Newton Citizen

Fruit dip can be made, chilled and ready to serve in about an hour.

A couple of readers have emailed me and said they tried the meatloaf recipe we ran a couple of weeks ago and they liked it. One reader said her niece suggested adding a few strips of bacon to the top of the meatloaf -- she did and loved it. She even sent me a picture.

I've run into a couple of people in the community who said they didn't know they could submit recipes. I said to one lady at Kroger, "By all means, please submit your recipes." If I've said it once in this food column, I've said it a thousand times, often the story behind the recipe is better than the recipe itself.

So, onto this week's featured recipe -- fruit dip. I intended to run this before Super Bowl Sunday, but I figured it is easy enough to stir together and serve the day of the game.

Fresh fruit by itself is glorious enough. But there are those occasions when you need a little something else, so mix some cream cheese and marshmallow creme together to get a sweet and fluffy dip to serve at your next gathering.

Try substituting the marshmallow creme for Greek yogurt. For my recipe, I used a strawberry flavored cream cheese; you can use plain instead. Add a drop or two of vanilla flavoring and you've got a creamier dip.

I've had both a yogurt-based fruit dip and a marshmallow creme-based dip and they are both delicious. The only difference is one is a little sweeter than the other.

Fruit Dip

Start to finish: 1 hour and 5 minutes

8 ounces of Philadelphia Strawberry Cream Cheese, softened

7 ounces of marshmallow creme

Mix together the cream cheese and the marshmallow creme in a small bowl.

Refrigerate for at least one hour and serve with fresh fruit.

Tip: Instead of serving the fruit on a platter, put it on bamboo skewers for easy dipping.