One of the things I love about the summer time is the abundance of fruits and vegetables I can get, that are too expensive or unavailable during other times of the year. Walking into Whole Foods the other day I was met with this sight!
Since my family loves berries, all kinds of berries it was a selection that we were excited to shop. One thing that I really liked was that they had different sizes available in the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries so I could buy in “bulk” those that the family would eat even more of, like strawberries! It also saved me money because it was less expensive to purchase the larger container than it was to buy two of the regular size.
I looked around the produce section, and admit that I could spend (and did) way too much time in this area. I tried to find things that would make the most of my “berried treasures” and this is what I came up with.
If you are wondering what’s in the picture, I brought home:
- raspberries
- blueberries
- strawberries
- mint
- Angel Food cake (and you know the Whole Foods brand is actually healthy!
- Whipped Cream
- Avocado
- Peaches (organic peaches for .79 lb!)
- Pineapple
- Spring Mix
- Bananas
- and Brianna’s Poppy Seed Salad dressing.
We also picked up some other items, (okay a whole cart full) but we will talk about those later.
So now that I have all those berries what can I possibly do with them you ask? Well I had a welcome home dinner for my daughter who is home from school for the summer. She is crazy for berries and let’s face it doesn’t always eat so healthy. The girls and I headed to the kitchen to create an amazing berry bash!
First I made just a sampler for the younger kids. Sometimes they don’t like their berries all mixed up or included in another recipe.
Then the girls got to work on this yummy salad that was a great big hit! Spring Mix, cantaloupe and strawberries. Toss with some Brianna’s Poppy Seed dressing and it was a big hit! One friend even took some home for lunch the next day!
The young ones were in charge of the “cake.” No it may not be the most beautiful cake out there but they had fun! First we sliced the angel food cake. Then topped with whipped cream. Dot with berries they each had their own ideas for how this should look but for ages 5 and 6 I think they did great. More importantly it tasted wonderful!
Blackberry BBQ Sauce
But there was still more berry good food to behold! Whole Foods had an amazing sale on their Angus Beef Patties so it’s time to fire up the grill. (By the way they were actually less expensive than a local grocery stores regular beef!). I was intrigued by this recipe for blueberry -bourbon BBQ sauce (it’s supposed to be for filet mignon. Since I didn’t have quite all the ingredients we went with this one for Blackberry BBQ sauce for the chicken. YUMM!
Red and White Sangria
It’s summertime, we are swimming so of course we have to have sangria! For White Sangria I use a white wine (usually Barefoot Pino Grigio), some peach schnapps (add according to taste some don’t like it as sweet as others) and then some peaches, pineapple, and grapes.
For a fast and easy red Sangria use a red wine of your choice and the Organic Pomegranate Sparkling Water (Found at Whole Foods and HEB I’m not sure where else). Add strawberries, apples, pineapple and grapes.
And, after the guys did worked their magic at the grill dinner was served!
In the meantime we could all sit back relax and enjoy the day at the pool.
If you need even more recipe ideas, Driscolls has plenty to choose from with really great pictures!
