A Bee in My Easter Bonnet {and Pink Fruit Salad}

Got some work-related funk and aggravation going on right now.  Bad mojo, podjo.
So I'll just keep it zipped and show you this fruit salad my mother-in-law makes for Easter

and some pictures from around my town.

Like a sunset over a crawfish field

Getting better already.

A Butterfly Iris from my yard

My dwarf azalea--a beacon on the front walk

And some pictures from a stroll around the neighborhood

Now back to this fruit salad.  I call it Pink Fruit Salad.  Betcha can't figure out why.

My mother-in-law told me the original recipe calls for maraschino cherry juice mixed with condensed milk, but she found that too sweet and thick.  She uses evaporated milk and some sugar to taste.


I skip the sugar.
'Cause you know me.  All healthy and crap.

My favorite part is the pink "juice."  Because it makes for a fruit salad that's different.  And, if you submerge your fruit in it

the apples and bananas will stay fine for a few hours.  No browning.  The fruit, especially the bananas, also start to soak up the flavor of the pink juice.

Just be warned.
More than a few hours and the bananas go from soaking up the juice to disintegrating in it.  Especially if the leftovers sit forgotten in the fridge for 2 days.
Yep.  Especially then.

My mother-in-law always makes this salad with banana, apple, mandarin orange segments, grapes, pineapple chunks, and maraschino cherries.  Use whatever rocks your socks.

The amount of liquid will be enough to cover 4 1/2-4 3/4 cups of fruit.  Given the right bowl (think tall rather than shallow and wide).

How to segment an orange


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Pink Fruit Salad
2 oranges, peeled and segmented (about 1 c)
1 banana, sliced (about ¾ c)
2 handful grapes, halved
heaping ¼ c pineapple tidbits, drained
1 medium-large apple, cored and chunked (about 1 ½ cups)
heaping ¼ c maraschino cherries
1 c evaporated milk
6-8 TBSP maraschino cherry juice
sugar to taste, optional

The amount of fruit should total roughly 4 ½ to 4 ¾ cups.  Place all of the prepared fruit in a bowl that will snugly hold the fruit.  Toss gently with your hands.  Mix the evaporated milk, cherry juice, and sugar (if using) in a separate bowl.  Pour over the fruit.   Press down on the fruit to submerge in the juice.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes up to about 3 hours before serving.  Serve in bowls with some of the liquid.

linking with:

Hippity-Hoppity

Last year around Easter, I teased you with my favorite Easter candy--Gold Brick Eggs.

But ya know what?  Elmer Chocolate (Ponchatoula, LA) isn't a one-trick chocolatier.  Oh, no, ma'am.  

They make gooey, sticky pecan eggs that were added to our Easter baskets...just for mom.  Elmer also makes Heavenly Hash, which has been around since 1923 and is described as "Little bites of Heaven on Earth."

Heavenly hash is a mix of almonds and marshmallow coated in smooth chocolate.  Like Gold Brick Eggs (my favorite) and Pecan Eggs (mom's favorite), it wouldn't be Easter without Heavenly Hash.

Elmer's distribution is along the Gulf Coast.

So what if you don't live along the Gulf Coast?

Not to worry, cher.  Heavenly Hash can be had in cake form.

This cake tastes surprisingly similar to the candy.

Also linked with Food on Friday: Cake @ Carole's Chatter

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Heavenly Hash Cake
adapted from Cooking With Cajun Women by Nicole Denee Fontenot

2 tsp vanilla
2 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, melted
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
4 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c almonds
1 package (10.5 oz) mini marshmallows (you may not use the entire package)

icing:
1 lb powdered sugar
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
8 Tbsp evaporated milk
4 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix the first four ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the self-rising flour and cocoa powder.  Then stir in the almonds.  Add the flour mixture to the first mixture.  Mix gently; don't beat.  Pour into a greased 13" x 9" pan.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Have the icing ready and warm for when the cake is done.  Remove the cake from oven and immediately cover with marshmallows.  Pour the icing over the marshmallows.

To make the icing: Heat the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, evaporated milk, and butter, whisking out any lumps.  Pour over the marshmallows while icing is still hot.

