Veggies + Fruit = Delicious Salads

I have discovered I really like combination veggie and fruit salads. It all started with some of Mark Bittman's recipes for 101 Simple Salads. In many of his salads he combined veggies and fruit. Some of my favorites are:

1. Grate carrots, toast some sunflower seeds, and toss with blueberries, olive oil, lemon juice and plenty of black pepper. Sweet, sour, crunchy, soft.
2. Cut cherry or grape tomatoes in half; toss with soy sauce, a bit of dark sesame oil and basil or cilantro. I love this — the tomato juice-soy thing is incredible. (Ok, no fruit in this one but it is too good not to share.)
3. Cube watermelon and combine with tomato chunks, basil and basic vinaigrette. You can substitute peach for the watermelon or the tomato (but not both).
4. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing.

Then Hungry Girl added cucumber to her fruit salad. She calls it Ginormous Fruit Salad Surprise. The surprise to me is that the cucumber tastes a little like melon when combined with the fruit. Delicious!

So when I saw this Zucchini Apple Salad in Taste of Home I knew I had to try it. It did not disappoint. It is sweet, tangy and crunchy. I knew I would like zucchini and apples. But I wasn't sure about Italian dressing and apples, I really like it! Sort of a sweet and sour thing. It is more apparent freshly made. It mellows the longer it sits in the refrigerator. Any of these salads would be great to take for lunch or to a pot luck.

If you have any favorite veggie and fruit combinations I would love to hear about them.

Zucchini Apple Salad

Source: Taste of Home

6 Servings

Ingredients

2 medium red apples, chopped

2 small zucchini, chopped

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

2/3 cup Italian salad dressing

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the apples, zucchini and walnuts. Add salad dressing; toss to coat. Yield: 6 servings.

Nutrition Facts: 2/3 cup (prepared with fat-free salad dressing) equals 114 calories, 6 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 1 mg cholesterol, 383 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 vegetable, 1 fat, 1/2 fruit.