Fall Fruit Salads

When was the last time you had a fruit salad?  Maybe I’ve been listening to The Wiggles “Fruit Salad” song a hundred times too many, but nobody seems to make fruit salad anymore – except on kids TV.  We still serve fruit, but it’s just a bowl of grapes or cut up melon – nothing more.   How lonely.  Somehow, when you combine sweet strawberries, plump peaches, tart blueberries, cherries and watermelon, you’ve got a colorful ending to a delicious Shabbat meal.  Unlike the leftover babka that mercilessly tempts me and my preferred dress size, I feel great about grabbing a guilt-free bowl of leftover sliced and diced fruit sitting in the fridge. With the winter cold season knocking on the door, I love the idea of boosting my family’s immune system.  A variety of fruits are loaded with vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids and more antioxidants that will improve your body's fight against a cold. They are also full of fiber ans surprisingly full of water (80%), both make them the perfect nutrient dense food for anyone.  They give your body energy, fluid and they keep you full. But no one is getting enough fruit in their diet.  So I say, bring back the fruit salad! But dress it up a little so it is an enticing dessert that you can enjoy all week.  Combining seasonal fruits with fresh herbs and low alcohol dessert wine or citrus juices and a little honey totally transforms the dish and gets everyone excited about fruit again.  True confession: when I first tested these fruit salad recipes I thought, no one is going to eat this but me and maybe I could get hubby on board since he only eats fruit if it is cut up for him, but to my amazement I found myself fighting with my kids for the last bite…They won! So here are my three takes on fruit salad. Pine-Apple Fruit Salad Israeli Fruit Salad Asian Pear Salad How do you like to mix your fruit up?