Fresh Fruit and Lots of Greens
This may be the most refreshing salad I’ve ever made! Who says fruit and green salad should be separate dishes? Combined, they are perfect for a hot summer day, though it would taste good any time of year.
It’s been unusually hot here in my little town on the Southern Oregon Coast. Seems like it has been an exceptionally hot season this year across the entire country. When temperatures soar, it’s too hot to cook. That’s when something cold and easy tastes best. Whenever I am looking for something cool and refreshing, right after ice water comes fruit.
Since I’ve been experimenting with fruit in salads and loving each one, it seemed like a good idea to try them all at once? I bet you’ve had strawberries in salad–so good. Blueberries are wonderful too, and mandarin oranges are great in Asian salads. If by some chance you haven’t tried them, I hope you do. All are so tasty. The sweetness added to the greens is delightful.
You Can Use What You Have
I grabbed the fruit I had in the fridge, and used all but an apple (maybe next time). My salad has grapefruit, orange, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries in it. Juicy and delicious!
Rather than make a pure fruit salad, you’ll notice green leaf lettuce, spinach, and iceberg lettuce (I confess I like it, nutritious or not). Chopped red onion and it was done. The ingredients shown make enough for two big salads. Add more or less as you like.
I didn’t want any dressing other than the juice from the fruit. I did squeeze a bit more of the orange over it before I tossed the salad. Lemon juice is delicious too, for a little bite that still keeps the citrus flavor primary. You might enjoy balsamic vinegar with it. Without dressing it tastes purely healthy. Plus I bet there are at least two fruit servings and two servings of vegetables. I let mine chill for an hour before eating it, to let the fruit juices permeate. It can be eaten immediately too if you can’t wait.
Serve with a roll or breadsticks, and you are set. It was the perfect, refreshing meal for such a warm day!
Rating
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 2
- Lettuce of your choice
- Baby spinach
- ¼ cup red onion, thinly chopped or sliced
- ½ cup blueberries
- 8 to 10 raspberries
- 8 to 10 strawberries, halved and sliced
- ½ grapefruit
- 1 navel orange
- ¼ cup nuts
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- Combine lettuce and spinach..
- Peel ½ orange and ½ grapefruit, then slice into bite sized servings. Quarter the other half of the orange and set it aside.
- Add sliced orange, grapefruit, and onion, and toss with lettuce.
- Add the remaining fruit. You can toss again, or leave on top of the salad.
- Squeeze remaining orange, a quarter onto each salad as a dressing. If you prefer you can blend the juice from the orange with balsamic vinegar, but the citrus juice gives it a lovely flavor.
- Refrigerate if you have time, though not essential. It gives the citrus flavors time to permeate the salad.
- Top with walnuts or sunflower seeds before serving.
What you can put in your salad is limitless. You can add more vegetables, other fruit, or both. Salad is so good for you, and so flexible. It can have more greens and less fruit. You can pick lots of one fruit and just a bite or two of another.
Here are some choices I’ve tried that seem to go well with the ingredients in this salad:
- Cucumber, chopped
- Cabbage, chopped
- Avocado chunks
- Blackberries
- Watermelon chunks (add right before serving)
- Mandarin Orange slices
- Grapes, halved
- Candied nuts
- Craisins
- Bacon bits
- Shredded chicken
The pleasure of salad making is that you can add anything and everything you like to make a colorful, healthy and delicious meal. If you have children, it’s great fun to set up a salad bar so they can choose their own fruit and vegetables for their salad. When they’ve made it themselves, they are usually more likely to eat it, after all.
If you want more than the orange juice as a dressing, try a raspberry vinaigrette, a balsamic vinegar blend, or fresh squeezed lemon.
Have fun experimenting with all the flavors.
The OXO Salad Spinner
I love this spinner from OXO. Their products always seem to last so long and do a great job!
For Your Salad on the Go.
Want to take to work or to school? I love this clever container. It has a section you freeze to keep your food chilled until lunch time, dividers on the top for salad additions and dressing, and it hold 6 cups in the bowl. That’s a nice sized salad. Mix it when you are ready, and you’ll have the freshness of just made, all in one cool container.
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