Summer Fruit Salad with Creamy Lime Dressing

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was felled by a horrible cold that I picked up from my beloved little petri dishes children, and I spent the entire day curled up on the couch in a Benadryl-induced haze. I’m feeling much better now, though, and today I have a really delicious fruit salad to share with you.

This is a great way to celebrate summer’s best fruits: cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries. Add a tangy, tart, sweet dressing to the mix, and it’s an explosion of flavors and textures. This was a huge hit with my family.

Because of the water content in the fruit, this isn’t something you can make way ahead of time, but you could probably make it a couple of hours before you eat and be okay. You could also layer the fruits (directions for that are in the original recipe, which I’ve linked to below) and get a little bit more time out of it that way. This also isn’t something that keeps well in the fridge, but with a fruit salad this delicious, there probably won’t be any leftovers anyway. I’m taking this to a Labor Day picnic this weekend, and you should too.

Summer Fruit Salad with Creamy Lime Dressing
source: adapted from Betty Crocker

For the dressing:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

For the fruit:

3 cups cut-up cantaloupe
1 quart strawberries, sliced
2 cups blueberries

1. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, limeade concentrate and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium-high speed about 3 minutes or until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Set aside.

2. Mix fruit together in a large bowl. Gently fold in dressing. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 hours before serving.

Cantaloupe Chicken Salad

When I was browsing through my Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008 cookbook a few weeks ago, one of the (many) recipes that caught my eye was a recipe for cantaloupe chicken salad. When I saw the recipe, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I love fruit in my chicken salad -- why hadn't I ever thought of using cantaloupe instead of the grapes I typically use?

I really intended to follow their recipe, but I kept tweaking it until, ultimately, it turned out pretty much just like my go-to chicken salad, only with cantaloupe instead of grapes and a few other minor changes. I loved the taste of the cantaloupe in the chicken salad; it provided such a nice sweetness and lent its lovely juice to the flavor of the dressing. This was such a quick and easy dinner, and it's going to be perfect for lunches over the next couple of days. I'm so glad I stumbled across the recipe that gave me this idea!

Cantaloupe Chicken Salad
source: inspired by a recipe in Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008; the original recipe can be viewed here

2 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken breast (a rotisserie chicken works perfectly for this)
1 1/2 cups cubed cantaloupe
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/8 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 to 1 cup Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
Wheat rolls, split

Combine first seven ingredients in a large bowl. Add Miracle Whip or mayonnaise to desired creaminess. Serve on wheat rolls. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.