FRUIT PIZZA

Fruit Pizza can be made anytime of the year, but with the wonderful assortment of fruits available right now, it just seems to scream "SUMMERTIME!" There are dozens of different versions of this yummy dessert (which could possibly be put in the category of Healthy Eating -- if you stretch your imagination). I could have made this look very patriotic by using only strawberries and blueberries, but since I was in a hurry to serve this when Steve comes in from a long day of work on Memorial Day, here is what he'll be getting.

FRUIT PIZZA

1 refrigerated roll of sugar cookie dough (or make your own dough from scratch, if you prefer)

1 8-oz. pkg. of cream cheese

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 t. vanilla

Assorted fruits of your choice cut into bite-size pieces: strawberries, kiwi, red grapes (shown above), green grapes, pineapple chunks, blueberries, peaches, bananas, Mandarin oranges, etc.

1/2 c. of peach preserves (or apricot preserves or orange marmalade, depending on what you have on hand)

Slice the cookie dough into thin slices and place in your pizza pan. Then, with a little flour on your fingers, mash this into something resembling a pizza crust. Bake at 350-degrees for about 20 minutes or until VERY lightly browned.

Beat together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and spread it on the cooled crust.

Arrange the fruit in a pleasing way (grandchildren would be excellent for this job).

Place the peach preserves into a microwaveable bowl and heat for 30-40 seconds, long enough to make it a consistency which can be drizzled over the top of the fruit.

Refrigerate until serving time and cut into generous slices. It's fruit, after all. :)