I think your ideas all sound great. Here's what I do with chocolate covered strawberries.

What is the "father(s)" favorite dessert? I made Father's Day dinner for my husband and made a dark chocolate torte (he loves chocolate). If I was making dessert for my Dad it would be strawberry rhubarb or peach pie.

That's the ticket...make whatever Dad's favorite is. My Dad was a big fruit or mince pie fan, so that would be his choice, with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

That Banana Pudding is definitely a winner. I have made it several times and it's always been a hit!

Or how about a fruit pizza? Very fresh and light for a summer party.

{{gwi:1492136}}

Fruit Pizza

Crust:
1-1/2c flour
1/4c sugar
1/4c butter
1/4c cooking oil
3T cold water

Mix and press into 11 inch circle on pizza pan. Bake 12-14 minutes at 375F

Sauce:
6oz cream cheese
1/4c sugar
1/2tsp vanilla

Beat until smooth and spread on crust

Strawberries, Kiwi, Grapes, Peaches, Pineapple, Blueberries, Raspberries, etc.
Arrange your choice of fruits on top of sauce.

Glaze:
1T cornstarch
1T water
1/4c fruit juice (any)
3T powdered sugar

Whisk all ingredients together in small saucepan, bring to boil stirring constantly. Spread over fruit, chill well. Cut in wedges or squares to serve.

Or maybe this.... [](http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=10&imgid=240125903) Raspberry\-Lemon Shortbread Tart From Every Day with Rachael Ray 3 cups frozen raspberries (1 pound) 1 stick plus 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 1 3/4 cups all\-purpose flour 3 large eggs Zest and juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup juice) Confectioners' sugar, for dusting No need to get out your rolling pin or even grease the pan for this dessert. Just use your fingers to mix the shortbread dough, then dump it straight into a cake pan, press down and bake. 1\. Drain the raspberries in a strainer set over a bowl. Preheat the oven to 400. Using your fingers, combine the butter, 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1 1/2 cups of the flour and blend together until coarse crumbs form. Pour the mixture into an ungreased nonstick 9\-inch springform or cake pan and press down evenly to form a crust. Bake the shortbread crust until lightly golden, about 20 minutes. 2\. Remove the shortbread from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325°. Scatter the drained raspberries evenly over the baked shortbread. 3\. Beat the eggs with the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar until thick and pale yellow. Whisk in the lemon zest, the lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Pour the lemon cream over the raspberries and bake the tart until the custard is set, about 30 minutes. Let cool, then dust with confectioners' sugar. You can replace the raspberries with your favorite fruitÂor even pieces of chocolate. Go all the way and swap a teaspoon of vanilla extract for the lemon juice and zest in the quick custard. My notes: Based on the mistakes I made the first try...Make sure the berries are thawed and drained well. Don't make the custard while the crust is baking! While the crust is COOLING I made the custard, and then put the berries on the crust just before pouring the custard on top. Baking time was a bit longer than the 30 minutes stated, too. Also...I made the shortbread in the food processor rather than using my fingers. Worked perfectly.

Here's another I have been meaning to try...

Lemon Berry Tart

Cookie Crust (below)
1/2 c lemon curd
1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
2 c berries and/or sliced fruits

Prepare and bake cookie crust.

Beat lemon curd and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread over cooled crust. Refrigerate at least one hour until slightly firm. Arrange fruit/berries over the lemon mixture, cut into wedges and serve.

Cookie Crust

1-1/2 c AP flour
1/4 c packed brown sugar
2/3 c butter, softened
1 egg

Heat oven to 400F. Mix all ingredients until dough forms. Press firmly and evenly in bottom and up sides of ungreased 11 inch tart pan. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Cool.

8 servings.

Linda

I would make a fruit pie, without any custard or cream base...just a cherry pie or a rhubarb pie or a strawberry/rhubarb pie.
Linda C

Or you could make a pavlova, and fill it with whipped cream and the srawberries at the last minute.

I would serve anything light; your sister's dinner is quite heavy and filling - I'm usually ready to burst after eating that (one of my favorites!). How about an orange Jello mold with mandarin oranges made with orange sherbet and some sour cream. It's the color of a Dreamsicle when finished and is very tasty and light and very attractive in a pretty mold. Let me know if you need the recipe.

arline

Linda,
Question on your cookie crust. 2/3c. butter equals 10 2/3 Tbls. Is that correct? Just sounds like too much butter.

My first thought was also a Pavlova or this:

Blitz Torte
serves 12-16

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 cup flour 1 t. baking powder
4 TB milk
1 t. vanilla

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla
pinch salt
strawberries
whipped cream

Cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Add egg yolks and beat well. Combine flour with baking powder, add alternately to the creamed mixture with the milk and vanilla. Grease 2 9" cake pans and line with wax paper and grease again. Add cake mixture to pans.

Beat egg whites, 1 cup sugar, vanilla and salt until stiff. Cover cakes completely with the meringue and bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans. Cut in pie wedges and top with sliced strawberries and whipped cream.

Ohhhhhh! So good!
Teresa

Thanks for all your replys. I am just now checking in, we went out of town last night and on the way home I bought the fixings for the banana pudding and will dip the strawberries in chocolate as an additional dessert. I should have taken my lap top so I could have checked in here, but didn't think of that, it was a last minute thing.

Tracey I love your cake with chocolate covered strawberries on top. I would have never thought of that, but I intend to in the very near future.

Chocolate cream pie is the Dad's favorite. I fix that for everything, but of course they would probably be just as happy with that. My sister is two hours away and probably by the time we got there the meringue would be jiggled away from the sides of the pie and look awful.

We all love fruit pizza and I hadn't thought of pavlova, oh that would be good also.

Arline, yes I would like that dreamsicle recipe, that sounds like a winner and so light and cool for summertime.

Teresa, your torte recipe is on my to try list also.

Thanks again for all your recipes. I will try them all this summer!