Clarisse... Luncheon June 25 2009

This is Clarisse the cook for June and the
food was great! Thanks Clarisse for the great
lunch. Linda we missed you and hopefully
you will be able to attend next month.

Food Day

Turkey & Rice Salad

TURKEY & RICE SALAD

Lemon dressing

3 cups cold cooked rice

3 cups cold diced cooked turkey or chicken or 1 pound cooked small shrimp

1 cup each thinly sliced celery and chopped green pepper

1 can (about 8 ounces.) water chestnuts, drained and sliced

Salt and pepper

½ cup sliced almonds.

Prepare lemon dressing. Gently mix together rice, turkey, celery, green pepper, water chestnuts, and dressing until well blend.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill up to 4 hours.

Meanwhile spread almonds in a shallow pan and toast in a 35o degree oven until golden (about 8 minutes) just before serving salad, garnish with nuts.

This recipe makes about 8 servings.

Lemon Dressing

In a bowl, combine ¾ cup mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel ¾ cup lemon juice, 1 tablespoon each… prepared mustard and prepared horseradish, and ¼ teaspoon garlic powder; blend well. Stir in ½ cup thinly sliced green onion, ¾ cup chopped parsley, and 1 jar (2 ounce.) pimentos (drained and chopped.)

BREAD

Family secret recipe. J

TEA

Clarisse made iced tea and mixed with

Lemon crystal light and it was really good.

Some of her beautiful flowers

Fruited Lemon Gelatin Salad

FRUITED LEMON GELATIN SALAD

1 package (6 ounces) lemon gelatin

2 cups boiling water

1 can (12 ounces) lemon-lime soda

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple

1 can (15 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained

2 cups halved green grapes

1 egg

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Lettuce leaves, optional

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in soda. Refrigerate until partially set. Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set pineapple aside. Add water to pineapple juice, if necessary, to measure 1 cup; set aside. Stir pineapple, oranges and grapes into gelatin. Pour into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch dish. Refrigerate. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine egg, sugar, flour, butter and reserved pineapple juice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool completely. Fold in whipped cream. Spread over gelatin. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares, serve on lettuce leaf.

This serves 15 to 18.

The Girls

YUM PEAS

SNOW or SUGAR SNAP PEAS

Ingredients…..Peas, and sliced onions

Season with a little olive oil, Italian seasoning garlic salt and pepper

Stir fry and this is YUM

The Girls

I caught Clarisse with her eyes shut!
Sorry about that.

Lavender Honey Cheesecake

CLARISSE’S LAVENDER HONEY CHEESECAKE

(Honey from her bees and lavender from her garden)

Crust

1 cup vanilla wafers

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Filling

8 vanilla wafers, crumbled (1/2 cup)

3 tablespoons plus 2/3 cup honey

2 pounds cream cheese (not low fat)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, stemmed

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons dried lavender (culinary)

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature (do not use

Low-fat or nonfat.)

½ cup Greek style yogurt

Garnish

Mint leaves or whatever you wish

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven, preheat to

350 degrees. Boil a kettle of water (for a bain-marie,

or water bath.) Wrap the outside of a 9 inch springform

pan tightly with aluminum foil to make sure it is waterproof.

The Crust:

Combine the wafer crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a

Medium bowl, then pres into the bottom and 1 inch up

The sides of the springform pan.

The Filling:

Combine the crumbled wafers and 3 tablespoons of the honey in a small bowl. Beat the cream cheese in a bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for several minutes, until it is smooth and creamy. Add the remaining 2/3 cup of honey, the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and the vanilla extract. Stop often to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Fold the wafer honey mixture into the batter. Pour the filling into the prepared pan and place it in a larger roasting pan. Place the pan on the middle oven rack, use the boiled water to fill the pan so the water level comes about one-third to halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake for 1 hour until the filling is set but still slightly wobbly in the center.

Topping

While the cake is baking combine the blueberries, water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook stirring for about 5 minutes until the berries are very soft. Add the lavender and remove from heat. Let mixture steep for 15 minutes then transfer to a blender and puree. Strain through a fine mesh strainer pressing o the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. There should be about ¼ cup of lavender syrup, discards the solids.

Beat the cream cheese in the bowl with electric mixer on medium speed for several minutes until it is smooth and creamy. Reduce the sped to low, and then add the yogurt and the lavender syrup if needed use a spatula to make sure the mixture is blended together completely.

Remove the springform pan from the bain-marie and place on a wire rack, let rest for 5 minutes then spread the topping evenly over the cheesecake. Cool completely then cover and refrigerate overnight in the springform pan.

When ready to serve, remove the cheesecake from the springform pan and d place the cake on a platter… Enjoy!