Summer Fruit Salad / #OurFamilyTable

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I love summer, but I can easily get overheated when the high temperatures hit! Once this happens, the last thing I want to do is prepare a meal, and I lose my enthusiasm for grilling.

When the hottest part of summer comes around, salads are on the menu quite a bit. I often grill chicken or steak for salads early in the morning to avoid the afternoon heat, and use it later in the day, for lunch or dinner.

But today I decided on a Summer Fruit Salad! I included a few things you won't find in the traditional fruit salad, but I know you will love them.

All the ingredients I used are easy to find, easy to work with, and they taste delicious!

Summer Fruit Salad

(printable recipe at end of page)

1/2 cup Heavy Duty Whipping Cream

1 tablespoon Granulated Sugar

1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Flavoring

Blueberries

Cantaloupe

Mango

Apple

Orange

Bananas

Strawberries

Peach

Light Vanilla Yoplait Yogurt

Sweet Hawaiian Mini Flour Tortillas

Choose any fruit you want to use. More colorful fruit will make the plate prettier and more appetizing.

Pour the heavy whipping cream into a medium sized bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla.

 

Mix together on medium until the cream thickens and becomes whipped cream.

Wash all of the fruit before cutting it. When cutting the fruit, the important thing to remember is to make it easy to eat. One way to do that is to cut it in small bite sized pieces. You can see that the strawberries and the blueberries were not cut, but you could cut the stems off the strawberries if you wanted to.

One of the small bowls contains the whipped cream and the other one has light vanilla yogurt in it. I also included a few mini tortillas, which are the perfect addition to this plate! They can be filled with your favorite fruit and topped with a bit of whipped cream or fill them with a little bit of each fruit and add a spoonful of yogurt for a fun and tasty treat! They are a favorite for kids!

There you have it! Simple, tasty and good for you! 

Thank you for joining me today! Here is a list of more "Beat the Heat" recipes to enjoy! Don't they sound amazing?!!

Beat the Heat Recipes

• Best Tomato Sandwich from Palatable Pastime
• Calypso Carribean Cobb Salad from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Hezzi-D Club Sandwich from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Keto Caprese Wrap from Magical Ingredients
• Mediterranean Chopped Salad in Pitas from Jen Around the World
• Shrimp Ceviche with Pickled Onion from Cheese Curd In Paradise
• Strawberry, Rhubarb, & Pear Salad from The Spiffy Cookie
• Summer Fruit Salad from The Freshman Cook
• Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint from Books n' Cooks
• White Gazpacho from That Recipe

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Hummingbird Bundt Cake / #BundtBakers

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Today for  #BundtBakers we are talking about Retro Bundts. The old fashioned cake recipes that have been around for awhile, are all gussied up and looking spectacular as bundt cakes! I made a Hummingbird Bundt Cake because it is one of my very favorite cakes! The aroma coming from these cakes as they bake is amazing, and the cinnamon, the pineapple, the bananas~omg, incredible! And then there is the taste of this cake. Moist and full of flavor! I used the recipe below, which is the original Hummingbird Cake recipe, written by L.H. Wiggin, which first appeared in the February 1978 issue of Southern Living magazine.

 Hummingbird Bundt Cake

Chocolate Banana Nilla Wafer Bowl

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Welcome to Day 3 of our "Mini Week " here at The Freshman Cook! Don't forget to enter our giveaway for the "Just Desserts" 25 piece parfait and the "Just Mini Desserts" cookbook. Enter every day up to Sunday at 11:59 pm PST. Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite mini dessert is. You can leave a comment everyday, even the same comment if you want, and for extra entries, like The Freshman Cook on facebook, and follow us. Easy to enter!

Today we made a Mini Chocolate Banana Nilla Wafer Bowl. When my son was growing up he loved Nilla Wafers and Bananas in Vanilla pudding. Of course, so did I and so did my husband. It was our true comfort food.! I even make my son a Nilla Wafer Cake for his birthday every year! Comfort food for the whole family! But I wanted to dress up this favorite of ours, so I added some nutella and gave an old favorite a new look, and it tastes delicious. I hope you think so too!

Mini Chocolate Banana Nilla Wafer Bowl

Old Fashioned Vanilla Pudding

(Katie Anderson-Allrecipes)

Makes enough for 4 1/2 cup bowls

2 tablespoons Sugar

1 tablespoons Cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon Salt

1 cup 2% Milk

1 Egg Yolk, lightly beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons Butter

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Everything Else

 1/2 cup Nutella

2-3 tablespoons Milk

Mini Nilla Wafers

1 tablespoon Butter, melted

1 medium Banana

Place the mini nilla wafers in a zip lock bag. 

Roll over them with a rolling pin and crush.

Mix in your melted butter and stir.

Distribute the crushed wafers between the four bowls.

Push the crumbs on the bottom of the bowl 

and up the sides just slightly.

Set aside.

