Almond Fruit Float

This came from the book "Cooking the Chinese Way" by Ling Yu. We found it in the children's section of the library. Good find! We tried this dessert and were quite impressed. Dad says he eats it at the buffet!

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 C water
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C milk
1 T almond extract
1 13-oz can fruit with syrup, or 1-2 C fresh fruit, cut into pieces.
(recommended is mandarin oranges OR sliced peaches, fruit cocktail, or pineapple)

In saucepan, dissolve gelatine in water. Heat to a boil, then reduce to low. Add sugar and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Stir in milk and extract. Mix well. Pour into a deep square pan (my 8X8 pan worked well). Cool to room temperature, then put in fridge to chill. When cool, cut into cubes and serve topped with fruit and syrup.

If there isn't enough syrup with the fruit (there was plenty in our 2 small mandarin orange cans) you can make syrup by mixing 1 C water with 3 T sugar and 1/4 t almond extract and heating until sugar dissolves.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Spinach Salad

This is a pampered chef recipe. I omit the strawberries, naturally. The dressing is my favorite part - and its good on romaine (and tastes better than it smells). Enjoy!

Dressing:
1 lemon
2 T white vinegar
1/3 C sugar
1 T vegetable oil
1 t poppy seeds

Zest lemon, then juice it. Combine all and refrigerate until ready to use.

Salad:
1/4 C sliced natural almonds, toasted
8 oz (1 1/2 C) strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced and cut in half
1/4 small red onion, sliced into thin wedges (aout 1/4 C)
1 pkg (6 oz) baby spinach

Toast almonds in single layer in oven at 350 10-12 min. Cool while preparing salad. Mix salad and dressing, sprinkle with almonds, and serve.

Dad's Lime Slush

This is my dad's famous Lime Slush. He serves it during the Christmas season, and we all can't get enough of it. My friends now love it too, but I don't necessarily keep it exclusively for the holidays. It's good!

3 C sugar
8 C hot water
Limeade can, mixed according to directions

Dissolve sugar in water. Add limeade mixed with water. Mix well. Freeze in clean gallon milk containers (or other containers you can cut open). Don't forget to leave room to expand! It can take a couple days to freeze, so plan accordingly. Let thaw for about an hour before serving. Cut open the top of your container, "cut" the slush to make it slushy. Add 7-up and serve.

*I discovered that the big Pampered chef mixing pitcher is really good at this - it just barely fits the entire mix inside, but does a great job at mixing very efficiently. It eliminates the annoying and messy "going from pitcher to pitcher to mix the 2 pitchers of juice equally" process.

*One batch makes a full gallon plus about a half gallon too. You could also freeze it in ice cube trays - but I think that's a pain and you know you're going to want more anyways - but it would make it really easy to have a 1 person serving sometime when nobody else is around!