Homemade Fruit Bruschetta

Breakfast foods are my favorite. They're the perfect excuse to have something sweet in the morning and not have people judge you. Although most sweet things I eat usually involve chocolate, this breakfast "appetizer" fruit bruschetta is a delectable combination of pineapple, mango and strawberries, finished off with a few pieces of chopped fresh mint and served over toasted cinnamon sugar pitas. It's light, refreshing, and so very tasty. What a beautiful thing.

My inspiration for this dish came from my favorite brunch place (so far) in NJ, the Turning Point. On weekends there is usually a 30 minute wait for a table at any time of the morning/afternoon. I say yes to whatever wait time they tell me, because it's always worth it. The only downside is they're only open until 3 P.M. every day of the week. Sometimes a girl just needs pancakes for dinner, am I right? I guess that's what New Jersey diners are for. The Turning Point is in a league of its own.

My girlfriends and I usually start our brunch off with coffee and then follow that up with this divine fruit bruschetta. After I've quickly slurped down about half of my iced coffee, the fruit bruschetta shows up at our table and I remember why I'm willing to wait 30+ minutes for brunch.

Since it's really not practical to wait that long every time I'm craving fruit bruschetta, I decided to recreate my own! It's really a simple recipe. I shuffled off to the farmer's market to pick up some mangoes, a pint of strawberries, and a nice big pineapple. Since I was already at the store, I figured it would be a good time to pick up pitas for the cinnamon sugar pita chips. As for the fresh mint, I went right outside to our garden and plucked about 5 leaves to chop up for the bruschetta.

Wash those strawberries and then slice off their 'hats', as my sister likes to call them. I used the whole pint of berries.

Like a traditional bruschetta, the ingredients should be diced uniformly so you get a good blend of all the ingredients in every scoop.

Two mangoes should do the trick. I'm new to using mangoes, so my attempt at peeling and cutting them was a messy one. Oh well, better luck next time.

Not pictured is the pineapple being sliced. I was covered in sticky fruit juice at this point and really wanted all the things to be chopped up and thrown into the container. Here's a really helpful video on how to cut a pineapple. I would up only using about ⅔ of the pineapple because it kept everything at a pretty even ratio. After you've diced up all the ingredients, chop up the mint leaves and sprinkle them in. Give everything a good stir and let all the flavors get to know each other before you serve to guests. It's a good idea to throw the fruit bruschetta in the refrigerator while you make the cinnamon pitas.

Take plain pitas and put them on a pan or cookie sheet. I put mine on our pizza pan because I thought it would be nice to keep round things on round pans, but there's no need to do this. Rectangular cookie sheets work just as well.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in the microwave and brush the pitas lightly with butter. Sprinkle generously with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. My mom used to make us toast with butter and cinnamon sugar and call it "snack". In some way, this is a reincarnation of that tasty "snack" that usually wound up being lunch. We have a spice shaker specifically filled with cinnamon sugar for moments like these.

Bake at 350ºF for 12-15 minutes, or until you feel they are done. As with all things I make, I like them a little underdone. The cinnamon sugar pitas should still be soft, but warmed enough so that the butter and cinnamon sugar become one happy little tasty family.

And there you have it, a beautiful and inexpensive fruit bruschetta! Scoop into a bowl and enjoy!What's your favorite breakfast food? Something rich and chocolaty or fruity and refreshing? Let me know!