Happy Friday! It’s the Friday before a long weekend, which means we really have to celebrate. I wanted to post a festive drink for Memorial Day weekend, but when I was searching Pinterest for ideas most of them involved some sort of layering. A glass filled up part-way with a red drink layer, followed by a white layer then a blue layer. Definitely festive, but way more complicated than I wanted. It’s a holiday weekend! You don’t want to be stuck inside making multiple components for a cocktail!

So I decided to stick with one color. The blue can be livened up with some red berries on top and it looks so refreshing. Oh, and it’s delicious. To get the blue color I used blue curacao. If you’ve never used blue curacao liquor before all you need to know is that it’s VERY blue and tastes like orange. Even though this drink is just blue and red (if you include the berry garnish) I still decided to call them Red, White and Blue Cocktails because they are perfect for both Memorial Day and 4th of July.

I’m a big fan of vodka lemonade drinks so I thought it would pair well with the citrus of the blue curacao. Throw it all in your blender with some ice cubes and you have a slushie vodka lemonade cocktail perfect for sitting out by the pool or playing lawn games in your backyard.

Now this is definitely a simple drink so feel free to jazz it up by using flavored lemonade or throwing frozen berries (make sure they’re blue!) into the blender.

If you want to make these without alcohol you could try using a blue sports drink, like Gatorade, instead of the vodka and blue curacao. This weekend I’ll be relaxing with friends and family – and having this festive vodka lemonade on repeat. What are you doing this Memorial Day Weekend?

4th of July Lemonade Slushie Cocktails

 

Print

Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 1 ounce vodka
• 1 ounce blue curacao
• 5 ounces lemonade
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 9 ice cubes
• Blackberries and raspberries, for garnish

Directions

1. Put the vodka, blue curacao, lemonade and ice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Garnish with the blackberries and raspberries.

Notes

To make these without alcohol, substitute the vodka and blue curacao for a blue sports drink, like Gatorade.

3.2.2802

Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

Memorial Day weekend always feels like the official start of summer. I’m sure I would feel differently if I was a teacher or if Matt and I had kids in school, but for us, come Memorial Day we are in full summer mode! Up here in Boston it usually means we will have warm weather from here on out without any random 50 degree “spring” days – not that I want to jinx it. It also means summer barbecues and outdoor eating are sticking around for the next few months. I love the casualness of a barbecue and it goes well with my new-found love for easy entertaining.

If you know me, and especially if you’ve been to dinner at my house, you know I tend to… over-do it when it comes to food. Everything from scratch, multiple courses, me barely sitting because I’m making sure the fresh ravioli will be ready the same time as Matt is done searing the sous vide steak. Sound familiar? I love cooking, and I especially love cooking for other people, so when I have a chance to go all “chefy” and put my pent-up absorption of Top Chef season viewings to good use I go to town.

However, in the last six months or so I have realized how amazing it is when you have people over and keep things simple. The food is still delicious, everyone still has a great time and best of all I (and my sous chef, Matt), get to fully enjoy the company. I have completely embraced grocery store shortcuts and I don’t plan to go back anytime soon. I still love to have at least one thing I get a little “chefy” with, whether it’s some homemade bread or a crazy dessert, but it doesn’t need to be the whole meal.

That’s where this Flag Fruit & Dessert Platter comes in. This is the perfect easy entertaining dish to serve at Memorial Day barbecues, Fourth of July parties or anytime you’re feeling patriotic. As I’ve mentioned in the past posts, Babu and I used to make a flag cake every July 4th so I’m always looking for new ways to reinvent the iconic red, white and blue dessert. I thought it would be fun to do a snack board that’s easy to put together and make ahead of time, whether you’re hosting or bringing it to someone’s house. I went with a sweet and salty theme, although feel free to get creative if there are other treats you would prefer to include!

For the red stripes I used cherries, strawberries and watermelon. For the white stripes I used store-bought yogurt covered pretzels and Chex Mix Muddy Buddies. I wasn’t able to find these in the Market Basket by me, but I might not have been looking in the right spot. Does anyone else get overwhelmed in there? I found both things at 7-11, although I know Trader Joe’s carries yogurt covered pretzels and the Flipz brand also has some. You can certainly make your own Muddy Buddies as they are just Chex cereal covered in chocolate, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar, but I was trying to keep it simple. A word of warning if you buy the Muddy Buddies – do not buy the cookies and cream flavor. Actually, let me re-phrase – buy the cookies and cream flavor to eat because it’s delicious, but do not buy it for this platter because it has speckles of Oreo that would throw off your white stripe.

The blue stars are where I went a little “chefy”, but it’s not even really that fancy because it’s still so simple. Matt loves gummies so I wanted to include them in this dessert platter somehow. I tossed them in with the blueberries for the blue star portion of the flag board. These are lemon-lime gummy bears that I dyed blue. If you would rather another flavor you could substitute with a different fruit juice, such as orange or grape, but don’t use pineapple because the enzymes do something to the gelatin that makes them not turn out right. Making homemade gummy bears is something I’ve been wanting to try for a while and I finally went for it after reading the reviews on these cute animal silicone molds. The gelatin, juice and honey mixture gets heated in a saucepan then piped into the molds using a big dropper that comes with the molds.

