watermelon boat

Combine lemon juice, sugar and flour in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Stir ¼ cup into eggs; return all to pan. Cook and stir for 15 minutes or until mixture coats a spoon (do not boil). Cool. Fold in whipped cream; cover and chill until serving. For watermelon boat, cut a thin slice from bottom of melon with a sharp knife to allow it to sit flat.

Mark a horizontal cutting line 2 in. above center of melon. With a long sharp knife, cut into melon along cutting line, making sure to cut all the way through. Gently pull of top section of rind. Remove fruit from both sections and cut into cubes or balls; set aside. To cut decorative edge, place melon on its side. Position a 2-½-in.

point star cookie cutter against inside edge of melon, allowing only half of star to cut through melon. Insert a toothpick into flat edge of removed piece. Attach piece onto melon edge where last cut ends. Repeat cutting and attaching pieces until; entire melon edge is completed. Combine honeydew, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes and watermelon; spoon into boat. Serve dressing on the side. Yield: 32-36 servings (about 2 cups dressing). Editor's Note: Any star or petal cutter with an even number of points may be used. Or serve this salad in an 8-qt. serving bowl.

NOTES : "'Wow!' is what folks will say when they dig into this lovely fruit salad piled high in an eye-catching watermelon boat, relates Ruth Seitz of Columbus Junction, Iowa."

Recipe by: Taste of Home, June/July, 1997 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #756 by NGavlak2@... on Aug 22, 1997