It's so warm, even the vintage fruit salad needs to be frozen!

It's a busy day, it's scorching hot out, and you - and/or your entire household - is suddenly in the mood for dessert tonight, but there's nary a popsicle, cookie crumb, or slice of cake to be had in the whole house, and the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven and risk the kitchen getting so warm the paint starts peeling off the walls (or at least the feeling that it could).

I've been there, believe, me I've been there. Canada certainly deserves its wintery rap, but we're no stranger to mind blowingly hot summertime temperatures either (don't let this year's rain here in B.C. fool you, I've been through my fair share of astronomically hot Canadian summers before), which means that over the years I've come to know just what to do in this kind of situation (especially when the ice cream man is no where in sight).

Frozen desserts and no-bake cheesecakes, my dears. Little, scrumptious summertime dessert godsends, I tell you, which can be jazzed up or striped down to your heart's content, and which spare you from having to even give the stove a passing glance (this point being of prime importance to those, like moi, who are not blessed with central air).

As August is the generally the sort of time when you're in the mood to entertain, serve up sweet treats after midweek meals for the kids, and perhaps bring something delightfully yummy with you to a neighbourhood barbeque, in celebration of the start of the the eight month of the year, today's post features a Frozen Fruit Salad from 1963 fits all of those bills wonderfully.



{Chocked full of fabulous vintage ingredients like maraschino cherries - a personal fave - and pineapple tidbits, this sweet, refreshing vintage Frozen Fruit Salad is as much fun to look at as it is to eat. Image via jackie121467 on Flickr.}


If the idea of adding mayonnaise to something you're likely going to eat for dessert (though, of course, you could always serve this fruit studded dish right alongside your lunch or dinner) doesn't exactly set you salivating, you can always leave it out and just up the whipped cream content by another 1/2 cup or so. Likewise, if this particular pairing of produce isn't your favourite, play around, swapping in or out, whatever you fancy. I could see fresh cherries and ripe summer peaches, partnered with almonds being an especially nice take on frozen fruit salad.

Though this dish is very much akin to ice cream in and of itself, if you wanted to you, you could always serve it with a little dollop of your favourite sorbet, sherbet, ice cream, or vegetarian ice cream (rice, soy, almond, coconut, etc) on top or to the side. Depending on what you add to your frozen salad, a little drizzle of chocolate sauce, caramel, or fruit coulis could be an especially nice touch, too.

August, though sometimes brutally warm, is a gorgeous, dreamy time of the year and one that deserves to be celebrating in ways both big and small, so why not do as I'll be doing this month and whip up a batch or two of delicious frozen fruit salad before autumn returns?