Linking with Cookbook Sundays @ Couscous & Consciousness


Cooking With Cajun Women, published in 2002, is filled with recipes you'd find Cajun home cooks making for their families.  The author, Nicole Denee Fontenot, selected recipes as well as nostalgia from Cajun women who grew up in the early Twentieth Century.  Some of their stories are hilarious.  All of them offer a glimpse into Cajun lifestyles during this time.  This book contains classic Cajun recipes as well as quick and easy shortcuts implemented by young housewives raising large families.

See Ya In the Gumbo potluck #25 can be found HERE

~~ Please vote for Ms. enPlace for 
The VoiceBoks Top 10 Foodie Blog of 2012.
Thanks! ~~
Voting ends April 13th.

Linking this week with:

Seafood Celebration

Knee deep in Lent, all of the fast food joints have been advertising fish sandwiches and fried shrimp.  Schools across my area--even the public ones--serve seafood for lunch on Fridays.  Local restaurants put out signs telling me that the crawfish are in.  They offer fried catfish, crawfish etouffee, or shrimp stew for Friday plate lunches.  Groceries reserve entire sections of their weekly ads for Lenten seafood specials.

It's a seafood celebration.

Which confuses me and always has.  I grew up in the Catholic church, my mom belonging to various church organizations.  Went to Catholic school from K-8th grades.  Plaid skirt and all.  Believe me, we were taught about Lent.  Silent, penitent Lent.  No celebrating, no hallelajuhs.

(But I really want to jump up and down and say hallelajuh over this creamy seafood sauce.)

In school we were asked to write what we were giving up for Lent on a slip of paper.  Fold it up.  Place it in a basket in church.  Serious business.  However, even in the holiest of places, jokers are still jokers.  A few wise guys decided to write things like "I'm giving up school."  "I give up homework."  "I will not pick my nose during Lent."  So then we had to place our slips of paper in a basket on the teacher's desk.  Teachers  scarier than catholic priests?  Well, I'm not going there.  The teachers handed out trips to the principal's office.

It was a mixed message.  A somber, holy reverence was expected at school.  But then everyone was attending crawfish boils all over South Louisiana come Friday night.  Loud, raucous crawfish boils with spicy mudbugs and cold beer.  And that, my friends, isn't much of a penance.

I always detected a certain giddiness in my dad on all those Lenten Friday nights.  Eager for
redfish courtbouillon
crawfish etouffee
mom's beer battered shrimp
or trout meuniere

After a few seafood meals under stretching our belts recently, I had leftover crab, shrimp, and crawfish.  But not enough of any one thing to make a meal.

One of my favorites at the restaurant where my brother works is Pasta Pontchartrain.  A creamy pasta with crab and shrimp--both of which can be caught in Lake Pontchartrain.

Starting with that idea and borrowing some tricks from Tessa Kiros' lovely lemony cream sauce, we had ourselves a winner.

And like most Louisiana Catholics, we enjoyed the hell outta the pasta.

Then felt immensely guilty afterwards.

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Bayou Pasta
1 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 c white wine
1 c heavy whipping cream
about 1/2 c cooked crab
about 1/2 c cooked shrimp (if large, chop to match pasta size)
about 1/2 c cooked crawfish
3/4 lb short, stubby pasta, such as penne, farfalle, or shells
Salt, pepper, and Tony's Creole Seasoning to taste
chopped parsley for garnish

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Melt butter over medium heat.  When foamy, add the garlic and lemon zest.  Saute for a few minutes.  Add the wine, increase the heat, and reduce by about 1/2.  Lower the heat back to medium or medium low.  Add the cream.  Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt, pepper, and Tony's.  Simmer the sauce until thickened.  Gently fold in the seafood and simmer until heated through.  Toss the pasta with the sauce.  Garnish with chopped parsley and a sprinkle of Tony's.

* See Ya In the Gumbo potluck can be found HERE
* Please vote (top right of your screen) for which potluck you'd like for Spring & Summer

~~ If you like what you read here, 
please vote for Ms. enPlace for 
The VoiceBoks Top 10 Foodie Blog of 2012.
Thanks! ~~

Linking this week with:

Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday Pasta & Noodles theme