dry roasted peanuts
1 cup dried banana chips
1 cup raisins
1 cup milk chocolate M&M's
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 7 cups.
Fruit 'n Cheese Snack Mix :
1 oz.KRAFT Cheddar Cheese, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup whole strawberries or blueberries, stemmed, quartered
1/4 cup seedless red or green grapes, halved
Place cheese in 1 side of resealable sandwich-size plastic bag; loosely tie pie cleaner or twist tie around middle of bag. Place fruit in other end of bag; seal bag, then twist pipe cleaner tightly to separate cheese from fruit.
Curl ends of pipe cleaner to resemble antennae of a butterfly.
Refrigerate until ready to serve. Untwist pipe cleaner, leaving bag sealed. Gently shake bag to mix fruit and cheese. Open bag and enjoy!
"Here is a treasured old-fashioned memory -- fresh, crisp, cold, and delicious lemonade. On a hot afternoon our guests especially enjoy it while sitting under a shady tree. An ounce of gin or vodka may be added." The Governor's Inn, Ludlow, Vermont
Yield: Makes 7 cups
Combine sugar and boiling water, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add lemon rind, lemon juice, and cold water; mix well. Chill. Serve over crushed ice garnished with lemon and lime slices and fresh mint sprigs.
Ingredients
Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 234 | Total Fat: 13.2g | Cholesterol: 31mg
IngredientsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 340 | Total Fat: 24.9g | Cholesterol: 96mg
IngredientsThe nutrition data for this recipe includes information for the full amount of the marinade ingredients. Depending on marinating time, ingredients, cook time, etc., the actual amount of the marinade consumed will vary.
Amount Per Serving Calories: 426 | Total Fat: 35.6g | Cholesterol: 59mg
From Allrecipes.com
