Summer Cooking and Strawberry Lemonade

Okay, my experimenting in the kitchen continues.  I am into quick and easy, but tasty.  So here below are a few summer offerings.  First is International Quesadillas and last Strawberry Lemonade.

As I told one of my girlfriends "Never underestimate the power of a tortilla."  Especially the ones you can get at Costco in the refrigerated section.  You have to finish cooking them which I think makes them all the more yummy.  What I do with these tortillas is make international quesadillas.

American:  Cook tortilla a bit on both sides.  Remove from heat and spread with favorite BBQ sauce.  Return to pan and add cheddar cheese and some chopped chicken (I usually boil chicken tenders, chopped them up and store them in their juice from boiling).  Fold tortilla over and flip to cook other side and melt cheese.

Italian:  Do the same as above only spread the tortilla with pesto.  Use shredded Italian cheese (available at local grocer) and add meat of your choice (mine is chicken of course).

Mexican:  I cook the tortilla a bit then add a shredded Mexican blend cheese that I find at my local grocer.  I then add chopped chicken.  Cook till cheese is melted.  To serve I spread on my homemade pico de gallo sauce, and top with fresh avocado slices (guacamole).  Yum!

These are fast, easy, won't heat up you kitchen and are delicious.  Serve with fruit or a salad and you have a nice summer meal.  I bet you can think of some more ideas of your own.

Below is my version of homemade strawberry lemonade.  Really, it is semi-homemade.  This recipe came to me in a pinch when I was expecting company and did not have enough lemonade to go around.  So I improvised.

Improvised Strawberry Lemonade

I first used half a calm shell of strawberries.  Washed them and cut the tops off.  Sliced them thinly into a storage container.  Added a few squeezes of lemon, some grated lemon peel and sugar.  Close up the container and shake to mix.  Let sit at room temp to mix flavors and create a juice.

When it was time to get the lemonade together.  I used these products:

I got out a pretty pitcher and poured half a bottle of Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade into the pitcher (as that is all I had left).  I then added the storage container of strawberries with their juice.  Humpf...still not enough lemonade.  So I mixed one packet of True Lemon lemonade with a cup of water and added that into the pitcher.  Since True Lemon is sweetened with Stevia it helps lower the calorie content of the lemonde.  Let me tell you, everyone loved it and the pitcher was empty in no time.

Enjoy!!!