Fresh Mango Salsa

My current fruit obsession has moved on from strawberries to mangos.  Has anyone else noticed how delicious they are this time of year? It's finally gotten HOT here, today is our first day in the 90s and I've been working in the yard a ton.  It's so nice to come in and snag one of these refreshing little babies out of the fridge and eat it nice and cold.  If you're not sure how to choose, store or slice your mangos, you can find all of that information here.  And be sure to visit my facebook page to learn about the great health benefits of mangos.

I also like to make mango salsa in the summer time.  It's delicious served with chips or over grilled chicken, or wrapped in a pita with some arugula and roasted turkey for a quick lunch.  This recipe for Mango Salsa comes from Make it Naked.  You can find the original here.  I love the addition of the avocado... it makes it sort of a guac/salsa fusion and it's delicious!  Don't you want to just stick a fork into your computer screen??

1 mango, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 tomato, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, diced (I used a garlic press)
1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Juice of 1 lime

Wash, peel and seed all ingredients where necessary. Chop the mango, avocado and tomato to uniform sized pieces. Chop the rest of the ingredients as necessary.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least 15-30 minutes.

Black Bean, Corn and Avocado Salsa

As February drags on I find myself craving anything that reminds me of summer.  Here's a quick salsa to whip up when you need a bit of summeriness.  It's great with chips, served as a side dish or even on top of chicken breasts or fish.  Play around with the proportions of ingredients to find a mix that's pleasing to you.  I love avocado, so I usually go a bit heavy on it. :)  Cilantro seems to be one of those herbs that people either love or hate, so if you like it, go for it! If you want to spice it up a bit, throw in some chopped jalapeno peppers.

photo source

10 oz. frozen corn, thawed

1 14.5 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1-2 avocados, chopped

1/2 c. sugar more or less

1/2 c. rice wine vinegar

salt to taste

chopped cilantro, jalapeno optional to taste

Mix together all of the veggies and beans in a large bowl.  Mix in the sugar.  Stir in the rice wine vinegar, mixing to coat.  Season with salt as needed.  This tastes best if you let the flavors meld in the fridge for an hour or so, give it a quick stir and dive in!

Sweet n' Tangy Cocktail Weenies

I made this recipe a few weeks ago for my monthly book club get together.  They were a big hit!  The recipe comes from Cooking on Clover Lane which is the sister-blog to my all time favorite blog, Clover Lane .  She and I think very much alike about life and motherhood.  She has a wonderful way with words and expresses her thoughts so beautifully.  I really hope you check out her site!

Back to the recipe- I followed everything exactly per her directions, but it seemed really saucy for my liking, so I think next time I'll cut the sauce ingredients in half and keep the weenie amount the same.  Or maybe she just uses a bigger package of Lil' Smokies than I did.  Photo and recipe comes courtesy of the link above.

I had a few leftovers, so I stuck them in some leftover hamburger buns and fed them to the kids for lunch the next day.  They loved it! Sort of a hotdog-sloppy joe fusion. :)

1 bottle chili sauce

1 jar red currant jelly

4 TBS brown sugar

1 package Lil Smokies Sausages

Mix first three ingredients on stove over low heat.  Add sausages.  Heat through till hot.

Serve.

Moroccan Meatballs

Warm spices and bright mint come together in bite sized meatballs.  These would be delicious as an appetizer with a warm chutney dipping sauce, folded into warm flatbread or served over a bed of couscous.


source

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 egg white
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T. oatmeal
1 T. ground coriander
1 tsp. dried mint
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
a few grinds of pepper
1 T. olive oil

In a large bowl combine all ingredients, exept oil.  Form into 1 inch meatballs.  Heat a large pan over medium heat.  Add oil and cook meatballs in batches, shaking pan often to cook them on all sides.  Don't overcrowd your pan.

Poppyseed Garlic Bread

Garlic bread is an absolute essential to me when eating any kind of Italian food.  I'd be just fine skipping the pasta all together and just dunking soft chewy garlic bread into sauce.  I prefer to make my own garlic bread rather than buy the store-made ones in the aluminum wrapper.  In my opinion they put WAY to much "butter" on those and they become a soggy, greasy mess.  This recipe is super quick and easy, using a store-bought loaf of bread which often times is cheaper than the pre-made loaves.  I hope you like it!

1 loaf bakery Italian bread
Butter
Garlic powder
Italian Seasoning
Poppyseeds
Parmesan Cheese

Slice the loaf of bread longways, so you end up with two long halves and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Spread each half with butter.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, poppyseeds and parmesan cheese.  Place under the broiler till toasty.  Be sure and WATCH IT!  If you walk away it will burn. Guaranteed.  It only takes a couple minutes.  Around here, we like to cut ours into breadstick sized slices, perfect for dunking.

For an extra fancy loaf you can skip the garlic powder and spread with a mixture of butter and roasted garlic.  I'll show you my super easy way to roast garlic in another post!