Yesterday I decided to have a few friends over for dinner to celebrate summer and the fact that our patio is in full bloom. Given my work and school schedule I don’ t have a lot of time so I wanted to come up with something that was simple, easy and healthy.
The menu consisted of the following:
Sangria
Peach Salsa/Chips
Spinach/Tortellini Salad
Angelic Cake and Berries
After shopping for the ingredients, the preparation took me an hour. Its that simple and turned out quite well!
I started with the sangria.
Simple Sangria Ingredients
1 bottle of Pinot Grigio
1 cup of white grape juice (I bought frozen and just defrosted)
1.5 cups of diet sprite (You can use anything sparkling here)
1 peach
10 grapes
1/ 2 cup of strawberries
Fresh mint leaves
I then moved on to the salad. You can serve this as a main course if you have some appetizers. This is a modification of Rachel Ray recipe from a few years ago. I also got a little carried away with the mint leaves and made myself an iced tea with a garnish. How festive!It was very refreshing. A good non-alcoholic choice!
Tortellini Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
Cheese Tortellini
3/4 pound baby spinach
2 cans of artichoke hearts (15 ounces), drained and sliced
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoon of lemon zest
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup of olive oil
Salt and Pepper
A handful of Parmesan Cheese
Directions: Boil a package of cheese tortellini. In the mean time combine the spinach and artichokes in a salad bowl.
To make the dressing, place garlic, lemon zest and juice in a small dish and add vinegar.
Let stand 5 minutes, then whisk in olive oil. Pour dressing over the salad and add the tortellini and toss. I also added red onion and red and yellow green peppers.
Finally, I made dessert. This I actually didn’t prepare until we were ready to eat it, but I did zest the lemon ahead of time.
I actually saw this method of making a sauce when I was in Florida on the Food Network. You take ice cream or sorbet and melt it over a medium heat. Then pour over your angel food cake and berries. This is also a modification of a Rachel Ray recipe.
Angelic Cake and Berries Ingredients:
1 cup of lemon sorbet
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
1 pint of rasberries (You can use any fruit here)
1 store-bought angel food cake (I made mine from a box mix the night before)
On the Food Network I saw them use vanilla ice cream melted over chocolate cake. So there are a lot of options to try.
This menu was the perfect summertime meal that was not very time consuming. I also had fresh watermelon, Peach Salsa/Blue Corn Chips and chocolate covered edamame (Trader Joe’s) on hand for snacks.
What’s your favorite summer time party recipe?
