Black Mango Salsa

I'm going to be straight forward on this one-
maybe if you know how I felt about it first,
you won't be so hesitant to try it for yourself,

If I saw Mango Salsa on a menu,
I would have avoided the dish it was with!
The first time I was served it at a friends house,
I politely declined dishing it up!
And I NEVER would have looked for a recipe
for Mango Salsa-
it just wasn't on my radar-
I think fruits are sweet,
and I didn't need no Heat to my Sweet!!

And than I got trickered-
and I partook of that sweet fruit,
mixed in with some serious spice-
and I found myself a little bit hooked!

So yesterday,
as I was peeling mangoes,
and thinking they were absolutely perfect-
and I saw the kiwi in the fruit bowl,
and the blackberries on the counter-
I knew I had to get me a mango salsa FIX!
"Hey Kids, who wants mango salsa and pita chips
for afterschool snack today?"
I can ALWAYS convince myself,
that my needs really meet the needs of others-
it's the mother in me!

Ooh La LA,
That's all I have left to say,
okay except for
Isn't it beautiful?

Mango Salsa

4 mangoes, peeled and cut in dices
10 blackberries, cut in half if they are big
2 kiwi, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime
jalapeno, large minced
1 TBSP. crystallized ginger
small pinch of sea salt (I actually skip this, but I'm not a salt lover)
(My recipe calls for fresh pineapple too, but I left it out this time,
and I really liked it without)

after the blackberries had time to spread their love of color

Banana Muffins with a Boost

 *** I've had a senior moment- I can't find my pics, so imagine yummy muffins,
I'll get back to you on the pictures.

My family used to look like this

Parents included...

and now it looks like this...

Granted there are no parents in this pic...

One kiddo is serving an 18 month church mission

The morning of departure

and two just left for school in Utah

Kiddo #1 and #3 off to USU

So needless to say,
my grocery shopping looks a little different lately-
and I have a lot of bananas that end up looking like this

rather than this :)

I've been making a lot of things out of BANANA,
bread, muffins, cake, smoothies...

You get the idea right??

I decided to go a little crazy one day when I saw this cereal-

Sorry for the fuzziness; it says Cinnamon Hazlenut

I have used it's sister cereal to make cranberry muffins
for like a ZILLION years!

Cranberry Almond Crunch

So I figured I could come up with a yummy recipe using
a cereal with a name like that!

To borrow a phrase from Mary Poppins-
these were Practically Perfect in Every Way...

The second time I made them,
I made them in Jumbo Muffin Tins and
topped them with a chunky cinnamon streusel.
We took them to a school breakfast-
EVERYONE who ate them wanted to know where
I had gotten them and they were the first muffins gone
(this up against the HUGE Costco/Sam's Club Muffins
that are more of a dessert than a breakfast food)

Try 'Em-
You won't be disappointed


Banana Muffins

2 1/2 c. flour (I use a combination of wheat and white)
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1 box of Post Cinnamon Hazelnut Cereal
     (Or Post Crunchy Pecans Cereal)
2 eggs
2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. butter
2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 TBSP. maple syrup
1/2 tsp each, cinnamon & nutmeg

Beat eggs and buttermilk together & syrup.
Stir in melted butter.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, soda, cereal and spices.
Add milk mixture and stir with as few strokes as possible.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, adjusting cook time to size of muffin.

*** My littles request these to be made with chocolate chips-
which just makes them YUMMY TOO!!

Maple Glazed Almonds

Do you ever crave something?
I mean CRAVE something????

And then do you ever
panic when you go to make it
and you don't have what you need?

This happened to me today.
I wanted a salad with Glazed Cashews-
I toast them in a pan with a VERY small amount of butter,
when they are getting a pretty golden color,
I add in some agave nectar-
they get this yummy, crunchy, sweet flavor
and they taste AMAZING on any salad,

one of my favorites can be found here

I had no Agave,
and I only had salted cashews...

But I'd already made the salad
and I was hungry-

So I went made two substitutions
to a three ingredient recipe
(technically, is that even a recipe)
I used Slivered Almonds instead of Cashews
and Organic Pure Maple Syrup

I was NOT disappointed-
they were so Yummy!

I topped the salad with equal parts of
Grapeseed Oil and Cranberry Balsamic Vinegar

(I've mixed the Cranberry Balsamic with Black Currant
Balsamic and then used an equal portion of Olive Oil too)

Posted by Treisha at 1:56 PM