Grandma's Fruit Salad

My grandmother used to make this often for our annual family 4th of July picnics. I no longer have the exact recipe, but have changed things up a little, anyways. For those of us who do not live around the tropics or areas with fresh fruit year-round, this is a nice way to use canned fruit and readily available fruit in the winter. In the summer, you can add all kinds of fresh fruit, but it helps to have a little canned fruit so there will be some syrup for the "sauce".

Ingredients:

1 15 oz. can of mixed fruit
1 15 oz. can of mandarin oranges
1 15 oz. can of peaches *
1 15 oz. can of pears *
1 15 oz. can of pineapple tidbits or chunks
1-2 bananas, sliced
1 apple, peeled (or not) and chopped
15 -20 red grapes, cut in half- if available
any other colorful fresh fruit
2-3 Tbsp shredded coconut (optional)
3/4 - 1 cup (6-8 oz.) cup vanilla yogurt
3 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
small marshmallows (optional)

Open cans of fruit, draining juice into another medium bowl. Mix all the fruit together in a large bowl. Add the coconut and marshmallows, if desired. Stir the yogurt and orange juice concentrate into the reserved fruit juice. When the orange juice concentrate has fully dissolved, then mix in with the fruit. Stir well and chill.

*You may substitute a variety of tropical canned fruit, if available.

My grandma also added a box (3-4 oz.) of instant vanilla pudding into the juice mixture and then, after mixing well, stirred it into the fruit. I have not added it in this picture- it just adds more creamy vanilla flavor/sweetness and makes the juice slightly thicker. So try it this way, if you would like!