Strawberry Mango Summer Salad

School's out and summer begins! Every year I feel the same way. First, I feel relief. Relief from the daily grind of getting my boys up for school. NO more making rushed breakfast and lunches, running forgotten badges, lunches, violins or trumpets to school, field trips, basketball practices and games, playdates...HOMEWORK! Second, I feel hopeful. Hopeful that this summer will be a relaxing and fun time with my boys. If history is any gauge, after about a week, I'll be wishing for school to start as I listen to the daily complaints of..."I'm bored!" and the constant bickering between the two of them. I want this summer to be different. I want to take it as it comes. The good and the bad and not let their moods get to me. I don't want to feel pressure to alleviate their boredom. I want to just live in the moment and savor these days with them as I know, far too soon, they will be grown and begin directing their own lives and I'll look back at these days with longing for what used to be. For today, and every day this summer, I will be grateful that I am able to be home with them, to be involved with their lives. Grateful that I know their friends and for the amazing parents I've become friends with along the way.
To kick off my grateful summer, I made this Strawberry Mango Salad that's cool, crisp, crunchy, sweet, juicy and oh so refreshing for those hot summer days. Strawberry. Mango and Orange lend all the sweetness, with crunchy jicama and cool cucumber to add texture and interest. Top it all off with plenty of lime and orange zest and juice and lots of cilantro salt and cayenne to give it a little heat on the finish! It's summer in every bite. Not to mention, this salad is stunningly beautiful with the bright cheery colors of summer. Happy Summer everyone!

Credit: This is a copycat recipe of Teri Appleton Villanueva's delicious Strawberry Mango Jicama Salad. I had this a few weeks back when I assisted her with a cooking class. :)

Strawberry Mango Summer Salad

Serves 8-10

3-4 mangoes, peeled and diced
2 lbs. strawberries, chopped
1 small jicama, peeled and diced
3-4 large oranges, segmented and chopped
1 English cucumber, seeded and diced

Dressing
1/2 cup lime juice and zest of one lime
juice and zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1/8 cup honey (to taste)
salt (to taste)
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or to taste) 

Prepare all fruit and combine in a large bowl. In another small bowl, add cilantro, juices and zests, honey, salt and cayenne to taste. Add dressing to fruit and mix. Taste, add additional lime juice, salt, cayenne and honey to taste. Serve immediately. Enjoy!


Other recipes to try:

Summer Fruit Salad with Ginger and Lime

Kale Salad with Strawberry Mango Salsa

Caprese Salad with Pesto Viniagrette

Kale Salad with Strawberry Mango Salsa

The idea of topping salad greens with salsa has been bouncing around in my head for a while now. I can think of many times topping my so-so salad with salsa. So I guess the idea hadn't been in my head but rather in beta testing on my salad plates at countless Mexican restaurants.

But now that summer is near, fruit salsas are again topping grilled chicken and fish in most of the cooking magazines. Feeling inspired to top my grilled chicken with a delicious tropical fruit salsa, I bought some Mango Pineapple salsa from Trader Joe's to try and it was amazing! I imagined it on soy marinated, grilled salmon and chicken and as the finishing on so many dishes that I then thought of my favorite food...salad. I thought of the many times I used plain salsa to top my salads...Wouldn't it be awesome to top a salad with the whole container of this delicious salsa from Trader Joes? There would be no need for a dressing. The bright idea flashed as I looked down and realized I'd eaten the whole container of salsa. Not a drop left to top a salad with, but that didn't mean I couldn't make my own salsa, right? Inspiration comes many ways and just like the TJ's Mango salsa, my trip to SLO brought me Kale. The perfect marriage.

I love Kale. It is chewy and hearty and unexpectedly, floral in it's taste. I think it tastes best when paired with fruit. The Strawberry Mango Salsa is sweet and tangy and works perfectly with this delicious green. It's perfect for summer BBQs because you keep the salsa and the greens separate until ready to serve, that way your greens don't wilt after sitting in all that juice. Enjoy!

