Purify Your Energy Drink

When you exercise, especially in the heat, you need to stay hydrated.  You also need to replenish electrolytes including sodium and potassium salts.  Here is an easy-to-make, pure version of an energy drink that is just right for weekend athletes.  It will taste salty to you before you start exercising and just right as you start to expend valuable resources during exercise. 

Pure N-or-G Drink
Makes 12 ounces, recipe easily doubles, triples.....
Ingredients

2 ounces real limeade or lemonade
10 ounces water
1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Shake the three ingredients together so that the salt is well dissolved.  
2. Get out there and exercise, then replenish by drinking up during breaks.  

Here's another variation for all my Vermont kin:
juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
10 ounces water

Mix it all together and go out and play.  

Cilantro Cooler

The third in our August series of summer drinks is an herbal concoction that features cilantro muddled with thinly sliced cucumbers.  It makes a really refreshing and lively bright green sipper. 

Quaff it after a workout for a home spa experience or add a little heat from jalepeños and some tequila and enjoy it at the grownups table.

Cilantro Cooler
Ingredients for one
1/2 cup peeled, thinly sliced cucumber
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (stems fine)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
juice of 1 lime
1/2 ounce honey or simple syrup
6 ounces cold water
optional: diced hot pepper (like 1/2 jalepeño, seeded)
to garnish: springs of cilantro, cucumber slices

Method

1. Muddle (or pulse in a food processor) the cucumber, cilantro and, if using, hot pepper with sugar.  Let rest at least one hour, refrigerated.
2. Add lime juice and water.  
3. Add honey to taste. 
4. Strain and pour over ice in a tall glass and garnish with a sprig of cilantro and a slice of cucumber to serve. 

Ingredients for 4 Cilantro Coolers:
2 cups peeled, thinly sliced cucumber (about 1 English cucumbers or 6 Kirby cucumbers)
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (stems fine)
2 teaspoons sugar
juice of 4 limes
2 ounces honey or simple syrup
24 ounces cold water
optional: diced hot pepper (like 1 jalepeño, seeded)
to garnish: springs of cilantro, cucumber slices

Yes, you could add a little tequila.  Vodka is also a good additional ingredient. 

Grapefruit Ginger Soda

I spent some time in France when I was a teenager.  One of the most memorable afternoons was on Bastille Day at the family apartments of the Auer family in Old Nice.  Madame Auer was a grand dame and hostess from another era and I was nervous.   As the summer guest of her son, my father’s dear friend Georges, a visit to the family’s matriarch would be my first real test of speaking French.  I’d spent several weeks in France so far, tutored by Georges, his wife Anne and twin daughters while their youngest son was learning to speak English at my parents' home across the Atlantic. 

The apartment was formally furnished in delicately carved armchairs and settees topped with ecru silk cushions embroidered in floral patterns.  The formal sitting room was cooled on hot days by keeping the shutters closed during the day.  (A tip I had learned learned earlier in the summer from Anne Auer that I have used ever since when air conditioning is not installed.) 

The walls were painted French green, somewhere between the color of a green olive and the stems of lavender.  The color spread from the paneled walls to the potted plants edging the shuttered floor-to-ceiling louvered glass doors that led to the balcony.   By late afternoon a little light crept into the dark room.   I sat carefully and listed attentively in case someone spoke to me.  Madame Auer offered me a soda and indicated I should pick my flavor from the bottles of sirop on the tea cart next to her.  The flavors were exciting.  I was tempted by the hazelnut but in the end picked the raspberry.  (Framboise, s'il vous plait.)

She poured a few ounces of raspberry sirop into a tall glass of ice and topped it with seltzer.   It was the perfect refresher.  Later that night we watched the Bastille Day fireworks shoot out of and around the old chateau in Nice from the plant-edged balcony of chez Auer.  It was a sensory overload sort of day.  Mme Auer, though formal in her manner, was extremely kind and made me feel at home.  A host’s simple offer of refreshment has done this for visitors for centuries.  Language was no barrier between new friends over a freshly concocted soda.

