Dear Chef Kathleen,

I have been invited to a neighborhood gathering this weekend. Everyone has been asked to bring a dish. I have just recently started to get serious about a weight-loss program, and I am afraid that this will really test my new-found resolve. I want to bring an appetizer or salad that will be safe for me to eat on my diet and will still be appetizing for the other guests.

Also, any ideas on how not to sabotage myself while I am grazing around the buffet table would be greatly appreciated.

Teresa


Dear Teresa,

You're in luck! As you may well have noticed, the grocery stores and local fruit markets are slowly-but-surely getting in a more varied and far less expensive supply of fruits and vegetables. Your neighbors will be craving the spring dishes and summer foods we've all long been denied, now that winter has hopefully released its grasp on our area following this latest last-minute snow storm.

With the constant increases in gas prices, the cost of the imported fruits this winter has been too much to justify buying more than citrus fruits. But now, we have the Mexican crops in stores with California crops close on their heels. This means produce doesn't have to travel as far, so it's much cheaper and fresher.

I just went to a girls'-night-in gathering a few months ago. Along with all the usual chicken wings, cheese dips and meatballs, one kind woman had brought an apple salad. Everyone was surprised and pleased. While there were leftover meatballs at the end of the night, that woman took home an empty bowl. Everyone had enjoyed the balance of the fruit alongside the heavier appetizers.

For your neighborhood gathering, I would suggest a simple but delicious fruit salad. All you need to do is visit the grocer or fruit market in your area with the freshest selection and largest variety of fruits, and walk the aisles.

This week I went over to my fruit market to create just such a salad for a family gathering. The cantaloupe looked appetizing and added a color you can't get from much else. The honeydew melons looked too risky, so I left them in the store. I found a seedless watermelon quarter and a pineapple already peeled and cored by the produce department. I picked up some California kiwifruit, which are just at the end of their season and as ripe as can be as soon as you get them home.

The mangos that are just now coming in are sweet and juicy and make a fine addition to any fruit salad, but I felt they would get lost in such a large salad. I couldn't pass them up, however, so I bought them and will make a Mango & Strawberry salad for my niece and I to enjoy when she comes by for our play date Saturday.

This brings me to the best ingredient for my fruit salad—strawberries.

Right now, the California strawberries have just come to market. The fields over the southern regions of California are bursting with berries! Strawberries not only taste delicious and add a great flavor and color to fruit salad but they are good for our bodies in so many other ways. Strawberries provide essential nutrients such as fiber, potassium and powerful antioxidants. A serving of strawberries also contains 160 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C and they're very good for your heart. Studies have shown they can reduce systolic blood pressure, increase folic acid, which has heart health benefits, and increase antioxidants in the blood that may play a role in reducing oxidation of the LDL "bad" cholesterol.

The soluble fiber in strawberries is also recognized for its cholesterol-lowering properties. Several large studies show that people with a high folic acid intake have a 30 percent to 40 percent lower risk of colon polyps, which are the source of most colon cancers, when compared to those with diets low in folic acid. Research also suggests that diets low in folic acid may increase the risk of cancers of the breast, cervix and lung.

To prepare an easy festive fruit salad, simply cut all of the ingredients up into approximately 1-inch cubes and mix them all together. Do this as close to the time of the party as you can so the fruit is as freshly cut as possible. When you have it all mixed up toss on a few raspberries to add a colorful touch.

All of this adds up to a very healthy salad for you and your weight loss program as well as the rest of the guests. Have fun, Teresa, and congratulations on all your great success!

kd@chefkathleen.com