Fresh Fruit with Faux Marscarpone cheese

I love marscarpone cheese, but I can't afford it. It's very expensive, and it's very hard to find where I live. I've come up with a reasonable substitute, and this fresh fruit recipe is great for breakfast or for dessert.

Fresh Fruit with Faux Mascarpone Cheese

8 oz package of cream cheese or neufchatel cheese
1/4 cup whipping cream
Fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, etc. doesn't work
with apples, melon, or pears, in my opinion)
Honey, for drizzling

When the cream cheese is softened, beat with the whipping cream. Slice fruit and place in bowl, placing an Ice Cream Scoop (psst. Buy this one and help fight breast cancer) of the cheese on top. Drizzle with honey, to taste.

This is a great way to start your day, or a wonderful, light dessert.

Quick and Easy Fruit Pizza Recipe

This is a great dessert recipe, quick and easy and delicious. You can use any fruit that you like, using seasonal fruits (which I like to do) or using canned fruit, like mandarin oranges. It's light yet satisfying. One thing I recommend; if you don't want your fruit pizza to be soggy, drain your fruit well in a colander in the sink. Of course, it tastes just as good soggy as it does crispy, and sometimes I like the juice all sopped into the crust. Great take-along dessert for parties, but it is a little hard to cut through the fruit. If I'm taking it somewhere, I usually cut the crust before I put on the fruit, then I decorate it. Much easier to serve this way.

Fruit Pizza

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened *see note on softening it quickly below*
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract




Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg and mix until blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a separate large bowl, then stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Press dough down onto an ungreased pizza pan.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Spread on cooled crust.

Arrange desired fruit on top of filling, and chill.

*Cream cheese can take a while to soften, and if you don't want to wait, remove it from the package and put it on a microwave-safe plate. Place in microwave and microwave on High for about 8 seconds. Turn over. Microwave 8 seconds more. You'll have to scrape it off the plate, but it will be soft.*


This is the best thing I have ever found to spread cream cheese with. I love this thing, and I don't know how I ever did without it. I used it to spread the cream cheese filling on this fruit pizza, by the way. You can't stain it if you try, and I've had everything from strawberries to tomato sauce all over it, and the blade is made from high carbon steel, so it's indestructible (says the woman who accidentally dropped it in the garbage disposal and then turned it on). You can click on the picture to find out more about it.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

It's strawberry season here in Florida again. And nothing beats fresh strawberries. Don't you just love 'em? I could eat them every day.

In addition to tasting delicious, strawberries are great for you: low in fat and calories, strawberries are naturally high in fiber, vitamin C, folate, potassium and antioxidants. They're the perfect fruit.

The recipe below makes two pies, but you can easily cut it in half to make one. I use a graham cracker crust, but you can substitute a regular pie crust if you wish.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 3 tablespoons cornstarch
* 1/2 cup water with one tablespoon lemon juice added
* 1/2 cup apple juice
* 4 pints strawberries, hulled
* 2 9-inch graham cracker crust pie shells


Cook sugar, cornstarch, apple juice, and water with lemon until thick; cool. If the sauce gets too thick upon standing, you can thin it with a little apple juice. Place whole berries in the pie shells. Pour sauce over berries and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping.

That's it. Eat and enjoy.