Strawberry and Banana Lassi

It finally feels like summer here in Southern California. I live in Los Angeles on the top most floor facing the North-west (I'm guessing. I'm horrible with directions). But what I do know is that the apartment gets REALLY hot in the late afternoon-evening. And when it's hot, you drink tender coconut water to keep cool and when you don't have access to fresh coconut water, you get tanked on lassis! This is a sweet drink as opposed to the spicy version I posted earlier.

Makes about 3 glasses
Ingredients
1 cup of yoghurt (I always use plain, but I suppose you could use flavored ones)
1/2 Lb of strawberries (give or take) (remove the green bits)
1-1.5 bananas
1/2 cup water
about 8 ice cubes
2-4 tbspn of sugar depending on how sweet or tangy you like your drink.

Method

1. In your blender (ESSENTIAL GADGET FOR THE SUMMER), add the roughly chopped bananas, strawberries, yoghurt, water and blend (chop, puree, liquefy, mix, whatever as long as the fruits disperse into the yoghurt). Then do a taste test. Add sugar accordingly and also put in ice cubes and blend.

Pour into glass and ENJOY!

English Trifle

English Trifle

An old favorite of mine and a perfect cool dessert for hot summer weather – especially with all the fresh berries at the farmers markets. It's also quick to make if you use a few shortcuts like Cool Whip and instant pudding. --AnglophileLV

Ingredients:
Fresh raspberries
Cool whip (my Aunts would insist on whipping actual cream, but why put yourself through that?)
Sarah Lee pound cake
Raspberry jam or preserves (real sugar only – HFC is the DEVIL)
Vanilla Pudding
Slivered almonds
Sherry OR Amaretto
A deep bowl or trifle dish

Directions:
1. Make the vanilla pudding (can also use custard) according to package directions and refrigerate. I have also used instant pudding packs when in a hurry.
2. An English trifle is a layered dessert, so to begin, slice half of the pound cake into ¼ inch pieces. (you’ll need to slice more as necessary, but there is often leftover pound cake you can freeze for later).
3. Start making little jam sandwiches: spread the raspberry jam on a piece of pound cake and place another slice of pound cake on top. Repeat until you have enough jam sandwiches to cover the bottom of your trifle dish.
4. Drizzle Sherry over this layer so it soaks in (but doesn’t soak) the pound cake.
5. Spoon Vanilla pudding over the jam sandwich layer and smooth out.
6. Add another jam sandwich layer, drizzle sherry, spoon pudding over – and repeat until you reach the top of the trifle dish. The final top layer should be a thin one of the pudding.
7. Top with a layer of Cool whip and decorate with fresh raspberries and slivered almonds.
8. Serve with a really big spoon.

Rose Water Fruit Salad

Picture obtained from a google search.

This is another Moroccan recipe I learned from a friend who spent some time there. It’s the perfect end to a complex spicy Moroccan dinner, like my Saffron Chicken with couscous, or tagines.
--AnglophileLV

Rose Water Fruit Salad (serves 6)
Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half (can substitute ground cinnamon)
• 1 teaspoon rose water
• 1 can mandarin oranges
• Blueberries
• Raspberries and/or blackberries
(any fruit you have on hand works with this – just experiment to find what you like best)

Directions
Stir 1 1/2 cups water and sugar in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high. Add cinnamon; boil until syrup is reduced to scant 1 cup, about 10 minutes. Mix in rose water; cool.
Put berries and mandarin orange pieces in small individual bowls, and spoon syrup over them.