After 20 minutes in the fridge to set they pop right out of the molds, cute smiles, paws and all! I highly recommend these molds if you want to try homemade gummies, otherwise feel free to go full simple and buy them at the store! I have another easy entertaining recipe to share on Wednesday so stay tuned! In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite recipes on Lemon & Mocha that each include some sort of grocery store shortcut:

Cheesy Pesto Bread with Crispy Prosciutto

Crab Dip Puffs

Best Slow Cooker Cocktail Meatballs

Chicken Cacciatore with Mushrooms & Artichokes

Babu’s Coffee Cake

Summer Berry Trifle

Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Crunch Chocolate Brownies

Triple Berry Naked Angel Food Cake

Flag Fruit & Dessert Platter

 

Print

Ingredients

for the platter

• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Watermelon, diced
• Cherries
• White yogurt covered pretzels
• Chex Muddy Buddies

for the gummies

• 3 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
• ⅓ cup lime juice
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Blue food coloring

Directions

for the platter

1. Wash and dry the berries and cherries. Place your bowl in the top-left corner and fill with blueberries and blue gummy bears. Lay the cherries horizontally on the top of your platter for the first stripe. Follow with a horizontal stripe of the yogurt covered pretzels. Then a stripe of the strawberries (you can hull and cut this if you prefer) followed by a stripe of the Chex Mix Muddy Buddies. Finish with a horizontal stripe of the diced watermelon at the bottom of the platter.

for the gummies

1. Place the silicone gummy molds on a baking sheet that will fit in your fridge. I use two toaster oven sized pans. This will fill up one and a half of the silicone gummy molds in this post.
2. Combine the gelatin, lime juice, honey and lemon zest in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk until the mixture has melted and combined. Add a few drops of blue food coloring and stir to blend. Use the dropper to fill the silicone gummy molds. Place in the fridge and let set for 20 minutes. Pop them out of the molds then serve or place in the fridge in an airtight container.

Notes

I didn’t put amounts for the platter ingredients because it will depend on the size of your platter. The platter pictured here is roughly 11-inches by 17-inches. I used roughly 7 ounces of yogurt covered pretzels, 5 ounces of Muddy Buddies, 3 cups of cherries, 3 cups of whole strawberries, 3 cups diced watermelon, and ½ pint of blueberries.

To prep ahead of time place all the fruit in their spots except for the watermelon. Place the gummy bears in their spot as well. Cover and put in the fridge. When ready to serve, add the yogurt covered pretzels, Muddy Buddies and watermelon (their juices will run on the platter).

3.2.2802

Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission for my referral. This does not affect the retail cost of the item. Thank you for supporting Lemon & Mocha!

Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

Don’t worry, I promise this cake isn’t scandalous. Definitely delicious, but certainly not scandalous. It is called a naked cake because the sides aren’t frosted, but I will get to that in a bit. Last month we celebrated Matt’s 30th birthday!

When Matt and I first started dating during our sophomore year of college we celebrated his 20th birthday – that’s a whole decade of birthdays! We had only been dating for a few weeks, but I made him these very literal cupcakes.

I’ve clearly come a long way- ha! I’ve made Matt many birthday desserts over the years, but I wanted this one to be extra special.

I decided to turn one of Matt’s favorite desserts, this Summer Berry Trifle, into a layer cake. The cake layers are angel food cake that have been brushed with a simple lemon syrup to keep them extra moist and bursting with light lemon flavor. The creamy filling and topping is a sturdy whipped cream. Basically, the base of a cream cheese frosting folded in with lots and lots of Cool Whip to make it light and fluffy. Piled in the middle and on top are sweet fresh berries. I used a combination of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Altogether, they make a fresh and light cake – perfect for eating a big slice.

When you get a big bite of the syrup-brushed cake with the cream filling and the berries it is completely magical.

Now, to the scandalous aspect of the cake. A naked cake simply means that there is little or no icing on the sides of the cake, letting the layers bare all. The layers of whipped filling in the middle and on the top of the cake are thick enough that you really don’t need the additional filling on the sides of the cake. Leaving the cake naked lets the beautiful berries in the middle of the cake peek out. It also saves you time from having to try to make the sides look perfect and smooth – a win-win!

I think a cake this delicious is great any time of the year, but it is especially fitting for a summer gathering with berry season soon approaching. Enjoy!

