Cooking Lessons for Dad

Cooking Lessons for Beginners

Fruit Salad

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Fruit Salad

Ingredients

  • Variety of colorful fruits (fresh, frozen, and/or canned)

Instructions

  1. Rinse fresh fruits. Drain canned fruits and thaw frozen fruits as desired.
  2. Gently mix fruits together in a bowl.
  3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

Acidic fruit juices (like pineapple, orange, or lemon) will keep cut fruits (like bananas and apples) from turning brown. Add enough juice to coat the fruits.

Give frozen fruits enough time to thaw.

Frozen fruits will help to chill the salad and keep it cold for a while. This is nice when taking the fruit salad to a picnic, potluck or another location.

You can also add nuts or coconut if you would like.

© Karen Breyer

 

Frozen Grapes

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Frozen Grapes

Ingredients

  • Grapes, seedless

Instructions

  1. Rinse grapes and take them off the vine.
  2. Pat or air dry the grapes.
  3. Place them in an airtight freezer container or plastic bag.
  4. Place grapes in the freezer.
  5. The grapes are ready to eat when they are frozen.

Notes

Take out the frozen grapes you are going to eat and leave the rest in the freezer for later. They should last at least a month in the freezer.

There are many varieties of seedless grapes to try.

© Karen Breyer

 

Colorful Salad

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Colorful Salad

Ingredients

  • Salad greens
  • Toppings, your choice
  • Salad dressing, your choice
  • Suggested toppings:
  • Chopped vegetables or fruits
  • Nuts
  • Seeds
  • Beans, cooked

Instructions

  1. Rinse salad greens and other produce. Allow lettuce to drain or shake it and pat it dry.
  2. Tear lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Place salad greens in a bowl.
  3. Add toppings of your choice. Toss or mix salad. Add additional toppings on top of the salad to make it attractive.
  4. Drizzle with salad dressing.

Notes

Make sure your salad has a rainbow of tasty, colorful additions for maximum flavor, nutrition, and eye appeal.

You can add salad dressing to the whole salad just before serving or let each person add the dressing to their own salad.

Make a salad with what you have on hand.

Some suggested toppings: carrots, beets, sprouts, cucumbers, bell peppers (red, yellow, orange, and/or green), summer squash, radishes, onions, (green or red), tomatoes (any colors and sizes), nuts, seeds, fruits, and hard cooked beans (like garbanzo, kidney, and pinto).

This salad is great with the Avocado Salad Dressing recipe that can be found at http://cookinglessonsfordad.com/avocado-salad-dressing/.

© Karen Breyer

 

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Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

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Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Ingredients

  • 12-24 Whole, fresh strawberries
  • 2 cups chocolate (dark, milk, semi-sweet, or white)
  • Decorations like chopped nuts, candy sprinkles, coconut, or white chocolate if desired for decorating

Instructions

  1. Rinse and dry strawberries.
  2. Line a baking sheet or tray with parchment or wax paper.
  3. Microwave chocolate in a glass cup or dish on high until melted. Start with 1 minute and stir. If needed, microwave again a little longer (about 30 seconds) and stir again. Repeat until melted and smooth.
  4. Dip strawberry into melted chocolate by holding the stem. Pull out, twirl and allow excess chocolate to drip back in the cup. Set on prepared tray to dry.
  5. If decorating, do this now. Dip strawberries in decorations or sprinkle them on.
  6. Dry chocolate-covered strawberries at room temperature or in the refrigerator until chocolate is hard.
  7. (If you are going to double-dip or drizzle the strawberries with another layer of chocolate (like white on dark), wait until the first layer of chocolate has cooled completely and hardened. You can also dip the second layer of chocolate in additional decorations while the chocolate is still wet.)
  8. Serve or store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Notes

Strawberries may also be served before the chocolate is dry, it is just a little messy.

If you let the strawberries dry in the refrigerator they will take about 30 minutes for the chocolate to set. If you let then air dry at room temperature they will take longer. The warmer the air is the longer they will take to dry.

You may also melt the chocolate in a mini-slow cooker on warm. Stir frequently.

Make sure there are no water drops on the dish or spoon that is coming in contact with the chocolate. Any water can make the chocolate hard and lumpy.

I have used chocolate chips, bars, and chunks. You may also mix chocolate types if you want. If you use bars, break them into small pieces before melting. You can also use chocolate specially made for dipping and drizzling (sometimes called chocolate melts).

© Karen Breyer

 

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