Simple Honey Lime Chia Dressing for Fruit Salad

Chia seeds add a delightful crunch to this easy honey and lime fruit salad recipe.

My house is deliciously quiet. I crave quiet. I enjoy the sound of a spoon scraping the bottom of a bowl, of the faucet turning on, the water rush, how it pings in the metal sink. It’s the first time in over a week I’ve been able to revel in these sounds.

Spring break was a long week in this house. The weather outside was not prime for running outdoors from dawn to dusk just yet. Instead, my children ran about in snowpants and boots, slogging through freshly fallen snow, flopping down our small incline, making snowmen and dressing them in their own hats and scarves. Having had their fill by lunchtime, they pushed open the door, a blast of cold hitting my entire body as I huddled over the computer trying to work. Sodden items piled high on the floor waiting for me to wash. Their stomachs rumbling, their faces wind-whipped and pink, they sought warmth and nourishment and my attention.

Repeat for 11 days.

Confined to the house in between outside jaunts, we kept busy with books (my 7-year-old is reading through Harry Potter right now, and we often all huddle around to listen), drawing, elaborate make-believe scenes, LEGOs, growing crystals, and an occasional movie (uh, Frozen) while we weren’t cooking or being forced to match socks.





Luckily, we also received a care package for our spring break from The National Mango Board, which included some jungle-themed party supplies, a Blu-ray of The Jungle Book Diamond Edition, which several of my offspring had yet to view since we only had it on VHS, and mangoes. Soon we were singing The Bare Necessities as we sliced and chopped an afternoon away, and I was blowing my youngest’s mind because I knew all the words even without sitting down to watch the movie with them.

We made a few recipes from the board, but we’re terrible at following recipes exactly. For our Lion Pizzas we tried to make our lions have that classic snout with the pepperoni. What do you think? Those lions sure have elaborate manes. The boys turned Jungle Shortcakes into fruit parfaits because someone forgot the angel food cake. My girls toed the line in their creation of Peanut Butter and Mango Roll-Ups, though. You can grab all the recipes and more on Mango.org.





Spring may be holding out on us for a while yet, but we enjoy a good mango now and then, and March is right when it seems most varieties hit their peak. We combined them with a few strawberries, kiwi, and blackberries before giving them a light dousing of honey and lime juice with a hearty spoonful of chia seeds. The chia add a nice crunch to the salad and help it come together a bit more than simply a bowl of fruit. Not that there’s anything wrong with bowls of unencumbered fruit, but it can be nice to brighten them up a bit with a little something extra so they can be a contender for Easter and Mother’s Day brunch or a fresh addition to the lunchbox.

Simple Honey Lime Chia Dressing for Fruit Salad

Yield:
4-6

Prep Time:
10 minutes

Total Time:
10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 mangoes, diced
• 6 strawberries, sliced
• 2 kiwifruit, diced
• 1/2 cup blackberries

Instructions

Using a hot water bath, warm the honey slightly so it is easier to stir. Stir in the lime juice and chia seeds.

In a large bowl, combine the mangoes, strawberries, kiwifruit, and the blackberries. Stir to mix.

Drizzle the dressing over the fruit salad and toss lightly to coat. Serve cold.