Life’s been pretty grand lately – all because of a shift in my thought process. At the end of last year I told myself that in 2018 things were going to be a little different. In 2018 I was going to be selfish. I know that sounds terrible, but I’ve spent way too many years feeling guilty for not taking care of myself, both mentally and physically. In the past I’ve jumped to take care of others and have neglected myself in the process. For some reason I’ve felt guilty for taking afternoons off to spend with friends, or for spending a day doing nothing productive. In our society I feel that we are expected to always ‘be productive’ and that we aren’t really good enough if we aren’t ‘doing’ something.
I vowed in 2018 I wasn’t going to worry about all that. Tired? Take a nap. Don’t want to go do something? Say no. Want to spend the afternoon wine tasting with a friend? Why not.
I’ve realized that I’m a people pleaser. While that’s not a bad thing to be, I need to make sure that I’m taking care of myself, my marriage, and my children. Yes, myself is #1.
I’ve neglected my health over the past two years. I haven’t managed stress well and I’ve known it all along. I’m proud to say that I’m working on changing that. I don’t mean a total health overhaul, but what I do believe in is focusing on my body and what it’s telling me. We eat fairly healthy here, but there’s always room for more nutrition.
So, while I don’t eat too many processed foods, I’ve been more conscious about eating foods that aren’t packaged, but are just grown.
The other night I made a veggie flatbread – pizza crust, a simple tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, grilled sweet peppers and onions, sliced mushrooms, garlic and olive tapenade.
I paired it with an exotic fruit platter.
I’ve shared my love for making meat & cheese / charcutterie platters in the past, but I’ve not really dabbled in photographing fruit platters…and I certainly haven’t attemped to create a fruit platter with exotic fruit before. Luckily, many stores are now carrying fruit that isn’t native to our location, and while it’s costly per pound it really isn’t more expensive than purchasing a pre-made fruit platter would be.
You just need to purchase one of each fruit to create something beautiful.
I purchase just a few fruits, but they really made quite the spread.
Exotic Fruit Platter
When looking for fruit for the exotic platter I wanted to try a couple new flavors and find a variety of colors.
We purchased:
- Dragon Fruit
- Star Fruit
- Papaya
- Variety of Grapefruit
- Variety of Oranges
- Pomogranate Seeds
- Variety of Pears
- Kiwi
I wanted to make sure that there was a variety of colors, because we first eat with our eyes, right? I sliced, diced, and arranged the fruit on a serving platter. It was a tasty and fun treat for everyone.
What are some of your favorite unusual fruits? We ended up with a bit of dragon fruit left over so I think I’ve going to figure out a smoothly or fruit salad to make with it!
~Melissa
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