Fruit Fabulous Fruit.

I decided I wanted to go a little bit crazy with the fruit recently...I'll be talking about it over at My Food and Life Encounters (where I'm guest posting while Miranda is away) and I'll be talking about it right here, too! But with a different spin on things... But for now, let's talk about how to get a delicious bowl of this tasty summertime (oh....why not anytime) fruity, yogurty mixture!

Fruit & Yogurt Salad w/ honey & cinnamon... Choose your favorite fruits...or some new fruits you haven't tried...or just use the same ones I picked (it was a good combo)...go fruit wild! I went with 6 fruits all in various colors- because it's all about eating with eyes! I chose to "ball" my melons (you'll see why if you visit me on my "sister" post), but feel free to just cut them into chunks if you don't have a melon baller...or if you do have one, but don't feel like using it.

I thought I would begin by giving a little pineapple cutting tutorial. I've had many people tell me they were scared of cutting one without the aid of one of those corer/slicer doodads. Well, fear no more! Pineapples are seriously one of the easiest fruits to cut once you know how! Begin by securing your cutting board so that it doesn't slide when the inevitable slippery juices seep over the edges. First cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple. Set it upright and using a sharp chef's knife, begin slicing off that prickly skin just under the line of "eyes". Don't worry if you miss some, you can go back and shave them off later. Once that part is done...you're so golden! Admit it, that outside of the pineapple is definitely the scariest part. Next, cut through the pineapple from top to bottom, through the core. Then locate that core (it's lighter) on each section and simply slice it off. Now you have four big, gorgeous hunks of pineapple to slice, chunk, cut in anyway you choose! See...easy as pie right? Right! (If you want rings, simply cut the pineapple in half the short way once you've removed the top & bottom. Then pop out the core from each half with an apple corer. Then move on the next step of removing the skin. All that will remain will be slicing up those rings.)The next fruit I chose to use was cantaloupe. Begin by slicing off a thin slice from each end of the melon. This will serve as a flat edge to hold it steady. Now cut it in half (not through the flat end, through the other way) and scoop out the seeds with an ice cream scoop. With your melon baller, make your way around the flesh scooping out balls as close together as possible. Once you've gotten all the way around, using a very sharp knife, cut off a layer just as deep as your holes. Repeat the process until you've used up all the melon you are able to. You'll get a few extra balls from the very bottom curve, as well. No need to waste all that mangled looking melon...simply scoop it out and use it for smoothies...or some other fruity drink!Ditto on your honeydew...Your watermelon (use seedless for best results) uses the same process, but yields so much more because of the greater surface area. When it came to the strawberries, I just halved or quartered them depending on their size. The grapes I just plucked from their stems. Look at all this delicious fruit just waiting to mingle!Now...make yourself a little yogurt dressing for tossing it all up and bringing it together well.

Honey Cinnamon Yogurt Dressing (or dip)

by girlichef Yogurt-plain or vanilla Honey Cinnamon (or freshly grated Nutmeg...but then you'll have to change the name) Mix them all together to your taste! And YES...you can use this as a delicious fruit dip, too. But, what I did was tossed everything together for a big bowl of summertime satisfaction!My Fruit & Yogurt Salad w/ honey & cinnamon is also my submission for Souper (soup, salad & sammie) Sundays this week!

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Don't forget to head on over to check out my guest post today HERE...where I'll put a different spin on all of this awesome fruity goodness...see why I balled all of that melon!!!And made another addicting topper...we're talking a little bit of Spice! Don't miss it...