Grilled Stone Fruit Salad

Summertime salads are a great way to pack a variety of nutritious fruits and vegetables into a single dish that is both sweet and savory. This recipe comes to us from our friends at Produce for Kids, who focus on educating families about cooking.

Food for Thought: Stone fruits such as plums and nectarines are classified as “drupes.” Technically speaking, these fruits have a hard stone pit around their seeds. Coconuts, olives, and mangoes are also stone fruits. The sweet flesh that we eat provides many nutrients, including antioxidants and lots of vitamin C. This makes stone fruit a nutritious addition to a salad, or a healthy snack on its own!

Cooking Tip of the Week: Leave the skin on your fruit when you grill it. It is better to grill soft fruit with the skin on because it helps to hold the fruit together during the grilling process.

Family Dinner Conversation Starter: If you could be a famous person for a week, who would you be and why?

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 nectarine, halved
• 2 plums, halved
• 1 package spring mix salad blend
• 2 cup strawberries, halved
• 1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas, drained, rinsed
• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Adult: Heat non-stick grill pan over medium heat.

Adult: Add nectarine and plums cut-side-down, and cook 5 minutes, or until grill marks are visible. Flip and grill 4 minutes, or until cooked through.

Kid: Combine salad, strawberries, chickpeas, cheese and onion in large bowl.

Together: Whisk lemon juice, oil, mustard and salt in separate bowl. Pour over salad and toss.

Kid: Top with grilled fruit.