Fruits for the Summer

Just curious.....what types of fruits and desserts do people on this board make/use for summer?

I am particularly interested in fresh fruits that come from Ontario.

I made a lovely rhubarb crisp last weekend with fresh rhubarb.  I use Whey Low brand sweetener as a substitute for sugars in all my recipes.  Soon it will be fresh strawberries in season (next week?) and they don't need much dressing up.

The foodland Ontario site shows what's in season and has lots of recipes - the baking recipes have to be modified for us of course.

http://www.foodland.gov.on.ca/english/recipes.html

I love fresh fruit desserts and I get a lot of recipes from the Splenda site and from this site: www.eatbetteramerica.com  - they have "healthified" recipes - I just substitute the sugar for Splenda.

I love fruit salad in the summer. It is not fancy easy to do and so good.

Hi Mary,
Here's an easy one I make a lot in the summer using our fresh Ontario berries:
I take a pint of fresh strawberries, rasperries or blackberries (or mix them together) & mash them up well in a bowl with about 1/3 cup of Splenda. Once they're mashed, stir in a large container (about 4 or 5 cups) of fat-free Vanilla yogurt. Pour the yogurt/berry mixture into individual serving dishes & freeze. Great on a hot day when you're craving something like ice cream. You can change the taste by using different flavours of yogurt.

Deb

When I was a kid my grandmother used to make this desert (which I've since learned that people use on top of ice cream).  It was simply sliced rhubarb, boiled with sugar and I LOVED it.  It is one of my favourite things, but I haven't had it in many years.  I never made it myself...not sure why and my grandmother has been gone for a few years now and wasn't able to cook for several years before that.

Anyway, I have a rhubarb plant in my back yard that I cut every year, but never use.  Last week I decided to make the desert.  I sliced the rhubard, boiled it in just enough water to cover it and instead of sugar I added stevia. Then I put it in the fridge to cool. It turned out perfectly.  It is just as I remembered and makes me happy just to eat it because it brings back memories.  And it tastes good!  I don't use it as a topping...just eat it with a spoon like that. 

When we were kids we used to call it rhubarb soup.

I love to eat raw rubarb.  I just go out into my mom's garden, break a stick off, wa**** up and chew away.  Tart as anything, but really good!

Freeze ripe bananas. When frozen blitz them in a blender, magic bullet, or food processor until very smooth. This is just like soft serve banana ice cream.

For a real treat my whole family loves. Mix equal parts of Strawberry Yogurt (I like Source) with Low fat Cool Whip. Use this as a dip for fresh fruit. It is great with berries, melon, all kinds of fruit. You can change the type of fruits or the flavour of yogurt.

The Splenda web site has lots of recipes that are very good.

Linda

A friend of mine just made jam with splenda.  I have a ton of cherries pitted and frozen from last year and the tree is starting a new batch!  So I'm going to try some cherry jelly on Sunday!  I bought pure peanut "butter" at Picards last week (really just peanuts mashed up), and I think that that, with some of my SF jelly on a WW engligh muffin would just be about the best "desert" ever!!

Stew rhubarb, when soft add sliced strawberries and a box of sugar free strawberry jello.  Continue to simmer until soft, add sweetener to suit your taste.  This is really good over fruit, on toast, ice cream, cake, or porridge.  You can have it warmed up or cold.