Triple Berry Angel Food Cake Trifle

 

Print

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 box angel food cake mix, batter prepared according to directions on box
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon lemon or almond extract
• 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 16 ounces reduced fat Cool Whip
• 8 ounces strawberries, washed
• 1 cup blackberries, washed
• 1 cup raspberries, washed
• More berries for topping, if needed

Directions

1. To make two round cakes, I lined two 9” round pans with parchment paper. I divided the batter between the two prepared pans, making sure not to fill them more than ¾ full. You will most likely have some excess batter. I weighed them with my kitchen scale to make sure they would be even layers. Bake at the temperature specified by the box for 20-30 minutes. The cake is done when the top is dark golden brown and the top cracks are dry not sticky. When it’s done baking, tilt the pan on its side. I leaned mine up, cake facing down, against a raised cooling rack. Once it’s completely cool, run a knife around the edges of the pan then carefully remove.
2. Over medium-high heat in a small saucepan heat ¼ cup of the sugar and ¼ cup of the lemon juice. Stir frequently while heating until the sugar dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the lemon extract. Set aside.
3. Beat the remaining ½ cup of sugar and the cream cheese on medium speed with a mixer until fluffy. Fold in the Cool Whip until smooth. Stir in the tablespoon of lemon juice. Take one of the cooled angel food cake rounds and brush the top with the lemon syrup. Spoon a bunch of the whipped filling onto the cake and smooth with a spatula. Put half of the berries in a single layer on top of the filling. I left the blackberries and raspberries whole, but I halved and quartered the strawberries depending on how big they were. Dollop some more of the whipped filling on top of the berries then carefully smooth it out over the berries with a spatula. Top with the second angel food cake layer. Brush the top with the lemon syrup. Spread a thick layer of the whipped filling on top and smooth with a spatula. Top with the remaining berries. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

3.2.2802

Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

This summer has been slipping away! I had a recipe all planned to share with you for the Fourth of July, but suddenly it was the week before the holiday weekend and I hadn’t cooked or photographed it yet.

I knew I couldn’t let the week pass by without providing some holiday-worthy red, white and blue inspiration so I grabbed everything I needed, whipped it together and snapped some photos. All for you. Don’t you feel special?

I first made this No-bake Red, White and Blue Lemonade Cheesecake Pie back in college. The recipe was actually in a Kraft ad in my Food Network magazine that summer and with my newly discovered lemon obsession I knew I had to make it for Matt and I.

The pie was light, refreshing and super simple to put together.

Somehow I forgot all about it until I was racking my brain for a creative red, white and blue dessert idea.

If you remember my Summer Berry Trifle blog post from the other year I am always looking for new spins on the traditional flag Fourth of July cake I used to make every year with my grandma.

This No-bake Red, White and Blue Lemonade Cheesecake Pie is perfect and will make you the hero of your barbecue! Plus, did I mention that there’s only 8 ingredients and NO BAKING? Enjoy!

No-bake Red, White & Blue Lemonade Cheesecake Pie

 

Print

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 10 graham cracker squares, crushed into crumbs (about 1.5 cups of graham cracker crumbs
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 8 ounces Cool Whip, thawed
• Halved strawberries, for topping
• Blueberries, for topping

Directions

1. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a medium mixing bowl until they come together and resemble coarse crumbs. Press into the bottom and sides of a lightly greased 9-inch pie pan. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to make sure the crumbs are packed down tightly. Refrigerate for 2 hours before using.
2. In a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until whipped and creamy.
3. Slowly add the ½ cup of lemonade concentrate (be sure not to add the whole can!) and beat after each addition. Once well combined, fold in two cups of the Cool Whip. Pour the mixture into the crust and refrigerate for four hours.
4. When ready to serve, top with the remaining Cool Whip, strawberries and blueberries. You could top with the fruit beforehand, but the red juice from the strawberries might run on the Cool Whip.

Notes

If you want to skip the first step simply use a pre-made graham cracker crust. I use light cream cheese and light Cool Whip, but regular or light works for this recipe. This pie (and crust) both freeze well.

3.2.2802

Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

My stepmom’s orzo pasta salad is a delicious regular at all our family barbecues. It has a great combination of ingredients with the saltiness from the feta cheese and the sweetness from the bell peppers and grape tomatoes. Also whole olives which olive lovers enjoy and non-olive lovers rejoice that they can easily pick them out and plop them on their fellow olive lovers’ plates.

The best part is the orzo tossed in the simple vinaigrette. What is orzo? Although it may be shaped like rice pilaf, orzo is a pasta. It is typically made with semolina flour, which is denser than white flour and helps the orzo keep its shape and bite after being cooked. This makes it the perfect choice for a make ahead pasta salad since most traditional pasta can get mushy from sitting in a vinaigrette overnight. Not this dish!

My stepmom has been making this exact winning combination of ingredients for the Greek orzo pasta salad for years so it would be ill-advised to mess with the best.

However, as with any pasta salad one of the beauties is that with a good base and vinaigrette you can mix and match according to your own tastes and preferences.

Not a feta fan? Swap in some goat cheese. Not big on bell peppers? Toss in some sliced snow peas. The possibilities are endless! But make sure you try this possibility first

Diane's Orzo Pasta Salad

 

Print

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound box orzo, cooked as directed being sure not to overcook
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into ¼” by 1” pieces
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into ¼” by 1” pieces
• 1 orange bell pepper, cut into ¼” by 1” pieces
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into ¼” by 1” pieces
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 4-5 leaves fresh basil, chopped
• 1 can large black olives, drained
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine the cooked orzo with the olive oil until completely coated. Add the bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mix until combined.
2. Mix in the feta cheese. Adjust salt and pepper according to taste. Refrigerate until serving, making sure to mix well before serving.

3.2.1311

Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments