It's a Matter of Taste: Fruit Salad

Happy New Year Everyone!!! : )

     It's 2016 and let's start the year right by being healthy. I know most of us have gained a few pounds without any regret because Christmas is the season where we eat and cook a lot. I too gained a few pounds but I'm happy with it : ) It's the best time where we "harvest the fruits of our labor" - yeah, we need that too because life is not all about work and work, but sometimes we need to enjoy too. For me, what I could say is that the Christmas season went on too fast. Still, I had lots of things in my mind which I wanted to do during the holiday vacation but I haven't done it yet because what I did mostly was to do chores and my other obligations. It's okay though because in my To Do List, the first on is to cook for Christmas and for my partner's birthday.

     In the Philippines, one of the dishes which you can see presented on the table for Christmas is the fruit salad. Every family has their own traditional recipe and of course, I have mine too. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Fruits of your choice (it also depends what fruits are in season in your country) but here is what I usually love to add in my fruit salad:

3 medium sized apples, sliced into cubes (if you want to peel off the skin, you can do so but I usually leave then as it is)

3 medium sized pears, sliced into cubes

1 small pineapple, peeled and sliced into cubes. If you don't have fresh pineapples and if you are in a hurry, you can buy the canned ones.

1/4 wedge part of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew, its up to you to slice them into cubes or be creative by using melon ballers to create ball-shaped melons - it's up to you

1/4 cup cherry, pitted and sliced in half

1 450g can peaches (we don't have fresh peaches in the Philippines so we buy the preserved one - slice into cubes)

3 250g packs all purpose cream

sugar

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, add apples and pears. Usually what I do is to open one pack of all purpose cream and mix it with the apples and pears. This will prevent them to turn brown as you cannot use the lemon with water technique here because the acidity of the lemon juice will ruin the cream.

2. Add pineapples, peaches and cherries. At this point you can add the rest of the all purpose cream packs. Mix well.

3. Add watermelons, cantaloupes and honeydew. Continue mixing until the fruits are well-mixed with cream.

4. Add sugar and adjust the sweetness if you want it sweeter or not. Also I add a few drops of vanilla extract because for me this adds a vanilla ice cream taste : )

Continue mixing slowly so that you will not crush the watermelons and the peaches. Once you are done, chill it in the fridge before serving.

     There are various ways in preparing the fruits. If you have a lot of time, you can buy the fresh ones and slice them each according to what sizes and shapes you want. But if you are in a hurry, grocery stores sell canned fruits which are already pre-sliced and all you need to do is to drain the syrup using a strainer or colander. Personally, I like the fresh fruits better because the salad has this delicious, sweet and fruity aroma that canned fruits don't have and it's healthier too.