Need a refreshing and easy fruit salad to bring to a gathering?
This one is a crowd pleaser!
I've been knee deep in boxes and bins and bag of STUFF. Mostly kid's stuff. Clothes that they've outgrown, toys they no longer use or have forgotten. Basically crap that I no longer want to be tripping over.
It is garage sale weekend around these parts and two of my girlfriends and I are gathering all of our...ahem...treasures...sticking a price on them and praying to the God's that someone snatches them up.
We usually have really good luck, as the town is swirling with bargin shoppers and kid's items sell really well. So even though I complain about getting the stuff ready, it feels FABULOUS to free it from my house and make a little pocket change.
It also gives me some girl time. WITHOUT CHILDREN. Bless their little hearts, but I do enjoy some downtime from them.
We chat in between customers, soak up some rays if the weather is cooperating and just sit and relax. And if this year rings true, we'll also munch on some yummy goodies. Sometimes we run and grab sub sandwiches for us during lunch and other times we all bring a munchie and graze the afternoon away.
This "salad" if you want to call it that, is one I've brought in previous years. It's cool, creamy, tart and crunchy. It pairs perfectly with a sandwich or on a plate with cheese and crackers. It's most definitely more of a dessert, but I call it salad because there is fruit in it.
Whatever. I've never been much about rules.
The first time I laid my eyes on this salad I was in a corporate job, my first big one after college. I remember heading to the main conference room for a lunch meeting. I walked in and the big, center conference table was laden with food.
You name it, it was there. Sandwiches, dips, salads and so much more. I was making my way around the table and I came to this bowl that looked like a cross between tuna salad or rather what my mind was thinking "some kind of chopped pickle and grapes mixed into Cool Whip".
I gingerly scooped a mini bite on my plate and sat down.
Then I took a bite.
Holy crap! It wasn't chopped pickles mixed into Cool Whip. It was a delicious fruit salad that tasted like cheesecake, studded with salty pecans.
I was hooked.
I've been making this dish ever since. I take it to potlucks, make it for barbecues and recently took it to a MOPS brunch meeting.
Everyone asks for the recipe...make this soon!
Green Grap Cheesecake Salad
3 lbs. green grapes, halved {lengthwise}
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
4 oz. chopped pecans
2 T. brown sugar
1. Using a hand held mixer or stand mixer cream together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until smooth.
2. Fold in the chopped grapes and pecans.
3. Chill until served.
4. This will stay fresh for a couple days in the fridge.
