Cherry Berry Watermelon Salad

First of all, to my American friends: Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone is having a lovely day full of cruelty-free celebrations.

I attended a family BBQ last night, and I brought festive Cherry Berry Watermelon Salad {page 98} to share with everyone. With the patriotic red and blue, this salad is just begging to be all dolled up for a celebration. In the absence of a melon baller, the more creative side of my brain took over, and I realized this was a perfect opportunity to take a mini star cookie cutter to my watermelon. While it was a bit of work, it was definitely worth the appreciative ooohs and ahhhhs that special touch brought.

The salad is simple in its construction, and takes advantage of fresh summer fruit in its prime. The dressing is light, consisting mainly of orange juice, and serves to brighten and compliment the already amazing flavors mingling in this salad. Pitting that number of cherries can be somewhat daunting if you don't have a cherry pitter, but the ever-helpful Ninjahusband figured out that a thin pair of kitchen sheers {or a chopstick} will work in a pinch.

This was a fabulous salad for a cookout on a hot summer night. I would encourage you to whip this up next time you need something colorful and delicious to compliment your veggie burgers and corn on the grill.

-- Your Friendly Neighborhood Batgirl

Ginger-Molasses Bread with Blueberries

Much as I adore it in all of its incarnations, I’ve never made gingerbread before. So since I had all of the ingredients on hand, and since anything with molasses piques my interest (I’m pretty sure I didn’t know what that was until hopping the pond), I decided to bake up the Ginger-Molasses Bread with Blueberries (page 404).

I substituted white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose and a mix of light brown sugar and dark brown (the stuff is amazing, it’s moist and wonderfully fragrant, calling to mind molasses; I love it so much, I sometimes sneak pinches just like that.)

The aroma emanating from the oven? Dreamy. The bread? Delicious. The half cup of cornmeal really does wonders for the consistency. Tender, moist, and flavorful, there’s nothing more I could wish for in a sweetbread. I’ll be keeping this in mind for next winter and a big audience. (Frozen blueberries = definitely the way to go.)

- - Ulpia, bakes 'em up - -

Banana-Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce

Pancakes were another one of those things I first encountered after hopping the pond. In Old Country, we make crepes. And we fill them and roll them up and they serve the same purpose (only they can be made savory as well). Since coming here, though, I’ve fallen in love with all things Brunch.

Enter the Banana-Blueberry Pancakes (page 516) with Blueberry Sauce (page 498). Fluffy and mellow in flavor with the occasional pleasant burst of blueberry, these pancakes are the perfect conveyer for the blueberry sauce. The sauce is very simple to prepare and positively wonderful. It would turn any dessert into a mini masterpiece and works just as splendidly over sweet breakfast fare. I used a blend of three sugars to give it even more character (white, light brown, dark brown).


And because winter isn’t over for some people, behold a snowflake pancake!

Delightful breakfast (actually, rebel that I am, I made this at night). And the sauce is going straight into my repertoire.

- - Ulpia, rebel rebel - -