Place the nutella in a saucepan double boiler setup,

and melt it slowly. Add the milk to the melted nutella

and stir until it is smooth and a bit thinner than it was

originally. Let the nutella sit on low 

while you make the pudding.

In a saucepan, combine your sugar, cornstarch and salt.

Gradually stir in your milk.

 Cook and stir over medium heat....

until thickened and bubbly. Reduce the heat, and stir 2

 minutes longer. Remove from heat.

Stir a small amount of the hot milk mixture into the egg mix.

This is tempering your egg. The egg will get used to the

heat a little at a time, and will not curdle or cook.

Return all of the hot milk mixture and the 

egg and milk mix into the saucepan. 

 Stirring constantly, bring the mix to a gentle boil.

Cook and stir for 1 minute.

Gently stir in vanilla and butter.

Cool for 15 minutes.

While the pudding is cooling, dip half of some mini nilla

wafers into the nutella. Place on a plate with wax paper

on it and put in the fridge to set.

Stir the pudding occasionally during the 15 minutes

that the pudding is cooling.

Place a tablespoon of nutella sauce in each bowl.

If you have any extra, distribute it evenly.

Slice a thin piece of banana for each bowl,

and place it in the center of the bowl over the nutella.

Place pudding over the banana.

Place the bowls in the refrigerator for an hour minimum.

Once the pudding is chilled, garnish your bowls.

Slice 4 more pieces of banana. 

Place a slice of banana on top of the bowl

and place a nutella covered mini nilla wafer

next to it.

Enjoy!

Thanks for joining me today!

 Don't forget about our giveaway, and stop by

tomorrow for some more mini dessert!

Grilled Fruit Sundae!

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If you are grilling this weekend, add this quick and simple dessert to your menu. I grilled strawberries and banana, but you could use any fruit you like, such as peaches, plums, oranges, pineapple, or even watermelon. The heat from the grill really brings out the sugar in the fruit. So good!

Grilled Fruit Sundae 

(adapted from Ellie Krieger)

Cooking Spray

1 Banana

2 Strawberries

2 cups Vanilla Ice Cream

Strawberry Sauce

Spray your grill with cooking spray.

Cut the tops off of your strawberries, and slice in half lengthwise.

Slice banana in half lengthwise.

Place on grill. 

Turn when they begin to get brown. It only takes

a few minutes.

A week or so ago, I made this 

Strawberry Coulis. Now I will use it for this dessert.

Scoop the ice cream into your dish, and top with

strawberry sauce.

Place strawberry and banana pieces in your sundae.

Super simple~Super delicious!

Thanks for joining me today!

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Church Supper 

Happy Birthday Elvis!

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Today we are celebrating the birthday of Elvis Presley. The KING would be 77 today! Can you believe it?! I have read that Elvis loved Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches. So I thought that a version of that sandwich would be a way to honor the exceptional singer, musician, and person that the world still does, and will always love.

 Biscoff and Banana Sandwich

Pretty easy ingredients!

1 Banana

Biscoff Spread

2 pieces of White Bread

Butter

Pan Spray

Spray the pan with pan spray. I mean, I know we are using butter

also, but there is no reason to put it in the pan too.

Every little bit helps!! Right?

Spread the bread with butter, and place it in the pan,

butter side down, Spread the other side of the bread

with biscoff. I used a generous amount!

Smush the banana in a bowl.

Spread that banana over the biscoff spread that is

on the piece of bread in the pan.

Take your second piece of bread and spread butter

on it. Place the bread, butter side up on the bananas

and biscoff.

Grill until golden brown on both sides.

The taste is unbelievably delicious!

I'm sure Elvis would approve.

Happy Birthday Elvis!

You are forever young!

Thanks for joining The Freshman Cook today!

Stop by again tomorrow!

Southern Banana Cream Pie

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As we cleaned out our refrigerator this week, my husband made a dessert that is a deliciously, welcome take on a southern classic. Everyone is very familiar with the ingredients, I'm sure. Take a look, then have a taste. Delicious!

Southern Banana Cream Pie

3 ripe Bananas

Nilla Wafers

Vanilla Instant Pudding

3 cups Milk

1 cup Whipping Cream

2 tablespoon Sugar

Put your mixing bowl in the freezer, so we will have a chilled

bowl to prepare the whipping cream in. Let it get

nice and cold, about 30 minutes worth!

While the bowl is chilling, layer a pie plate with nilla

wafers, along the side and on the bottom. Slice bananas

over the nilla wafers on the bottom. Make the

vanilla pudding. Once it has set up, layer the pudding 

on top of the bananas. Then slice more bananas and place 

them on top of the pudding. 

Make the whipped cream below, and top 

the entire pie with whipped cream.

Pour the whipping cream in to the cold mixer bowl.

Add sugar and mix until stiff peaks appear.

Here it is!

It is creamy and delicious, and the nilla wafers become so soft!

Yum!

Enjoy!