Strawberry Grape Marshmallow Salad

I can't seem to get enough strawberries during these hot Summer months.  Every time I go to the grocery store, those bright red berries call my name.  I often eat them plain or topped with a little sugar, but the other day, I realized I didn't have any kind of fruit salad recipe on the blog.  So, I got on that right away and threw together this super delicious fruit salad.

For this fruit salad, I decided to use sweet strawberries mixed with juicy red grapes.  The two different textures of fruit go great together.  AND because I am a sucker for marshmallows, I threw some of those in as well.  The dressing is sweet, tangy, creamy and flavored with a touch of orange. This fruit salad was a huge hit.

It's best when served within 24 hours.  After that, it will be tinted pink from the strawberries.  It still tastes good, just doesn't look as pretty.

What are your favorite fruits to use for fruit salad?

You might also like:

Orange Pineapple Punch

Strawberry Oreo Frozen Fruit Dessert

Orange Cream Fruit Dip

Chocolate Toffee Apple Dip

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars with Strawberries

Strawberry Grape Marshmallow Salad
From: Jenn@eatcakefordinner
(Printable Recipe)

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. plain Greek Yogurt
1/4 c. orange juice (about 1/2 an orange)
grated zest of 1/2 an orange
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 Lb. red grapes
16 oz. strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 1/2 c. mini marshmallows

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and yogurt and mix together until smooth.  Add the orange juice, orange zest and powdered sugar and mix until combined.  Pour over the grapes, strawberries and marshmallows that have been placed in a large bowl.  Stir together until everything is evenly coated.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Serves at least 8.  Best when served within 24 hours.    

Pork Tenderloin and Salad

Since this was such a simple meal of grilled pork tenderloin, salad, and garlic cheese toast, I had not intended to post it, but since both the meat and Bev’s salad looked so good, I couldn’t resist.

I pulled the meat from the grill at an internal temp of 138* in the thickest part, tented, and let it rest about 10 minutes.  It was very juicy and just a little pink – just the way I like it – and the small end went to those who prefer theirs more done.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/28/14 meal date

Tuna Salad & Stuffed Mushrooms

It had been a lazy rainy day, we had the kitchen all cleaned up, and I was thinking nuked leftover grilled chicken for supper with maybe a Knorr’s Pasta side for a one pot and one plate meal.  Bev, however, had other plans – sometimes she can’t help herself when the food prep gene takes over.

First she decided she wanted a repeat of the stuffed mushrooms we’d had a few days ago (you may remember the leftovers went into the recent breakfast scramble) and I readily agreed with this choice.  This is the recipe and a couple of shots that turned out this time – the liquid in the pan is because we forgot that the shrooms were supposed to be cooked some prior to stuffing, step 3.


Ingredients:

4 large portobello mushroom caps, stems and gills removed

1 tablespoon reduced-fat Italian salad dressing

1 egg

1 clove garlic, minced

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 (10 ounce) bag fresh spinach, chopped

1/4 cup chopped pepperoni

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

3 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs, divided

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.Brush both sides of each portobello mushroom cap with Italian dressing. Arrange mushroom on a baking sheet, gill sides up.

3.Bake mushrooms in the preheated oven until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain any juice that has formed in the mushrooms.

4.Beat egg, garlic, salt, and black pepper together in a large bowl.

5.Stir spinach, pepperoni, Parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons mozzarella cheese, and 3 tablespoons bread crumbs into the eggs until evenly mixed.

6.Divide spinach mixture over mushroom caps; sprinkle mushrooms with remaining 1 tablespoon mozzarella cheese and 1 tablespoon bread crumbs. Return mushrooms to the oven.

7.Continue baking until topping is golden brown and cheese is melted, about 10 minutes more.

She next considered turning the leftover chicken into chicken salad but then said she’d been craving tuna salad and so it was.  This is her recipe for tuna salad:

2 12oz cans of tuna packed in water, flaked

3 hard boiled eggs, diced

SOME finely diced celery

SOME finely diced onion

SOME mustard, to taste

SOME mayo, to taste

A little hot sauce, to taste

S&P to taste

Mix everything together, sample and adjust to taste.

As I’ve always said, Bev is the chef in this family and I’m the recipe follower - the tuna salad was delicious, especially when served atop a fresh, from our garden tomato.

This was a fine summertime meal and the little kitchen mess was well worth it – so now I’ll be cleaning it up for the second time today.

On a different note, do you know what happens when the corner your blueberry bush bird netting is out in the grass and you catch it in your mower.

You borrow a set of ramps from your neighbor and rest them on the bed of a pick-up, you drive the mower up on them, and then spend about 30 minutes cutting out the netting and branches that came with it, to get this two foot wad.

The silver linings - it was only wrapped around one of the three blades, the netting was easy to cut and therefore much easier than removing a ski rope wrapped around a jet ski drive shaft - yep, that is the voice of experience speaking.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

7/18/14 event date

2014 Blogger Party – Antipasto Salad

This will be my last post from our blogger party and I’m only doing it because it ended up so differently from my original plan and I had a learning experience.  The plan was for me to make the antipasto on Saturday morning using a recipe from Epicurious.

I had already made the vinaigrette and assembled the other ingredients:

2 medium red onions (which I ended up forgetting to use)

4 hearts of romaine, torn or chopped

2 (8-oz) jars roasted red peppers, julienned

4 (6-oz) jars marinated artichoke hearts

2 cups pepperoncini

2 jars brine-cured olives, different kinds

1 lb cherry tomatoes, halved

2 lbs provolone, 1/4" julienne

1 lb pecorino, shaved

2 lbs salami, 1/4' julienne

1 ½ lb cappicola, sliced thin, rolled and sliced

1 ½ lb prosciutto, sliced thin, rolled

1 container anchovies, served on the side

My plan was to chop up the lettuce and mix it with half the dressing then arrange everything else on top and drizzle the remaining dressing over it, but since I was doing other things I asked Dave Scott if he would make it and he quickly agreed.

After he got all of the meat and cheese cut up and we were discussing the next steps, he said “if it were me, I’d ….”  Knowing he spent a significant amount of time learning to cook Italian, I quickly advised that it was him and please proceed.

He took about half the meat and cheese, cut it into smaller pieces, added it to the pan and emptied the pickling juice from all of the jarred veggies, saying it would be good for them to pickle the meat and cheese for about an hour.

When about ready to serve, he drained the juices from the pan and mixed the lettuce with the meat and cheese along with some of the vinaigrette, then topped with nearly everything else mixing it into the top part of the salad and finally added the rolled up prosciutto and shaved Pecorino Cheese.

Note: The red onions were supposed to be cooked lightly, cooled and added to the mix but I forgot them - we did add some raw the next day.

I thought it was outstanding and way better than what I would have done, mostly due to pickling some of the meat and cheese and I thought it was even better the next day even though the lettuce had wilted a little.  Thanks Dave for the great job.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/7/14 Event Date