Banana-Cherry Bread

This recipe doesn't have any pictures to go along with it. That's mainly because the bread was eaten in the first 4 hours after it came out of the oven. But as the previous post proved, pretty pictures don't alway equal a tasty meal.

This recipe is from my mother's Betty Crocker cookbook (circa 1968!) Jacob and I were up this morning and wanted to make banana bread. But we couldn't find the box mix in the pantry (I admit, Jacob wasn't trying as hard as I was to find it) so I decided to make bread the old-fashioned way. The recipe was only for banana bread, but we had fresh cherries from the tree so I threw those in too.

This was surprisingly easy. Who knew??

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Ripe banana, mashed
1/3 cup fresh cherries, pitted and sliced
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp soda (I took this to mean baking soda)
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Cream shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in banana and cherries. Sift together dry ingredients, add to banana mixture (I cheat, I don't pre-sift them. Who has time? And why waste the extra bowl??)

Pour into greased bread pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Verdict: This was so tasty! It was nearly as easy as adding eggs and milk to the box mix, and just as good. A little too much sugar, so you may want to cut that back a bit. Also, it takes a bit longer than 35 minutes to cook completely. That could have to do with the cherries and their juice, I have no idea.

But it was good! And I cooked it from scratch! Yeah, me!

Marinated Cod with Mango-Pineapple Salsa

I made a lot of mistakes with this recipe.

Mistake #1- selecting Cod. What is Cod? I don't know, but it sure as hell isn't tilapia. It was more expensive than tilapia, it is considered a mild white fish, and it was in the seafood aisle at Wegman's. Any one of those things should have made it better than it was. But it was a disaster. Read on...

Ingredients (for salsa):
2 fresh mangoes, diced (I cheated, I used the canned stuff. Where do you get fresh mangoes in Upstate NY anyways??)

1/4 cup crushed pineapple
1/4 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced
2 TBS olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 shallot, finely diced
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro, or parsley
2 tsp fresh lime or lemon juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, just in case the entire jalapeno wasn't enough for you)

Mistake #2- Marinade for fish. I don't know what the hell was in the ingredients, I remember there being two dashes of tobasco sauce and 1/2 a lemon juiced, but the rest of the ingredients escape me. I could go grab the sheet with them listed, but trust me, you do not want to make this marinade. I will not include it here. Seriously, trust me.

Directions:

Mix together salsa ingredients. Yup, that easy.

Mistake #3: Grilling on a windy day. The grill didn't get above 200 degrees. So we brought the fish inside to finish. Twenty minutes later it was still not flakey and appeared to still be translucent. Another 10 minutes, and not much improvement.

Mistake #4: Actually attempting to eat this monstrosity. The salsa was great, and we eventually gave up all pretense of eating the fish and just ate the salsa with chips. Healthy dinner, huh?

Verdict: I think you see where this entire post was headed from the beginning.

Cod = bad.

Mango salsa = tasty.

Cod + mango salsa = disaster.

Baked Scallops

Back-to-back seafood recipes. Sorry about that. Still can't even look at chicken. Just a few more weeks to go until all the weird pregnancy symptoms should disappear though, so stay tuned.



This week's recipe is a rip-off from the restaurant Legal Seafood.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. sea scallops
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves minced
½ C. buttermilk
20 Ritz¨ crackers -- hand crushed
¼ C. butter melted
1 lemon

Directions:

Heat oven to 400. In a bowl, season the scallops with salt and pepper. Add thyme and buttermilk and toss to coat the scallops.


Evenly place the scallops in an oven-proof casserole and cover with hand-crushed Ritz crackers. Top with melted butter and bake for 20 minutes. Squeeze juice of lemon over the scallops and serve immediately.


Verdict:


The only problem I had with this recipe was the need for buttermilk. It's not exactly something you keep on hand in your refridgerator. Or maybe that's just me.


I didn't eat many of these, but my mother and husband both enjoyed them. Very easy to make.

Shrimp Teriyaki Rice Bowl

If you're following my other blogs, you already know that we've moved out of our house in preparation of the sale. Until our new digs are done, we're squatting at my parent's house for a while. We've already encountered difficulties.

Our bedroom is incredibly small and cramped. There is only one tv, and my mother and husband are both nightowls (but luckily they both like to watch HGTV). But most importantly, the kitchen is causing an issue. You see, my parents like to grill. A lot. Instead of the usual four burner stove, they've only got two. The other side of the cooktop is an electric grill.

I very rarely only use one or two burners. I've been known to use all four for one meal. Cooking in my mother's kitchen means cooking the rice an hour before the rest of dinner is started. Or the asparagus. You see the problem. This is going to be an interesting couple of months. But anyway, on to the recipe, borrowed from the Kikkoman Soy Sauce website!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pound medium-size shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Hot cooked rice Steamed vegetables

Directions:
Combine teriyaki sauce and sugar in measuring cup, stirring until sugar dissolves.
Remove 3 Tbsp. of mixture and pour over shrimp in large plastic food storage bag. Press air out of bag; close top securely. Turn bag over several times to coat pieces well. Marinate 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, add enough water to remaining teriyaki sauce mixture to measure 2/3 cup; blend in cornstarch.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat; add shrimp and sauté 2 minutes. Add teriyaki sauce mixture; cook, stirring, about 1 minute, or until sauce boils and thickens slightly.

Spoon shrimp and sauce over rice in large individual serving bowls. Serve vegetables on top of rice or on the side, if desired.

Verdict:

All right, honestly? I'm not going to be passing many verdicts from now on. At least not until I'm into the second trimester and can stand the sight of chicken and steak again. Shrimp is ok, but still not something I'm eating because it looks appealing. Nothing is appealing right now.

So check out the pictures, see if it looks good to you, and make it if you feel like it.

Oh, and don't expect any chicken or steak recipes up here any time soon!