Strawberry Lemonade {SRC}

It's time again for The Secret Recipe Club.  This month I was assigned Fran's Favs.  Fran is an Italian Foodie and a very experienced cook.  I loved going through her recipes and first was stuck on her Twinkie Clone recipe.  It was the first recipe I saw and it immediately made me think of Baba (my father).  

Mango Smoothie

Mango season is just about over.  This is one of the ways we were enjoying them this summer.  They never lasted long so it was always difficult to get a picture of them.  Bilal has been loving smoothies this summer. It all started with the Green Monster.  They are a great way to get him to have some extra fruit.  I love the citrus flavour that the orange juice brings.  I find these smoothies are best if had immediately.  They thicken up while sitting in the fridge.

Green Monster {SRC}

It's the last Monday of the month which means it time for The Secret Recipe Club!  This month I was assigned Life on Food written by Emily.  Emily is a young foodie who has lived in several different cities across the US (unlike me who has lived all my life in Toronto...I now live in the suburbs which I don't think really counts as another city....it is still GTA).  Emily has some great recipes on her blog like this Grilled Chicken Marinade or this Shrimp Thai Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce.

Mango Lassi

When I was growing up my mom used to make my brother lassi.  She would take a bunch of ice cubes and wrap them in a dish towel.  Then she would proceed to bang them on the window sill to crush the ice.  Next would come the yogurt and she would mix it in the ice.  I'm sure she put other things in it too but the thought of drinking yogurt just seemed so unappetizing.  I was an extremely picky eater and there was no way I was going to drink yogurt.  But I've grown and I'm not as picky as I once was.  I used to cringe at the sight of coriander in food.  I hated onions.  Now if I don't have either in my fridge I feel like there is nothing I could possibly cook.

I am still somewhat picky and the only lassi I will have is mango lassi.  When we go out to eat dosa I usually will get a mango lassi.  It is so thick and sweet and mangoey....hmmmm......

I was browsing some food blogs and I came across Manu's Menu.  She had a recipe for Mango Lassi.  It was so simple so I gave it a try.  I wasn't able to find the Alphonso Mango Pulp.  When I'm doing my grocery shopping Indian stores aren't open yet.  So I got Kesar Mango Pulp from Wal-Mart.  The recipe called for water which I thought would dilute the taste but I went ahead wit the way the recipe was written.  It was too thin for my taste and didn't have a strong mango flavor.  So I played around with it...increased the mango pulp, replaced the water with milk and used less.  I also added a lot more sugar.  It was just how I liked it!!!  I wish I could say the same for my picture. I just couldn't get a good picture.  But I was taking them at night and the lighting in the kitchen is bad...this is the best one out of around 10 others I took.