As summer hits its peak, thirst quenchers are in high demand. Summer is all about hitting the beach, outdoor fun, gardening, grilling and refreshing drinks. We have been actively doing all these as soon as we knew that the winter frost has disappeared. One of the joys of summer is that I could go for strawberry, raspberry, apple and other fruit picking. Most probably I’ll be visiting a farm over the weekend. My local farmers market is filled with almost all kinds of berries, during my last visit I bought a few boxes of raspberries and strawberries. After too much of eating the berries, I was forced to make some juices out of it. I made the juice with raspberries and now I prefer this juice rather than eating the fruit by itself. I also added lemon juice and ginger to the pureed raspberries, it was quite refreshing and we couldn’t stop with just 1 or 2 glasses.

Raspberry Lemon juice

For making 3 glasses:

Ingredients

• Raspberries, ripe- 15 no’s
• Lemon juice, freshly squeezed- 4 tbsp
• Ginger grated, fresh or ginger juice- 1 inch slice or 1 1/2 tbsp juice
• Sugar- 4 tbsp
• Water- 3 cups

Preparation:

• Combine the freshly squeezed lemon, grated ginger or ginger juice and sugar together.
• Strain it to remove any seeds and fibers.
• In a blender, puree the raspberries along with lemon/ginger/sugar and water.
• Strain the juice into a pitcher and add ice cubes.
• Pour into glasses and serve chilled.

Tips:

• You could even use carbonated water, if so don’t puree the raspberries along with the carbonated water.
• After pureeing the raspberries along with lemon juice/ginger/sugar, add the carbonated water into a pitcher and combine well.

There’s nothing more refreshing than fresh fruits. Fruits never demands any extra touch ups, its perfect the way it is. Just imagine how the fruits would taste when it’s given a little fancy makeover before you serve it to your valuable guests or for precious self. A little fancy makeover would double the joy and entertainment for sure.

My new hobby is collecting recipes from almost anywhere. It could be the recipes from the back of cans, boxes, bottles and jars, or from any food magazines found in the grocery stores or from a total stranger or even from a restaurant chef (if he’s willing to reveal his recipes). I will never let go anything which could provide me with free recipes and food ideas. I may or may not try these dishes in my kitchen, but I feel happy while collecting these and that’s what matters, right?

This is one such recipe from my collection, it’s a free recipe that I got from a grocery store near to my house. This morning I woke up with zero intention to make a heavy breakfast. When I opened the refrigerator for milk, my eyes met with the huge bag of oranges that has been sitting idle for the past few days. Suddenly, I recalled the recipe I had collected from the store which called for oranges. I looked at the recipe and voila, I had everything to make a refreshing orange salad. This recipe also matched well with my criteria of easy breezy preparation. If I come across any kind of quick recipes, I sure will try that in my kitchen without any hesitation. I didn’t have to make a heavy breakfast to jump start my Sunday, with an easy fancy orange salad I was uplifted

Start your day with this refreshing Orange salad or just have this whenever your body and mind needs some refreshment…

Orange Salad

• Serves: 4
• Preparation time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• Oranges- 2 large
• Granulated Sugar- 1/4 cup
• Whole cloves- 2
• Cinnamon stick- 1
• Fresh mint, finely chopped- 1tbsp
• Toasted shelled pistachios- 1/4 cup
• Fresh Raspberries- 1/4 cup
• Orange peel grated- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

• Using a grater, grate the orange peel and keep aside.
• In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water, sugar, cloves, cinnamon; bring to boiling and reduce heat, simmer until sugar dissolves.
• Stir in mint, remove from the heat and let cool.

• Remove the skin of the oranges and the white pith from it.
• Slice the oranges crosswise into rounds 1/4-inch thick.

• Place 3 to 4 orange slices on each of 4 plates, top with pistachios and raspberries.
• Drizzle with 2 teaspoons of the syrup and sprinkle with grated orange peel.
• Serve immediately.

I renamed this dessert as “Sweetheart Dessert” and surprised my sweetheart…

You don’t have to wait till Valentine’s day to express your love to your sweetheart, any day would be great for that. With this dessert you could open up your heart to your loved ones.

Panna cotta is my favorite dessert, I can literally have this dessert everyday. I am in love with the creamy texture, the versatility of this dessert and the quickness with which I can make this. I can make this with different flavors and it tastes better each time I make this. Last time I had made orange panna cotta and have made this quite a few times. So this time I wanted to try a different flavor. I had Rooh Afza in my refrigerator and frozen Raspberry in my freezer. Hence I decided to make panna cotta with these flavors. I was not at all skeptical about how it would turn out, I was pretty sure it was going to taste terrific. Only thing that I couldn’t take it was the time it took to set, I felt restless and desperately waited to melt into this dessert. The moment it was ready I gobbled this panna cotta greedily. I sat paralyzed for few minutes and enjoyed the creamy texture, the subtle flavor of rose from the Rooh Afza and the raspberry sauce topped on it.

Sweetheart Dessert

Ingredients:

• Heavy cream- 2 cups
• Rooh Afza or Rose syrup- 2 tbsp
• Sugar- 4 tbsp or depending upon your taste.
• Vanilla extract- 1tsp
• Agar-agar strands or china grass- 1/4 cup (you could use gelatin instead)

For making the raspberry topping:

• Raspberry, frozen or fresh- 1/4 cup
• Sugar- 2 tbsp

Preparation:

• Soak the agar-agar strands in 1/2 cup water for 10 minutes. Heat it in a saucepan and dissolve it completely, strain the melted agar-agar and keep aside. Don’t keep it for long as this would become thick.
• In a saucepan, add the heavy cream, Rooh-Afza, vanilla extract and sugar and heat it over medium heat.
• Let the cream simmer for few minutes, add the melted agar-agar and combine well.

• Remove from the flame and allow it to cool down.
• Grease the ramekins or dessert bowl you are using with non-stick cooking spray.
• Pour the cooked cream into the bowls and refrigerate for an hour or so to set.

• In a saucepan, combine raspberries and 2 tbsp sugar and stir constantly to make it into a thick sauce.

• Cool the raspberry sauce and keep aside.
• When the panna cotta is ready, take it out of the refrigerator; cover the ramekins or bowls with a dessert plate and turn it upside down, tap the bowls gently and the panna cotta will fall onto the plate.

• Pour the the raspberry sauce over the panna cotta and serve.

Tips:

• If you don’t have agar-agar, you could use gelatin instead.
• You could also serve the panna cotta on the ramekins itself, just pour the raspberry sauce over the panna cotta while serving.

Recipe for Orange Panna cotta: Click here