Fruit salad. For real.

This is a serious fruit salad, meaning that the ingredients include fruit.  And only fruit.  You might be skeptical about the presence of fresh (tart!) cranberries and the absence of sugar, but the dates and other fresh fruit and just enough sweetness.  It passed the 4/3 year old taste bud test with flying colors.


1 pkg fresh cranberries (I had leftover fresh cranberries that I had stashed in the freezer, so I just rinsed them in a strainer to thaw and tossed them in the bowl)

2 c frozen wild blueberries

5 oranges, peeled and chopped

2 oranges, juiced

1 lime, juiced

4 to 8 oz fresh dates

4 to 6 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped

Add the juice of 1 orange and 1 lime to the dates in a food processor or blender, and process until combined.  It is perfectly fine if it isn't completely smooth.

In a large bowl combine the cranberries, blueberries, chopped oranges, chopped apples and juice of 1 orange.  Mix to combine.  Add the juice/date puree and mix thoroughly.  That's it.  cover it and refrigerate until ready to serve

You can substitute tangerines or clementines for the oranges, firm but ripe pears for the apples, you could add fresh ginger or shredded coconut.  Or, you can just make it this way.