Spicy Mango Shrimp!

While waiting for my sister at the dentist's office the other day, I picked up an issue of Sunset Magazine. After reading a couple of them, I found this recipe for Spicy Mango Shrimp. Wanting to try something new, I ripped out the recipe (shh!) and hurried home to try it.



Let me tell you, this dish is aromatic, spicy, sweet, easy to make, and most importantly, DELICIOUS! This is a definite crowd pleaser; my whole family really enjoyed it!

Ingredients:

3 tblsp. vegetable oil
1 c. chopped onion
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. red chile flakes
1/2 c. chopped fresh basil leaves
2 tblsp. soy sauce
1 tblsp. fresh lime juice
About 12 oz. peeled and deveined shrimp (30 to 35 per lb.)
2 cc. cubed fresh or frozen mango (preferably unripe)
1/4 c. toasted shredded unsweetened coconut

Directions:

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and sauté onion in oil until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, chile flakes, basil, soy sauce, lime juice, and shrimp; cook, stirring often, until shrimp turn pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Add mango and cook until warm. Sprinkle with toasted coconut and serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Tip: I put a piece of parchment paper on top of a baking sheet and spread the coconut out over the parchment paper. I set the oven to 350 degrees and toasted the coconut for ~5 min.

Going Bananas!

I don't know about you, but I LOOOOVE banana bread (not necessarily bananas themselves, hehe). My mom found this recipe in Paula Deen's 2007 Holiday magazine. With bananas, banana pudding, cool whip, and shaved chocolate, how can you go wrong?

Ingredients:

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 c. mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. plus 2 tsp whole buttermilk
1 box banana cream instant pudding
1 (12 oz) container cool whip, thawed
grated chocolate for garnish.

How to Prepare:

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and mashed bananas.

In a seperate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour batter into a 13 X 9 greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for one hour.

With the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes halfway through cake in half inch intervals. Next make pudding according to box. Pour over top of cake and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. Spread whipped topping over top of cake and garnish with grated chocolate.



Yummy!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

While in school, my go-to lunch was Mediterranean pasta salad. It can be eaten by itself, or as a side dish (I am partial to enjoying it with a juicy hamburger!). I like this dish because it is extremely flexible -- you can replace the red bell peppers with tomatoes, throw in Kalamata olives instead of black olives, substitute parsley for cilantro...the list goes on and on! You can definintely personalize it to suit your tastes :)

Ingredients:

1 c. Orzo pasta
A handful of chopped cilantro
1 red bell pepper
1/2 c. diced black olives
1/2 c. chopped red onion
1 c. sun-dried tomatoes (I prefer the sun-dried tomatoes that are NOT soaked in oil. They're less messy).
1 stalk of green onion, sliced
4 oz. feta cheese
Italian dressing of your choice (I like Wishbone)
salt and pepper

How to Prepare:

Prepare the orzo pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and rinse with cold water. It should look like this:



Next, chop the olives, red/green onions, bell pepper, sun dried tomatoes, and cilantro.



Add your veggies to the orzo and mix well. Add the Italian dressing until the orzo is well coated, along with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for a few hours so that the orzo can soak up the Italian dressing. Right before serving, add a little more dressing as well as the feta cheese.



Enjoy!

Blueberry Crumb Coffee Cake

I decided to celebrate the 4th of July by baking this Blueberry Crumb Coffee Cake that I found a couple of days ago on Lovin' From the Oven. Boy was it delicious! It had the perfect amount of sugary sweetness and was super moist. I had to use frozen blueberries this time because the fresh ones at the market were really expensive! Luckily they worked out really well and I would definitely recommend them for when blueberries aren't in season. This yummy cake may leave you with blue teeth, but it is totally worth it!

For the cake:

1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup milk

For the topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbl butter

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2) Mix flour, baking powder and salt on waxed paper.
3) Cream softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy, beat in the egg.
4) Place blueberries in a small bowl, dust with a small amount of the flour mixture. Toss to coat.
5) Add the remaining flour mixture and milk alternately to creamed mixture, mixing continually
6) Gently fold blueberries into batter.
7) For the topping, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, cut in butter until crumbly.
8) Spread batter into a greased 8 inch square baking dish.
9) Sprinkle topping over batter.
10) Bake for 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

Enjoy!