My Favorite 5 Ways to Use Orange Blossom Water

My darling neighbor recently gifted me with a bottle of fragrant Orange Blossom Water. I'd never used it before, though I knew that it should be used in very small quantities to impart a delicate floral aroma to dishes. Luckily I stopped my fiance from chugging it straight from the bottle before I had a chance to explain that it was not, in fact, orange flavored water!

I was sipping some iced tea and thought that the orange blossom water could be a nice addition. I added a few drops, and was wowed at the subtle but delicious difference it's delicate flavor made. It turns out, orange blossom water can be incorporated into a lot of things I'm already used to making!

See my 5 favorite ways to use orange blossom water below.

Passion Fruit Mojitos

Passion fruit is in season right now, and I have been LOVING these passion fruit mojitos. I mentioned them in a post last week, and I ended up making them again this morning (...without the rum!).

These virgin passion fruit mojitos are tart, sweet, and fizzy — the perfect drink for a hot day like today

Easy Asian Sesame Slaw

This Easy Asian Sesame Slaw is a crisp and tangy side that pairs perfectly with a heaver main dish on a hot day. It's really simple to make, too, and the leftovers make a great lunch the next day. 

Cantaloupe Fruit Salad with Mint, Lime, and Honey

 These luscious, juicy cantaloupe spheres would have been impossible for me to make before last night...when I finally acquired a melon baller! I feel like melon ballers have gone out of style, but I told Nate that I would definitely use it if we got it. So, last night I balled and froze half of a cantaloupe to use for cocktail making tonight, and this morning I woke up and balled the second half for this light, refreshing breakfast fruit salad.

BBQ: Orange-Ginger Marinated Chicken and Honey-Soy Marinated Steak

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I am kind of obsessed with barbecuing. Nate and I don't have a grill, but the state parks here have small grills that anyone can use, provided you bring your own charcoal. We went to the Santa Monica Airport Park after a long day of lounging at the beach and to our surprise there were open grills - that were clean! Usually the grills are caked with charred food remains and various debris, so it felt like quite the treat to not have to spend the first 15 minutes scraping and brushing it clean.

Miscellaneous Food Stuffs

Sometimes, I make something or eat something that is really, really good - but I wasn't planning on blogging about it. I often manage to snap a picture or two, and I wanted to share with you some of the tasty morsels I've had but haven't written a full blog post about.

Epic Canning Adventure: Homemade Ketchup, Tomato Sauce, and Green Tomato Relish

Tomato Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Relish, Relish, Ketchup!

Last year I had the pleasure of going to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark, CA, and picking Roma tomatoes for a mere 25 cents per pound over Labor Day weekend. It was amazing both how many tomatoes I got for so little money - and how little food I got from so many tomatoes!

Gazpacho

This is my second attempt at making gazpacho in as many weeks. The first one had potential, but the recipe called for the tomato mixture to be pureed, then strained. After straining the soup, it was so thin it resembled a juice more than a soup. Without the vegetable puree to add texture, the flavor seemed lacking as well. I was disappointed to say the least, but when I had a friend over for dinner this past weekend, I decided to try my hand at this chilled soup one more time, to accompany a side of Asparagus and Red Corn Salad.

Hungarian Pepper, Paprika Chicken, Orzo and Romaine Salad

Sometimes it's just too hot to turn on the oven. In my probably-fire-code-violating apartment that doesn't have a vent over the stove, it's too hot to turn on the oven, or use the stove top for more than 20 minutes, for most of the summer.

I end up making a lot of salads for dinner, but they can get boring after a while. So, when I got back from my vacation and saw that Nate had gotten a bag of brightly colored, sweet Hungarian peppers from the Farmer's Market, I was excited. After some extensive web searching I found a recipe that seemed promising. I had to turn on my grill pan and boil some orzo, but other than that there was no cooking involved. I even skipped the side of toasted baguette that the original recipe includes, because even the toaster oven is too much to handle when it's hot out (or...in). 

The result was a tangy, filling, and interesting salad that satisfied my hunger pangs, taste buds, and imagination. What more could a girl ask for?

Hungarian Pepper, Paprika Chicken, Orzo and Romaine Salad

Recipe from the LA Times

Chicken tenders are rubbed with garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper, then grilled. When the chicken tenders are done, take them off the grill pan and add the peppers, cooking until they are crisp-tender and have some grill marks. Squeeze half a lemon over the chicken and peppers and set them in the fridge to chill.

The orzo is cooked with sauteed onions and chicken broth until tender. Drain and drizzle with some white wine vinegar. Let chill, then toss with a head of chopped Romaine lettuce. I added about 1 T olive oil and the juice from 1 half of a lemon to the lemon/orzo mixture. 

Make a bed of the lettuce/orzo mixture, then layer the chicken, peppers, and a sliced tomato on top. 

The result is tasty, healthy, refreshing, and best of all - COLD!