Xpress, the Coolest Section of the St. Petersburg Times, is the home for features, news and views of interest to young readers. Most of the work in Xpress, which appears on Mondays in Floridian, is produced by the Times' X-Team. The team of journalists ages 9-17 from around the Tampa Bay area is selected every year at the end of the school year to serve during the following school term. The current team of 12 was chosen out of 150 applicants. Watch for X-Team application forms in Xpress during the month of May.
Read the reviews by Xpress Film Critic Billy Norris
The fruit of teen's labor is a prize recipe
By REVA LUTH-POWELL
Published September 15, 2003
Nicole Banks, 13, makes her award-winning fruit salad.
[Times photos: Dirk Shadd]
All different colors, fun shapes, neat designs - can this be fruit?
Well it can be when Nicole Banks steps in front of the cutting board. "I love fruit, especially strawberries, kiwis and watermelon," says Nicole, 13. The St. Petersburg teen took first place in the side dish category in the Dole 5 A Day Kids Snack Recipe Contest.
For her Dole Delight Fruit Platter, Nicole won a $500 U.S. savings bond. The top prize was a $10,000 savings bond that went to a 10-year-old in California. A new edition of the contest is open to children ages 5 to 12, who enter recipes featuring Dole fruits and vegetables.
Nicole, an eighth-grader at Keswick Christian School in Seminole, plans to use her savings bond for college, where she plans to study to become a veterinarian.
What made her fruit platter so special? Nicole said that she uses about every kind of fruit you can think of: blueberries, strawberries, bananas, mandarin oranges, apples, honeydew, pineapple chunks, grapes and kiwis. To make her fruit platter even more colorful, she uses food coloring so it stands out.
The entire contest took about five months. Even today, Nicole often makes the fruit platter and continues to experiment. "The great thing about my recipe is you can use any Dole fruit, fresh or canned, so all year long you can make it," she says. "My neighbors even ask for it."
- Reva Luth-Powell, 14, is in ninth grade at the Lakewood High School CAT program and was a member of the 2002-03 X-Team.
Dole Delight Fruit Platter
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 drops food coloring of choice
2 kiwis, sliced
1/2 pint blueberries
5 large strawberries, sliced or halved
1 banana, sliced
1 can mandarin oranges
1 apple, sliced (Nicole prefers red)
1/4 honeydew melon, sliced
1 can pineapple chunks
10 seedless grapes, green or red
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine juice, cornstarch and food color. Stir constantly for one minute or until thick. Set aside.
Arrange fruit attractively on a platter. When ready to serve, pour juice mixture over fruit.
Makes 10 servings.
Note: Nicole prefers Dole brand fruits. She also likes to vary the food colors each time she makes the fruit salad.
For more information on the Dole 5 A Day program, visit www.dole5aday.com
