10 Minute Fruit Tart

This weekend was, well, far from what I expect of a weekend. Very little relaxing and yet very little accomplished. Most of our time was committed to other people, with very little left to ourselves, most of which went to sleep. Saturday was my father-in-law's birthday and we'd made plans to have dinner at their place Sunday night. They asked us on Saturday to bring the fruit tart that he wanted for dessert. I said sure thing, and then promptly didn't concern myself with it again until Sunday morning. We had a very late night Saturday, so we slept in quite a bit. When I arose I popped open my netbook to check the weekly ads for our grocery errands. And then I realized that most of the stores were closed for Easter. I'm a genius. Now, not only can I not buy my regular groceries, but I can't find the fruit tart that my father-in-law requested for his birthday. Luckily there was a Kroger in our neighborhood that was open, but they of course didn't have any fruit tarts in their bakery. Now I was faced with having to come up with something on my own. Let's be honest here, this tart isn't anything amazing. I more or less pulled a Sandra Lee on this one, which I'm not very excited about. But, it came together quickly, easily, and everyone really enjoyed it. So, I figured why not share it? It's getting warmer, and with warmer weather comes more picnics and cookouts. Maybe you'll need a quick dessert, and maybe this will be it. I'm going to give you the rundown of what I did and how I did it to get this thing together in 10 minutes, not so much a recipe as a process I guess.

10 Minute Fruit Tart

1 9 inch prepared graham cracker crust
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries

• Put the bowl you'll use for making whipped cream in the fridge to chill. Put your milk in the freezer. Rinse and pick over your berries.
• Take your milk out of the freezer; put your cream in the freezer. Combine your pudding mix and cold milk and follow the pudding's instructions; mine said to beat for 2 minutes, let set for at least 5. Once done beating put the bowl of pudding in the refrigerator. Remove your empty bowl and whipping cream from the fridge and freezer.
• Beat the whipping cream on medium-high until soft peaks form. Sprinkle the sugar and vanilla over the cream, and beat again until soft peaks form, being careful not to over-whip.
• Put your whipped cream in the refrigerator. Slice your strawberries to your desired size. By now the pudding should be set. Spread pudding evenly into the pie crust. Top with your fruit, in whatever design you'd like.
• If you want to go the extra step, I used a piping bag to pipe some of my whipped cream on top. I had some fruit leftover, and obviously plenty of whipped cream, which we topped the plated slices with at dinner. You could also spread a layer of whipped cream on top of the pudding and then top with the fruit, or keep all the whipped cream for the side. Whatever tickles your fancy.

My notes: Popping my milk, cream, and bowls in the fridge and freezer just helped things come together a little more quickly. Especially since I started on this as soon as I returned from the store, so my dairy products had been out of the cooler for a little while by that point. Homemade whipped cream takes so little time to make and I think it adds at least a little something to a dessert that relies so much on shortcut goods.

A Peach of a Cheat- Rustic Peach Tart

Sorry for that short break! I've been doing better at keeping up with posting, but I was working on two papers last week and studying for my History midterm. Then Friday I came home with a sore throat that I assumed was from all the dust I was kicking up moving equipment. The chills and fever that followed behind on Saturday proved me wrong. I'm still under the weather so, along with my cold, my kitchen's caught a bit of a cold too. But I happened to have this recipe in my back pocket, and figured now as good a time as any to share it.

I made this recipe awhile back, and it was a great, quick treat. I had a busy day, but Josh had an even busier one helping his dad chop up a tree that fell in their yard. I figured a hard day's labor earned him something special, even if I was busy. This, like the very popular donut recipe, is an idea from Real Simple magazine. I have to say, I'm becoming a big fan of their "Fake It, Don't Make It" features. I know that taking short cuts might not be seen as the classiest thing all the time, but we live in a busy world, right? I know I do! Wife, job, school, housekeeping- I have a lot of hats to wear. So, taking an easier route sure can help sometimes. Anyway, this particular easy-does-it recipe was for a Rustic Peach Tart. I just happened to have almost everything I needed on hand, so after a slight adjustment I got to quick work. Josh really liked his sweet reward, it was especially good with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Rustic Peach Tart
Recipe from Real Simple; Makes 6 servings

1 refrigerated pie crust, half of a 15 oz. package
16 ounce package frozen peaches, thawed for 30 minutes
1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional)
4 tablespoons sugar
Zest from 1/2 lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Lightly coat a baking sheet with vegetable cooking spray. Place the pie crust on the sheet. Place the peaches in the center of the crust. Sprinkle with the cornstarch (if using) and toss. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the zest. Fold the outer edge of the crust over the peach filling. Lightly brush the crust with egg and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
• Bake until the crust is golden and the peaches are bubbling, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My notes: I didn't have a lemon to zest, so instead I added a scant teaspoon of cinnamon to the sugar. I mixed it in with all 4 tablespoons so that there would be cinnamon-sugar in both the peaches and on the crust.

Mushroom & Spinach Tart

Amazingly I have another recipe to share. So soon! I can almost see your looks of astonishment. Whose to know that I actually made this, like, a month ago? Well, I guess whoever reads this now that I spilled the beans. This recipe was somewhat a success. If you ignore the fact that I have terrible luck handling puff pastry (any kind of pastry dough really, I think it can sense fear) then it was indeed successful. It was edible, which is really the true test of a recipe, right? This is, of course once again an Everyday Food recipe, but I came across it when Tracy at Shutterbean shared it. I have a thing for mushrooms for some reason these days, so this recipe really appealed to me. I don't think I ever got the dough to really roll out properly, so I ended up with extra filling, topping, whatever you'd like to call it. But I put it to good use in a variation of an old recipe that I'll share with you soon, so no complaints about that. My only complaint is I have the other half of the puff pastry package in the freezer and I think it is well aware of my insecurities. I hate it when my groceries get the upper-hand.

Mushroom & Spinach Tart
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4














Flour, for rolling out puff pastry
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package instructions
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 10 oz. packages white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 10 oz. fresh baby spinach
2 oz. soft goat cheese, crumbled

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to a 16" x 10" rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place the pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score dough to form a 1" border. Using a fork, prick dough inside the border every 1/2". Bake until golden, rotating pan once, about 15 minutes or until tender.
• Meanwhile, in a small saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, toss onion with 1 tablespoon oil. Season with salt. Cover and cook over medium heat until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir. Continue cooking with cover on for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Set aside.
• In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat remaining oil. Add mushrooms; cover and cook until tender and all liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Fold in spinach; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes more. Drain any liquid.
• Top dough with mushroom-spinach mixture. Scatter onion and goat cheese on top. Bake until cheese is lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

My notes: I used feta for the cheese, because I use feta every chance I get. Why wouldn't you? It's fetastic. You like that word I just made up? And I served some Balsamic-Roasted Pearl Onions on the side. Yes I realize that means we had two kinds of onions in this one meal. I love onions so, again, why not? Don't worry- I haven't created any words for onions. Yet.