Creamy Fruit Salad

Finding myself with a wondrous surplus of fruit in our recent CSA shares, I heavily adapted this recipe for creamy fruit salad as a fruit-based side dish. As usual, my goal is use as much of the share food as possible, without adding in other produce unless truly necessary. I used:

4 peaches, diced and pits removed

4 nectarines, diced and pits removed

8 Methley plums, diced and pits removed

2 cups blueberries

1/4 cup trail mix

1 (1 1/2 ounce) box sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

1/3 cup sweetened lime juice

2/3 cup water

Combine the peaches, nectarines, plums, blueberries and trail mix in a large mixing bowl. In small mixing bowl, combine pudding mix, water and lime juice with a wire whisk until smooth. Add pudding mixture to fruit. Mix gently until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This was incredibly easy and quick to make, and the result was quite tasty. The lime juice added a strong flavor base.

Summer Fruit

Since there's only the two of us in our house, sometimes we have to get creative to use up our weekly abundance of fruit.


blueberries go well on top of almost anything


We were looking for something new to try with our plums and found this recipe at AllRecipes. The recipe calls for Italian Prune Plums, but I substituted our Methley plums. Halving and pitting was a pain, but the result was delicious.

Ingredients

* 6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
* 1 qt. plums, halved and pitted
* 3 eggs
* 1 1/3 cups milk
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1 pinch salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch pie plate, and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the bottom.
2. Arrange the plum halves, cut side down, so that they cover the entire bottom of the pie plate. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top of the plums. In a blender, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, eggs, milk, flour, lemon zest, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour over the fruit in the pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.





Two other options for using up extra fruit are fruit-water and sangria. Fruit water is really that simple. Slice some fruit and let it soak in a pitcher of water for a few hours.

Sangria requires a little more work, but there are dozens of variations in the recipe. This is Katie's preferred method:

Ingredients:

White or Red Wine (we really like white sangria in the summertime)
Fruit that is chopped up into smallish pieces (anything from berries to peaches to lemons and limes)
Brandy (optional)
Ginger-ale or lemon-lime soda

Instructions:

1. Put chopped fruit in a pitcher.
2. Pour wine into pitcher.
3. Add a "glug" of brandy.
4. Add three or four glugs of ginger-ale or lemon-lime soda.
5. Let sit for one or two hours (if you can stand it...)
6. Enjoy!

Note: The amounts are purposefully vague so you can make it with as little or as much wine as you like. Taste as you go and you'll figure out what works.

As often as we make this, you'd think we'd have a decent picture. Nope, instead I had to find a pic online.

Cinco de Mayo Recipes. Readers Digest. Web. July 27, 2010.

What are the favorite ways of using summer fruit at your house?