I'm Giving You The Raspberries

What can I say about Summer fruit, it's the best.  It has the most wonderful flavor in the world. Sweet, juicy and there are so many things you can do with it.  Pies, jams, grill it, make a cake, frozen pops or salsas, I could go on and on of all the things you can do with Summer fruit.  I found some interesting berries that I have never seen before, yellow raspberries, and thought I would give them a try.  The color was vibrant, pretty, that's what drew my eye to them. I love color, as you all know, it keeps things interesting.

I made a fruit and lettuce salad with all my berries, if you have never tried this, please do, it's tastes great! I washed romaine lettuce and berries, (you can use any lettuces you want, a Spring mix and super lettuces like kale, chard and spinach are good too).  Chop the lettuce, slice the strawberries and then toss with blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries and yellow raspberries.

 Look how colorful! I also used matchstick carrots and cucumber.  It's all good for you food.  I made my favorite sweet/ tangy dressing for this salad - 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup sugar (or other sweetener, agave or honey) 1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon sesame seeds and 1/4 teaspoon poppy seeds.  Shake it all together, drizzle some over the salad.

Abundance of Berries - Fresh Berry Fruit Tart

WOW, the supermarkets are loaded with berries. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, I love them all.  Put them in desserts, cereal, smoothies, on ice cream, make some jam or put them in salads (yes that's right, I do it all the time and they are fantastic!) They're all "good for you" foods too, so take advantage, because after summer they will disappear or the prices will skyrocket.

  I have to go to the big box stores at least twice a week for berries, because e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y in my house eats them.  I bought some extra and made a Fresh Berry Fruit Tart yesterday for dessert.  Warm weather equals cool desserts for me and this ones fits the bill.

Recipe below. To print, click on the recipe, highlight it and print.

Can you believe these few simple ingredients make a delicious dessert?  Well they do!  Use whatever fruit flavored cream cheese and fruit that you like, it doesn't have to be berries.

 Cookie baking and almost done.

 Mixed up the cream cheese and sugar.

Cookie baked and cooling.

 Berries washed and drying on a towel.

Spread the cream cheese mixture on the cooled cookie. 

 Slice up the strawberries and decorate using your own creativity!  Come on, it's easy.

 Lookin' Good!

 Can't wait to cut it up and eat it.

Up close and personal with the fruit tart, it's almost too pretty to cut and eat, naaaaaa.....

Fresh Berry Fruit Tart

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

1 - 16.5 oz. roll of Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough

2 - 8 oz. containers of strawberry cream cheese, softened (do not use whipped)

1 cup of confectioner's sugar

2 cups sliced strawberries

1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup blackberries

1/2 cup red raspberries

lemon zest and fresh mint sprigs for garnish (omit if you don't like it)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a round pizza pan with cooking spray.  Break the dough into 5 pieces and drop four of the pieces around the sides of the pan and one in the middle of the pan.  Press the dough evenly into the pan with your hands (but not to the edge of the pan), until all of it is flattened and it looks like a big cookie.  Bake until lightly browned.

While the cookie is baking, mix the cream cheese and the sugar with an electric mixer until all is combined. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to use it (take it out about 15 minutes before spreading on the cookie, so it will be spreadable).  Wash all the berries and lay them to dry on a clean dish towel.  Hull and slice the strawberries, then zest the lemon and set them aside.

When the cookie is baked, take out of the oven and let it cool completely.  When it is cooled, spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the top of the cookie.  Decorate the top with a pattern of all the berries, sprinkle with lemon zest and garnish with mint sprigs. Makes 8 - 10 servings.

Beginning and End of a Great Meal

We had family over for dinner on Saturday and I made homemade bruschetta for an appetizer. It's quick and easy and it was very tasty, if I say so myself.  Summer tomatoes are the best to use if making this dish, they are rich in flavor, juicy, and the color they get from the summer sun is beautiful.  I made this bruschetta with campari tomatoes, they always taste like a summer tomato, no matter what time of year it is. The recipe is below so start chopping!

1/2 chopped sweet onion - such as vidalia, 5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 small box of campari tomatoes, quartered then chopped

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

3 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbsp balamic vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

1 baguette, sliced to top with bruschetta.  Can you say yummy!

I Scream You Scream We All Scream For Ice Cream!

I also made Raspberry Ice Cream for dessert. Get out all your ingredients, whole milk, heavy cream, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and frozen raspberries.  You also need an ice cream maker.  Recipe is below.

Pulse frozen raspberries in a food processor or blender

They will look like little beads when you are done

Beat eggs and 1/3 cup of sugar until a thick stream drips from beaters

Milk, cream and 1 cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan

Combined milk and raspberry mixture

Pour into a bowl

Cover the very top of it with plastic wrap and chill for 3 hours or more

Pour into frozen barrel of ice cream maker and churn

Pour into a container with a lid and freeze for about 8 hours or overnight. Oh baby this stuff is soooo good! Rich, creamy and tasty and full of raspberry flavor.

RASPBERRY ICE CREAM

6 cups of frozen red raspberries

2 cups whipping cream

2 cups whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

pinch of salt

1.  Place the 6 cups of berries in a food processor or blender.  Pulse until raspberries are like little tiny beads.

2. Combine cream, milk, vanilla, 1 cup of sugar and the salt in a heavy sauce pan. Heat on medium, until almost boiling, then remove from burner.  Bubbles will form around the sides of the pan and it will be steamy.

3. In a separate bowl use a hand mixer to beat the eggs and remaining 1/3 cup sugar until a thick stream drips from the beaters.

4. Pour 1 cup of the warm milk into a bowl and slowly drizzle in the egg mixture.  DO NOT pour all of it in the milk.  The eggs have to be tempered with the warm milk, otherwise you will have scrambled eggs.  Then, add the rest fo the milk mixture and stir.  Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the clean pot and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens, about ten minutes,  while stirring constantly.

5. Take the mixture off the heat and stir in the raspberries.

6. Pour mixture in a large bowl and put in the fridge with plastic wrap placed directly on the top.  Chill for 3 hours or more.  Pour mixture in the frozen barrel of an ice cream maker, it takes about 20 - 25 minutes to churn it.  When done scoop out of barrel, put it in a container and freeze for 8 hours or until firm.

NOTE:  This recipe will have to be made in 2 batches depending on your ice cream maker. To check to see if ice cream is done churning, it should be thick and churning over the top of the blender part of the ice cream maker.