Summer Salad: one of many!

We plant tomatoes in our backyard. As a result, in our mid- to late summer months, we have tomato for almost every meal everyday, and still have extra to share a big bag with all our friends. I never get sick of these sweet, juicy, fruits because I help plant them and well, because they're so sweet and juicy. These little banana tomatoes are my favourite. They're firm but not starchy, and work well when used raw or cooked or baked. Here is one of the colourful summer salads I made with these tomatoes.

Salad components: 

• tomatoes
• bell peppers
• avocados
• lime (juice)
• canned beans (I used romano beans)
• sliced black olives
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Simply dice tomatoes, bell peppers, and avocados. Toss everything in lots of fresh lime juice, with some olive oil, and salt and pepper. Add canned beans and olives and toss again. If you want, you can toss the tomatoes, bell peppers, and avocados separately so you can arrange the salad layers. 

Lots of fresh banana tomatoes from the backyard

Yummy avocado

Yummy salad

All the beautiful, colourful layers

Citrus Angel Biscuits

It's July, the middle of summer, and I feel like baking. I've been suppressing the urge to bake for a few weeks because it's been so hot, and I didn't want to have to reve up the air condition just because I've decided to do some baking. Anyway, I couldn't resist any longer, and since this weekend is a little cooler, I baked some angel biscuits. These biscuits are a little sweet and tangy because I slather some zesty citrus glaze on them before baking. The glaze also gives them some wonderful, summer colour: yellow, orange, and green. Can you guess what citrus zests I used?

The Recipe:
Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast

Wet ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup plain cream cheese
• water

Glaze:

• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• 2 limes
• 3 tbsp sugar

Stir dry ingredients together. Cut butter and cream cheese into little chunks and rub into the flour mixture until the largest piece of butter of cream cheese is about the size of a split pea or lentil, and evenly distributed. Add water until a soft dough forms. Gather dough into a dough ball, wrap loosely with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the dough soften and rise. 

To make the glaze, wash the orange, lemon, and limes, and grate the zest into a bowl. Add sugar and mix to evenly distribute the zest. To make it spreadable, squeeze either the juice of the lemon, or the two limes over the sugar. 

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch (or ~3/4 cm) thickness, fold the dough in half so that there are two layers. Cut out into squares or circles or whatever shape you want your biscuits to be, brush citrus glaze over biscuits, and slide into a hot oven to bake. Bake at 425 F (~220 C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let biscuits cool on a rack and enjoy!

Rested and risen dough with a particularly large chunk of butter

Ready to be baked

Cooling and waiting to be devoured

Cranberry Cheesecake: A very late post

I hope you're looking forward to summer! What is the one aspect of summer that you're most looking forward to? Maybe you like the long hours of daylight, the endless blue skies, all the outdoor activities, family gatherings and holidays, the beach, or glorious sunsets? Or perhaps you like watching the magnificent summer thunderstorms? I'm mostly looking forward to enjoying those cool, sweet treats that the hot sun makes me crave. Here is a recipe for a no-bake cheesecake filling that I made last year around this time. I'd promised to post about it when I made those mung bean potato biscuits (remember?) but never got around to writing the post. Well, here it is, a year late, but still a recipe to make.

The Recipe (makes two 8" tarts):

Pie crusts (follow recipe here)

Filling:

• 300 mL fat free, plain greek yogurt
• 400 mL light, plain cream cheese 
• 3/4 cup frozen cranberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp gelatin (powder)
• some water

Mix together yogurt, cream cheese, and milk until a smooth mixture forms. It's best to let the cream cheese come to room temperature so it softens before blending. You can also soften the cream cheese in  the microwave using the defrost setting. 

Melt and cook frozen cranberries in a pan. Pour some water on the bottom of the pan until the bottom is covered with a layer of water. Cook until cranberries pop and soften. Pour into blender and blend until an even mixture forms. Strain to remove large pieces of skin and seed. Return to pan, add sugar, stir to dissolve, and cook until thickened, like a syrup. Take off heat and stir in gelatin to dissolve. Add to cream cheese and yogurt mixture and stir to combine. Pour into prepared pie tins, and place in the refrigerator to set for at least 4 hours before serving. 

Note: you can set aside some cream cheese and yogurt mixture to decorate the top if you like. 

This is the yogurt I used. I also added the jam to the rest of the cranberry puree (it's only a small amount). 

Frozen cranberries.

Mung bean potato biscuits baked into a tart crust

Adding the filling

Swirls for decoration

You can also make it one colour. Texture after setting. 

Excuse my absence

It's been a long, long, long time since my last post. The entire summer just seemed to have flew by without me leaving a mark on my blog, so let me fill you in on what I've been doing. Over the summer, I've been relearning how to play a piano, revisiting my sketchbook, remaking some recipes...but the one activity I'd most like to share here is travelling. I went to Italy. Although most people say that the peak of summer isn't the best time to be in Italy, I had an amazing time there, experiencing the food, fashion, and culture. The weather was constantly hot and sunny and I felt like a sponge soaking in as much Italian warmth as I could. That meant acquiring a nice, healthy-looking tan, which, although probably wasn't healthy at all for me skin, ensured me I had no shortage of Vitamin D. Since pictures convey more than words, I will stop my descriptions here to leave room for...

Summer arriving early

It's March and where I live, it feels like June. I feel like I need to start digging for those ice cube trays and jello moulds for summery desserts! For now, however, I must concentrate on my exams and end-of-the-school-year projects. I promise I will be back soon to share all the new creations and ideas I come up with this season.

By the way, feel free to leave comments on any of the posts!