Drink your dessert. Photo courtesy
DiSaronno.

This recipe, courtesy of DiSaronno, makers of amaretto (almond liqueur), evokes the tropics with piña colada mix and fresh banana.

Even if you don’t have access to a beach and swaying palm trees, close your eyes and imagine. Perhaps listen to Elvis’ Blue Hawaii CD.

BANANA COLADA DESSERT COCKTAIL

Ingredients

1. MIX all ingredients in a blender with ice and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

2. TOP with whipped cream and a banana slice. Serve with a straw and a spoon.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. MAKE a design on the inside of the glass with a squeeze bottle of chocolate syrup. Add the brownie cubes.

2. SHAKE the remaining ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into into a Martini glass.

3. SERVE with a spoon. The cocktail softens the brownie into a bread pudding-like consistency.

MORE DESSERT COCKTAILS

Try this Grand Cookie Crumble recipe with Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur).

Or, use the recipes above as templates to combine your favorite ingredients. Let us know what you create!

Find more of our favorite dessert and cocktail recipes.

[2] Almond and grape white gazpacho with anchovy and poached grape garnishes (photo © Jules Stonesoup | CC By NC 2.0 License).

The recipe doesn’t matter: In Spain, home of gazpacho, there are as many recipe variations of the chilled soup as you can count.

Don’t like tomatoes or bell peppers? Make white gazpacho. Here’s a recipe from chef John Fraser at Dovetail, a top New York City restaurant, that doesn’t rely on summer produce and can be made year-round. It’s not the lowest calorie gazpacho, but you can substitute fat-free yogurt Greek yogurt.

December 6th is National Gazpacho Day and May is National Gazpacho Aficionado Month.
 
 
WHITE GAZPACHO FROM DOVETAIL

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Garnishes

1. Sauté leeks in a medium-size pan over medium-low heat until translucent and tender. Chill in the fridge.

2. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender; purée until smooth.

3. Season with salt to taste.

4. Pass through a fine mesh sieve or chinois. Plate, garnish and serve cold.
 
 
WAYS TO DRESS UP YOUR GAZPACHO

 
 
SPECIALTY GAZPACHO RECIPES

 
 
GAZPACHO ADDS TO YOUR VEGGIE COUNT

Even a small amount of soup can add another portion of veggies to your daily intake.

How many fruit and vegetable servings do you need each day? The government’s prior “five a day” recommendation has been modified based on age, gender and physical activity.

Use this fruit and vegetable calculator from the Centers For Disease Control to calculate your personal requirements.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF GAZPACHO
  

Look for burgundy, maroon, white and yellow carrots. Orange and yellow beets. Purple “green” beans and bell peppers. Green, orange and purple cauliflower. Heirloom tomatoes in burgundy, green, yellow and stripes.

Some of the unusual hues are the original colors—carrots, for example, were originally white. Others are natural mutations or have been specially bred.

No matter how they arrived, these beautiful veggies deserve a place on your table. Before summer fades into fall, gather ye produce while ye may.

When you get your treasures home, consider how to enjoy them. We especially like an “heirloom” crudité plate, enjoying the color as well as the flavor of these summer treasures.

With some vegetables, cooking fades the color. If you have your heart set on purple cauliflower soup, for example, steam a small piece in the microwave to see how the color responds.

Before the lush summer peaches disappear, make a grilled peach cobbler outside on the grill. You don’t have to turn on an oven and heat up the kitchen. And, it’s delicious!

Chef Bobby Flay demonstrates how easy it is, in this video:

Find more of our favorite pie, cobbler and dessert recipes.

Reduce calories and add nutrition: cupcakes
with nonfat cream cheese frosting and sliced
almonds. Photo courtesy La Tourangelle.

Cupcakes are everywhere: cute, tempting, but no pillar of nutrition and healthful eating. Yet, by making a few substitutions, they can be just as much fun.

To assuage the guilt, consider adding some healthier touches to your cupcakes:

 
You can find numerous healthy cupcake recipes online. But the best place to start is to substitute the frosting—many recipes are just too cloying—with an option that has less sugar and less saturated fat.

You can do this by substituting evaporated milk for butter and fat-free cream cheese and Greek yogurt for regular cream cheese frosting. And use less frosting: As attractive as those swirly mounds look piled high atop a cupcake, a flatter 3/8″ to 1/2″ of frosting topped by a healthful garnish is just as appealing.

HEALTHIER FROSTING: EVAPORATED MILK GLAZE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. Whisk evaporated milk, flour and salt in a small saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, 2 to 5 minutes, until mixture resembles a thick paste.

2. Remove from the heat and continue to whisk for 30 seconds. Add chocolate and whisk until completely blended.

3. Add confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla. Beat until smooth with an electric mixer.

4. Refrigerate, covered, for 2 hours or longer. The recipe can be made up to three days in advance.
 
FAT FREE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. Beat cream cheese, yogurt/sour cream and confectioners’ sugar with electric beaters until smooth.

2. Refrigerate 2 hours or longer to harden. Can be made up to three days in advance.
 

Find more of our favorite cupcake recipes.