AUDREY'S FAVORITE FRUIT SALAD

Everyone loves a good fruit salad. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also nutritious (sometimes I rhyme).

My mother has always made the best fruit salad. Now, I realize I shower her with praises all the time on this blog, but trust me – it’s entirely deserved!

Anyway, back to the fruit salad.

Whenever she brings it anywhere, everyone always asks “what’s in the sauce?”

And the secret is… pudding mix! That’s right, vanilla pudding mix!

Now you may be thinking, “Wait a second, I thought fruit salad was supposed to be healthy.”

And it still is! Sugar free vanilla pudding mix actually has very few calories. Its main purpose in the recipe is simply to give the natural juices from the fruits and extra boost of flavor.

So try it for yourself. Or bring it to a potluck and impress your friends. You won’t be disappointed!

I’d like to dedicate this fruit salad recipe to my cousin Audrey. It’s her favorite dish to make (besides strawberry cupcakes) and she was a little disappointed when I told her I was going to share her favorite recipe with the rest of the world.

AUDREY'S FAVORITE FRUIT SALAD

Yield: 12 servings

Calories: About 140 calories for 1 cup fruit

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

·         1 (.8 ounce) package of Jell-O Cook & Serve Pudding & Pie Filling, Sugar-Free, Fat Free, Vanilla

·         1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice

·         10 to 12 cups of assorted fruit (fresh or frozen sliced peaches, bananas, strawberries, and grapes)

·         1 to 2 teaspoons Fruit Fresh Produce Protector

DIRECTIONS

1.       Set colander over liquid measuring cup and dump can of pineapple chunks into colander. The purpose of this step is to collect all of the pineapple juice because you’ll be using it for your sauce. You can do this the night before so that you don’t have to wait around for the juice to completely drain.

2.       Once the pineapple has drained, you should have about 1 cup of juice in your measuring cup. Add either more pineapple juice or orange juice to your measuring cup so that you now have 1 and 1/2 cups juice.

3.       Pour juice into saucepan.

4.       Add the pudding mix to the saucepan and whisk until it’s completely dissolved.

5.       Turn the stove top on low (about a 3) and cook the sauce until it thickens and starts to boil (about 5 minutes.)

6.       Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool for approximately 1 hour.

7.       In the meantime, dump your assorted fruits (everything except the bananas) into a big bowl.

8.       Thoroughly mix the fruit.

9.       Add the banana on top of the fruit salad and sprinkle with Fruit Fresh so the bananas don’t turn brown.

10.   Once the sauce is cooled, pour it on top of your assorted fruits and mix thoroughly again.

11.   Chill before serving.

Drain your pineapple chunks over a colander to collect the juice

Add your juice to a saucepan and whisk in vanilla pudding

After about 5 minutes, the sauce will start to thicken and boil. Remove it from the heat at this time.

Mix all of the fruit up and pour your sauce on top

One cup of Audrey's Favorite Fruit Salad is only 140 calories