Mixed Berry Delight Pie

Ahhh, summer. The beach, the sundresses, the pool, the freedom from school, the flip-flops, the ice cream, the grilled steaks/burgers, the fruit.

I love summer fruits. I love them by themselves, but I really love them in pies, cobblers, and other desserts. Fruit desserts are way better than chocolate. Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, but fruit is lighter and fresher and tastier.

This pie contains three fruits-lemon, blueberries, and the ultimate summer berry, the raspberry. It is sweet, though not too sweet. If summer had a flavor, this would be it. 

Mixed Berry Delight 

(adapted from Granny)

For the pie:

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 c lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 graham cracker crust

For the topping:

2 c raspberries

2 c blueberries

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp lemon juice

Beat cream cheese until fluffy, beat in sweetened condensed milk. Add lemon juice and vanilla, mix well. Pour into crust and chill 3 hrs or till firm.

For the topping, mix and cook over medium heat till thick. Cool before pouring over pie.

Serve this pie at your next picnic, pool party, or whatever. Once your guests taste it, they will make you the official dessert person, so hopefully you can handle the responsibility. Or maybe once you taste it you won't want to share. I sure wouldn't. :)

Happy evening!

Mellie

Fruit Salsa

Guess what? It's been exactly 1 month since I last posted a recipe. Can you believe that? Summer flies by!

I've been too busy having summer romances with:

1.Agatha Christie novels.

2.Sundresses, especially ones from Kohl's.

3.Actually, I'm in love with all Kohl's dresses.

4.Eggplant, especially the eggplant rice bowl at Doc Chey's.

5.Flourless Torte.

6.And fruit salsa. 

There's really nothing not to love about fruit salsa. It's fresh and flavorful, pretty, and ridiculously simple. And just bursting with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. I feel kind of cheated that in all my years of eating and cooking and enjoying food, I'd never had it.

Uuntil I made this recipe. And it was love at first bite. And my whole family felt it too. Then my mom mom found this one. It was not quite as awesome, but it was awesome. And then I made up another one. Oh no! I forgot the measurements. But I remember what it had in it:

Mango-peach berry salsa:

Mangoes

Peaches

Bell Pepper (<--red would be prettiest)

White Onion

Fresh cilantro (<--one of my current obsessions)

Blueberries

Pita or Tortilla chips, for serving

Then finely chop everything, saute the onion in cooking spray, and mix everything together. Serve with chips.

See? A child could do it. 

I made another one, and this time I remembered the measurements:

Watermelon Salsa

5 c watermelon, coarsely chopped

1 c blueberries, coarsely chopped

1/2 white onion, finely chopped

1 bell pepper, finely chopped (I used 1/2 orange and 1/2 yellow)

A few springs fresh cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

Saute the onion in cooking spray, then combine everything. Serve with tortilla or pita chips. 

Yum.

I'm not sure what my next recipe should be. I've been cooking a lot recently! How about you pick? I like to do things my way, though, so don't expect this to become a regular feature. OK, here's the list:

1. low country boil

2. cornbread

3. a muffin or quick bread

4. a fruity dessert

5. pancakes or waffles

wow, I just realized that all those contain an unhealthy form of carbs. Oh well. 

 Good night!

  Love, 

Mellie

Everything's Better at the Beach

Hi! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

So, I should probably write the last Folly Beach post, since I got back like a week ago. I was just busy; we went to Asheville almost immediately afterwards, because it's a Fourth of July tradition.

 

Want.

Every night, we went to a small ice cream shop called Sugartime. This place doesn't look like much; it's really small and doesn't even have tables. But the ice cream is really, really tasty. It's fresh, flavorful, locally made ice cream from a brand called Wholly Cow. Sugartime only has a few flavors, but they change some of them up each night.

I had cookie dough the first night, vanilla the second night, and mint chocolate chip the last night. Mmmmm. The vanilla was really vanilla-y. I think the mint chocolate chip was my favorite though. I thought the cookie dough could have used more cookie dough. Mom got brownie batter the first night and peach the other nights. Both were really good, especially the peach. It was made with real South Carolina peaches. Dad had heath bar. Like the cookie dough, it needed more stuff. I don't remember what my sister got, except she got vanilla the last night. I'm sure whatever she got was good though, because she was very happy.

Folly is a great town. I really recommend it. But if you go, you have to take me with you.
 Love,
Mellie