I made these mixed berry mint slushies for Jenny's baby shower! I was so excited when Amanda and Marla reached to me and asked me to join in on a virtual baby shower to celebrate Jenny's 3rd son who's due to arrive soon!

Jenny is such a sweetheart, always has a smile and she has some mad baking skills! I have always wanted to try her Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies and her White Chocolate S'mores Gooey Cake Bars!

She along with a few other friends are pregnant right now and I can only imagine how uncomfortable it is with the heat being a little bit unbearable for us un-pregnant folk…so I thought I would come up with a fresh, cool and refreshing drink to enjoy. It's chock full of berries and I used Katie's mint-infused simple syrup, it's easy to make and is a wonderful addition to this drink!

I know that Jenny is so excited! I hope Jenny was totally surprised and I wish we could all be there in person to help her celebrate! From far away, I'll raise my slushie glass and say a huge congratulations to you, Jenny!

I love, love the mint-infused simple syrup in this drink. It's not too sweet and it adds another element of refreshment to the drink. You can use fresh fruit if you want but be sure to freeze them to add more to the iciness of the slushie.

I added orange juice because I didn't want it to be pure ice and it's the same ingredient we used when making raspberry sorbet smoothies when I worked at Haagen-Dazs back in the day.

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Mixed Berry Mint Slushies Recipe

An easy and refreshing drink that combines 4 types of berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries & blackberries) with mint!

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 2 drinks

Ingredients

• 2 cups of ice
• 1 cup frozen berries strawberries, raspberries, blueberries & blackberries
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 4-5 Tbsp mint-infused simple syrup
• mint leaves for garnish

Instructions

• Add alternating layers of ice and berries into a blender. Then add orange juice and simple syrup to taste and blend.
• Add 3-4 mint leaves to each glass and pour slushie into it.
• Makes 2 10 ounce drinks. Serve immediately.

Be sure to visit everyone else who came together to make someone for Jenny's Baby Shower!

Amanda: i am baker Special Cake for a “Picky Palate”
Amanda: Kevin and Amanda Cinnamon Blueberry Biscoff Breakfast Cookies
Angie: Bakerella Baby Faces
Averie: Averie Cooks Chocolate Banana and Biscoff Graham Bars
Bev: Bev Cooks Horseradish Deviled Eggs
Bridget: Bake at 350 Cute as a Button Cupcakes
Cheryl: TidyMom Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Gaby: Whats Gaby Cooking Blueberry Buttermilk Cake
Heather: Heather's Dish Perfect Pancake Bites
Julie: The Little Kitchen Mixed Berry Mint Slushies
Kathy: Panini Happy Baby Oreo Ice Cream Pies
Kristan: Confessions of a Cookbook Queen Homemade Animal Crackers
Lauren: Lauren's Latest Mini Chocolate Lava Cakes
Lori: Recipe Girl Oreo and Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Maria: Two Peas and Their Pod Cookies ‘n Cream Sheet Cake
Marion: Sweetopia Baby Shower Cookie Favors
Marla: Family Fresh Cooking Blueberry Mint Agua Fresca
Michelle: Brown Eyed Baker Shrimp Nacho Bites
Naomi: Bakers Royale – Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Trifles
Recipe Boy: Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Oreos
Robyn: Add a Pinch Blue Velvet Cake
Shaina: Food For My Family Ginger Plum Preserves
Shelly: Cookies and Cups Oreo Pop Baby Rattles

The post Mixed Berry Mint Slushies & Jenny’s Baby Shower appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to attend a trip sponsored by Dole Food Company. I learned a lot about their fresh fruit and vegetables operations and came away with a greater appreciation for the people who grow the produce we eat and especially for the hard-working individuals who work on the fields and in the processing facilities. It's hard, hard work and when you savor every bite you eat tonight or from now on, think of how the food made it onto your plate and who was involved in it.

We had wonderful cooking demos and tastings from Chef Michael Foley and Chef Daniel Kelly, both from Chicago. They ‘made' us come up with our own salad recipes and didn't get annoyed when we had all of these different ingredient requests.

The night before the demos at dinner, we had a salad that had blueberries in it. It was out of this world…seriously, if you have never had blueberries in your salad before, you are missing out. When thinking about my salad, I started first with blueberries. Funny, huh?

I seriously blanked out except for blueberries. My friend, Brooke, (who I'm so happy to have met finally in person) helped me and said maybe you should add a soft cheese. When I mentioned this to Chef Michael…he said he had the perfect thing for me! Halloumi. What? What is halloumi? I had never heard of it. And umm, mind blown. Cheese that you grill or really actually fry. It's amazing!

I had to give you a picture to show you how I fried the cheese!

I added blackberries because when I asked about the blueberries, Chef Daniel said he had something else for me. He handed me some blackberries and they were so amazingly fresh and right then realized how much I was missing out by completely ignoring blackberries for so long. I need to add more blackberries to my life.

They had to make it into my salad…and then I'll be honest with you, I added strawberries because my salad needed color. It ended up working out pretty well and the balsamic vinaigrette works well with the cheese and the berries!

5 things I'm obsessed with now since my trip

1. putting berries in my salad, you already knew that
2. lavender EVERYTHING – I need to make this
3. getting back to Carmel Valley Ranch again, it's so beautiful there
4. putting berries in my salad
5. putting berries in my salad

See how gorgeous it is?

And these lovely ladies, it was so fun to spend time with such good friends and make new ones. And see Brooke, Shari and Lauren as well!

At the Dole event, I paired their baby spinach and spring mix but when I got home and found their baby butter lettuces, I added them in too. A wonderful salad I will be making over and over again.

Thanks to Dole for the wonderful trip, the amazing experience especially opening my eyes to creating salads in a whole new way!

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Triple Berry Salad with Halloumi Recipe

A truly easy salad to make that includes three kinds of berries, a balsamic vinaigrette and halloumi cheese. If you can't find halloumi, substitute with a soft cheese or exclude it.

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Total Time 23 minutes minutes

Servings 1 salad

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Sunnyridge Farms blueberries, washed
• 1/2 cup strawberries, washed and chopped
• 1/2 cup Sunnyridge Farms blackberries, washed
• washed handfuls of various greens (I used Dole spring mix, baby spinach & baby butter lettuce)
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper
• Halloumi slices preparation in the instructions

Instructions

• Prep and wash the berries.
• Using a whisk and small bowl, whisk together vinegar and olive oil. Add salt & pepper to taste.

How to prepare Halloumi (instructions from Chef Michael Foley)

• Cut the cheese into 1/2 thick slices Heat a non-stick pan on low heat wih 1/8 inch of olive oil Lightly flip the cheese and add 1 tsp of butter to finish it off Allow cheese to cool slightly on a plate lined with paper towels That's it, it only takes a few minutes to cook!
• Toss salad greens and berries, top with cheese and drizzle dressing on top!

Notes

from The Little Kitchen with the help of Brooke  & Chef Michael Foley & Chef Daniel Kelly

Disclosure: All of my expenses for this trip was covered by Dole. I am only expressing my sincere opinions here and I was not compensated nor was I required to write this post…I wrote it because I wanted to share this recipe with you…and my obsession with berries in salads now!

The post Triple Berry Salad with Halloumi appeared first on The Little Kitchen.