Alton Brown’s Fruit Salad with Vanilla Dressing

In general I hate anything sweet or healthy, but this is both and it’s actually good. When Molly married into the family Dot started requiring us to make at least one sweet dish at family events (because we’d pretty much exist on starch and salt otherwise), and now Paul gets up half an hour early on holidays (so like 4:30 a.m. – ya know, cuz he’s retired and can sleep in now) to cut vegetables into ridiculously identical cubes for this recipe.

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon honey 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced 1 cup seedless grapes, halved 1 pear, peeled, cored and diced 10 to 12 medium size strawberries, halved 1 mango, peeled and diced 1 banana, sliced 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1. In a small mixing bowl whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, honey, vanilla extract and salt. Season with pepper, to taste. Set aside.

2. Place all of the fruit and the nuts into a large mixing bowl and toss to combine. Add the dressing, toss and serve.