TANGERINE GINGER CAIPIRINHAS

Chop half a tangerine, making sure to pick out any seeds. Do not peel the tangerine. Place in glass. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger.  Crush the ingredients in the glass with a muddler or a wooden spoon. 

Top with 2 tablespoons of tangerine juice and 1/4 cup of cachaca (Brazilian sugarcane liquor). You could also use vodka or a white rum but then it won't be a caipirinha. Add ice and allow the ice to melt a little before you take your first taste. And voila!

MANGO BREAD

4 cups of flour

4 cups of sugar

5 teaspoons of cinnamon

4 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

 2 1/4 cups of oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

7 eggs

4 cups of fresh diced mango

1 cups of walnuts or pecans

1 cup of coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil then flour your bread pans.

Stir the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

In your mixer bowl, mix the oil, lemon juice, vanilla, and eggs. Gradually add the dry ingredients from the first bowl. Then fold in the mango, nuts, and coconut.

I use three rather large bread pans when I make this recipe. I usually bake them for at least an hour and then I use a cake tester to test doneness. You may have to adjust your time if the loaves are not completely baked in the middle. Feel free to use smaller loaf pans or min-loaf pans, but you'll have to adjust the baking times.

Freezes well.

 

FIZZY CHERRY LEMONADE

With alcohol or not. Your choice. Make the right one.

This recipe yields 8 10 oz. servings.


2 lbs. of Bing cherries
1 cup of fresh lemon juice
3/4 to 1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of vodka
chilled sparkling water


Take the stems off the cherries. You do NOT have to pit them. Put the 2 lbs of stemmed cherries into your blender. (I have a pretty good blender.) I put mine on the maximum speed and power for a few moments. Then pour the cherry mixture into a sieve over a pitcher. Add the lemon juice to the cherries in the pitcher quickly because the cherries will start to discolor almost immediately. Then add your sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.


This is when I add my alcohol.


Fill a glass with ice in it about half way full with the cherry lemon mixture and top with sparkling water.

CREAMSICLE MIMOSAS

We make them every year during the holidays and at the Annual Bike Week Brunch to rave reviews every time. Even by people who don't like champagne. As you can see we drink the cheap crapola.

2 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup sugar
1 bottle sparkling wine or Champagne (use sparkling fruit juice or sparkling cider if you wish)
Strawberries, for garnish

Directions

Put orange juice, half-and-half, and sugar into a blender and process until the sugar has dissolved, about 30 seconds. Pour this mixture into a shallow pan and freeze until hard, 4 hours or overnight.

Remove the frozen orange mixture from the freezer and let it sit to soften slightly, about 10 minutes. With a scoop or tablespoon, scrape out a small scoop and put it into a Champagne glass. Slowly fill the glass with Champagne and serve garnished with strawberries.

Look below. And then you can smash the glasses with no remorse.

APPLE CRISP

A simple, uncomplicated crisp. I use a mix of apples.

4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

1/3 cup butter , softened

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 375ºF. Spray bottom and sides of 8-inch square pan with no stick baking spray.

Spread apples in pan. In medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients until well mixed; sprinkle over apples.

Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.

Makes 6 servings.

ROASTED GRAPES AND SAUSAGE

• 2 large yellow onions, halved and slivered
• 2 cups black grapes (Concord, Globe, or any other ripe black variety -I use whatever is on sale or whatever looks the best), rinsed well
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 4 to 8 sweet Italian sausages (1 or 2 sausages per person), cut into bite-sized pieces

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

In a large roasting pan or skillet mix the slivered onion and grapes together with your hands. Drizzle some oil over them and sprinkle with several generous pinches of salt and pepper. Mix again and spread out the mixture evenly. Nestle the sausages in the onion-grape layer, but don't let them be completely covered. 

Put the pan in the oven and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until the onions have cooked down considerably, the grapes are soft, and the sausages are plump and browned on top, even a little bit crusty. Pierce one of the largest pieces of sausage. They are ready when the juices run clear. Spoon a bed of onions and grapes onto a serving platter or individual plates, top with the sausages, and serve.

LIME BARS

I just made these to take to a party at Marilyn's. I use the same recipe for my lemon bars - I just add fresh lemon juice rather than lime.

Crust:

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

16 tablespoons of butter, melted

To prepare crust combine flour and sugar. Add butter and mix well. Press into 12x15 baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Filling:

4 eggs
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder

To prepare filling, beat eggs with fork. add lime juice and mix well.

Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Beat. Pour over crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into squares  and serve. These cookies freeze well.

TILAPIA WITH JERK SEASONING AND MELON SALSA

(In regards to this pic . . . see  my confession below.)

Melon Salsa Ingredients

1/2 cup of cantaloupe, chopped
1/2 cup of honeydew melon, chopped
2 tsp. of honey
8-10 chopped fresh mint leaves

Combine, and let sit while you prepare and cook fish.

Tilapia

2 tilapia filets
jerk seasoning

Heat oven or grill to 400 degrees. Place fish in oiled pan. Sprinkle with jerk seasoning. Place in oven or on grill for 15 minutes.

When fish is finished, serve with melon salsa.

NOTE - I use Nantucket Off-Shore Rasta Rub. Check out their other offerings here. Nantucket Off Shore

CONFESSION - Usually I keep the salsa in a bowl, rather than on the plate with the fish. I put both on the same plate for the pic, but I won't do that again. Nope, I want my melon salsa in a bowl by my fish. You, however, may do as you please.

Farmers Market

I got up at an obnoxiously early hour and found myself driving in the rain to the Saturday farmers market off Orange Street. It was packed. they always have a nice crowd but I didn't think there would be that many people out in the rain.

I bought Honeywell oranges.



And massive quantities of strawberries.


I'm going to try a Rachel Ray recipe. I can't stand her, but the recipe sounds kinda simple and I have lots of strawberries. Stuffed roasted stawberries.

I have many large strawberries and I thought I could try this instead of dipping them in chocolate.


I also bought organic green onions. They are HUGE. I'm going to use them in a sausage casserole for dinner, since I actually managed to find shredded white cheddar in Florida. It's next to impossible to find. I cleaned out the dairy case. Why Floridians have such an aversion to white cheese . . . I'll never understand.

Baby eggplants also caught my eye. I think I am going to grill them with my steaks tomorrow.

I'll chop and freeze one red pepper and then I'll use the other in the casserole.

The only thing I didn't take a pic of are the baby red skinned potatoes. If it stays rainy and cool, I'm making clam chowder on Monday. Or maybe I should make it tomorrow for Monday. Hmmmm . . .

Strawberry Daiquiri Punch

Quite easy and everyone is usually impressed.

6 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened strawberries (I've never used frozen for this recipe, but if you decide to, thaw the berries AFTER measuring)
1 (6 oz) limeade frozen concentrate
3/4 cup light rum or unsweetened pineapple juice (I've used both, depending on the crowd I'm serving. And it holds up well no matter which you choose)
1 (16 oz.) bottle lemon-lime soda, chilled

Place strawberries, half to start, in a blender. Blend until smooth. Place rest of berries in blender and blend. Stir in rum and limeade concentrate. Pour into ice mold. (I use a fancy bundt cake pan.) Freeze.

When ready, place ice ring in punch bowl. Add soda.