When the nutritionists are come out with their suggestion of 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies every day, I must admit I was shocked. I don’t know about you, but my brain is taxed by such a challenge! Breakfast? Should I be ready to fix an omelet stuffed with veggies, or fruit crepes every day? I could make a fruit smoothie, but not all day. Lunch? When lunch time rolls around, you’re bound to be hungry. Does that slice of tomato and lettuce leaf on the burger count as a serving? Nope.

Let’s see, with three meals per day and perhaps a mid-afternoon and mid-morning snack, this means we must eat two servings of vegetables or fruit with each meal, as well as two in-between meal snacks consisting of fruit or vegetables, to fall 1 serving short of the optimal by the end of each day! A serving is defined as a half cup.

Realizing that this cornucopia of produce is really good for my health, full of antioxidants and all of those exquisite vitamins, I put on my thinking cap and tried to come up with as many fruit salad recipe combinations as probable, giving diversity to these endless dishes of nourishment. On the other hand, a salad makes a tasty lunch for a few days of the week. Dinner here come the veggies, bring ‘em on! Ah! A fruit salad recipe could fill in for a few breakfast choices. As a matter of fact, fruit salad recipes fit into any meal of the day. Are we on to something here? Fruit salad recipes can be standalone meals wedged into a salad and served as dessert, or a snack.

Here is what I came up with. (BTW, consuming all of these as proscribed, you’ll lose weight, so the idea can’t be all bad.) For springtime, a mix of fresh strawberries, banana, oranges and fresh pitted cherries are a winner. There is no question that fresh fruit makes the best tasting fruit salad recipes. Merge your fruits with Pina Colada flavored yogurt and a little shredded coconut.

There are always fruits in season someplace, though imported fruit goodies like guavas, mangoes and pineapple can be a bit heavy on the budget. So tasty, you will want seconds. In the off season, a can of diced pineapple, brushed with brown sugar water, broiled briefly to caramelize, and then combined with halved maraschino cherries and non dairy whipped topping is tasty. During the spring, summer and fall, fresh fruits are quite reasonable, but winter presents a challenge to the budget conscious consumer.

In winter, you may choose to match canned or frozen fruits for your fruit salad recipe ingredients. In summer, when melons are abundant and inexpensive, try a mix of diced, fresh watermelon, cantaloupe and casaba melons. Raisins and carrots are a classic combo, with orange Jell-o(TM). On the other hand, you can blend the fruit and veggie in a creamy slaw-style dressing with a couple of thinly diced, crunchy apples. For canned, fruit cocktail, bing cherries and diced pineapple seem most suited to fruit salads. Sliced almonds, mini marshmallows and some juice from canned fruit folded into real whipping cream are other lovely ingredients to throw in to any fruit salad recipe. This fruit salad recipe can be eaten ‘as is’, for a refreshing treat, for any meal, snack or dessert. Among the frozen fruit, berries are my favorites. While you may still not get your 5-9 servings, you will be well along the way. With that said, here are fruit combinations I’ve come to love.