Blueberry Chess Pie
From Salena Thomas

This is a southern recipe handed down to me from my grandmother.

1 ½ c sugar
½ c butter
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 Tbsp flour 2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp vinegar

1 ½ tsp vanilla

1 pt fresh blueberries (not frozen)

1 unbaked 9” pie shell, bottom only

Cream sugar, butter, and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour, cornstarch, vinegar, and vanilla; beat until smooth. Stir in blueberries. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 300. Bake 35 more minutes or until firm in center. Cool on rack.

Pat's Any Way You Like Cobbler

From Becky Sanchez

I doubled the cobbler part because I really like that part!

Your choice of fresh fruit, sliced
SugarTapioca (I used flour)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.- Fill a pan (9 x 13-inch for mostly fruit, 9 x 9-inch for more dough) about 2/3 full with fruit.- Sprinkle the fruit with sugar. Just a bit if it's very sweet fruit. Be more generous for tart fruit. -Sprinkle the fruit with tapioca. This absorbs the excess juice, so you'll need to add more for very juicy fruits or berries.- For the dough combine the egg, sugar, and melted butter. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir till smooth. Stir in the milk. Stir till smooth. Pour the flour mixture over the fruit in the pan.- Bake for about 1 hour, till the top is browned. The time will vary depending on how much fruit, what size pan, and how much dough you used.

Wild Berry Salad with Chocolate Balsamic Dressing

By: Monica Thiriot

Berry salad (makes 1 serving):
3 strawberries

4 blackberries

4 raspberries

10 blueberries

5 mandarin orange segments

1 tsp sliced almonds

5 leaves fresh basil

1 c mesclun greens

Dressing (makes 6 servings):
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp chocolate syrup

4 oz canola oil

1 tsp minced shallots

Pinch salt

Combine salad ingredients. Mix dressing ingredients together well, then spoon 2 Tbsp of dressing over salad.

Berry and Pretzel Salad

By: Jocelyn Denyer

1 c small salted bow-knot pretzels, coarsely crushed
1/4 c butter, melted
1 Tbsp sugar
3 oz package cream cheese, at room temp
2 oz Gorgonzola or other blue cheese, at room temp
12 very large strawberries with long stems attached, rinsed and drained
4 c torn mixed salad greens 1/2 c fresh raspberries, rinsed and drained
Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:
3 Tbsp raspberry vinegar or raspberry thyme vinegar
1 shallot, minced (1 Tbsp)
1/3 c mild vegetable oil, such as canola

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine pretzels, butter, and sugar. Spread mixture into a 9x13 and bake for 10 minutes, stirring once. remove and let cool.
In a small bowl, mix cream cheese and Gorgonzola until smooth and well blended. Cut 1 strawberry in half lengthwise, slightly off center. spread 2 tsp of cheese mixture on cut side of one half. cover with remaining half to reform berry shape. Place filled berries on a plate, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, shallot and oil. Set aside.
To serve, divide greens among 4 individual serving plates. Arrange 3 filled berries over greens. Scatter raspberries around strawberries. wisk dressing and drizzle over salads. Sprinkle with baked pretzels. Serve with salt, if desired, and pepper.

Frozen Fruit Salad

By: Shirley Pauole

2 c sour cream
3/4 c sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
9 oz crushed pineapple
2 bananas, diced
1/4 c chopped maraschino cherries
1/4 c chopped nuts (opt)

Mix together with a mixer and pour into cupcake papers in muffin tins. Freeze 4 hours then remove from muffin tins. Serves 12 - 18 depending on the size of the salad. These keep beautifully in a plastic bag in the freezer so they can be made days ahead of when needed. This recipe can also be put in a graham cracker pie crust, frozen, and served as a dessert.

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

From Jacque Munns

6 medium ripe avocados - sliced

1 pink grapefruit, sliced

Dressing:

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1 Tbsp chopped red onion

Zest of one lemon

Juice of one lemon

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 c olive oil

Mix dressing ingredients and refrigerate for several hours. Arrange avocado and grapefruit slices on a plate and drizzle with dressing.

Grape Salad

From Jocelyn Denyer

4 lbs grapes
1 cup sour cream
3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Wash grapes and pull from stems. Mix next five ingredients together then pour over grapes and mix until all grapes are coated with dressing.

Blueberry Bars

From Salena Thomas

1 2/3 c sugar
1 c butter, soft 1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
21 oz can blueberry pie filling (I use 1 1/2 cans filling)

For the Glaze
1 c powdered sugar
1 - 2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp almond extract

In large bowl cream sugar, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add egg, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, level off. Gradually add flour and baking powder. Blend well. Spread 2/3 batter into prepared 15x10 jelly roll pan. Spread pie filling over batter. Drop teaspoons of remaining batter over the pie filling, slightly spread lattice-like, making connections but leaving spaces. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes or until light brown. Cool. Mix glaze together and drizzle over bars. Other flavors of pie filling work great on this recipe.

Pavlova Cake
From Michelle Ford

For the Meringue:
3 egg whites
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp distilled vinegar
1 1/3 cups sifted powdered sugar
¼ tsp vanilla

For the filling:
¼ lb strawberries or raspberries (hulled and sliced)
¼ lb roughly chopped cherries (opt)
4 ripe apricots, halved, pitted and roughly chopped (opt)
2 ripe peaches, halved, pitted and sliced (opt)
2 – 3 kiwis, peeled and sliced thinly
1 ¼ c heavy cream, stiffly whipped

Preheat oven to 300.
Line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper and draw a circle 7 inches in diameter. Put the egg whites in a bowl and beat until very stiff and dry. Beat in half the sugar, then continue beating until the mixture is stiff and shiny. Mix the remaining sugar with the cornstarch and fold into the mixture with the vanilla and vinegar. Spread the meringue on the circle and build up into a bowl-shaped shell, swirling the meringue around the outside of the shell. Bake for up to 1 ½ hours or until crisp and delicately colored. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then peel off the parchment paper.

Fold the fruit into the whipped cream and pile into the center of the meringue, arranging the kiwis and strawberries on top.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert
From Shirley Pauole

For the Crust:
2 c crushed pretzels
3 tbsp sugar
¾ c melted butter

For the Cream Cheese Layer:
8 oz cream cheese
1 c sugar
1 small cool whip

For the Jello Layer:
1 lg strawberry jello
2 c boiling water
2 (10 oz) frozen sliced strawberries, thawed
1 small can crushed pineapple

Combine all crust ingredients and pat into the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Bake at 400 for 7 min; let cool.
Mix together all of the cream layer ingredients and spread over the pretzel crust.
Dissolve jello in water and add remaining ingredients. Chill until about set and then pour over the cream cheese layer. Chill until ready to serve.