Fresh Fruit Minestrone with a hint of Orange-flavoured Liqueur

Sunday Treat: pacman emoticon Simple, yet lovely to look at and refreshing + delightful to savour... One of my favourite sweet treats with a linkage to my childhood memory as my grandmother made it often... but without liqueur...
...Besides my top operation: "Eating", I was assigned to peel and remove pips from grapes... for my grandma's fruit salad...and sometimes...for my grandpa's afternoon break. penguin emoticon 
---> Fresh Fruit Minestrone <---, a cocktail of fruit salad, ...cut and steeped in a spiced fruit marinade, with a hint of Curaçao triple sec, ...set over ice... served with a quenelle of heart emoticon -made creamy frozen yogurt...and a sprig of mint for garnish.
For the marinade:
1 cinnamon stick
2 pieces star anise
1 vanilla pod (cut in half lengthwise)
300 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
300 ml water
300 g sugar
juice from 1 lime or lemon
1 tablespoon Curaçao Triple Sec or Cointreau

• Place the water, sugar, vanilla pod, cinnamon stick and star anise in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the orange juice and lime juice. Blend ingredients together well in a blender...until well combined. Add in Triple sec and set aside.

For the fruits:
1 Washington red apple
1 Granny Smith apple,
1-2 kiwi(s)
150 g strawberries
(for apples, kiwis and strawberries, cut into chunks)
150 g grapes, (halved, remove pips)
2 Navel oranges, sliced
2 bananas, (peeled & sliced, then brushed with lime juice)
alternatively, you can blend bananas with other ingredients for marinade
Fresh mint, for garnish
Lime or Lemon juice, for brushing the apple chunks and banana slices

• Add the prepared fruits to the marinade. Allow the fruits to sit in the marinade for at least 3-4 hours before serving. Note* I also added my left-over orange strips, made of orange peel in orange syrup to the marinade. 

For Creamy Frozen Yogurt:
3 cups of 135 g natural yogurt
(I used Thai brand w/ 0% fat plain yogurt)
75 g icing sugar

80 ml whipping cream, for mixing

• Churn in a Sorbetière or ice-cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions.
• Alternatively, mix (not whip) the ingredients together in a bowl or a plastic freezer box, cover and freeze for half and hour. Stir and mix with a whisk every 15 minutes during freezing to break up the ice crystals and give a better texture. Shape the frozen yogurt with a spoon when ready to serve. Enjoy! :)

p.s August 23rd, 2015 

May the angels rejoice & sing a song to you together...

Hope your birthday in heaven is the best one ever!

ℒℴѵℯ & Miss you dearly on your special day, grandpa! 

 ❤❤❤❤

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