Please give a warm welcome to our new contributor Krista Quinn from The Quinntessential Mommy!
Confession time! I have a major sweet tooth and my favorite part of any meal is dessert. I love to make my own desserts because anything homemade is better than processed food.
I’m not kidding myself into thinking my favorite sugar cookie recipe is healthy, but at least it contains real ingredients that I can pronounce!
But, when summer comes around here in New York, something magical happens to my palette. I crave fruit like nothing else! Gone are the days where all I want is cookies and cakes.
Give me fresh blueberries and strawberries or a slice of sweet cantaloupe all day, every day! They’re refreshing and so naturally sweet that they satisfy my dessert craving while also nourishing me in the very best way. I call that a win-win!
A couple of summers ago, when I was knee deep in my summertime fruit obsession, I found about 6 different containers in my fridge, each with a small bit of fruit left in it. I took my six leftover strawberries, three chunks of cantaloupe, one tiny sad kiwi and the apple my daughter took one bite of and abandoned and I wondered what I could make with all of them.
I roughly chopped them all up and tossed them together in a bowl. Then, I threw in the last handful of blueberries for good measure and added a bit of sugar. I put my ‘diced fruit salad’ in the fridge and later that night, my husband and my daughter and I snacked on it.
We used graham crackers to scoop it up and that’s when my husband realized it was just like salsa.
Since then, this fruit salsa recipe has been a staple summer dessert in our house. During the warm months, it’s a great way to use up leftover fresh fruit and in the winter, frozen fruit works really well! And, both of my kids love it too.
But, the best part is that you can really throw whatever you want into your fruit salsa. Don’t like strawberries? Leave them out or use some raspberries instead. Prefer Macintosh apples over Granny Smith apples? Go for it! And don’t forget to add the sugar. It draws out the moisture in the fruit and really helps the flavors meld.
- 2 kiwis, peeled and diced
- 1 large apple, peeled and diced
- ½ pt blueberries
- ½ lb strawberries, diced
- ½ a cantaloupe, diced
- 1-2 tsp organic rapadura sugar
- In a large bowl, mix together all diced fruit.
- Sprinkle with sugar and toss again.
- Cover and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
- Serve with cinnamon pita chips or graham crackers.