Fruit Gobbler

From the magazine "Family Fun"

Ingredients

• Bosc pear (head)
• Melon (body)
• Cheese (beak and tail feathers)
• Red pepper (snood, feet and side feathers)

• Raisins (eyes)
• Grapes (tail feathers)
• Bamboo skewers
• Toothpicks

Instructions

1. Stabilize the melon body by cutting a shallow slice off the rind to form a flat base. Using a section of bamboo skewer, attach a Bosc pear head to the melon, as shown.
   
2. Cut a cheese triangle beak and red pepper snood. Attach both, along with raisin eyes, to the head with sections of toothpick.
   
3. Cut red pepper feet and set them in place. For tail feathers, skewer cheese cubes and red grapes, then insert the skewers as shown. Pin pepper side feathers in place with toothpicks.
   

Sweet and Sour Smoothie

We've been making smoothies for years.  This is my all-time favorite!

Blend together:

1/2 frozen banana, sliced

4 large frozen strawberries

1 cup pineapple juice (or whatever juice you have--we use cranberry raspberry a lot)

2 T. vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup limeade frozen concentrate (just chop a big chunk off the top)

couple squirts lemon juice

1 scoop protein powder (vanilla flavored)

Then add lots of ice!

Blend and serve.

My kids call these "slushie drinks." They are a yummy, healthy treat. Also a filling drink to have for summer breakfasts.

(Just a tip: cut your bananas up into slices, put them in a plastic baggie, then put them in the freezer. Then you have them ready to pop into your smoothies every time you make them. This really comes in handy if you made them often.  You could throw in some almonds, or even a small scoop of oatmeal.)

Raspberry Pretzel Jello Salad

My cute little 9 year old daughter made this one entirely by herself.  She's learning to follow directions, and did pretty good, except this sure tasted salty.  I'm not sure what she did.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. crushed pretzels (or half pretzels half graham crackers--which is what we prefer)

1 c. sugar, divided

1 cube margarine, melted

1 8 oz. cube cream cheese (softened)

1 8 oz. tub cool whip

1 large 6 oz. box raspberry jello

2 c. boiling water

1 bag frozen raspberries

Crust:

1 1/2 c. crushed pretzels (like I mentioned, I like to do half graham crackers here)

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c (1 cube) margarine, melted

Combine above ingredients and press into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake 350 for 8 minutes, then allow to cool.

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

8 oz. cool whip

Blend together, spread on crust, and refrigerate.

Raspberry Topping:

6 oz. raspberry jello

2 cups boiling water

1 bag unsweetened raspberries

Combine jello and water until dissolved, add raspberries and stir. Pour over cream filling and refrigerate.

Grilled Pineapple

I love to throw pinapple on the grill when we barbecue.This is how I prepare it:

1. Cut off top and bottom, work your way down, cutting off slices of peel. Cut in half, then into 4 spears (8 total).
2. Zest 1 lime (reserve) then squeeze juice on pineapple spears, grill, then drizzle with a little bit of honey. Sprinkle with lime zest.

I often serve this with my teriyaki chicken:

1. Marinate 4 chicken breasts in a large baggie with 1/3 c. bottled teriyaki sauce, 1/4 c. vegetable oil, and a palmful of grill seasoning.
2. After marination, grill.

When I use my grill pan inside, I grill the pinapple first, then grill the chicken afterwards to get some of the pineapple flavoring.

I serve this with sides of rice and bok choy.

3 ingredient Waldorf Salad

Apples--diced

Snickers candy bar--chopped into bite size pieces

Cool whip

Mix and enjoy! Easy, and how often do you get to have chocolate in your salad? Yum!