The weather is FINALLY starting to get warm around here after a long, wet winter. The trees are bursting with leaves, the grass is turning green, and the spring perennials are beginning to flower. I am spending my evenings pulling out weeds, transplanting seedlings, watering and admiring the beauty of flowers. Take a look at some of the spring perennials in my garden.
Peonies are one of my favorite hardy flowering plants. They stands out in the garden and smells great.
Ground hugging bell flowers (Campanula)
White flowered Sandwort- a very classy rock garden plant.
Mountain Laurel, an evergreen shrub with star shaped white and pink flowers.
In such great weather everyone loves to go on picnics. So, last weekend we packed our picnic basket and headed to a park in Burnaby to enjoy the afternoon with some friends. Everyone brought something to the picnic. I brought a Minty fruit salad and moongpahli aloo ki sabzi (peanut potato stir-fry) to celebrate the change of weather. The peanut potato stir-fry is kind of like a potato salad which you can eat it in lettuce cups or sandwich it between a poori or bread. I posted the recipe here in 2011.
There’s nothing sweeter or more simple than an easy fruit salad. I absolutely love making it at any chance I get. It’s healthy and it adds flavor and excitement to special occasions, as well as everyday meals. The good thing about fruit salads is that with few simple touches, it can be transformed into something beautiful. For this simple fruit salad, I mixed the best fresh fruits I could find in the market. I went for a variation of colors from the fruits that are in season. I got red, green and yellow from mouthwatering manila mangoes, sweet kiwi, plump strawberries and juicy grapes. It’s incredible how easy it is to create something that appeals to all of your senses. Blueberries would have been awesome too, but they are not quite in season. Just look at this. Don’t you want to dig right in?
It is light, colorful and very good for you. Think of all the all those vitamins, minerals and health-promoting antioxidants you are getting from savoring these seasonal fruits. Basically, fruit salad is highly customizable. You can mix and match whatever ripe fruits you have on hand or choose some of your favorites. I dressed the colorful array of fruits with a bright lemon mint vinaigrette (though, doesn’t look so in the picture). Believe me, mint is the key ingredient that takes the salad to another level. It adds a lovely fragrance and tastes good with summer fruits and vegetables. I am not fond of adding sugar to fruit salads so I combined lemon juice with freshly crushed grapes, but you could use honey or sugar if you prefer. I measure the ingredients by eye and by taste, depending on how sweet the fruit is and accordingly add more or reduce lemon juice.
This minty fruit salad is an excellent addition to a potluck, picnic, or party as an appetizer, side salad or a dessert. It can even be eaten anytime you have a fruit craving.
An easy and simple to make colorful fruit Salad. Slightly citrusy, nice and sweet, with a hint of mint.
Ingredients
- 3 Mangoes
- 454 g strawberries
- 250 grapes ( a mix of red and green)
- 4 kiwis
- 3-4 tbsp. lemon juice
- 100g green grapes
- 2 tbsp. thinly chopped and lightly crushed mint
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Few mint sprigs to decorate
Instructions
- Clean and wash all fruit.
- Pat dry the strawberries and grapes with absorbent kitchen paper and peel the others.
- Puree 100g green grapes together with lemon juice.
- Add crushed mint and salt to the vinaigrette. Set aside in a bowl until required.
- Cut all remaining fruit into a large bowl. Refrigerate to chill.
- Just before serving add the vinaigrette and toss well.
- Decorate with mint sprigs and serve.
This post is part of CookBlogShare.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
Your garden looks beautiful! Mint and summer fruits are simply fantastic together.
Juliana
This fruit salad looks so refreshing, and I love the idea of the mint in it…
The flowers are really blooming…so pretty!
Have a wonderful week ahead Balvinder 🙂
Cliona Keane
This recipe is beautiful! I love using fresh mint in summer recipes and this is the ideal way to use it!
Monica
What a cheerful post! I love how your plants look and a picnic sounds divine. Growing up, I hated even the look of fruit salad (I was a very picky child) but now, I would very likely go for that first. Love how fresh yours looks, not drowning in a lot of liquid. I’m ready for more picnic weather! : )
allie
Hi Balvinder – what a beautiful salad! I love mint in my fruit salad. The colors are so vibrant! Your gardens are also beautiful. I have some gorgeous peonies the exact same color as yours. Peonies are by far my favorite blooms.
Monika
This is a beautiful looking refreshing fruit salad, perfect for a summer bbq party! Your flowers are lovely too:) #CookBlogShare
David @ Spiced
I love that you included some photos of your garden here! And thanks so much for including the plant names, too. That Campanula looks awesome! Speaking of awesome, I love fruit salads in the summer. And the lemon + mint vinaigrette you made for this salad sounds incredible. It just makes me want to sit on the back porch in the sun with a nice big bowl! 🙂
marcie
Your picnic sounded wonderful and this fruit salad looks like a perfect dish to bring! I love the sound of the dressing with the pureed grapes, lemon, and mint — so refreshing!
Alida @My Little Italian Kitchen
You have so many beautiful flowers in your garden! Very nice.
I fancy your fruit salad with mint, it must give fruit salad a good lift!
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins
Oh wow this looks so good! We grow mint in the garden so have a lot at this time of year. Loving the sound of the mint lemon viniagrette. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Blackswan
Oh wow, love the colourful treats! xoxo
Evi @ greenevi
This salad looks like the perfect summer treat! Refreshing and delicious, and that mint and lemon vinaigrette sounds fabulous!
Adina
Beautiful flowers and beautiful salad. Such bright happy colors and I love the dressing.
puja
Oh my goodness, this looks so amazing and mouthwatering Balvinder! 🙂
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain
Delicious! I love fruit salad but admit that I’ve never tries it with mint before – something i shall have to try out. #CookBlogShare
Angela x
Katerina
The mint gives such a refreshing touch to everything it touches! The salad looks fantastic!
Andy Gibbs
Sounds interesting, will the lemon and salt not react and give a blue tinge to the salad?
Balvinder
No, they never react. I use it all the time.
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
The flavors in your fruit salad are so lovely… and so are those gorgeous flowers in your garden!