fruits Archives - Use Your Noodles

Refreshing Summer Watermelon Salad

August 9, 2021

When it comes to refreshing salads nothing beats a refreshing watermelon salad inspired by Greek salad.

If there’s a Summer fruit I can’t stop eating, it’s the watermelon. I just love the crunch and the sweetness. I’m always happy when I find a watermelon that’s just perfectly ripe. And so I got a local one from my veggie deliverer and it slipped my mind that I never tried watermelon in a salad. I’ve seen people use it in a salad, so I tried and used it in a salad that we normally make at home all the time, but replace tomatoes with watermelon.

Haaa, a new world opened. So delicious!

So I’m sharing the watermelon salad recipe I made with you to try and enjoy. It’s extremely simple and so incredibly delicious. And if you’re into salads that include summer fruit, check my cucumber and peach salad.

For this salad, you’ll need a perfectly ripe watermelon. I prefer to go a bit underripe than overripe because overly ripe watermelon is too sweet for my taste and it also doesn’t hold its shape as nicely. You’ll also need some cucumbers, black olives and Feta cheese. and to top it all off you’ll need some fresh basil leaves and a few simple ingredients to make the vinaigrette – olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, salt and crushed white or red pepper.

Very simple, y’all know I like simple foods 🙂

Print

Refreshing Summer Watermelon Salad

Course Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

600 g watermelon, deseeded and cubed (1.3 lb)
200 g cucumber, sliced (7 oz)
200 g Feta cheese (7 oz)
200 g black olives (7 oz)
10-15 basil leaves

Lime Vinaigrette

1/3 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lime
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp white or red pepper, crushed
zest of 1 lime

Instructions

Lime Vinaigrette

Whisk olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper and lime zest in a small bowl to get an emulsified vinaigrette.

Salad

Combine watermelon, cucumber, Feta cheese and olives, and mix.
Pour over the vinaigrette and toss to coat the salad.
Chill for at least 30 minutes
Once chilled place fresh basil leaves on top and serve.

Strawberry Gin and Tonic

April 29, 2021

Learn this easy recipe for a fruity strawberry gin and tonic with homemade strawberry simple syrup. Only a few simple ingredients but so much flavor!

When it comes to cocktails nothing beats a good gin and tonic if you ask me. If you’ve scrolled through this page a bit, you’ve noticed I have a thing for this lovely refreshing cocktail. For further ideas, you can check my Pink Grapefruit Gin and Tonic or Elderflower And Passion Fruit Gin And Tonic. This time I have a delicious Spring gin and tonic with a homemade strawberry simple syrup.

Before trying to make my first homemade syrup, I was a bit scared to try, but these are extremely simple to make. Hence the name ‘simple’. Literally, just bring everything to a boil, let simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes, and chill. That’s it! You can really go crazy with flavors here and invent your new flavor combos.

Once you have the syrup, you can use it for this cocktail, some other cocktail, dilute it with water and drink like that, use in desserts or pour over your favorite ice cream. So many choices!

If you’re going to make this gin and tonic, you can mix the syrup with gin and a regular tonic or you can make it a bit extra and choose pink tonic water. It will really enhance the flavor of your gin and tonic and add a little more color as well.

Before we go on with the recipe, I want to give you an update on one of the projects me and my hubby are working on lately. It’s fermenting our own ginger beer. We’ve had lots of success and now we’re experimenting with different flavors. We’re gonna do a bit more experimanting and testing and then I will also share some recipes and tips about fermenting your own drinks. How would you like that?

Anyhoo, let’s make the cocktail!

Print

Strawberry Gin and Tonic

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Cooling time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 25 minutes

Servings 1 serving

Author Anja Burgar

Ingredients

Cocktail

30 ml gin chilled
90 ml tonic water (regular or pink) chilled
30 ml strawberry simple syrup chilled

Strawberry Simple Syrup

250 g strawberries (½ lb)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Instructions

Strawberry Simple Syrup

Place all syrup ingredients into a saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and let cook for 15-20 minutes until strawberries are very soft and the lliquid has become deep red.
Strain the syrup through a mesh sieve making sure not to press down the strawberries.
Leave the syrup to cool to room temperature then move to the fridge and wait at least an hour to chill. You can use the leftover strawberries as ice cream garnish.

Cocktail

Place 30 ml of the strawberry simple syrup into the bottom of a cocktail glass. Add a handful of ice. Then pour over the gin and finish with regular or pink tonic water.
Serve immediately.

Elderflower And Passion Fruit Gin And Tonic

February 4, 2021

Fresh passion fruit and delicious floral elderflower syrup give this refreshing elderflower and passion fruit gin and tonic recipe a sweet valentine’s day twist.

Did you notice that Valentine’s day is next week!!!??

Luckily I have a lovely cocktail ready for a romantic dinner. Even though most of the world is still in one or another form of lockdown, we still deserve some splurging, right?

A nice dinner with the best dessert ever. And of course this elderflower and passion fruit gin and tonic!

I love gin and tonic because it’s so easy to make. Basically, all you need to do is add some ice in your cocktail glass, add all the ingredients and enjoy 🙂

This time, I’ve given it a bit sweeter twist with fresh passion fruit, which I absolutely love, and homemade elderflower syrup. However, if you don’t have a homemade one, a storebought is just as fine.

This combination of flavors and sweetness with the biterness of gin and tonic is in my opinion the biggest selling point of this cocktail.

If this floral flavor is not your jam, I have a more citrusy grapefruit gin and tonic recipe as well.

A good gin and tonic is made with quality gin and quality tonic as well. Keep in mind that your gin and tonic will only be as good as the ingredients put in. This doesn’t mean you need to go with the most expensive stuff. However, the cheapest plastic bottle drinks are probably lower quality than you want in a gin and tonic. So, I encourage you to explore, which flavors you like.

Most of simple gin and tonics include some amount of citrus flavor. For my Valentine’s day elderflower and passion fruit gin and tonic, I passed on adding citruses. I used my elderflower syrup that already included some lemons. Most elderflower syrups do.

Plus, I really wanted to create a more feminine floral/tropical cocktail. But, if you feel like adding a hint of citrus go ahead and squeeze in a bit of lemon juice!