The recipes I write in this article are fairly straightforward and easy to make. Every once in a while though, there may be something I just have a craving for that has a few more ingredients, a few extra steps or takes a little more time to prepare. Well, rest easy — this isn’t one of those times.
This is mostly a fruit salad, but it comes on a bed of greens, has a scoop of sherbet and needs a dressing.
This is a summer dinner I would have as a kid once in a while when the temperatures where too hot or the day too long for my mom to want to cook anything. The tradition lives on with me. When I just want a simple, cold meal, this is one of my favorites. It combines dinner and dessert at the same time, so even kids love it.
This recipe is pretty much dictated by your own taste buds, so I will tell you what I use and then you can make up our own version.
The hardest part to get is the dressing. This is mostly a fruit salad, but it comes on a bed of greens, has a scoop of sherbet and because of the greens, needs a dressing. The sherbet is the one ingredient that throws everyone for a loop. I mean, do you want vinaigrette on sherbet? Not me, and I also don’t want blue cheese, ranch or Thousand Island dressing either. So, here is where you can get creative. You want something that will add a little flavor to the greens without killing the fruit and sherbet. The answer, at least for me, is a simple honey lemon yogurt dressing. The ingredients are, you guessed it, honey, fresh lemon juice and yogurt. Add a little mint if you want or any other ingredients like possibly a tiny pinch of coriander, but it is really that easy and is quite tasty.
Of course, my mom would sometimes add hard-boiled eggs, which was fine by me but some of my brothers and sisters thought that was just a little too weird. At any rate, the next time you are trying to think of a nice cool meal for a hot night, give this summer salad a try and enjoy.
Summer Fruit Salad
Bed of greens
Pear
Mandarin oranges
Pineapple
Peach
Plums
Mango
Banana
Raspberry sherbet
Hard-boiled egg
Anything else you want
I use this recipe with no measurements, and you can add, subtract and use your own taste buds and imagination to finish it off.
Dressing
Mix honey, lemon juice and yogurt to taste. Add mint, if desired.
