Citrus and Red Wine Fruit salad

I made this up tonight, it's so good.

I used the fruit I had, I'll list what I used, but I think that anything along with citrus would work.

salad
4 cups cubed watermelon
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1 mango, cubed
2 peaches, sliced
1 cup pineapple, chunked
2 grapefruit, sectioned
2 blood oranges, sectioned
1 orange, sectioned

sauce
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon

I started by making the sauce, mixing the wine, sugar, zest and juice and boiling it.
Then I started on the salad, starting with the mango. After I had cut away what I could from the mango pit, I squeezed it over the red wine sauce, getting the juice from the remaining pulp on the seed. To section the citrus fruits I cut away the skin and white pith, then cut between the sections in the fruit so that it resulted in chunks of fruit with no membranes. Then I squeezed what was left into the sauce after I had removed all of the sections. (there will be some small pieces left and plenty of juice) After I prepared all of the fruit I carefully mixed it, taking care not to crush the watermelon. Then I refrigerated the salad with the sauce in a separate container. To serve drizzle the sauce over a bowl of the salad.
Yum!

Mom's Banana Bread

I had this a lot growing up, it's great.

2 2/3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter*
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 bananas (if I have more I use more)
extras**

1. mix top 4 ingredients together
2. in a separate bowl cream butter and sugar
3. add eggs to creamed sugar and butter, mix
4. add bananas to mixture, mix
5. add dry to wet, in batches.
6. makes 2 loaves, bake at 350 degrees until a tooth pick comes out clean.

* I have also used 1/3 cup oil, or 1/2 cup applesauce, it all works well. The butter gives it a richer taste, but oil is better for you, and applesauce is the best, but results in a drier loaf.
**extras could be chocolate chips, raisins, or nuts. I've also adds citrus zest and it's nice. I add raisins etc. when everything is mixed together. If I'm adding zest I add it to the moist before adding the dry.

Cajun Shrimp

1 cup melted butter
2-3 tablespoons pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons hot sauce
2 lemons, thinly sliced
2-3 pounds shrimp (deveined, shells on or off)

mix first 4 ingredients
spoon some of the sauce into a 9X13 baking dish, enough to cover the bottom
add 1/2 of the shrimp to the baking dish and layer the slices of one lemon over them
cover with some of the sauce
add the rest of the shrimp evenly, top with lemons and cover with sauce.

bake in a 350 degree oven until the shrimps are pink, take care not to overcook.

Serve with a salad and bread.

Biscotti breakfast

serves 1

2 biscotti cookies
1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 cup frozen raspberries
silvered almonds (optional)

crumble cookies into a bowl
in a blender blend the yogurt and raspberries
pour over cookies
sprinkle with almonds

Bread Salad

This is my new favorite salad.

serves 1

2 slices of a rustic stale bread (like ciabatta or a baguette) cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tomato, cubed
1/2 a cucumber, cubed
5-6 black olives, whole
1 tablespoon capers
1-2 tablespoons feta (optional)
1-2 tablespoons balsamic (to taste)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil (to taste)

I start with adding the bread to a large bowl, then veggies and stir. When I add the olives and capers I may add a little juice if the bread is really hard, less if it's less stale. I just drizzle the oil and vinegar on the top of it all, to taste. I like it to be a little more vinegary than oily. I tried it with feta, but I though that the salad has enough flavours and the feta competes too much with the capers.
Overall it's a really yummy salad.

Eat Your Veggies! chocolate cupcakes.

I found this recipe somewhere and it intrigued me. They're good, Adam even likes them.

1 1/4 cups butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup grated zucchini

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, vanilla, yogurt and cocoa, stir until smooth.
In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients, mix well and add to moist mixture, (I did it in 2 batches) mix until combined, take care not to over mix. Fold in veggies.
Spoon into lined muffin tins and bake in a 350 degree oven for approx 18 mins, or until a toothpick or other such pointy object comes out clean.
Yields 24 cupcakes.

I don't really notice the veggies in them, they just blend in well. The batter is really thick, an ice cream scoop would work well to get even cupcakes.
I think they would be really good with icing.