18

May

Summer and Mangoes

Matt grilled burgers last night. They were delicious! I haven’t been eating much (any) beef lately, but I wanted a burger and he obliged.

Burgers

Grilled corn on the cob
Grilled squash
Summer salad

 
I thought a colorful salad would be fun with it, but nothing typical and boring. Plus, it’s (almost) summer…why not mix it up?
 

Summer Salad
*4 servings*

6 cups baby spinach or lettuce of your choice
1/2 cup chopped: strawberries, yellow bell pepper, green bell pepper
Mango Madness dressing (recipe below)
Toss salad. That’s it. It’s pretty, colorful, and really really healthy. The crunch of yellow bell pepper goes really well with soft, sweet strawberries. Who knew? Not I, said the fly.

And now for the dressing…I added 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, but if you want less of a kick, go for 1/4 teaspoonful.

Mango Madness Dressing (ole!)
makes 1 1/2 cups dressing, 6-10 servings

1 large mango
Juice and zest of one lime
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes
1 TB agave nectar
Process all ingredients in food processor, mixing until smooth. Top on salad, dip for fruit/veggies, sandwich spread, salsa with chips.


 
Here’s how I slice a mango:

Take your knife and cut around mango lengthwise. Twist two halves of mango in palms in opposite directions, to loosen fruit from giant seed.



Holding half of the mango in one palm, carefully slice the mango horizontally and vertically, taking care not to slice through to the peel (and your hand).

 Flip the sliced mango inside out and pull or slice off the mango chunks. 

*This method avoids mushy, mucky mango mess and gives you clear cut cubes of mango. I learned this from Cafe Red Onion, a Latin fusion restaurant in Houston.

 The end result…a creamy HEALTHY mango dressing! Ole!

My happy plate…

Happy Wednesday! Matt and I are having a picnic in the park tonight! We’ve never done that before, and the menu includes sweet and sour chicken drumsticks, spinach orzo salad, healthy potato salad, and homemade hummus! I’ll show you more later. Salud!

 

~Laurel~

15 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

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05

May

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

There are certain places you just don’t go to for produce. There’s one grocery in town that usually has less-than-extraordinary (okay, gross-looking) fruits and vegetables. However, today, they surprised me. The strawberries were absolutely bright, shiny and divine, as were the crisp, green spinach leaves. It is officially my summer (yay for grad school, no finals!), and that calls for the first salad of the season! I grew up with so many spinach and mandarin orange salads, it would make your head spin. But it’s tasty and has ingredients that we’d usually have in the fridge. Here’s a little spin on an old fave.

spinach and strawberry salad

makes 4 side salad servings, double for 4 entrees

6 cups fresh spinach
1 cup strawberries, about 8
1/4 cup chopped pecans

slice strawberries lengthwise. toss all ingredients together and top with sesame dressing.
optional toppings: shredded cheese, mandarin oranges, pineapple bites, grilled tofu/chicken/shrimp


fat free sesame seed dressing
2 TB sesame seeds
3 TB white wine vinegar
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1/4 cup sugar (3 TB agave)
combine all ingredients together, stirring until sugar dissolves. serve immediately and/or store in fridge.
  
Happy Cinco, Happy Summer!

~Laurel~

15 years ago Short URL

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