Fruit Kabobs

My son and I were watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood a few days ago, and the little guy got excited when he saw Daniel and his parents making fruit kabobs for a snack.  He was determined to do the same himself, and thankfully we had all the right goodies on hand!  This super easy treat was perfect for my 4-year-old to do himself once I'd washed and cut the fruit for him, and he devoured every bit.
This is a great idea for serving fruit at a party or play date, too!

Ingredients (makes 5 kabobs- enough for 2 snack servings)

• 1/2 cup strawberries, quartered
• 12 grapes
• 1 banana, sliced
• Skewers

Directions

1. Wash and cut fruit; place in a bowl for youngster to choose from
2. Place fruit on skewer, alternating fruits

Variations 

• Dip some fruit in chocolate and allow to cool before putting on skewers (like an Edible Arrangement)
• Arrange skewers stuck in a firm base like a watermelon
• Sneak in a marshmallow here and there as a special treat

Mini Key Lime Cakes

The blessing and curse of Tastefully Simple is that you know just how good the food tastes, and you want to make all of these special treats, and just have to wait patiently for the right occasion to make them.  This was true of the key lime cheese ball mix I'd bought nearly a year ago.  One of the recommended ways to make it was to use it as a topping on Tastefully Simple's almond pound cake, which sounded delicious.  I wanted to make that little treat for a retirement party for one of my employees, but I didn't want to spend an hour prepping individual servings.  My edit was to serve up the different components and let everyone build their own little key lime cake, which worked out wonderfully.

Ingredients

• Key Lime Cheese Ball mix from Tastefully Simple
• Almond Pound Cake mix from Tastefully Simple
• 2 cups or more strawberries, sliced

Directions

1. Prepare cheese ball and cake according to package directions.  Place cheese ball in center of serving platter.
2. Cut cake into cubes, size depending on number of servings you want to have--bigger cubes for a dozen people; bite-size cubes to serve 40 as I did.  Arrange on platter.
3. Slice strawberries and serve with other ingredients.

I recommend writing up a little set of instructions to go with your components so you aren't forever explaining to your guests how they can serve themselves, and what the ingredients are.  A little chalkboard would be perfect for this!  I didn't think of it until I was at work, so I just printed out a little sign that I placed next to the serving platter.

All prepped!  Pound cake in 3 of the serving dishes and strawberries in the fourth, with the cheese ball in the middle.

End of the buffet line!

Strawberry Shortcake Trifle- Two Ways

I've been seeing this tasty looking Strawberry Lemon Cheesecake Parfait pin crop up recently, and decided to give it a try this weekend.  While the flavors all seemed spot on, it didn't really look like an appealing dessert.  I decided to try two approaches- a traditional trifle with the components layered, and the mashed up style of the original recipe.  The "pudding" style (as I've dubbed it) does have the benefit of fixing the one thing I don't like about trifles- that you have to get a perfect spoonful through all the layers to get the flavors together.  After having tried both, I have to say that I like the pudding better!  I'll leave it to you to judge for yourself.  :)

The Odd Couple: The Neat and Tidy Trifle and the Wonderful Mess Pudding

[Note: The ingredients are the same for both approaches; the only difference is in whether you layer these ingredients or mix em all up.]

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup lemon curd (or lemon pudding, or lemon meringue pie filling if you can't find/don't want to make lemon curd; the trade off is that these have milder flavors)
• 1 pound or more strawberries, chopped
• 1 whole angel food cake (store bought is JUST FINE here), cut into bite-size pieces

Directions

1. Whip the whipping cream on high speed ~1 minute, using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or a hand mixer.  Reduce speed to medium and gradually add powdered sugar, then vanilla.  Return speed to high and beat another minute or more until whipped cream is fluffy and reaches appropriate consistency.  Turn off mixer.  If using a stand mixer, switch to beater attachment.
2. Add mascarpone cheese to whipped cream, and mix on medium speed until incorporated.
3. Fold in lemon curd by hand.
4. For the Trifle: Layer a large bowl or trifle dish first with angel food cake pieces, then whipped cream mixture, then strawberries.  Repeat layers, finishing with strawberries on top.
5. For the Pudding: Fold strawberries and angel food cake into the whipped cream mixture.  Serve in small cups and top with strawberry garnish.

Grilled Spiced Pork Chops with Amazing Peach Salsa

I absolutely *love* this dish courtesy of my Food Network calendar from 2012, especially the grilled peach salsa.  Amazing, I kid you not.  The pork chops are super tasty, too!  Om nom nom nom.

Ingredients

For the pork

• Vegetable oil, for the grill grate (or grill pan, as I used tonight)
• Kosher salt (though I didn't use any)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 bone-in pork loin chops (I actually prefer boneless)

For the salsa

• 2 large ripe peaches, quartered and pitted
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/4 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, or mint (I used chives and parsley flakes, but I think this would be awesome with cilantro!)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (I didn't use any)

Directions

For the pork

1. Prepare an outdoor grill for direct grilling on a medium-high fire and indirect grilling (or heat a grill pan to medium-high heat).  Lightly brush the grill grate/pan with the oil.
2. Mix 2 teaspoons salt, the chili powder, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Divide the mixture evenly among the chops and rub all over.  Should coat generously.
3. Place the chops on the hot grate directly over the flame and grill until marked.  Rotate 90 degrees to get professional-looking grill marks, and cook halfway through, about 5 more minutes.  Flip the chops and move to a cooler area of the grill.  Rotate after a couple minutes to get the same grill mark effect on both sides.  Cover and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thicket part of the chop registers 140° (about 5-10 minutes).  Transfer the chops to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.  Can return to heat for 1-2 minutes to warm up before serving.

For the salsa

1. Toss the peaches with the oil and grill until marked and softened, 2-3 minutes.  Roughly chop the peaches into bite-size pieces and place in a medium bowl with the tomatoes and onion.  Add the lime zest, lime juice, and herbs, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on top of the cooked pork chops.  Applaud yourself for making an excellent meal.

Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Let's talk about easy and tasty for a minute.  Now, fruit salad on its own is a tasty and simple mash up of fresh, good-for-you things, but add on just a bit of something extra and wow.  That's what the honey and lime do with this one!  So give it a try as the weather warms up, and see if you're not converted.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 bunches of grapes (about 2 cups)
• 1 pint container of strawberries
• 1 pint container of blueberries
• 1/4 cup honey
• Juice from 2 limes

Directions

1. Rinse all of the fruit.  Place the grapes and blueberries in a mixing bowl.  Hull the strawberries (removing the white middle), cut into quarters (or even eighths if you have jumbo strawberries like I did), and add to the bowl.
2. Spray a measuring cup with Pam, and measure out the honey.  The Pam will make the honey slide right off of the cup, rather than being uncooperative.  Pour honey onto the fruit.  Add the lime juice.
3. Gently stir until the fruit is evenly coated with the honey lime dressing.  Refrigerate until ready to serve (preferably the same day).

Seriously- look how gorgeous this is!