Patriotic Cheesecake Parfaits

We live about a bazillion miles from family right now, and I'm getting excited about my brother visiting for Independence Day.  Here is a dessert idea for his visit.



Recipe and photo are from here:
http://www.becomingmartha.com/2013/05/patriotic-cheesecake-and-meringue.html

To make this, you will need...

• 2 pkg. of cream cheese (8 oz)
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1 pkg fat free vanilla instant pudding (4 serving size)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• meringues (buy them already made, or follow a recipe like this one)
• berries (I used strawberries for Canada Day and added blueberries for 4th of July)

Start my beating the cream cheese.  Then, slowly beat in the milk.  Add the pudding mix.  Then, transfer to another bowl (if you are using a stand mixer, or grab a new bowl if you are using a hand mixer), and whip your cream.  Once the cream is whipped, reserve about 3/4 cup for garnishing and then carefully FOLD the remainder into the cream cheese mixture.  Make sure to fold, and not stir or beat, because you don't want to lose the air you just whipped into your cream.

To layer, I started with cream cheese mixture, then crumbled meringues, then berries.  I added another layer of meringue and cream cheese mixture, and then topped it with a dollop of whipped cream. I added some berries to garnish the top as well.