Kale Salad with Strawberry Mango Salsa
Serves 4-6

3 large leaves of Kale, chopped
1 medium head of green leaf lettuce, chopped

Strawberry Mango Salsa
1 cup strawberries, diced
1 cup mango, diced
1/2 cup pineapple, diced
2 T cucumber, small dice
1 T red bell pepper, small dice
1 T jalapeno, small dice (optional)
2-3 green onion, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 T agave syrup or honey
2 T orange juice concentrate
2 T vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T fresh ginger, grated
sea salt (to taste)

Chop, rinse and spin lettuce and kale and place in a large serving bowl. Set aside.
Prepare Salsa. The ingredients are approximate as I added a little here and there to get the right amount of sweetness so this is my closest approximations. Feel free to adjust to your taste. 
Add all fruit and vegetable ingredients into a medium sized bowl with tight fitting lid (for storage) and mix well. In another bowl add agave syrup or honey, OJ concentrate, vinegar, olive oil, ginger and salt and whisk together until well combined. Add to fruit, mix and chill covered in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight. (This is a good make-ahead salad)

When ready to serve, place Kale salad on a plate and top with this deliciously sweet Strawberry Mango Salsa. Enjoy!

Looking for a new salad recipe for Spring and Summer? Try some of these:

Sunflower Sprout Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Nappa Cabbage Salad with Ginger Garlic Dressing 
Caprese Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette
Green Goddess Primavera Salad
Vegetable Ceviche

Sunflower Sprout Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

Have you ever had sunflower sprouts? Me either. That is, until I stumbled upon them last Spring at a farmers market in La Quinta, CA. I love to buy fresh vegetables from farmers markets and I love even more to find fun new ingredients to build a salad around. And that's exactly what I did with this new and exciting ingredient. If you've never tasted sunflower sprouts, they basically taste like green sunflower seeds and they add a wonderful new taste to salads. I've had other sprouts like alfalfa sprouts and wheat grass and to me both taste like dirt and grass. Sunflower sprouts don't taste anything like dirt or grass and are simply so delicious and possibly the best tasting sprout around (in my opinion). Just like all sprouts, sunflower sprouts are very nutritious and unlike adding sunflower seeds, the sprout has all the flavor and nutrients without fat and calories. What's not to love, right?

Returning from La Quinta, I brought home the leftovers of my super secret yummy ingredient and wanted to be able to get some locally. Sprouts Market carries them for about $3 for just a few ounces. Instead of buying them, I decided to grow my own. I grew a small envelope of sunflower seeds (cost me ~$1.50) which is enough for one or two salads and since the seeds germinate in 7-10 days, you can easily start a new batch a week or so before you plan to make this salad. This is the perfect Spring and Summer salad but you can have it year round by sowing the seeds indoors. 

I saved these two little sprouts to transplant and grow into full sunflowers so I can harvest the seeds for more sprouts and also to roast some seeds for my kiddos.

You will have to pull off some of the seed shells from the sprouts. Truth be told...I was a bit anxious to make this salad and I picked the sprouts a day too early. Most of these shells would have worked their way off as the sprout grew. Nonetheless the sprouts still tasted yummy, they just weren't as pretty as the ones I got from La Quinta. See below. Just beautiful aren't they?

Okay, now on to the salad...

Assemble your ingredients:

Sunflower Sprout Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Serves 4

• Mixed baby greens
• Sunflower sprouts (about 1/2 cup)
• small bunch of green onions, finely chopped
• 1 small Persian cucumber, sliced
• 1 cup strawberries, quartered
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (optional)

Strawberry Vinaigrette

• 5-6 strawberries, quartered
• 2 Tbsp agave sweetener (or honey)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• dash of cayenne pepper (to taste, I added ~1/8 tsp)
• Sea salt and pepper(to taste)

Place strawberries, agave sweetener, oil and vinegars and cayenne in a mini food processor and process until strawberries are pureed and oil is emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Toss together salad ingredients in a large bowl and add Strawberry Vinaigrette or serve on the side.

Add crumbled Gorgonzola or blue cheese if desired. (not pictured)