Mango Salad

‘Tis the season when mangoes are starting to crop up everywhere and I couldn’t be happier! Ataulfo mangoes captured my heart years ago, and I look forward to their return every year. I can eat one every day, if given the opportunity. You too?

Mango Salad

Mango

I developed this Mango Salad because I love mango salsa, and really wanted to just eat it with a fork. You know what I mean? That’s the situation here, and it’s incredibly satisfying. Feel free to eat this with a spoon, a fork, with chips, in a lettuce wrap, on avocado toast, whatever. The recipe is versatile. If you give this recipe a try, tag me @lalalunchbox.

Mango Salad ingredients

MANGO SALAD

6 cups champagne/Ataulfo mangoes cut into 1 inch cubes (from 8 mangoes)
1 cup diced red onions
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon diced jalapeño (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon flake salt
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
fresh cracked pepper to taste

Chop the mangoes and place them into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, add the chopped red onions and lime juice. Let that sit for at least 5 minutes so that the acid from the lime juice mellows the bite of the onion slightly. While that sits, add the chopped parsley and chopped cilantro to the mango, as well as the chopped jalapeño, if using. Combine thoroughly. Incorporate the lime-onions. Add salt, lime zest and cracked pepper and combine again. Eat immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The longer this sits, the more intense the flavors will become.

Back to School and a Lunch Confession

I sent the kiddos off to school yesterday morning. How is it that the summer flies by more quickly every year? There were first day jitters but the day went very smoothly for the most part. But.. here's a lunch confession for you: 

My daughter called me in the middle of the day (this has never happened before - and I didn't recognize the phone number and almost didn't answer) because she didn't like the sandwich that I packed for her and requested a hot lunch. Ugh. She had planned her first day of school lunch over a week ago and requested a cream cheese and jam sandwich, apple slices, celery and seaweed. Apparently I used the wrong jam and it messed up everything. 

My littlest can't eat berries so I've completely gotten rid of berry jam in our house to avoid any issues. I now only buy the Santa Cruz mango fruit spread or the apricot fruit spread. I like them because the first ingredient listed is fruit (mango and apricot, respectively). Recently though, some ginger spread caught my eye at the grocery store and after reading the ingredients (ginger and sugar), I bought it. Here's the truth though – I couldn't remember which of my kids liked it and so I figured they all did. Not so. It's not a huge deal; My daughter didn't like her sandwich and she was enormously hungry at the end of the day. I had to throw out the uneaten sandwich, which is a shame, but worse things have happened. Note to self: no ginger jam for the oldest. 

Cherry yogurt, frozen peas, grapes, dried mango, Somersault Snacks Pacific Sea Salt cookies

In other news, my son devoured every last crumb of his lunch yesterday. He's crazy about frozen peas so I add them to his lunchbox right before he leaves for school so that they stay as cold as possible. Anyway, today is a new day with a new lunch for both kiddos. 

Happy back-to-schooling to all of you! 

DIY Black Bean Wraps for Meatless Monday

So it's April. Yay! Today felt like Spring is actually going to arrive at some point... but I'm not holding my breath just yet. I'm still craving hearty fare despite today's sunny skies so to celebrate Meatless Monday, I made a big ol' pot of black beans and decided on DIY black bean wraps for tonight's dinner. 
I bought these lovely pale fleshed, purple skin yams and decided to roast them, along with some carrot sticks (375 drizzled with olive oil for 30 minutes). On the DIY plate, I included some firm tofu - my kids are not fans of tofu but I like to reintroduce foods every now and then to gauge whether tastes have changed. The avocados I've had lately have been absolutely outstanding! We eat avocado pretty much every night around here. And we have fruit with dinner every night too, so I sliced a mango to go inside of our wraps. My daughter loves cheese but my son does not. The shredded monterey jack cheese is for her. I found these wraps at my local grocery called Mountain Bread Oat Wraps. Man, are these good! They're thin and they roll nicely. 

Here's what I did with the black beans:

1/2 large red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of chopped garlic
2 cans of black beans, drained
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon white vinegar

I sauteed the red onion with the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the onions started to brown along the edges, I added the chopped garlic. After about 3 minutes, I added the black beans, cilantro, salt, cumin and white vinegar. I let this all simmer together for about an hour, stirring occasionally. 

Success! The kids were enthusiastic about making their own wraps! Happy Meatless Monday! ​