cornerofmadness

What are your favorite summer-associated foods?
Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes.

In the summer I barely want to eat. The heat makes me too nauseous to care. I suppose the answer here would be watermelon and all the berries. I'm diabetic so I'm not supposed to eat any of it but that would be my summer associated foods.

I'm on a time crunch for stories so I can't write something for this prompt but I can find some recipes!

Boozy Watermelon Mint Lemonade

Ingredients
• 2½ pounds watermelon flesh, seeds removed, cut into chunks
• ¼ cucumber, cut into chunks
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice, plus an additional lemon, sliced, for garnish
• ¼ cup packed mint leaves, plus more mint, for garnish
• 2½ cups white rum, vodka, or water
• ¼ cup agave syrup or simple syrup
Directions
1. Put the chunked watermelon, cucumber, and mint in a blender, add the lemon juice, and puree until the mixture is smooth.
2. Strain the mixture into a pitcher to remove the pulp and leaves.
3. Mix in the alcohol or water and slowly mix in the syrup until everything is well-combined.
4. Add the lemon slices and ice. Garnish each glass with a sprig of mint. Serve.

Boozy Strawberry Basil Lemonade

Ingredients
Needed for Each Drink:
• ice
• 1 ounce simple syrup (2 tablespoons)
• 2 ounces Strawberry Basil Infused Vodka (4 tablespoons) yes you can use regular vodka because who has a ton of flavored vodka lying aroun
• 2 fresh strawberries divided
• 1 fresh basil leaf plus extra for garnish
• 1/4 of a lemon plus two slices divided
• splash of well-chilled plain seltzer water optional (I opted way out)
Instructions
1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice then add the simple syrup, Strawberry Basil Infused Vodka, and 1 fresh basil leaf and 1 whole strawberry. Squeeze the 1/4 lemon into the cocktail shaker and drop the squeezed lemon piece into the shaker as well. Add 1 of the slices of lemon. Put the lid on the shaker and shake vigorously for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until the shaker feels very cold. Strain the Boozy Strawberry Basil Lemonade into a martini or cocktail glass and add a splash of plain seltzer water. Garnish with the remaining slice of lemon and strawberry and a sprig of fresh basil.

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint

INGREDIENTS
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Balsemic glaze
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• One 8-pound seedless watermelon, scooped into balls with a melon baller or cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (10 cups), chilled
• 1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled (2 cups)
• 1 1/4 cups pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped (optional)
• 1 small sweet onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves
HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE
1. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Add the watermelon, feta, olives and onion and toss gently. Drizzle the vinegar glaze Garnish with the mint and serve.

From the NY times
Creamy Strawberry Moscato Torte

1 1/2 quarts strawberries

1 tablespoon superfine or granulated sugar, more to
taste

1 bottle (750 milliliters) moscato wine, more for
serving

2 pounds mascarpone

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup confectioners sugar, more for
sprinkling if desired

2 plump, moist vanilla beans (and if you're like me and can't afford these, a few drops of real vanilla works just fine)

48 ladyfingers (2 packages).

1. Hull and slice 1 quart of strawberries. Leave
remaining 1/2 quart whole for garnish. Put sliced
berries in a bowl and gently toss with superfine or
granulated sugar, adding more if berries are very tart.
Add a splash of moscato to bowl and macerate for 15
minutes.

2. Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, whisk together
mascarpone, heavy cream and 1/3 cup
confectioners sugar. Use a sharp knife to split
vanilla beans lengthwise. With the knife flat side,
scrape out seeds and add to mascarpone mixture. Lightly
whisk until soft peaks form. (Save vanilla pods for
another use, like vanilla sugar.)

3. Pour 3 cups of moscato into a shallow bowl. Working
with 2 or 3 cookies at a time, dip
ladyfingers into the wine, turning once to coat for a few
seconds so that they can absorb some of the liquid; use as
many of them as fit to line a 9- by 13-inch baking dish (or
other 2-quart casserole) in one layer.

4. Spread half of mascarpone mixture onto ladyfingers.
Spoon strawberries and juices on top of mascarpone in
an even layer. Dip more ladyfingers and arrange on top
of berries in an even layer. Top with remaining
mascarpone mixture, using a spatula to smooth. Cover
and refrigerate torte for at least 6 hours and for as
long as 2 days. Garnish with reserved strawberries.
Scoop torte into bowls or goblets to serve and drizzle with a
little more moscato.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

And I got this one from some diabetic site

Smoky-Hot Raspberry Shrimp
Ingredients
• 12 ounces fresh or frozen medium shrimp

• 1 8 - ounce can pineapple chunks (juice pack)

• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

• 1/3 cup raspberry spreadable fruit

• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

• 1 teaspoon chopped canned chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce*

• Nonstick cooking spray

• 4 cups shredded lettuce

• 1/2 of a small jicama, peeled and cut into matchstick-size strips (1 cup)

• 1 tablespoon shredded coconut, toasted

Directions
1. Thaw shrimp if frozen. Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact if desired. Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels. Drain pineapple, reserving 3 tablespoons of the juice; set aside. In a small bowl combine chili powder, cumin, and black pepper. Sprinkle chili powder mixture evenly over shrimp; rub in with your fingers.
2. For sauce, in a small microwave-safe bowl combine raspberry spreadable fruit, 2 tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice, the Worcestershire sauce, and chile peppers. Microwave on 100 percent power (high) about 1 minute or until spreadable fruit is melted. Stir until smooth. Set aside 1/4 cup of the sauce for drizzling.
3. Lightly coat a grill pan with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp; cook about 5 minutes or until nearly opaque, turning occasionally. Brush the remaining sauce over both sides of the shrimp and add pineapple to pan; cook 1 minute more. Discard any remaining sauce used as a brush-on.
4. On a serving platter arrange lettuce and jicama. Top with shrimp and pineapple. Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon pineapple juice into the reserved sauce; drizzle over all. Sprinkle with coconut.

I finished my third Overlord Husk story for Overlord Husk week (and now I see someone else wants to do another next month. Ah well)

and this made me sad. I have always liked this hotel and they were remodeling it and the paranormal group was meeting there and I planned to go this fall. Hotel McArthur burns. It was built in 1839 and now it's a total loss.

And of course I have the book meme for you.

What I Just Finished Reading:

Kill You Twice - a pretty graphic the ending was hollywood over the top nonsense and I hate the detective (or at least I should say I couldn't respect him)

I Need You To Read This - this was a decent mystery but also with a dumb hollywood ending

What I am Currently Reading:

Pantomine - an LGBT (intersexed main character) fantasy, I like it but on the other hand not a lot is happening and I fear it'll end on a cliffhanger

Cinders of Yesterday - Buffy/Supernatural vibes, urban fantasy, lesbian partners (by a queer author) so far I like it a lot.

Zero at the Bone - an old true crime I found at the library sale and got because of the Z in the title (for my alphabet challenge)

What I Plan to Read Next: War Child - a Deep Space Nine Novel