Mango Avocado Tomato Salsa

Finally, the real reason behind the whole blog. The salsa. It came to us in a combination of ways.. there is a lovely restaurant in Salisbury, MD called Cactus Taverna that serves mango slices on top of their entrees and it really adds a great flavor to fish.

We decided that we wanted to try mango on our own fish. Dennis talked to my mom about mango/peach salsa and said he wanted to try to make some at home. So we planned on making the salsa to put on top of some tuna steaks that we got from Target. I know right? Target has a really great grocery section now, in case you didn't know.

Anywho, Dennis asked me to find a recipe for mango salsa, and this is the first one I found. The prep work is time consuming, but once you have finished you just toss all of the ingredients together and let them mellow.

Ingredients

1 mango - peeled, seeded and diced

1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced

4 medium tomatoes, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/4 cup chopped red onion

3 tablespoons olive oil

Combine the mango, avocado, tomatoes, jalapeno, cilantro, and garlic in a medium bowl. I have a slap-chop type device that I use to dice all of the ingredients. It seems to work well and it is a lot easier than cutting everything with a knife.

We bought 2 of everything so that we could try the recipe twice. The second batch was better because everything was a lot riper so I would recommend buying your ingredients a few days in advance.

We used jarred jalapenos & jarred minced garlic for the recipe but you could try to get them fresh. We just kind of eyeballed it as far as the amounts go, but it ended up being about 8-10 jalapeno slices and 2.5 teaspoons of minced garlic.

Stir in the salt, lime juice, red onion, and olive oil. Just FYI - one large lime will give you 2 tablespoons of juice, but if the limes are on the small side I would get 2. To blend the flavors, refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.

We grilled the tuna steaks and did some boil-in-a-bag white rice, then put a scoop of salsa on the plate. The meal was perfect.

This tastes amazing the day after you make it. We had it stored in a mixing bowl with a lid, but the lid isn't 100% airtight and when I opened the fridge the next morning, the amazing aroma hit me in the face like a 2x4. I was getting creamer for my coffee and I started wondering if salsa would be good for breakfast! I ate it later in the day with tortilla chips and it was excellent.

The second time we made the recipe, we doubled the mango and it was still amazing. I had salmon and Dennis had chicken, and they both went very well with the salsa.

Here is the original link from AllRecipes.com.

7 Layer Dip

To be perfectly honest, I shouldn't call this a 7 layer dip because I don't use them all, but I'll include my version as well as my mom's (the REAL 7 layer dip).

Ingredients

1 can of refried beans

1 12 oz. tub of sour cream

guacamole

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or more)

chopped jalapenos

halved cherry tomatoes (optional)

chopped black olives (optional)

1 packet of taco seasoning (optional)

I am not really giving a good description of the amounts because they are all relative to your tastes. This dip is impossible to mess up so it doesn't matter if you have too much sour cream or whatnot, because people are just going to eat around the parts they don't like anyway.

You'll need a shallow pan or dish (not too shallow though). You could use one of those 8x8 Pyrex dishes and it would probably work nicely. I put the refried beans at the bottom because they are the most dense & it is easier to spread the other layers on top of it. I use a spatula to spread it out until it coats the entire bottom of the dish. Don't worry about getting it perfectly flat, it will taste the same in the end!

Then I put the guacamole down. I didn't put an amount for this one because I have seen it in a tub as well as in a sealed plastic packet, so whatever form you find it in, just get one and that should be enough (or anything close to 12 oz. is always a safe bet). I recommend putting dollops of it evenly around the dish so it is easier to spread out without moving the layer of refried beans underneath. 

Now the next layer is the sour cream. My mom mixes a packet of taco seasoning in with the sour cream before spreading it. Dennis doesn't like taco seasoning so we just use plain sour cream. Again, drop a few dollops on top of the guacamole to spread it around more easily.

Now spread the shredded cheese on top of the whole mix. Easy enough. At this point, I usually spread the jalapenos on top and call it a night. However, the last few times I have made this, I have found that I favor the tomatoes more and more so they go on with the jalapenos. However, I draw the line at black olives. If you like them, spread them on top with the tomatoes and jalapenos.

There you have it! This dip is great for parties when you have to bring a dish. In fact, my friend Wally doesn't like cake so I made this for him for his birthday one year. He asked me to use ground beef instead of refried beans. The result tasted great but it was kind of hard to dip & the chips kept breaking. In the future, if I'm going to add ground beef I would mix it with the refried beans.