3-Ingredient Mango Salsa

Recipe challenge, week thirty-three.

I posted mango salsa two years ago and I've made it several times since.  However, I always felt the need to get uber-creative and got away from the original inspiration for the recipe.  My friend made this very basic salsa for a get-together back in Missouri and I couldn't stop eating it.  I'd really never had mango-anything before that because I'd spent four years in Alaska and I don't think you can even buy mangos there and, if you can, they're probably $8 each.  But this time of year they're about a dollar in Colorado, so it's worth it.  

I did this salsa last weekend with just on-the-vine tomatoes, one mango, and a few tablespoons of chopped cilantro.  You can add salt, but check the saltiness of your tortilla chips first.  Different brands equal a different level of saltiness and all. (I once went out with a guy who was completely irritated over the fact that, on one occasion, the tortilla chips at Chili's were too salty. First of all, no such thing. Second of all, I've never been able to forget this.  I have a photographic memory I suppose. Every single time I go to Chili's and every single time I think about tortilla-chip-salt-content, there it is.)

Anyway.

3-Ingredient Mango Salsa

1 mango, peeled and diced (make sure it's ripe)
3-4 ripe tomatoes, diced
2 heaping tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped

Mix it all up and it will store in the fridge for up to 3 days.  I'd make it 12 hours or so before you need it.

Italian Couscous and Weekend Scenes

Recipe challenge, week sixteen.

What a close call.

I almost didn't have a recipe for today.  I made this yesterday and packaged it up to take for lunch this week.

I first discovered Israeli (Pearl) Couscous at Trader Joe's in Los Angeles a few years ago.  I stuffed my TJ's dry goods into my suitcase and made it once I was back in Alaska.  I did this with it back then.  Adding the pesto makes it extra rich.

I really just love the texture of the pearl couscous.  Sometimes I buy it in the bulk bins (I used to get it at Fred Meyer, now I'll get it at Whole Foods), and this time I just bought a box at Trader Joe's.  It's less than $2 and is the great base for a vegetarian dinner.  Onion, zucchini, or peppers could all be sauteed and added in. A meatless Monday, perhaps?  Also, this is the perfect use for that pesto you made last week.  I mean, I made last week.  I hope you made it too.

Italian Couscous
serves 4-6 as a side dish

1 box pearl couscous (or 2 cups, dry)
1 3/4 cups water or chicken stock
12-15 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
Olive oil
1/4 cup prepared pesto
1/2 cup shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh herbs for garnish (optional)

Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with oil.  Add the sliced garlic and tomatoes.  Cook until the garlic just starts to brown.  Remove to a plate. Add in the dry couscous.  Coat it with olive oil and toast until it's lightly browned. Add in the water or chicken stock.  Cook and stir over medium heat until all the water is absorbed.  It takes about 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and garlic back in and then stir in the pesto.  Top with cheese and herbs.  Add salt/pepper if needed.

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My weekend passed uneventfully.  Honestly, most are uneventful right now.  But that's okay.  I have a job that requires me to talk and be "on" all day long, so I welcome the break to just be.

I got a haircut.  This is a whole long story thing.  I'll probably explain later in the week because this was indeed the only exciting part of my weekend. 

Except for the hailstorm.  Scout, in the aftermath.  

The cloud that dropped the hail, moving onto Colorado Springs.

I'm reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin.  It is fantastic and I'm moving slowly through it because I'm marking pages and highlighting passages.  Highly recommend. 

Things I didn't do include grade papers or clean the bathrooms. 

Homemade Marinara Sauce

Recipe challenge, week seven.

When it comes to my teacher personality, I take my read-alouds very seriously.  I have a schedule.  Certain books are read to the class at certain times of the year.  Sometimes I add in new books, and sometimes I read the same book I've been reading to 4th graders since 2010.  For example, I read No Talking by Andrew Clements every year.  This year, I decided to incorporate First Light by Rebecca Stead.  The kids like it well enough, but it's pretty long actually.  I didn't think that far ahead when I decided to start it in January. I do 1-2 chapters a day and I have it planned to end on a certain day so I can start the next book.  The other day, I had a substitute and I left very specific instructions: Read Chapter 32 from First Light.  She made it 3 pages into an 8-page chapter and that's where I found the bookmark when I went back to school on Friday.  I was not happy.  

Then, when I asked the kids why she just stopped in the middle of the chapter (continuity and closure are essential to their understanding!), they said she started telling a story about a dog because something in the book reminded her of this dog. Of course, that's not what she wrote in the plans.  She'd checked it off, like it'd been completed.

