Hi everybody. Here we share some great recipes from our country that can be made easily by all of you at home. We miss you all already and hope to enjoy another international night with you trying our delicious food, listening to our music (Shakira, Juanes, J Balvin), talking about soccer (James, Falcao, Cuadrado) and learning how to salsa dance some time in the future.

Enjoy,

Julian and Laura

Limonada de coco or coconut lemonade

During the summer you should always hydrate. Water is an all time perfect option, but if you want to get something new and delicious you should try this. This is something we have done at camp for the last 3 or 4 years and it is always great.

(2 servings)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup cream of coconut
• 2 1/2 cups crushed iced
• Juice of 3 limes
• 2 tablespoons of sugar or to your taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
2. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Other options: You can do other fruit lemonade changing the coconut cream for your options. Cherry, mango and peppermint are other popular, great options.

Arepas

This is a quick and easy recipe to make delicious Colombian arepas. They are usually served for breakfast, as a side dish, or even for a quick meal. Is one of my favorite food to eat anytime and it goes great with almost everything.

• (6 servings)
• INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup pre-cooked white corn meal (such as P.A.N.)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix water, corn meal, mozzarella cheese, butter, and salt together in a large bowl. Knead until mixed well and the dough has a soft consistency. If the dough is too dry, add a little bit more water. If it’s too moist, add more corn flour.
2. Form balls the size of a medium orange and place them between your hands. Flatten trying to make a circle and with your desired thickness (usually like 1 inch).
3. Coat a griddle with cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Add arepas and grill until golden brown, about 5-10 minutes per side. Serve immediately.

Other options: You can make it a whole dish. You just have to make it a little thicker and when it’s done, you cut it in the middle and fill it with meat, cheese, avocado, jam, bacon, sweet corn, everything you want.

Salpicon de frutas or Colombian Fruit Cocktail

Colombia is a tropical paradise, so we have tones of amazing recipes with sweet and refreshing fruits. This one is one of my favorites, it is great as dessert on a hot day.

(6 to 8 portions)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of dice apples
• 1 cup of dice banana
• 1 cup of dice mango
• 1 cup of dice watermelon
• 1 cup of dice pineapple
• 1 cup of dice papaya (you could switch this fruit for any other you may like, strawberries, cherries, grapes, raspberries, or add as many as you want)
• 4 cups of watermelon juice (or any other fruit juice). It is better if is natural juice, but it also works with powder juice like Tang
• Vanilla ice cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place cut fruit in a large bowl, pour juice over fruit, and stir.
2. To serve, spoon fruit cocktail into tall glasses and top with vanilla ice cream.

for the watermelon juice:

• 5 cups watermelon, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 cup crushed ice
• ¼ cup ice water
• 2 tablespoons sugar

DIRECTIONS

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Avena Colombiana or Oatmeal drink

Something you probably do not know about Colombians is that we do not eat oatmeal, we drink it, and here is my favorite recipe. It is refreshing, tasty and healthy! Perfect as a snack on a hot day.

(4 servings)

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup old fashioned oatmeal
• 4 cups milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Pinch ground cloves
• 3 ½ tablespoons sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the water, milk and oatmeal in a medium pot over medium heat and cook about 15 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon.
2. Add the cinnamon stick, ground cloves and sugar and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 more minutes.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and set aside to cool.
4. Place the oatmeal mixture in a plastic container and refrigerate for a least 3 hours.
5. Discard the cinnamon stick and place the mixture in a blender and blend for 2 minutes. Add more water or milk if you like a thinner consistency, Serve cold.