Check out the second article in the ScholarNet team’s summer recipes series, shared with financial aid professionals and lenders.
Continuing with the ScholarNet team’s Summer Recipe Series, chances are good it may be warm out wherever you are – so let’s start out with some water for hydration. Then we can prepare a beverage of your choice (non-alcoholic or not). Diane Borchardt suggested her favorite summer drink – the classic gin and tonic. It’s pretty easy: just a jigger (1.5 oz.) or two of your favorite gin over ice, topped off with tonic water and a slice of lime.
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While a crisp, refreshing gin and tonic pairs perfectly with the shrimp dip recipe Biz Daniel inherited from her mom, your beverage of choice will work just as well! Make yourself something to sip on, then get started with this summer appetizer.
Shrimp Dip
Ingredients:
1 lb. of pre-cooked shrimp – deveined, with shells off, chopped
4 blocks of cream cheese (good stuff, no skinny!), softened and cut into eighths for easy blending
1 12-oz. jar of Heinz Chili Sauce
Small onion, finely chopped (I chop in a small food processor and keep a small amount of the juice)
Dash of garlic salt (to taste)
Dash of Worcestershire sauce (to taste)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (preferably fresh)
Directions:
In a food processor, blend softened cream cheese and Heinz chili sauce until just smooth. Do NOT over-blend! Add to your mixture the finely chopped onion (and a tad of the fresh onion juice), Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and lemon juice and blend slowly just to combine these ingredients. Remove mixture from the food processor and place in a large bowl. Blend in chopped shrimp (by hand). Chill overnight for better taste. Serve with crackers. (Biz uses stoneground wheat crackers.)
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Once you’ve had a gin and tonic, glass of wine, beer, iced tea, or lemonade and placated your growling tummy with some of Biz’s mom’s wonderful shrimp dip and crackers, it’s time to put together your entrée. That should be pretty quick, easy, and tasty – and you don’t need to heat up the oven or stand in the rain or over a hot grill on a stiflingly hot day. Mike Mutziger pulled from a year-round family favorite with his cheesy chicken and rice – a spicier version of something many of us probably make.
Mike’s Cheesy Chicken and Rice
Ingredients:
1 10-3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup
1 10-3/4 oz. can Fiesta Nacho soup
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small yellow onion
3/4 c. milk
3/4 c. water
2 c. white Minute rice
Directions:
Mix the cream of chicken and Fiesta Nacho soup as directed in a crockpot. Add ¾ c. water and ¾. c. milk. If you don’t have milk, you can use all water instead. Dice the small onion and add it to the soup. Cube the chicken breasts and season to flavor. Cook the cubed chicken in a small pan until done. Add to the soup and onion mix. Turn crockpot to low.
Prepare white rice as directed. When contents of crockpot are heated up, they’re ready to be served over the white rice.
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Mike’s cheesy chicken doesn’t need to simmer in the crockpot for long. If you haven’t made dessert yet, there’s just enough time to put together a summertime classic: fruit pizza. Here’s the recipe Megan Gould provided.
Fruit Pizza
Ingredients:
Crust
16 oz. sugar cookie dough (can be homemade or store-bought)
Frosting
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
1.5 c. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Fruit Topping
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Directions:
Crust
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread sugar cookie dough on a round pizza pan. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the cookie dough is set and just starts to turn golden on the edges. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
Frosting
Beat the cream cheese in a medium-sized bowl until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and stir into the mixture. Carefully fold in the Cool Whip.
Spread frosting mixture on cooled cookie dough. Slice strawberries. Arrange all berries in a pretty design of your choosing. Slice into pizza slices for sharing and eating. Enjoy!
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With less travel this summer and reduced eating out, we’ve been doing more cooking. Those of us on the ScholarNet team have enjoyed being able to share some favorite recipes. We’ve gathered a few more summer recipes to share, so watch for the third installment in our summer recipes series in an upcoming post!