Mango-Orange Salad

July 01, 2010 by Monica in BBQ, Entertaining, Family Cookbook, Fruit, Holiday, Salad, Sides, Vegetable

Did you know that grilling is a Patriotic Duty? According to HPBA (the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association) independence day is the number one holiday for barbecues and outdoor cooking and based on a national grilling poll, 80% of adults plan to host or attend a cookout this forth of July.

The U.S. Census Bureau - better known for telling Americans how many of them there are and how much they make on the average - surveyed 66 million people who attended barbecues last year and figured "it's probably safe to assume a large number of these events took place on the Fourth."

Banana-Blueberry Sorbet

June 25, 2010 by Monica in Cookbooks, Desserts, Fruit, Ice Cream, Sweets

It’s the summer and that means that we are NOT enjoying the 95+ degree temperatures we are experiencing over here in Florida.

It’s hot, muddy and sticky and we are melting (no joke).

Which means one thing - It’s the perfect weather to be frolicking in the pool all they day, drinking cool drinks, eating light foods and finishing it off with homemade fruit sorbet.

Once more I used a great cookbook – The Perfect Scoop from David Lebovitz to get me started. This is the first time I have ever made sorbet, and after finding out how easy it is to do, (took me like 10 minutes to whip up!) we now have numerous plastic containers all over the refrigerator with different types of fruit sorbets to enjoy.

HCB: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

June 15, 2010 by Monica in Baking, Baking Club, Cake, Desserts, Entertaining, Fruit, HCB

Friday was Tom's birthday. The original plan was to take the whole weekend off, pack up the car and drive down the Florida coast, looking for one of those adorable places that have a beach cottage right on the beach and stay there soaking up the rays, enjoying the water (before the oil gets here), eating lots of seafood and basically be lazy - The birthday boy told me he rather plan a simple BBQ at the house with friends and family.

So much for my power of persuasion.

When we started to plan the menu for the BBQ, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday cake. He jumped up and shouted "your coconut cake! Oh, wait, no how about the Zuppa Inglesa?... no, no, wait... maybe the Tres Leche cake."

The boy, was CONFUSE. Time to save him me some time, because when Marie posted the cake for the month of June and the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake fell on the Saturday of the BBQ, I did not waste time in telling him that THIS WAS HIS BIRTHDAY CAKE for him and his 20+ guest, period.

He knew by this time I was drowning in the details of this "simple" party, so he totally agreed and we went with it.