Retirement Carry-in -The Recipes

I posted pictures of the Greek Salad, the Ricotta Pudding, and the Cajun Potato Salad a few days back. Here are the recipes.


Greek Salad

3 tomatoes, sliced. I used hothouse tomatoes.

1/2 Armenian or English Cucumber, though you can use conventional ones. And you can use the whole cucumber if you wish. It's your salad!

1/8 cup red vinegar. I used balsamic.


1/8 cup Extra virgin olive oil


1 teaspoon of sea salt- or more to taste.

1 cup of mixed pitted green and black Kalamata olives

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped

2 garlic cloves


An hour before assembling the salad, mix the olive oil and vinegar in a bowl. Smash the garlic cloves and put them in the oil and vinegar.Remove them after they have flavored the vinegar.

Slice the tomatoes and cucumbers. Layer them in a casserole or dish along with the olives, feta, and herbs. Sprinkle each layer with a little sea salt. Garnish with lemon rounds as pictured. Drizzle the oil and vinegar dressing over the salad just before serving.

This salad won raves at the Carry-in. There was not a leaf left.



Pineapple Almond Ricotta Pudding

1 large container ( 30 oz) Ricotta cheese

1 pint of fresh pineapple, sliced or cubed.

1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, depending how sweet you want it.

1 cup slivered almonds

2 tablespoons of Guava jelly or Apricot preserves (optional)

Put the ricotta, sugar, and pineapple in the bowl of a food processor. Add the almonds and pulse until all ingredients are blended. It may be easier to do this in two batches so as not to overload the processor bowl. Also add preserves, if you opt to use them. Serve chilled, with slivered almonds and orange rounds as garnish.


Cajun Potato salad

6 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, diced, and boiled

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon of sea salt

1/2 to 1 red salad onion, depending on how much onion you can stand.

1 container of Cajun Finishing butter. ( Available at Publix) You could substitute a stick of regular butter melted and a tablespoon of Cajun or Creole seasoning( Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning). Also- McCormick sells Cajun Spices Mix.

Add the butter to the hot , drained potatoes. Mix well. Add the mayonnaise and onion and mix well. Add more mayonnaise, salt or spices to taste. I garnished this with sage leaves.