Back then, soda was served only on special occasions like birthday parties and national holidays.  Today, soda is part of the everyday and has grown a bit ordinary.  With the advent of soda making machines and an acceptance of more varieties of flavor, it is possible to craft your own special sirop and make a guest feel extra welcome. 

Try your hand at a six pack of grapefruit-ginger flavored soda.  This pomplemousse and ginger ale combo is sparkly pure and fresher than anything you can get for your soda stream. 

Grapefruit Ginger Soda Sirop

Yield 1 ½ cups, enough for 6 sodas
Ingredients
2 red grapefruits- sections and zest
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
¾ cup honey or sweet rice syrup

Method

1. Mash together the fruit, zest and ginger.  
2. Stir in the honey or rice syrup.  
3. Cover and chill for 48 hours.  
4. Strain and serve with setlzer or tonice water.  Use a 2:5 ratio, that is 2 ounces of soda sirop for every 5 ounces of seltzer.

Credits to Monica Matheny of The Yummy Life for the inspiration and basic no-cook technique for this recipe. Check out more flavor ideas here.

Watermelon Daiquiri's

Watermelons are large.  Even for a family four, there will be some left over.  Cube the last slices or use a melon baller to extract the last sweet morsels and freeze them in a resealable bag.  Later you can use them as ice cubes in fruit juice or.....

Make a pitcher of pure Watermelon Daiquiri's!

Serves 4
3 cups frozen watermelon cubes (about 1 quart size bag)
32 ounces limade (make your own real limeade or buy one with only lime juide, sugar and water)
8 ounces dark rum

Method

1. Place the frozen watermelon in a blender.  
2. Add about 10 ounces limade, enough to just cover the watermelon.  
3. Blend on the ice cube setting until you have made a nice slush.  
4. Add remainder of limeade and rum.  

Serve in tall glasses. 
Variation-- turn this into a pure Watermelon Margarita by replacing the rum with an equal amount of tequila.  (In the photo, the drink on the right is the margarita version.)

French Pizza

Not French bread pizza, French Pizza!  Oil-cured black olives, tiny strips of anchovy, ripe roasted tomatoes top a slab of puff pastry smeared with soft cheeses.  If, like me,  you cannot get to Nice in the south of France this summer, get a taste with this beachside favorite picked up the local patisserie. 

French Pizza
Makes one medium pizza that serves 4 for lunch, 8-9 as an appertizer

Ingredients
one sheet puff pastry (10" X 15")
egg wash*
4-6 ounces soft cheese (combo of goat cheese, blue cheese, cream cheese)
3-4 medium tomatoes (or 8-9 small tomatoes)
1/4 cup oil cured olives
optional: anchovies, extra grated cheese like Parmesan, Asiago or even Gruyere

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.  
2. Place defrosted puff pastry sheet on a cookie sheet.
3. Using a butter knife, cut a strip about 1/3-1/2 inch wide from the long sides of the sheet.  Brush the long edges with egg wash and place the strip on top to form an edge.  Do the same with the shorter sides of the pastry.  
4. Spread a thin layer of the cheese on the interior of the puff pastry.
5. Slice the tomatoes no thinner than 1/4 inch and lay out over the cheese.  If using small tomatoes, cut them in half and arrange on top of the cheese.  (Note: if using roma or plum tomatoes, you may roast them in a 400˚F oven for 10-12 minutes before topping the pizza.)
6. Finish the pizza by arranging olives and anchoives between the tomatoes.
7. Brush the raised edges of the pizza with more egg wash. 
8. Bake pizza at 400˚F for 15 minutes until the crust turns golden brown.  
9. Optional: Grate some hard cheese over the pizza to finish. 

Enjoy French Pizza right out of the oven or room temperature as a light lunch or hearty first course over salad greens.

 * an egg wash will "glue" the pastry to itself and create a nice shine to the pizza edges.  Mix a beaten egg with a few tablespoons of water to create an egg wash.  If you do not want to use an egg, a light brushing of water will help stick the strips of pastry to the base. 

