Last Second Fruit Salad

I make lunch every day for many people. I love that I get to help them through their busy days and I LOVE when they take time to give me blush-worthy praise. I also make lunch each and every day for my two small humans. H and E... well, let's just say, they don't tend to throw as much praise my way as the people who pay for their soups, sandwiches and salads.

A recent quote from my son: Well, Mom... I've HEARD your soups were delicious, but I'm still just going to not eat it. Don't feel bad. Other people will.

So... I'm not normally thrilled making lunches for the kids - that is unless I'm making lunches WITH the kids. They like to eat things they make with me, which is why I asked my daughter to help me make fruit salad Sunday morning. In the past, when I have made fruit salad, they looked at it as though I were torturing them by merely suggesting they try it. BUT... if they were the actual creators, I figured I'd have a better shot at them actually eating the salad. We had a lot of leftover fruit from school lunches and R and I were getting ready to make one of our "famous to our friends" epic Sunday brunches. A fruit salad would be a fantastic accompaniment.

I had some watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple and fresh berries in the fridge. I got H a cutting board, a bowl and a kid-friendly knife and told her to start chopping. (She's not exactly into long term commitments to helping me so I also got out a knife and cutting board and was in charge of the melons.)

 Within minutes, we had a fresh fruit salad that was perfect JUST like that! In the past, I've added fruit juice (I like to go with Cranberry juice but you could use whatever you felt like), and a variety of other fruits. I'm not a huge fan of putting apples and oranges in my fruit salad - but my mom does all the time so you can definitely use what you have on hand and end up with something delicious. I think some recipes call for some sort of sugar to be added. I tend to think fruit is sweet enough without it - but perhaps if it were under-ripe, you might want to add some honey or maple syrup.

That's it! Fruit Salad - in minutes - mostly made by a seven year old. Yum.

Monday "I'm MUCH too busy to cook but really should" Supper

Funny thing about teaching "Quick Cooking" and "30 Minute Meal" Classes for as many years as I did - I realize there's ALWAYS time to make supper. Pair that with related classes like "Stock Your Pantry" and I really have no excuse.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't still sometimes make excuses but, well, I suspect you get the point.

So, tonight's supper came from 3 different inspirations.
#1 We had shrimp leftover from last night
#2 It is really cold out
#3 I was in the mood for pasta and there's a Spicy Shrimp Pasta dish I make sometimes that is really yummy.

Now #3 was a challenge because the dish I had in mind takes some time to prepare but I figured I could alter it with some of the stuff I have in my pantry and get it done quickly.

Here's what I did:

Put a large pot of water on to boil.* When it does come to a boil, salt the water, add the pasta and cook until al dente


Meanwhile, Chop a medium onion
Mince 2 cloves of garlic
Saute them in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with some white wine (or chicken stock)
Add a small can of diced tomatoes (I used a can of Spicy Red Pepper ones to help with the spicy factor in the original recipe)
Reduce for about 5 minutes.
Add about 1/4 cup of either milk, cream, half and half, etc.
Reduce again.


Add the seasonings you have on hand. Tonight I used chopped fresh parsley, oregano and salt and pepper.
Add cooked shrimp once the sauce comes off the heat. (It is already cooked and you don't want it to get tough.)


Toss with cooked pasta and serve immediately.