Grape Stuff

If fruit is the main ingredient, then it’s good for you, right?

I received this recipe from my college roommate, Meredith, years ago. The only copy of the recipe I have is a scrap of paper she found in her kitchen that she scribbled on. It’s faded and rumpled and stained and I keep meaning to rewrite it and throw out the original, but somehow, seeing her handwriting reminds me of her and of us and of the good old days. It’s bittersweet, now, since we haven’t spoken in over a year, and have only exchanged letters, Christmas cards and emails in the past several months, time slowly undoing the bond that we held so tight and for so long. So I keep it and every time I am asked to make it, I search high and low, certain that this is the time that I will regret not rewriting it or, at the very least, making a copy of it.

Last weekend, I felt that familiar anxiety that I had finally lost that scrap of paper, but I found it in the corner of an old dusty recipe box. I pulled up two chairs for the girls and invited them to help me. When J discovered what I was making, he reminded me to make extra and set it aside for him. Grape Stuff is quite delicious - I challenge anyone to tell me they don’t like it. I didn’t get a photo of the finished product (again) but suffice it to say, if you have two almost four year-olds helping on this one, expect a mess and a lot of fingers in the bowl.

GRAPE STUFF

Ingredients:

6 lbs. seedless grapes (black, purple or green)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. whipped topping, thawed
8 oz. sour cream
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Line three cookie trays with paper towels and begin washing picked grapes and placing on trays to dry. Dry the grapes well and let sit.

2. Mix cream cheese, sour cream and powdered sugar until well blended. Fold in whipped topping.

3. Carefully mix dry grapes into mixture and blend until grapes are covered. Chill in refrigerator for two hours.