Frozen Cantaloupe Mojitos

Frozen Cantaloupe Mint Mojitos

I recently received a cantaloupe in my organic fruit co-op. I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with it. My kids aren’t the biggest melon fans, so I knew I couldn’t just slice it up and serve for breakfasts.

Frozen Cantaloupe Mint Mojitos

I cut it up in small pieces, bagged it up and placed in the freezer. I figured that I would use it for a smoothie or something along those lines later on.

Later that evening though, we had some impromptu guests and I decided to see if it would work in an adult drink.

My favorite summer drink is a mint mojito. I have a crazy amount of mint growing in my herb garden. In past summers, my frozen mint mojito has been a huge success. I decided to experiment with the cantaloupe thrown in and was very pleased.

While the cantaloupe pieces sat in the freezer, I went outside to pick some mint and made up a small batch of simple syrup.

I placed the frozen cantaloupe in my blender along with some fresh mint leaves, some lime juice and simple syrup. I muddled the mixture a bit. I then added a few ice cubes and some Bacardi white rum. I knew then that it would be great!

 

mojito-blender

I blended everything together until it was the right consistency. I tasted a bit to see if it needed anything. It was perfect. I then served with a garnish of mint leaves.

I definitely need to make these more often!

Frozen Cantaloupe Mojitos
 
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • ½ cantaloupe, cut up
  • 15 mint leaves
  • ½ cup simple syrup
  • ½ cup white rum (I also use Bacardi)
  • 1 cup ice cubes
  • juice of 2 limes
Instructions
  1. Cut up the cantaloupe and freeze the pieces for at least 3-4 hours
  2. Place the mint leaves, the cantaloupe, the lime juice and the simple syrup in the blender.
  3. Muddle the mixture a bit to bring out the flavor.
  4. Add in the ice cubes and rum.
  5. Blend until you reach desired consistency.
  6. Serve and garnish with extra mint leaves.
  7. Enjoy!

cantaloupe-mojitos

Pad Thai

I often find myself watching cooking videos and podcasts on my ipod. Youtube is wonderful for finding every possible how-to video. As of late, I have been especially into Korean and Thai cooking. Today I dug down to the heart of Chinatown and wandered through a couple of Thai markets for ingredients and ideas.

One of my favorite Thai dishes is Pad Thai. It’s truly comfort food, when done right. I finally built up the nerve to cook it. I was amazed that it wasn’t that hard to prepare.


Pad Thai

Ingredients:

Thin Flat Rice Stick Noodles
Eggs – a couple
Tofu – diced small, extra firm
Another protein (optional)
Garlic – chopped

Ground Peanuts – crushed, roasted
Chives –
Beansprouts – I didn’t have any and didn’t see any good ones in the store
Tamarind Concentrate
Sugar – when done right, you should use palm sugar – I didn’t have any
sriracha or chili paste
fish sauce – sometimes available kosher from
koshergourmetmart – if vegetarian, use extra soy sauce
soy sauce
Vegetable Oil – non fragrant oil is important, peanut or canola works well

lime wedges – very important player in this dish

The trick is to have everything read to go, before you heat up your wok.

Get your sauce ready. For 2-3 servings, I used 2 tablespoons of tamarind, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of chili paste.

Cut up your tofu and let it dry on papertowels.


Chop up veggies and/meat

Cook the rice noodles. Pour boiling water over noodles in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Do not overcook them. Very important.



Ready to get down to business now. Heat up a large wok with 2 tablespoons of oil. Add in your garlic and tofu. Fry a bit. Move the garlic and tofu to the side. If using meat, this is when you would cook it. Crack in your eggs and scramble. Let it set a bit.

Toss in your noodles. Toss in the sauce and mix. Throw in the beansprouts and any other veggies you might be adding. Mix up and stir fry a few minutes.

Serve on to a plate. Sprinkle over some chopped peanuts. Serve with a lime wedge to squeeze over. The lime juice is essential and very yummy in this dish.


This meal turned out to be a hit tonight. Feel free to play with ingredients a bit. Add more or less of sauce ingredients to meet your taste. I will probably add more heat (chili paste) next time as well as more lime juice squeezed on. I was very happy with this meal and will make again. Very easy quick dinner night meal.

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