Tandoori Chicken Pitas

Next time you are grilling, marinate a few chicken thighs in a Tandoori yogurt-spice mixture using spices you probably already have on hand.  Grill the thighs alongside or after your main meal is cooked.  The next day you'll have fragrant chicken to slice and stuff into pita pockets with some cooling salad ingredients.   We stuff cucumbers and radishes or sliced tomatoes and onions in with the chicken and add chopped cilantro and lettuce leaves.  Eat as is or add a fiery mango chutney and/or a cool spoonful of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Here how to make Tandoori Chicken Thighs for tomorrow's pita sandwiches.

Tandoori Chicken Thighs
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
6 ounces plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh, grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon each: cumin, tumeric, coriander, paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method

1. Place the chicken thighs in a large resealable plastic bag.   
2. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over chicken.  
3. Marinate at least 2 hours or overnight.  
4. Grill things over direct heat, 4-5 minutes per side.  The chicken cal be roasted in the oven at 425˚F for 15-18 minutes.  Thighs are cooked when internal temperature registers 170˚F. 

Blue Cheese Salsa on Lettuce Wedges

Blue Cheese Salsa? What!
This is an easy and pure salad dressing and salad in one.  While the salad ingredients marinate in their blue cheese vinaigrette, everything stays crisp and fresh looking until it is time to serve.

It's just chopped tomatoes, avocados and blue cheese dressed in a simple vinaigrette dressing and flavored with a spoonful of sour cream, fresh, chopped basil and extra black pepper.  The sour cream pulls the flavors together and creates a pretty pastel effect. Serve Blue Cheese Salsa over large slices of dense lettuce varieties like romaine or iceburg.

Blue Cheese Salsa
Serves 4
2 medium tomatoes
1 avocado
2-3 ounces blue cheese (we used a Danish blue here)
1 tablespoon sour cream
1/4 cup vinaigrette dressing (click here to learn how to make a batch)
1/4 cup fresh, chopped basil
cracked black pepper
1 large head lettuce (iceburg or romaine)

Method

1. Chop tomatoes, avocado and blue cheese into cubes about the same size-- about 1/2 inch or so. 
2. Mix the sour cream, vinaigrette, basil and pepper together in a medium bowl.  
3. Add chopped vegetables and cheese.  Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the mixture together.  
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or up to several hours ahead.  
5. When ready to serve, slice lettuce into individual servings and spoon salsa over each serving

I recommend this as a side for any grilled entrée and a very packable salad for a potluck dinner.  Bring the salsa in a plastic container, cut the lettuce before you leave and assemble on a platter when you arrive.  Don't forget the tongs or a large spatula to serve wedges!

Frozen Banana Bites

A big hit at the dessert buffet nestled next to red, white and blue cupcakes, banana bites covered in chocolate and rolled in peanuts (or coconut) satisfy a sweet tooth without being too filling.   A perfect pure bite. 

Make a few or make a party tray by cutting ripe bananas into four pieces, spearing with a popsicle or wooden skewers and freezing for 30 minutes.  Melt good quality chocolate chips in the microwave and scatter chopped nuts or shredded coconut on a plate.  Dip each banana bite in chocolate and quickly roll in coating before the chocolate hardens.  Freeze pops as they are covered.  Work in batches of 8 pieces and keep the rest in the freezer.  You will be finished in no time.  When the chocolate has hardened, cover the pops with plastic wrap until you are ready to serve 'em up. 

Ingredients for 40
Frozen Banana Bites
10 ripe bananas
1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped peanuts or other topping (shredded coconut, toffee chips, sprinkles, crushed cookies)
40 popsicle sticks (or 20 wooden skewers, cut in half)

Company Chicken Salad

Grill an extra chicken breast or two for this really nice chicken salad with mango chutney, raisins and sliced almonds.  You can use poached chicken breast or any other leftover cooked chicken for this recipe.

Major Grey's Mango Chutney mixed with mayonnaise is the sweet secret ingredient in the salad.  If you do not have a mango chutney around, you can get a similar flavor with a tablespoon of apricot jam or fruit spread and 1/8 teaspoon apple cider vinegar. If you like curry, you can add a sprinkle of your favorite blend in as well. 

