What's For Dinner? 30-Minute Menus For 2010 - 31st Edition

This is the 31st edition of the weekly 30-minute menus for 2010. These are published on a weekly basis; I like to design the weekly menus on Thursday or Friday, grocery shop on Saturday, and start the week's menus on Sunday.

Since it is so hot! hot! hot! here in Atlanta, I decided to go international with this week's menus. Our menus are from the sun-drenched countries of Italy, South America, France, China, and Japan. No need to get beat from the heat - just have some fun and pretend you are on vacation in a far away land!

The Tempura Shrimp on Saturday is great for company. You can have a lot of fun with your table decorations, beverages, and appetizer course such as 'At the Cheese Ball' with: Cheddar Cheese Balls; Summer Sausage with Roasted Garlic Mustard; Sliced Pears and Veg Tray with Spicy Tomato Salsa; Tortilla Chips and Savory Herb Crackers; and Honey Roasted Almonds.

You will find that I use some cooking methods, mix and match, to get evening meal on the table quickly! (The ingredients in parenthesis show some of my quick-prep steps.) You can always substitute your beloved made-from-scratch recipes when you have more time.

I hope you have a great week!

Sunday:
French Burgers with White Wine Sauce
Egg Noodles (purchased noodles)
Asparagus
Peach Melba Parfaits (purchased ice cream, canned peaches, jarred raspberry jam; buy extra ice cream for Wednesday and Thursday)

Monday:
Bbq Chicken Sandwiches (pre-cooked or canned chicken, bottled Bbq sauce)
Buns and Condiments (purchased buns, jarred condiments)
Oven Baked Potato Wedges
Cole Slaw (bagged slaw mix, jarred slaw dressing)
Fruit Pizza Cookies (purchased sugar cookie dough)

Tuesday:
Weeknight Minestrone Soup (vegetarian; dried tortellini, canned tomatoes, mixed veggies, and white beans)
Apple Waldorf Salad (prepared mayo)
Crusty Bread (purchased bread)
Jiffy Cherry Cobbler (puff pastry, canned cherry pie filling)

Wednesday:
Taco Nite (taco seasoning mix, purchased taco shells)
Condiment Bar (jarred salsas, bagged lettuce shreds, shredded cheese)
Guacamole & Sour Cream Topper (purchased sour cream)
Corn & Black Bean Salsa (jarred salsa, canned corn, black beans, and chilies)
Banana Splits (purchased ice cream, canned whipped cream, jarred ice cream toppings)

Thursday:
Kung Pao Chicken (chicken tenders)
Fried Rice
Melon Salad with Apricot Dressing (apricot jam, yogurt, shredded coconut)
Ginger Ice Cream and Fortune Cookies (purchased ice cream and cookies)

Friday:
Spaghetti Bolognese (boxed pasta, jarred Bolognese sauce)
Italian Medley Vegetables (frozen veggie mix)
Jam Thumbprint Cookies (jarred jam)

Saturday:
Tempura Fried Shrimp (cleaned and deveined shrimp)
Noodles with Asian Dressing (purchased noodles)
Julienne Vegetables Steamed to Perfection (bagged julienned vegetables)
Fruit Baskets (extra puff pastry sheet from Tuesday, canned whipped cream)

I sincerely hope you have fun with your meal planning and preparation,
Elizabeth Randall and Family

What's For Dinner? 30-Minute Menus For 2010 - 31st Edition

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Ice Cream Vs Gelato - What's the Difference?

Some think that "gelato" is just the Italian term for what we Americans know as "ice cream". While they are both frozen dairy desserts, there are sufficient differences in the middle of them to make a clear culinary distinction from one another. The differences generally stem from the ingredients and processing methods.

Ingredients

Frozen Yogurt Vs Ice Cream

Ice cream includes much more fat (or butterfat) than gelato. By legal definition, ice cream includes a minimum of 10% fat, and can have up to 18%, defined by its higher cream content. Gelato recipes call for milk (low-fat to whole), and ordinarily use little or no cream, making the fat content in the middle of 3% to 8%.

Egg yolks are used in higher quantity in gelato; more so in the custard based variety, such as chocolate or caramel flavors. Eggs aid in thickening the milk base for frozen desserts.

Gelato is typically known for using fresh and high potential ingredients, as opposed to its similar frozen sweetmeat counterpart, in which synthetic ingredients, such as syrups, can be found along with other preservatives. This is one of the reasons that gelato is best consumed within a day or two of a freshly made batch.

Sugar content also plays a role in the differences in the middle of these frozen desserts. ordinarily there is less sugar in gelato; as low as 16% in gelato and as much as 21% in ice cream, agreeing to wikipedia.org. Some culinary experts even go as far as to equilibrium the sugar and water content to preclude the gelato from frozen solid to assert the former creamy consistency.

Flavor & Consistency

Gelato is churned at a much slower speed with the goal of introducing as little air as possible into the mix. This creates a density that is connected with creamy rich gelato. Ice cream, on the other hand, aims to be light and fluffy, and incorporates 50% or more air whipped into it by using faster mixing speeds, thus creating a higher volume of the frozen dessert. Special gelato equipment is essential to create the desired low air infused, or whipped affect. These Special machines are ordinarily only ready at the professional level and may be the fancy why so many gelaterias are popping up all over the country.

While the serving temperatures of both frozen desserts are under the frozen mark, gelato is presented at 5°F and ice cream at -10°F; a 15° difference. The higher climatic characteristic is one of the contributing factors in the soft consistency of gelato, which is a lot like soft-serve, causing the melting rate to be much faster than former ice cream. The lower fat content of gelato is another fancy it melts more quickly than ice cream.

Other Differences

Gelato is gaining popularity among the frozen sweetmeat aficionados due to the richness in flavor that is achieved by using high potential and fresh ingredients and slow-churn processing. Therefore, it is typically made in small artisan batches, as opposed to ice cream, which can undoubtedly be made in larger quantities.

Ice cream can be stored frozen for months, while gelato is best consumed within days in order to preserve freshness and its famed creamy consistency. Those with and without trained palates can tell if gelato is past its prime if noticeable ice crystals have formed, or if the intensity of the flavor has diminished to a bland state.

Now that you're aware of the technical differences in the middle of ice cream and gelato, it would be fun to do some real life sampling to put your new knowledge to the test!

Ice Cream Vs Gelato - What's the Difference?

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