If you’re looking for a patriotic and uber healthy dessert, look no further!
For Memorial Day, we headed to my dad’s house for a backyard BBQ. Before I had both feet in the door, I’d been recruited to help with the fruit flag. It’s not terribly time intensive, and with 2 of us working on it, I was surprised at how quickly it came together. And I learned quite a few tricks along the way.
- Use a banana slicer. HUGE time saver. (Also, you’re welcome…the reviews on Amazon are a HOOT!)
- Use a straw to take the stems out of the strawberries, then line up and slice in bulk.
- Use a disposable lasagna size foil pan, or rimmed baking sheet. A 9×13 baking dish isn’t big enough!
Stars – we left the stars off because of the boys’ dairy allergy. You could use white chocolate chips, or real whipped cream for some added sweetness. After a huge dinner, this was the perfect light dessert that satisfied the sweet tooth, but didn’t push me over the “I’m too stuffed to move” edge. (I know you know what I’m talking about.)
Here’s the original iphone pict I snapped
Real Food Fruit Flag Dessert
Yield – 6 servings
Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 0 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 – 1 lb. packages strawberries
- 8 bananas
- 1 pint blueberries
- 2-3 Tbsp lemon, orange, or pineapple juice, to keep fruit from browning
- Optional: whipped cream or white chocolate chips for the “stars”
Directions
- Wash, remove the stems, and slice the strawberries. Set aside.
- Wash and drain the blueberries. Set aside.
- Peel and slice the bananas. You can add some lemon, orange, or pineapple juice to the bananas to keep them from browning if you are preparing this dish for ahead of time.
- Arrange the fruit in a 9×13 (or larger pan if you are feeding more people) making alternating rows with the bananas and strawberries for the stripes on the flag. Then add the blueberries piled in the top left corner. Add some stars over the blueberries with the whipped cream or white chocolate chips, if desired.
- Keep chilled until ready to serve.
- Serve Real Food Fruit Flag as a delicious dessert.
What’s your favorite Patriotic Picnic Dessert?!?
This recipe is featured on Julia’s Simply Southern Meal Plan Monday #120.
jackie Brown says
I love this idea. I’m enjoying strawberry icebox cake, another fast, healthy idea using gluten-free cookies or graham crackers. You can easily add blueberries for patriotic flair: http://momonamission.me/strawberry-icebox-cake-gluten-free-option/
Allison A says
Hi – 2 points – 1 the banana slicer reviews are hysterical and 2 – as my daughter pointed out to me at the Sam’s Club cupcake display today this flag is politically incorrect as the first and last stripes should be red and not white
Tara Torres says
Allison- You probably mean inaccurate and not politically incorrect. 🙂 Happy Memorial Day!