Frog Eye Fruit Salad

My husband has been asking me to make this salad for quite a while. Maybe even the full five years we've been married. I'm glad I finally gave into him, because it is a delightful salad, light and yummy. We took it to a family Christmas party, and it was a huge success. I found the recipe here: Frog Eye Salad with only a few minor changes.

Ingredients
3/4 C sugar
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 C pineapple juice
1 egg, well beaten
1 tsp lemon juice
1 C Acini de Pepe pasta, uncooked
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained
1 (20-oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (20-oz) can pineapple tidbits, drained
2 C miniature marshmallows
1 C real whipped cream, whipped
1 C shredded coconut

Combine sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan.

Stir pineapple juice into beaten egg then into the sugar mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Set aside to cool.

Cook Acini de Pepe in 3 quarts of boiling water for 6-8 minutes, stirring often.

Drain and rinse.

Combine cooked sauce with cooked Acini de Pepe. Cover and chill in refrigerator.

When cool, stir in the well drained fruit, marshmallows, coconut, and whipped topping.

Chill at least one hour before serving. ENJOY!!

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Fresh Applesauce

As I begin writing up this recipe, all I hear in my head is Peter Brady quoting "Pork chopsh and appleshauce; ain't that shwell." If you don't know the iconic show The Brady Bunch or missed this particular episode, I hope you enjoy the clip.

Ingredients:

4 large Fuji apples, washed/cored/quartered
1 C water
1/3 C lemon juice
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup (or more, to taste) maple syrup

Place all ingredients in blender and pulse until it's the consistency you want.

Serve with your favorite meal (it's really good with pork chops) or just eat as a snack.

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Romaine and Chicken Salad

We love fresh salads. My husband and I fell in love over the salads I made while we were dating. We try to have a salad at almost every meal. We also like having salads as the meal.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 heads of romaine lettuce hearts, broken up for salad
1 C blackberries, whole
1 large apple, sliced
1 medium pear, sliced
1 15-oz. can of cooked chicken breast, drained

Combine all ingredients except the chicken in your favorite salad bowl. Using a fork, break up the chicken while still in the can until it is completely shredded. Cover salad with chicken.

Serve with your favorite dressing.

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Berry Trifle

I was asked to bring a trifle to a Dickens-inspired Christmas dinner. I had never made one, though I have this awesome trifle dish. After a bit of web searching, I am more than happy to declare that I got this recipe from the Food Network (thank you Tyler Florence). It was a lot of fun to make, but it does take some time and effort. It was declared delicious by all who ate it.

Ingredients
Berries: 1 pint blueberries
1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut into thick slices
2 pint raspberries
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 C sugar
1-1/2 tsp cornstarch

Lemon Cream:
1 qt whipping cream
1 Tbl sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 batch lemon curd
1 pound cake, sliced 1/2-inch thick

Place the berries into a large bowl and sprinkle with half of the lemon juice. Lightly toss.

Combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch and remaining lemon juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat.

Bring to a simmer and cook just until the berries begin to break down and give up their juices, about 3 minutes.

Take the berries off the heat and let cool; the mixture should thicken up as is cools.

Cut the pound cake into 1/2 inch slices.

In a clean bowl, whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla to soft peaks. Put the lemon curd into a second bowl and stir in a little of the whipped cream to loosen it. Then fold in the rest of the cream.

To assemble the trifle, spoon a layer of the lemon cream into a large glass bowl.

Add a layer of pound cake, breaking the slices into pieces that fit.

Then soak the cake with a layer of berries and their juices.

Keep going to make 3 or 4 more layers, depending on the size of the bowl, finishing with a layer of lemon cream.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Pineapple Ice Cream Bowls

This recipe is so easy that I'm only including the final picture. It's a bit messy, but soooo delicious. We had these at the Polynesian Culture Center in Hawaii many, many years ago. I don't even know if they still serve them. Hey, I'm all for another trip to the Islands, but this is the next best thing (sort of).

Ingredients:
1/2 pineapple per person
vanilla ice cream of choice (we chose homemade)
blueberries

Cut the top (leafy stuff) off the pineapple. Cut the pineapple in half to make two bowls. Scoop or cut out core. Cut around the edge of the pineapple. Make several radial cuts from center to edge. This makes the pineapple easier to scoop out with your ice cream.

Fill with ice cream. Top with blueberries.

Eat!

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