Fresh Fruit Salad

A lightly sweet salad made of fresh cut fruit is the perfect accompaniment to any summer dinner (such as Sunburst Macaroni Salad). Watermelon, canteloupe, grapes, pineapple, apples, oranges - the possibilities and combinations are endless. Delicious, healthful. What could be better? You just can't improve on nature. Or can you?

2 medium apples, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 medium bananas, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 (8 oz.) can pineapple chunks, drained
1/2 cup green grapes
1/4 cup sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 cup water
3 T. orange juice
4 1/2 t. lemon juice

Combine fruit in a bowl and set aside. Combine sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan, then add water, orange juice and lemon juice and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Toss sauce gently with the fruit and refrigerate until ready to serve.

It's a minor note, but I'm pretty sure canned pineapple doesn't count as fresh fruit. The recipe does admittedly have fresh fruit in it, though, so we'll let them keep their title for now. I'm pretty sure this recipe comes from somebody who hates fresh fruit. I mean, all that natural goodness wasn't enough? We had to "enhance" it with a thickened fruity sweet and sour sauce? Those bananas are just so bitter, let's add some sugar. And, well, I like both orange juice and lemon juice. Eeeny, meeny, miny...oh, heck, let's splurge and just use both. Then maybe I can change the name to Decadent Fruit Salad or Luxurious Fruit Salad or something. Ah, that's perfect. There's just nothing like man-meddled, er made.

Oh, and at some point, are you supposed to turn the burner on underneath the saucepan? Because I'm pretty sure cornstarch doesn't thicken anything without a catalyst, namely heat.