Healthy Fruit Salad with Vanilla Mint Dressing.

Can you believe tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day? This month seems to have flown by, but I'll take it with the official start to spring just a few short days away. I'm sharing a naturally sweet and easy fruit salad recipe today that would be perfect for any party or holiday this spring {Easter and Mother's Day are coming up soon}!

I made this salad a few weeks ago for a brunch gathering, after I was asked to bring a fruit dish to share. I tried thinking of something different to do with fruit, but every fruit salad recipe I found perusing food blogs called for adding a lot of extra sugar - some recipes included as much as 1-2 cups. With fruit as colorful and sweet as this, why add extra sugar to the mix?

Instead, this version of fruit salad includes a few of my favorite things:

Fresh strawberries, blackberries, and green grapes.

Vanilla.

Mint.

And lime.

To be honest, I came up with this recipe while staring at the fruit and herb options at Trader Joe's, looking for inspiration. I knew vanilla and mint sounded great together, and it turns out lime juice is a perfect binder to create a "dressing" without added sugar or oil. This combination of flavors goes together incredibly well.

Healthy Fruit Salad with Vanilla Mint Dressing
Serves a crowd.

Ingredients~
1 carton strawberries
1 carton green grapes
1 carton blackberries
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 mint leaves + 3 for garnish

How to~
*Wash and slice fruit. {I quartered the strawberries, halved the grapes, and left the blackberries whole.}
*Make dressing by whisking lime juice and vanilla extract. Julienne {tutorial here} or chop the mint leaves and stir into the dressing.
*Pour dressing over fruit and stir until evenly combined. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.