They make us fill out a review for each substitute and, meanly, I put that on there.  Of course, nothing will come of it because this is the same substitute I had a month ago.  At that time, she had let the kids leave crap (they have a lot of crap) all over the floor and somehow my school laptop was on the floor also, and I almost tramped on it when I walked in the door.

I digress.

One read-aloud I particularly love is Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm.  I bought it in college when I needed a book for a project.  $16 for a hardcover from Barnes and Noble wasn't in my budget but it looked good and then I ended up really liking it.  (Then I went next door to Ulta and bought shampoo and conditioner I also couldn't afford.  Two years later, Scott would be paying off this credit card.)

I first read Penny from Heaven to my 4th grade class in 2012.  Also known as "the best fourth grade class ever".  They loved it.  They were invested.  They were so upset when it was over.  They appreciated it in the same way I appreciated it.  I haven't found a group of kids like that, as a whole, since.

Penny centers around an Italian-American family in the 1950s and my favorite parts are the descriptions of the food.  Oh, the food.  

"Dinner is a big production here, and it takes hours. We usually start off with some soup, and then we have macaroni, and then some meat, like breast of veal or braciole, which is braised beef rolls, with vegetables and potatoes. After that there's salad, just lettuce with oil and vinegar, no tomatoes or anything else. Then there's a break...Then comes coffee and nuts and fruit and cordials.  After that, we'll sometimes have a snack.  

I start in on the soup, which has escarole and bits of egg...Here, food is everything...They call pasta 'macaroni'. At home we say it's tomato sauce, and here they call it gravy." -Penny from Heaven

My friend Jenna gave me this sauce recipe because she grew up in an Italian family where they simmered the sauce all day.  She made her homemade sauce for us when she visited last summer and I've been meaning to recreate it ever since.  This is her family's recipe, and I didn't change much.  I will say that she doesn't add sugar to hers (it's, I suppose, a personal preference when it comes to the serious business of sauce-making), but I've made two batches in the last few weeks and I added sugar to one.  It's a very subtle difference.

Homemade Marinara Sauce

makes about 8 cups

1 can tomato paste

1 can tomato puree (28 oz)

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

2 T. fresh basil, chopped

2 T. fresh oregano, chopped

1/2-1 t. red pepper flakes

1 t. brown sugar, if desired

Olive oil

Coat the bottom of a large stockpot with olive oil.  Turn on medium-low heat and add the garlic.  Let it cook for a minute and then add in the red pepper flakes.  Allow it to cook for a minute or so, but don't let the garlic brown.

Pour in the tomatoes and tomato paste.  Stir and add the herbs (and sugar, if desired).

Cover and allow to simmer on low -low heat.  At least an hour is best, but you can also allow it to cook all day.

After it cools, it can be frozen in Ziploc bags.  I usually split it into 4 bags and lay it flat in the freezer.

(Again, Recipage will NOT work.)

Pasta Spinach Toss

This comes together awfully quickly.  A fresh stove-top meal that is light and filling at the same time.  Whole wheat pasta makes it healthy.  Toasted garlic gives it enormous flavor. 

I only made it because frozen chicken from Costco doesn't constitute a meal in Scott's eyes.  I ended up eating most of this pasta straight out of the pan.  I guess when you don't have kids around, for whom to set an example, you can do such things.

The secret to this recipe:  slice the garlic, razor thin.  Don't mince it or grate it.  When sliced, it tastes nothing but toasty and sweet.

I will definitely be making it again.  I envision this pasta as an easy lunch to take to school or a quick dinner on nights I don't feel like cooking.

Yes.  That does happen.

Actually, I could probably eat this every night.  

Pasta Spinach Toss

1 box short-cut pasta, cooked al dente and drained (I used whole-wheat penne.  I also love the rotini pasta that has vegetables in it.)
2-3 diced roma tomatoes
2 cups fresh baby spinach, shredded
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
onion powder, salt, pepper, olive oil

Other additions I sometimes use:
lightly caramelized onions
diced zucchini
chopped broccoli
2 T. pesto or 1/4 cup of marinara sauce to make it a bit saucy and add some flavor

Heat oil in a deep skillet.  Toast the garlic for a few minutes until it starts to turn golden brown (the more thinly sliced it is, the sweeter it will be), then add the tomato.  Season with some onion powder, salt, and pepper.  Cook for just a few minutes.  Add in the spinach and let it wilt a bit.  Toss in the pasta and stir combine everything in the skillet.  Top with cheese and let it melt.

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