Fruit Salad OCD

My latest exercise in OCD happens to have a healthy edge to it - fruit salad. If you can believe this one, I've been making fruit salad (not unlike this one in the pic) for everyone and have been really into it. It takes a bit of effort and thought and it requires some legwork to get all the fruit, but the end result is a tasty, healthy, and fun way to start the day. Plus, I get to indulge my OCD about getting the fruit, which isn't always easy to find.

This all started several months back when I wanted to make sure the kids start their day with some fruit. Truth be told, they eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, especially when we do vegetarian days. Even when we don't, we eat a pretty healthy serving of veggies every day, more than your average person, and definitely more than you'll get at any restaurant. They also eat fruit with their lunch, usually an apple or pear, or some grapes.

I started giving the fruit in the morning, usually some cantaloupe or some strawberries, and it worked out fine. We started getting some really crappy melons, however, and I started to ponder how to liven things up. Now I like melons but am for the most part fairly ambivalent about them. The problem is, when you get fruit salad in any restaurant or breakfast bar, it's practically all melon, either cantaloupe or honeydew. Consequently, I avoid it.

I decided to make fruit salad with stuff I like, which basically meant no melons. I started with pineapple, strawberries, grapes, and clementines, but over time it has morphed into its current incarnation of grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, clementines, and mango... and sometimes kiwi. When I can find them cheap I'll add raspberries, but they're expensive. I've removed pineapple from the equation, though I still like it.

What's crazy is that I'm totally into it. Except for peeling the mango it's pretty easy and boils down to washing the fruit, but by the time I've finished making it, I'm stoked with the end result. It looks beautiful with all the colors, especially the dark berries contrasting with the yellows (mango and clementine) and reds (strawberry). And, everyone loves eating it. No problems on this end getting the kids to start their day off with a big bowl of fruit. Plus, I get to placate the Martha Stewart side of me, so everyone is happy.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Brent Hofacker for the pic.