Pineapple Mango Salsa – A Gorgeous Party Dish!!!

Tags

fresh, jalapeno, lime, mango, Pineapple, salsa, tomato, vegan, vegetarian

Yesterday, we had a college graduation party for my oldest daughter and her husband. Whew! Got one kid through college! I had seen varieties of this salsa online and thought it was just stunning. This party was the perfect opportunity to make this visibly beautiful, wonderful tasting salsa! This salsa had so many great, fresh flavors! The sweetness of the pineapple and mango mixed with the savory flavors of tomato and onion with a little bit of spice from the jalapenos!

At the party, we enjoyed this with tortilla chips. Tonight I’m planning to serve it over fish. I’m hoping we can find a beautiful trout or maybe some tilapia. This will be delicious too!!!

Pineapple Mango Salsa

1 fresh pineapple

2 fresh mangoes, finely diced

1 small sweet onion (I used a yellow onion)

1 medium, fresh jalapeno, finely diced (Reduce or increase to get the amount of heat you want. Taste test!!!)

1-2 limes, juiced (This depends on the size and juiciness of the limes)

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Cut about 1/3 off the pineapple, leaving the stem intact. Before cutting, I laid down the pineapple to see if there was a side where it rested solidly on it’s side. Then I made my cut directly on the opposite side of this. You want to make sure it will make a stable serving bowl for you. Hollow out your pineapple. Finely dice the meaty parts and discard the hard core section. In a separate bowl, mix all ingredients.

This is best made up to 24 hours in advance, so flavors can mingle. It will make more than what will fit in your pineapple serving bowl, so store in a sealable bowl. I stirred it several times during the 24 hours, making sure the flavors were mingling well.

Everyone just loved this salsa!!! I hope you do too!!!

Enjoy!


Carne Asada Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Tags

avocado, Carne Asada, Cilantro, Cooking, Dressing, Food, lime, recipe, salad

  
This salad was so fresh and delicious, but it was hearty enough to be a great entrée for our dinner last night. I had a bunch of great items from my organic produce shipment, so a salad was just begging to be made! I had thought of making fajitas with the carne asada, but we have been eating a little heavy lately, so I wanted to keep it light and use the beatiful produce I had on hand. This salad with the savory beef, fresh produce and tangy dressing was incredibly flavorful with a nice crunch!

I had some perfect green leaf lettuce, a perfectly ripe avocado, a nice firm tomato and green onions. I just love my organic produce!!! I also had some organic cilantro, so I decided to make my own dressing. I was really happy with the tangy result that added a ton of flavor to the salad!

I decided to marinade the carne asada for half a day before cooking. I had a few Frontera marinade packets on hand. I decided to go with what was actually a chicken marinade, but what the heck it sounded good! Since I was making a salad, I didn’t want to go with flavors that are super intense, like barbacoa. I had a few Frontera sauce packets in my pantry and I decided to go with the Roasted Garlic Chicken Skillet Sauce with Chipotle and Lime. The flavors sounded good and they did not disappoint! The flavors were light and bright and worked just fine on the beef.

Carne Asada Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Salad

1 pound carne asada beef

1 packet Frontera marinade (I used the flavor above, but they have several flavors, including fajita,that would work well)

1 head green leaf lettuce, washed, dried and chopped

6 green onions, sliced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 avocado, diced

Tortilla chips, crumbled

Dressing

Juice of 3 limes

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp peppper

Start by putting your meat and marinade in a zip-log bag. Mix well making sure all meat is covered with marinade. Store in fridge for a few hours. Next, make your dressing. I used my immersion blender to blend all the ingredients or you can put them all in a food processor or blender. Blend until well mixed and cilantro and garlic are in very fine bits.

Heat a pan sprayed with non-stick spray over medium high heat. Sear each piece of meat for a couple of minutes on each side. You don’t want to over cook carne asada or it will get tough. Once all meat is cooked, cut it into bite size strips. Put meat and remaining 5 salad ingredients in a large bowl. Top with some dressing and toss. Add enough dressing to lightly coat all salad. You may have extra left over depending on how much dressing you like. Sliced black olives would also be a good add, but I didn’t have any.

Enjoy!