Fruit Salad with a Honey Lime Dressing & Quinoa Crunch Topping

My work was having a breakfast potluck event and I usually choose a chia pudding or a fruit dish to bring. This time I decided to share this light tasting fruit salad, that is a great dish to make for a crowd or as a dish that keeps well in the fridge for weekly food prep. The lime juice ensures that the fruit does not turn brown and the dressing helps preserve the salad for about 3-5 days. It is nice to have on hand for a snack, to spoon onto yogurt or porridge or even as an alternative topping to pancakes.

When selecting the fruit for your salad, always try to get fruits that are in season for freshness, affordability, and most importantly nutritional value. I also like to have a variety of texture in my fruit salad from grapes, to softer fruits like berries to a firm crisp apple. Selecting a rainbow of colors is not only beautiful but it provides a wider variety of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Mint add freshness to the salad and flavor to the salad, while also supporting the digestion of the salad itself.  Mint has a long history of being used to soothe upset stomachs, but it has a wide array of phytonutrients that deliver anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties.

Typically, those that are weight conscious or have blood sugar imbalance concerns are cautious of fruit salads due to the high amount of natural sugars that can spike blood sugar or promote the promotion of fat cells if too much sugar is consumed for storage. This is why I use a quinoa crunch topping. This provides fiber, protein, omega 3, and additional nutrition that creates a delightful crunch to the salad but also helps with blood sugar spikes. Consuming fiber and protein with a food that has a higher sugar content, slows the rate in which the sugar is absorbed, allowing the body to better manage it. Ensuring you select fruits that are also lower on the glycemic index scale can also help to reduce the sugar content and be a safer choice for those with blood sugar issues.

Fruit Salad with a Honey Lime Dressing & Quinoa Crunch

Beautiful nutrient packed and naturally sweet fruits, paired with mint, a honey and lime dressing, and topped with a quinoa crunch crumble. Total fruit salad perfection.

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Servings 8 people

Ingredients

  

Fruit Salad

• 1 cup blackberries
• 1 cups sliced strawberries
• 1 cup green grapes
• 1 cup purple grapes
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• 2 medium asian pears
• 2 medium honey crisp apples
• 1 handful fresh mint leaves, loosely chopped

Honey Lime Dressing

• 2 small limes
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Quinoa Crunch

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp hemp hearts
• 1-2 tbsp maple syrup or coconut nectar

Instructions

 

• Wash and chop your fruit. Toss it all gently in a bowl with the fresh mint leaves.
• Place all the dressing ingredients into a jar and shake until well mixed then pour over salad and toss. If your honey is hard you will want to warm it slightly.
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line it with parchment paper. Mix all the Quinoa Crunch ingredients evenly onto the tray and bake for 10 minutes.
  
• Break up the quinoa and crumble it on the salad just before you serve it.
  

Notes

The salad will keep well in an air-tight glass container in the fridge without the crumble for 3-5 days.

I like to store the crumble separate until I am ready to eat the salad. The crumble will last 1-2 weeks in the fridge and 2 months in the freezer. It is great to have on hand to sprinkle onto salads, yogurt, or porridge.