Fruit Salad Recipes

Fruit Salad is one of my favorite side dishes. And at any given time of year I usually have a lot of fruit on hand so when I have people over I'll usually throw together some sort of fruit salad. Here's my list of go-to fruit salads:

• Honey Lime Rainbow Fruit Salad
• Berry Cheesecake Fruit Salad
• Melon Pineapple Fruit Salad
• Winter Fruit Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
• Creamy Cinnamon Apple Walnut Fruit Salad
• Creamy Grape Fruit Salad
• And now we've got this super delicious Berry Fruit Salad with Honey Balsamic Dressing to add to this list!

And the great thing here is that it's mostly fruit covered with a cheesecake topping versus a super calorie heavy slice of cheesecake with a little fruit. So I'd say this is a smarter choice than a slice of cheesecake and it fills that craving so why not??

Why I love this Fruit Salad

Cheesecake and fruit are two of my favorite foods so it only makes sense to combine them. And don't you just love the way a homemade berry sauce pairs with a slice of rich cheesecake, so again why not combine those flavors into a fruit salad? It's just meant to be.

We've all had the bad fruit salads that have things like artificial whipped topping and fruit cocktail in syrup but here we skip all that and stick to real ingredients and fresh fruit. It's wayyyy better! Try this and you'll see what I mean. Those 80's fruit salads don't stand a chance.

A Must-Try Triple Berry Crisp!

This fruit crisp is made up of mostly berries (which I'm obsessed with), then it's adorned with the most delicious crispy, sweet, buttery, oat-filled topping and finished with a generous scoop of rich vanilla ice cream.

Yes, and that vanilla ice cream is a must! It adds to the sweetness, and balances out the light tartness of the berries, and polishes it off with that berries and cream flavor combo. This is how you do summer! Swap out the cake or pie for this triple-berry cobbler variation! Ok, I know there are different definitions for baked fruit recipes, usually defined by the topping. Is it biscuit topping? Pie dough? Streusel? Is this truly a mixed berry cobbler recipe?

I don't think you need to worry about what you call it—just be sure you have enough for everyone!

Brownie Fruit Pizza

Do you need much more in life than this colorfully fruit laced, sweet cream cheese frosted, decadently delicious and over-the-top brownie goodness? This is what I call the finer things in life.

It's made with a soft, chewy perfectly chocolatey brownie base that's made from scratch and a sweet cream cheese topping. Then the fresh colorful fruit adds such a beautiful design that no one can resist!

Today was like Christmas for me! I opened my patio door and walked out to a temperature that was most definitely perfectly acceptable for grilling. Yes, grilling season has arrived and I couldn't be more ready for it!

I love the flavor of grilled chicken. I love the flavor of basically grilled anything for that matter. Its a flavor that can't be imitated from baking or pan searing.

I did debate with this recipe whether to do a baked crispy panko crusted lemon chicken or a grilled lemon chicken. I'm glad I went with a grilled version. It is perfect with this salad and grilling the chicken is a savory and simple flavor enhancer.

I also decided to toss in one of my latest favorites in cheese, Feta. It pairs amazingly well with the tartness of the blackberries and sweetness of the strawberries, and it enhances the slight tang of the lemon chicken.

I also thought a salad this delicious wouldn't do with a store bought dressing so I created a simple homemade version. It is unbelievably easy and if you want to shave off the step of grating the onion you could simply replace it with a 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of onion powder. Enjoy!

Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients
3/4 cup mayonnaise
4 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp finely grated onion
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp poppy seeds

Instructions
In a mixing bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sugar, apple cider vinegar, grated onion, mustard and salt until sugar has nearly dissolved (at this point you can transfer to a blender to mince onion pieces further if desired). Stir in poppy seeds. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate 30 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and stir (if you would like dressing to have a thinner consistency you can mix in a little milk 1 tsp at a time to thin). Store dressing in refrigerator.