Happy New Year!

Since I recently found out that my vegetarian diet wasn’t enough to keep the cholesterol ninja at bay, I’m going to take a break from the pumpkin crunch, peanut butter brownies and deep fried tofu and post something simple and healthy.

I actually got this recipe from my coworker, Susan, who brought this out at one of our potluck lunches. I’m not even a huge fruit salad fan, but I ate a good bowl and a half of the stuff. Susan’s pretty amazing though, and everything she cooks/bakes gets gobbled up or hidden in take out plates.

She’s also an avid reader of my blog, so, hi Susan!

So this fruit salad isn’t your ordinary spend-hours-peeling-and-cutting-fruit kind of salad. I’ve never been one of those people. I'm more of the, let oranges go bad in my fridge because I’m too lazy to peel them, kind of person. But all of this changed when I tasted Susan’s fruit salad.

Sweet and delicious, I hesitantly asked for the recipe and was shocked when she told me how easy it was. One bag of frozen tropical fruits, one can of frozen juice concentrate and presto-change-o, fruit salad.

I’ll admit I was wary when I heard it was frozen fruit. I think of mushy, slushy, bad things when I think of frozen fruit. Perhaps it was the addition of some fresh fruit, or just how delicious the sauce was, but it wasn't mushy to me!

So here’s what you do: throw all the frozen fruits and the frozen concentrate in a bowl, and you’re DONE. Leave out until it thaws, and then give it a quick stir before you pack up and take to your next BBQ, potluck or picnic. If you’re going to be out all day, you can pack it up frozen and enjoy it in the sun!

If you feel like getting fancy, you can chop up some apples and oranges, or throw in some cherries. A little fresh fruit is always a good thing. I added apples and oranges, because they're the easiest to peel and chop! I do knife-peeling method for oranges:

First you chop off the tops and bottoms.

The slice down the sides to remove all the peel. I'm not a fan of the white stuff, fiber or not!

Then cut the section out from the orange. You're left with these perfect little guys.

I also picked some lemon thyme from my little balcony garden because I'll find any excuse to throw these herbs into a dish! That's the little sprig right there, making this picture look 10x fancier.

Here’s the “recipe” as adapted from my coworker, Susan:

• 1 bag frozen tropical fruits (I used half the Costco sized bag of tropical fruits)
• 2 granny smith apples, chopped
• 2 oranges, chopped
• 3 sprigs of lemon thyme (optional)
• 1 can strawberry guava juice concentrate, defrosted

Thaw fruits and concentrate in the fridge overnight. Chop apples and oranges, mix with fruits, add concentrate and lemon thyme.

Mix well and obliterate!