Sparkling Fruit Salad is delightfully refreshing. Especially in the hot summer, it’s fruity flavors straight from the refrigerator are wonderful. It is colorful addition to a party menu any time of year – great for a shower, a potluck or any other get together. And so easy to make! The sparkling dressing is a light combination of your choice of white wine or grape juice mixed with club soda or a lemon lime diet soda. We had grape juice from Short Stuff’s last visit in the refrigerator. And a mini can of Sprite Zero (no carbs). So that became the dressing. I used canned pineapple because I had it on hand and the pineapples at the market looked a little too firm to be used immediately. I have a thing about grapes – they MUST be sweet or my face just folds up in a “wow, that ... [Read More]
strawberry
Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake
This Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake is the BEST cheesecake recipe ever baked. The toasted pecan crust has just the right flavor to set it apart from the run of the mill crust. The cheesecake is divinely creamy, so very rich and smooth. Make it plain without swirls and it is deliciously decadent. Add the subtle flavor of strawberries for the essence of spring amidst the decadance. Add beautiful deep pink swirls and you have a feast for the eyes – which makes the cheesecake taste even more wonderful. I told you my quest for St Paddy’s cheesecake led to me to developing two wonderful cheesecake recipes. The Ultimate No Bake Cheese cake. And this one. The secret is in the pecans added to the crust and the rich addition of a quarter cup of heavy cream. Skip either one and you have a ... [Read More]
Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies with white chocolate chips
Pink strawberry cookies studded with white chocolate chips seem to announce “spring is coming!” They are pretty and cheery additions to a cookie tray, perfect for spring occasions. Or a reminder of fresh strawberries and sunshine when there is a foot of snow on the ground. With four ingredients, Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies are quick and easy to make. The hardest thing I’ve found is keeping the white chocolate chips evenly distributed in the dough. They seem to want to pop out of the dough as you handle it. Which makes them look even more irresistible – but a little difficult to manage. Resist the urge to double the amount of white chocolate chips. Or you’ll be scooping the excess chips off the cookie sheet and the counter. You can’t put them back in the bag, of course. So you’ll have to ... [Read More]
Simply Strawberry Smoothie
Have to admit I’m slow to the smoothie parade. We’ve always preferred to eat our fruit as fruit (or a dessert with fruit showing – yes!) rather than drinking it. But this entire long weekend we worked hard outdoors --- digging, painting, planting, changing everything around. A cold, fruity nutritious drink sounded like a great idea. I had a big box of strawberries in the refrigerator so I quickly looked at half a dozen recipes online, and mooshed together the two simplest ones. I was tired and didn’t want to hunt for any flavorings so I left them out. And came up with a simply strawberry smoothie. It was perfect. I’m not making any claims for this concoction – other than it was cold, fruity and hit the spot – but it totally revived our spirits and gave us renewed energy. We ... [Read More]
Strawberry Lemonade
I’ve heard that when life hands you lemons, you should make lemonade. So I did. Gorgeous strawberry lemonade!! Because my refrigerator has a strange quirk. Whatever is shoved into the upper right hand corner of the top shelf freezes. Weird, huh? This time it was a package of fresh strawberries intended for an absolutely gorgeous dessert requiring perfect fresh strawberries. Frozen crystals and subdued colors were not going to help the gorgeous factor (which in actuality, may or may not, have been marginal anyway! :-) ) So strawberry lemonade it was. I pulled out the Splenda for this one to reduce carbs and calories. I barely brought the syrup to a light boil and stirred just until the Splenda dissolved, which it did very easily. Blending time with the frozen strawberries ... [Read More]
Strawberry Shortcut Mousse
Strawberry Shortcut Mousse -- light, refreshing, the perfect end to a spring meal. It is quick and easy to make and can be dressed up to look quite spectacular without piling on extra calories or carbohydrates! You can also freeze Strawberry Shortcut Mousse in molds or small paper cups for a cool snack enjoyed by all ages! Strawberries were known in the Roman Empire as early as 234 B.C. where wild berries were used for medicinal purposes as well as eating. The berry is also indigenous to North America where Native Americans used them as well. Well before 1600, early colonists were impressed with the native way of mixing crushed red berries with cornmeal then baking the mixture for strawberry bread. They adapted the dish and Strawberry Shortcake was born. The scientific name, ... [Read More]