A creamy fruit salad without the dairy

A creamy fruit salad usually means dairy, and this version reaches the same comfort by a cleaner road. Coconut yogurt does the creamy work, and crisp apple, dried cranberry, cherry, and date carry the flavor. It is a genuinely good dish, the kind you would make for anyone at your table.

Apples bring fiber and the cherries and cranberries bring polyphenols, the colorful plant compounds that feed a healthier gut community, steady, useful work for a body calming an overactive immune system. If you use a cultured coconut yogurt, it also brings live cultures to the gut. Apple is a source of vitamin C as well. Modest, real nourishment in something that simply tastes good.

Make it ahead and let it chill so the flavors settle. When you serve it, take a breath and look at it first, the pale apple against the dark fruit. A few minutes of care and a little gratitude for whole food change how the meal lands in the body.

Ingredients

• 4 apples, chopped
• 1 cup coconut yogurt
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds (omit for AIP - almonds are a nut and not elimination-phase compliant; add a handful of extra dried cranberries or chopped apple for crunch and bulk if you like)
• 1/4 cup cherries, sliced
• 2 tablespoons dates, chopped
• 2 tablespoons dried cranberries
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method

Add the chopped apples, cherries, dates, and dried cranberries to a large bowl.

Spoon in the coconut yogurt and add the lemon juice, then fold everything together until the fruit is evenly coated.

Chill for about 1 hour before serving, so the flavors come together and the fruit softens slightly. Serve cold.

*Adapted from a-clean-plate*

*Lower-sugar note: the sugar here is the apples, not added sweetener. For less, use a smaller amount of apples and lean the bowl toward the greens and lower-sugar berries.*