Summer Desserts

The past two weekends I've been making these two desserts as a youth fundraiser at church. The first one is a fruit pie with stars and stripes for memorial day, and the second one is a watermelon carved with fruit in in it. I'll show you how to do them!

Flag Fruit Pie

-5 cups of mixed fruit

-box of tapioca mix

-1 tsp lemon juice

-2 cups sugar

-2-3 tbsp butter

-dough sheets

-pie crust pan

Mix the first 4 ingredients and let them set for 15 minutes. While waiting, take the dough sheets and cut them into the stripes and cut out the stars. After the 15 min, pour the fruit in and place the stripes and stars across. Put in oven and cook! (Sorry I don't remember the other info. Just look up how to cook regular pies.)

Watermelon Basket

-Watermelon

-Other fruits

Here's a good demonstration:

http://thehappyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/06/watermelon-basket.html 

*I like to do the little ridges on the side after cutting the top parts off.

Frozen Banana Bites-- 3/5 Stars of Frozen Goodness!

So, as you will learn, I am obsessed with coming up with recipes/cooking in general (especially if it's healthy!). This is the first recipe I will share with you! 

After doing some research, I came up with the basic idea how to do this. Put the banana in the freezer, dip in chocolate, put on toppings, and put back in the freezer. So I thought. As it turns out, I was actually supposed to unpeel the banana and cut it up before I put it in the freezer. That was just my mistake #1... So after taking the bananas out and they were pretty much blocks of ice, I thawed them in the microwave (mistake #2). After unpeeling them and cutting them, I stuck them back in the freezer to harden them back up a little (this was probably my only smart idea). Then, I microwaved a couple handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips, took the bananas out, and attempted to dip them in chocolate. However, something in my failed preparation made the bananas even more slimy and made the chocolate unable to stick. Despite my mother's laughter towards me, I was determined. I spooned chocolate on top of them and if it didn't stick I'd use my fingers to squish it on there. Before the chocolate dried, I stuck on toffee bits on some, coconut on others. While this may not of been my most brilliant cooking ever, it still tastes good, and it is still pretty healthy! I would even try the banana frozen without all the toppings because it was so sweet on its own!

So after this interesting experience... Note to self. Read the directions.



Frozen Banana Bites Recipe

-Banana
-Semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate almond bark
-Any toppings (coconut, toffee, nuts, etc.)

UNPEEL banana and cut into 1-1/2 inch slices. Freeze for 1-2 hours. Melt chocolate. Dip bananas in chocolate. Roll or sprinkle toppings on. Stick bananas back in freezer. When eating the bananas, let them thaw a little bit so you aren't bitting straight into a frozen banana!

Schooool's Out for Summer!

I hope you started singing that title as soon as you read it! I sure did! I'm super excited for this summer and I have a ton of plans. Let me tell you all about them....

Unfortunately, I have those dreaded school assignments. Government, English assignments, and math work-- how cruel. While for other kids that would be the complete essence of any educational things they do this summer, I have plenty of other educational things planned for myself. (I'm nerdy. I know.) To prep for Chemistry, which I am very fearful of, I am going to start learning ahead of time on chemistryonline.com. But that's not all! I'm also going to work in my ACT book, take a free practice ACT at a local college, and take a free practice SAT online. Also, it is has always been my dream to speak in another language, so I am planning on learning Italian on livemocha.com! So that's the end to my super nerdy plans... but not to worry-- I have some other semi-nerdy goals! These include looking at colleges, expanding my vocabulary, and reading one of my favorite genres-- history (I see the look you're giving me now! I enjoy history, so buzz off!) Anywho... my not so nerdy goals for the summer goes as follows: learn to play the guitar, find some super yummy healthy recipes (I love to cook, especially healthy foods), and work out for sports this year!

So yeah! I've got a few end-of-year, grad, and birthday parties coming up, so I should stay busy for the next week or so. Let the summer............ BEGIN!!!!!!