Spring Chicken Salad
Serves 2

6-8 ounces leftover, cooked chicken- skinned and coarsely chopped
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mango chutney
2 tablespoons raisins (or other dried fruit like cherries or chopped apricots)
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, roasted 
salt and pepper

Method

1. Combine chicken and celery in a medium bowl.  
2. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, chutney and raisins.  (Note: This is not a lot of sauce and allows the chicken in the salad to stand out.  If you'd like, you can double the mayonnaise and chutney amounts for a more moist salad.)
3. Add chutney mixture to chicken mixture and fold to coat chicken well. 
4. Stir in raisins and nuts, reserving a little of each to top chicken salad as a garnish.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.  
5. Cover chicken salad and let sit for at half an hour to allow flavors to meld.  

Serve over lettuce, in sandwich rolls or pita.

Picnic Zucchini Roll Ups

This is the season for picnics, boating, fireworks shows and dining au pleine aire.  Finger foods make the easiest fare.  Zucchini Roll Ups can cover a lot of ground as a salad, side or even dip and crudité. 

If you are planning an outing these are best made all or in part a day ahead.  They keep well and prevent last minute crunch time in the kitchen. 

Zucchini Roll Ups
18-20 rolls

Ingredients
1 medium-large zucchini
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper
2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature so it mixes and spreads easily
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon each fresh, chopped herbs: mint, parsley, basil
Optional filler: roasted red pepper strips, steamed asparagus, julienned carrot, etc
18-20 pitted olives
18-20 cherry or grape tomatoes
18-20 toothpicks

Method

1. Slice zucchini on a mandolin or vegetable peeler into wafer thin slices.  You may cut the zucchini in half cross wise before slicing or cut the slices in half once cut, whichever is easier for you and your tools.  Aim to end up with 18 zucchini slice halves. 
2. Brush slice with olive oil, salt and pepper each slice.  Place slices on a cookie sheet and broil 1-2 minutes per side.  Remove zucchini when they are just browning and still flexible.  
3. Stack 4-5 slices and roll each slice.  Leave to cool. (You can continue at this point or refrigerate zucchini overnight and finish recipe the following day.)  
4. While zucchini cools, prepare filling. Mix together cream cheese, ricotta and herbs.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  
5. Finish by unrolling a stack of zucchini slices.  Place slices on a paper towel and turn over to remove a bit of olive oil.  This will make spreading the cheese mixture easier.  
6. Using a spoon and butter knife or two spoons, dab a spoonful of cheese mixture on each slice and spread to cover slice completely with cheese.  
7. If you are using a filler, like a piece of roasted red pepper, lay it on the cheese, perpendicular to the zucchini slice.  Roll and secure with a toothpick.  Add an olive to one end and a tomato to the other end of the toothpick to secure zucchini roll in place.  
8. Store rolls in an airtight container and keep chilled until serving. 

Mexican Cobb Chicken Salad

Buried under the bright green tomatillo salsa, crema and chopped avocadoes is a layer of sliced, cooked chicken and lettuce.  Also lined up in this Mexican-inspired Cobb salad are crumbled bacon, chopped tomatoes and two kinds of cheese, cheddar and queso fresco. 

Actually, we didn't have either queso fresco or its cousin farmer's cheese when we made this so we sprinkled in a mild feta.  A few blue corn tortilla chips did double duty as garnish and scoopers. 

Tomatillo salsa lends a bright lime flavor and crema adds a mellow note.  You can also pass some plain vinaigrette around for those who like a more dressed salad. 

Here's how to make the tomatillo salsa and crema to create your own masterpiece dinner salad.  You can use any fresh salsa instead if you are in a hurry but you will see from the various cooking methods provided that you can prepare this salsa alongside whatever you are cooking tonight whether stove top, grilled or in the oven and enjoy it the rest of the week.  Leftover Tomatillo Salsa can be used as base for a quick guacamole (add chopped avocado) or instead of your favorite hot sauce on burgers, tacos or grilled chicken.  Stir a few spoonfuls of Tomatillo Salsa into plain chicken soup to give it a serious lift.  

