Peach Blueberry Garden Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinegrette

Okay, I have a small confession.  While I do love vegetables (I was that crazy kid who at age 5 would gobble up a plate of steamed broccoli and ask for more), I sometimes prefer fruit even more.  So if I can find a way to combine them into one meal, that's just about the closest thing to perfection I can get.

Last Sunday I knew we would have a very hectic few hours right around supper time.  I also knew we'd be outside much of the day getting hot and sweaty and probably not very hungry, so I planned to just throw together a big salad and call it a night.  Well supper time rolled around and I hadn't gotten any type of meat out to thaw, nor did I really want any meat.

We had gotten some beautiful blueberries at the farmer's market.  I thought about tossing the blueberries on top of the salad when I remembered the organic peaches we'd gotten at the grocery store.  It was a bit like an episode from the TV show "Chopped" where the contestants have to make a dish out of a few mystery ingredients.  I started pulling things together and came up with one of the prettiest salads I think I've every seen.

Once it was together, I realized our typical homemade ranch dressing just wouldn't work with this salad.  The greens were too delicate and the flavors of the fruit too sweet.  I thought about making up a batch of my poppy seed vinaigrette, but I thought the peach would be good with some balsamic, so I decided to work from there.  My husband sometimes finds the flavor of balsamic a little overpowering, so I chose to cut by using half balsamic and half white wine vinegar.

Peach Blueberry Garden Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinegrette

For the salad

2 1/2 cups mixed greens or lettuce of your choice
1 small tomato, cut into large pieces
1/2 cucumber, sliced thin
1 peach, sliced
1/2 pint blueberries

Divide the lettuce between two large bowls or plates.  Arrange half of the tomato, cucumber, peach and blueberries on top of the lettuce.

For the dressing

1 tablespoon honey, raw preferred
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good quality olive oil

Place all ingredients in a blender or small food processor and blend until smooth.  Alternately, combine first three ingredients in a medium bowl and slowly whisk in olive oil.

Drizzle dressing over salad.  Serves 2.