This hot summer weather is calling for lots of quick to prepare light meals, thus lots of salads and refreshing desserts.

Jello desserts are one of my favorite desserts for the summer, because they are light, and served cold.

My raspberries produced abundantly this year, so they were my fruit of choice for this dessert.

I found this recipe on another site, posted in Polish.  I translated it, and tested it last weekend on my family.  Everyone really loved it, so I had to share it with all of you, my loyal readers.

Ingredients:

• 1 box Lady Fingers cookies
• 1 box of Cherry Jello (3 oz)
• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream , cooled (for whipping)
• 1 1/2 cup fresh fruits (I used raspberries – see TIP below)
• 1 large box of Raspberry Jello (6 oz)

Directions:

Line bottom of a glass casserole dish (9 x13) with parchment paper.

Layer the Lady Fingers cookies to cover the whole bottom of the dish, as shown above, or in your own way.  You may need to trim them to fit snugly, to cover the bottom.

Prepare the whipped cream, by using a cold mixing bowl, pouring in the whipping cream, and using a mixer, whipping  it to stiff peaks.

Do not over whip, so you don’t end up with butter, rather than whipped cream.  Keep the whipped cream in the refrigerator, while preparing the jello.

Prepare Cherry Jello, dissolving it in only 1 cup of boiling water, but not adding any cold water.

To speed up the  cooling process, pour it in a cold container, place it in a bowl of ice water, and keep on stirring until room temperature, or cooler, but not jelling yet.

Slowly add the cooled jello to the whipped cream.

Fold the jello nicely into the whipped cream, do not mix too much, so you do not break up the whipped cream.

Scoop the Cherry Whipped topping over Lady Fingers, and spread evenly, making sure it is well packed near the edges of your casserole dish, so the jello in the next step does not leak down the sides, and moisten the cookie base.

Position the fresh fruit over the whipped cream layer.  I butterflied my raspberries so they do not stick out too high.

Prepare the raspberry jello, also using only 1 cup of water, so it will stay firmer and not soften as quickly during serving.

Slowly pour cooled raspberry jello over the fruit (I used small gravy ladle), until completely covered.  As you can see some of my fruit still was poking out of the jello layer, but that is fine, since you do have a thin layer of jello poured over it.

Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight, and enjoy this refreshing dessert.

TIP: You can use any  fruit of your choice, however kiwi and pineapple will not hold well in the jello layer.  Next time I would like to try Lemon Jello with the whipped cream, and mandarin slices for the fruit, covered with  Orange Jello. Yum…that sounds wonderful already…eh?  Lady Fingers cookies can be a little expensive (I paid $3.99 for a box), so to cut down on cost, you may use sponge cake for the bottom layer.

Who wouldn’t love raspberries?   They look so succulent, fresh, inviting and delicious, right? While all of this is true about the fruit, growing them in your garden is another story.

As the old saying goes “every rose has it’s thorns”, and the same is true about raspberry bushes.  Despite the great appeal of the fruit,  the plants require quite a bit of TLC, which I learned after I planted mine (ignorance is bliss…sometimes).

Before you decide to add them to your gardening plan, please click on the highlighted words above, to familiarize yourself with the whole process.

You will find out that there two different types of raspberries, those that produce fruit once a year, during early summer, like mine, and the overbearing ones, that produce fruit at least twice during the year (summer and fall).

They begin producing fruit in their second year of growth, as during the first year they try to establish themselves, and strengthen their Primocanes, which develop into Floricanes, thus fruit bearing canes.

Raspberry bushes are scratchy and full of fine thorns, thus tending to them requires wearing protective gear, mainly long sleeves and gloves.  The canes need to be thinned out and pruned.

These are my raspberry bushes with new growth this late spring, after I pruned them in early spring.  Here again, read the linked article on the pruning method.  I pruned mine to about 3 feet tall canes, and cut out all the dead canes, and removed the very thin ones (the suckers).

I also would not recommend planting raspberry bushes close to your vegetable garden, like I did, because it creates additional weeding, as the roots spread into my garden, and new (unwanted) plants spring up everywhere.

This picture was taken at the beginning of June, and as you can see, there are lots of raspberries getting ready to ripen, and to be picked.  How exciting is that? So far, the birds have been behaving pretty well, and not beating me to the ripe fruit.  It almost makes me forget how many times I have been scratched by these  prickly bushes.

Raspberry bushes need to fertilized twice per year, pruned regularly, kept weed free, and supported by trellis ( I planted mine against the fence).  Raspberry plants, just like rose plant, do not like to be watered from the top, over their foliage, but rather close to the roots, to prevent the growth and spread of mold and disease.

Since I try to keep my garden as close to organic as possible, I only use natural fertilizer.  Actually, since I planted my raspberry bushes in mushroom soil, two years ago, I did not use any additional fertilizer yet.

I am dreading the Japanese Beetle season, since I try to pick them off, rather than spraying my plants with any pesticides.  They will love to get on these lovely leaves and chew away,  so I really will have to keep an eye out for those pesky beetles.

I used to strategically post these special beetle traps, but found out that these actually attract more beetles to my yard, due to the aroma of the lure, which does lure them towards the traps, but not all of them end up in the traps, but rather attack other flowers and plants they find just as attractive and tasty.

I also, prepare my own organic bug spray, by mixing hot pepper sauce, vegetable oil, water and dish detergent.  It works on bugs, but it needs to be applied often, especially during a rainy season.

Please share your gardening tips and stories with all of us, and leave a comment.

With all the frequent rain showers we experienced lately in our area, my garden is in its glory, and thriving.

If you love gardening, as I do, you will agree that no matter how much, and how often, you water your garden, it does not measure up to one good rain fall, and the plants just seem to grow in front of your eyes soon afterward.

This season’s  harvest already began in my garden, and, with great pleasure, I was able to pick some baby red beets, dill, chives, summer squash, zucchini, green beans, and basil.

My raspberries produced about a pint of fruit this year, and today I was able to pick a few blueberries already.  I am very excited about having fresh berries and herbs from my garden, and to share them with my granddaughter.

Don’t you just love the freshness of these veggies and fruits…..and best of all….I know these have not been sprayed with any chemicals.

Tip: If  you wonder what can one  do with red beet leaves, I have a recipe coming up in my future posts.

I already showed you some of my flower patches, and I mentioned my small organic garden, which I started two years ago. All my plants are cultivated in a mix of mushroom soil and organic gardening soil. I do not use any additional fertilizers, and definitely no pesticides.

I grow perennial herbs and fruits, and annual vegetables.

This is my organic garden.

Here are some of the plants in my garden:

Parsley, Basil, Dill Weed, Oregano,Green Beans, Potato Plant, Red Beets

The fruit group includes:

Blueberry Bush Blueberry Flowers Green Blueberry Fruit

Raspberry Bushes Raspberry Flowers Raspberry Green Fruit

Blooming Strawberries Blushing Fruits First Harvest

My vegetables selection changes annually, but mostly consists of: Tomatoes, Zucchini, Summer Yellow Squash, Red Beets, Cucumbers, Green Beans, and this year I have added a couple of potato plants and Sorrel plants.

I will share some pictures of these as the “fruit of my labor” begins to show a little bit more.