Tomatillo Salsa
Yields about 1 cup

Ingredients

1 pound tomatillos (about 6)
1-2 jalapeños  (two will make the sauce very spicy, OK to use 1/2 of one)
juice of one lime
1 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt
optional: 1-2 tablespoons olive oil or water 
Method

1. Peel tomatillos and rinse them and the jalapeños in water.  
2. Cook tomatillos and jalapeños by any one of these methods: cover with water in a medium pot, bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes OR lightly oil tomatillos and jalapeños with vegetable oil and grill alongside anything else on the grill, turning as they char and remove when softened OR roast at 425˚F in a oiled roasting pan until softened.  
3. Once cooked, cool vegetables.  
4. Remove seeds from jalapeños.  
5. Place tomatillos and jalapeños in a food processor or blender with remaining ingredients.  Pulse until well blended to a puree.  
6. If mixture is very thick add a little water or olive oil.  Taste for seasoning, add more salt if needed. 

Crema
If you cannot find crema in your grocery store, combine some sour cream or plain Greek yogurt with a little cream to create a pouring consistency. 

What Are Tomatillos, Anyway?

Tomatillos are in the nightshade family (as is the tomato).  They have a citrus flavor, pretty tart with a nice crunch.  Tomatillos are showing up in grocery stores more frequently.  You will find them near avocados and tomatoes or with international produce. They look like small green tomatoes with grey-green papery husks.  We use them raw, chopped up in a salsa where the lime juice breaks them down or we use them cooked as in the recipe above.  FYI: Tomatillos are the key ingredient in most enchilada sauces. 

Anniversary Meringues

Last June, I recalled our niece's wedding with a dessert that echoes the flavors of the wedding cake, raspberry and lemon, in an Isles Flotant for Two.  This year, the anniversary tribute gets even simpler with make-ahead vanilla meringue cookies that sandwich raspberry sorbet and get a little crown of lemon curd.

Meringues are easy to make and can be stored in an airtight container for days.  The sandwich cookies can be made on the spot with a scoop of sorbet and a drizzle of warmed lemon curd.  If you'd like a softer cookie, make the sandwiches, wrap in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer until you are ready to serve.  Warm lemon curd in the microwave for 10-15 seconds and drizzle over the cookies or bring to the table for dipping. 

The basic formula for meringues is 1 egg white to 1/4 cup sugar.  A pinch of cream of tartar will help the egg whites form nice peaks when you whip them.  Here is the recipe using two egg whites, which makes about 14-16 meringue cookies.

Pure note: you can purchase good quality meringues if you do not have time to make them and assemble the sandwiches from there.  Check the label to pick ones that have few ingredients and ones that you recognize. 

Two Egg Whites Meringues
Yield 14-16 cookies

Ingredients
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300˚F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking pad.  
2. Place egg whites in a large, very clean bowl.  Use a hand mixer or whisk to beat egg whites until they are frothy.  
3. Add sugar, about a tablespoon at a time while continuing to whip mixture.  About halfway through adding the sugar, add cream of tartar.  Continue adding the sugar a bit at a time.  Beat until egg whites form stiff peeks.  Note: on more humid days, this will be more challenging. You can add bit more cream of tartar.  If, after 10-15 minutes, you still do not have very stiff peeks, proceed with the recipe.  There is enough air beaten onto the egg whites to create lift in the oven.  You will not be able to create intricate details or pipe your cookies but you will be able to spoon dollops onto the cookie sheet to make little puffs, perfect for a ice cream sandwich.  
4. Stir in vanilla. 
5. Next, spoon (or pipe) batter onto cookie sheet.  Each cookie should have 1-2 tablespoons of batter and be placed about an inch apart.  
6. Bake at 300˚F for 20 minutes, puffed but not browned.  Do not open oven to check on meringues.  
7. Turn off oven and allow meringues to cool slowly as the oven cools.  This will create a dry and crisp meringue. 

Store cookies in an airtight container.

Variations
Chocolate mint chip ice cream with chocolate sauce.
Frozen banana "ice cream" with butterscotch sauce