After last-minute menu planning for dinner nights the past few years, I wanted to put in a bit more effort now that I am done with grad school. I actually had most of the recipes picked out a month in advance (shocking!), and wanted to utilize the "Burgers" cookbook that Rissa had given me since my parents have a grill at their house. The drink recipe was a recommendation from Rissa, I got the salad recipe from a friend after trying it at a recent potluck that I went to, the mango gazpacho recipe was posted on our internal website at work (and was used even though Rissa's coworker had given it a bad review), and I found the peach ice-cream cake recipe on a MarthaStewart.com e-mail that I received. I didn't intentionally search out fruity recipes, although with my sweet tooth and a summertime theme they tended to gravitate towards there naturally.
Peaches and Mixed Greens Salad (Cooking Light, July 2006)
Preparer: All
This was quite a tasty salad. It was fun putting the dressing together, too (sort of the “little bit of this and little bit of that” routine). I didn’t know if I’d like raspberries and peaches in my salad, but I thought it was soooo tasty! The dressing was very good. The salad bowl was empty once we were done with it. I learned after that the feta cheese was an addition to the ingredients, and to me it’s a MUST when making this again. It offset the sweetness of the fruit quite well. (Rissa)
R: Thumbs up!
H: Thumbs sideways – however, I would probably not make it again. It was a little too fruity for my liking.
N: Thumbs up – yum!
Caribbean Pork Burgers (Burger cookbook)
Preparer: Rissa
I made the actual burgers for this one. Heather made the sauce and salsa. We used chicken sausage with mango in it and ground turkey. I found a great way to actually crumble up the chicken sausage...pulse it a few times in the blender! It was overall quite easy (at least for my part), and I wondered what the mango would taste like in the sausage, but I couldn’t taste it much. I really liked the sauce on the burgers, too. (Rissa)
R: Thumbs up! This was good - I would use regular white bread buns and put a big piece of cheese on top! I liked the sauce a lot on this one.
H: Thumbs sideways – It was okay - there was too much going on in this burger for me to give it a good rating. I like my burgers a little more simple.
N: Thumbs up – very savory!
Mango Harvest Gazpacho (nestle.com)
Preparer: Heather
This was really easy to put together – simply, adding all the ingredients and blending. However, I was skeptical in the beginning and my gut feeling ended up being right. The soup turned out really sweet and it was almost as if we were drinking juice that had cucumbers and red onion in it. I think it would have worked better if it was a traditional gazpacho that had chunks of mango in it rather than a mango-based gazpacho. (Heather)
R: Thumbs down. Not a cold soup fan.
H: Thumbs down.
N: Thumbs up - I was probably the only person at the table who liked this, but I am a huge fan of cilantro, red onion, and fruit. I can see why most people would not like this though.
Peaches-and-Cream Ice Cream Cake (marthastewart.com)
Preparer: Nicole
The ingredients and materials for this recipe were not necessarily standard (that’s Martha for you!), so my many substitutions obviously affected the outcome of this dish. It called for an 8x12-inch cake pan, and I have multiple 9x13 pans but had never heard of an 8x12. Instead of making one large cake and cutting to size I actually made two smaller rectangular cakes in standard loaf pans, and then leveled them off (I made two cakes instead of the one prescribed in the recipe, so the ratio of ice cream:cake was slightly lower). Substitution number two occurred with the peach sorbet, which I was not able to find after trips to two different grocery stores. I substituted extra vanilla ice cream for the peach sorbet, and then made a peach sauce concoction to mix in with the ice cream and peach pieces to make it fruitier. I combined a pureed peach, a few tablespoons sugar, and a tablespoon of Crème de Cassis (I figured that I used it in the salad dressing, why not use a little in the dessert?), and simmered it in a small pan over the stove. The cakes sat in the freezer an hour longer than the minimum two hours, but the ice cream was still not completely set when the cake was sliced (although the peach pieces were frozen solid). I was perplexed by this, and then my mom pointed out that liquor doesn’t freeze, and I had used a small amount with the peaches – oops! Lesson learned for next time. My only other comment would be making sure to use very ripe peaches for the peach pieces; I had to use what was available at the store since I bought them the day before, and had they ripened a couple more days it would have made the cake sweeter and tastier. (Nicole)
R: Thumbs sideways. I liked the cake part, but I’m not a huge ice cream fan (though a little bit, combined with peach bits and the cake was tasty). I wouldn’t make it again, but it wasn’t bad either!
H: Thumbs sideways – It was just alright in my book. I probably wouldn’t make it again.
N: Thumbs sideways with the potential to be a thumbs up.
Bikini Martini (allrecipes.com)
Preparer: Nicole
The somewhat intentional fruit theme of the meal was carried out through the drink, which had pineapple juice and coconut rum in it. This drink was delicious and very easy to make, and complemented the flavors in the other dishes nicely. A perfect summertime cocktail! (Nicole)
R: Thumbs way up! It was nice and strong, too.
H: Thumbs down. A little too strong for my taste.
N: I agree with Rissa – thumbs way up!
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