Once upon a time, we were having some friends over for dinner. These friends happen to follow a gluten free and vegan diet. What should I serve for dessert? I wondered, since eggs, flour, milk & cream were all out (thus eliminating my dinner party stand-by Pôts de Crème). The answer to my dilemma was clear: fresh fruit! A quick search on Tasty Kitchen provided this recipe, which suited my needs perfectly.
Adorned with a little syrup made with lime juice, honey, sugar, and mint, this fruit dessert is so simple and so fresh. And as soon as the gluten-free and vegan ‘component’ is no longer present, it would also be delicious scooped over ice cream.
Let’s go!
Ingredients
(Serves 6-8)
10 cups fresh seasonal fruit (berries, mangoes, kiwi, peaches, etc.)
3 TBS fresh lime juice
3 TBS chopped mint leaves
3 TBS honey
3 TBS brown sugar
Chop up the mint leaves . . .
. . . and squeeze out that fresh lime juice. My lime was pretty large, so I only needed one to get the 3 TBS of juice.
Combine the lime juice, honey, sugar, and mint to form the dressing.
Whisk it until it’s all combined.
Chop up the fruit:
The chunks of mango were my favorite part.
Berries are also in season, so I loaded ‘er up with blackberries and raspberries and strawberries.
Toss the fruit with the dressing . . .
. . . and serve!
We weren’t able to finish this the first night, and after the salad had spent 2 nights in the fridge I wondered if it would still be holding up okay. The juice from the berries had tinted everything a slight reddish color, but once I got past its appearance, my taste buds swooned. After marinating for a couple days, it’s even better. Each bite of mango was full of minty lime berry juice. I could have eaten 5 pounds of the stuff.
In another life in which I have the stomach of an elephant, of course.
Anyway, it’s the perfect dessert for the summer–no oven or stove involved.
Click here for printer-friendly version: Honey-Lime Fruit Salad
You have friends who are gluten free AND vegan? And you offer to feed these people? They must be really, really awesome people. 😉
Yeah, they’re pretty dang awesome people, and worth every ounce of extra thought we put into the meal. =)
My wife loves doing this. And with fresh mint, it’s just amazing.
amazing. as usual you with your awesome recipes make my mouth water at work. :-p
You make a fruit salad after my own heart. I add mangoes, lime, mint, etc. Get many compliments on the salad because, apparently, people do not often do mangoes and / or mint. Anyway…… delish….
Huge fruit salad fans over here. That looks amazing thanks.
What I really want to know is what did you feed them for dinner – I would simply have no idea.
We had White Bean Dip with corn chips for an appetizer, Sweet & Sour Tofu over rice and Chilled Asian Cucumbers on the side for the main course, and the fruit salad for dessert (all the recipes are on my blog =).
This sounds yummy! I can hardly wait to taste it.
Oh Goodness that looks GOOD!
It would also be yummy with some yogurt on top if you don’t want the calories of ice cream…. I have been doing fresh blueberries in yogurt for breakfast these days.
What kind of mint? Peppermint, spearment, or just generic “mint”?
Goold ole generic mint, though spearmint could be fantastic! Good idea on the yogurt. Mmmm . . .
My garden bed is over run with spearmint. I had two little plants out last summer to do my Moroccan tea and it just took over..I could supply a grocery store with fresh mint. I am actually making up bags with the mint, gunpowder tea and giving it as gifts to make Moroccan tea with.
Oh wow! Overrun with mint sounds like a great place to be! =) I loooove Moroccan tea but don’t know how to make it (we used to have it at a little restaurant in Bloomington called ‘Casablanca’ that has–sadly–since closed). Could you share your recipe??
Great idea with the dessert! Very simple, healthy, and it looks delicious! I’m curious what you served them for the main meal. Will we be seeing those dishes too? I often cook veg and vegan for myself as I don’t like meat very much.
Dude, what did you make for DINNER?!?!? Gluten free AND vegan…that’s rough. They basically can’t go out to dinner anywhere!
I am so loving this fruit salad. that minty lime syrup…basically heaven. And the best part is, you could totally eat 5 pounds of it without even a speckle of guilt. Can’t say that about chocolate cake!
deeelish! i have some CSA mint i need to use up, this’ll be the ticket. 🙂
I wish I had this for lunch right now. I’m starving and it looks perfectly lovely and refreshing!
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