Alphabet fruit salad with whip topping was one of our Grandma B.’s special dishes for the kids in our family (even the big kids).  She often made it for springtime occasions such as Easter, Mother’s Day, and birthday parties.  The young children loved to spoon through and call out the letters they recognized. The older kids sneakily spelled out sassy words, shared them with each other, and giggled.

One of our goals in our whole foods, plant based lifestyle is to find a way to veganize our favorite family recipes.  Food plays an integral role in traditions and family celebrations.  Nobody wants to give up the customs, flavors, and sense of belonging that traditional family foods offer.

Some of our veganized favorite family recipes already appear in our website, such as Marc’s Mom’s Chili and Cheese Enchiladas and Marc’s Mom’s Simple Salad.  This Easter we worked on developing and taste testing a couple more–Grandma B.’s alphabet fruit salad and Grandma Ruth’s ham with raisin and orange marmalade glaze. To replace the ham we made chick pea patties and kept some of the same flavors by adding a little smoke flavoring and maple syrup.  The raisin and orange marmalade sauce did not need much adjusting, other than making sure the marmalade is vegan.  The results were tasty and we think Grandma Ruth would give it her blessing because this version had no fat or oils added, and, of course, she would want us to be healthy. We will post this Chickpea Patties with Raisin & Marmalade Sauce soon, we just want to tweak it a little more. Here is a picture of the yummy patties:

Grandma B’s Alphabet Fruit Salad is ready to go, and you can view it by clicking here.  We adjusted it a little by using pineapple chunks in juice as opposed to syrup, and by using Coco Whip topping made by So Delicious instead of Cool Whip.  We also let people add their own whip topping if they wanted it, instead of mixing it in ahead of time.  This way, if someone wanted to avoid adding oil and fat, they could choose to do so.