Black beans, mango, and corn make up the main part of this colorful salsa. Cilantro, red onion, mint, lime juice, and honey add irresistible flavor. Packed with protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, this salsa is a beautiful, healthy, and tasty addition to any table. Top a salad with it to add nutrition and flavor, or spoon it onto tortilla chips, or as in my photos, try it with crispy polenta discs. Or just take a spoon and eat it straight! Either way, it is delicious!
If left to my own devices, I would probably eat way too much bread and cheese. So it’s really nice when I can find a super-healthy, clean eating recipe that I love, a dish that can energize my body and help me work hard and stand strong. The balance of flavors in this salsa is wonderful. A bit of sweetness from the mangoes and honey is mixed with a bit of zing from the lime juice and cilantro. It is a great snack, salad topper, or side dish.
I adapted this recipe from my husband’s beloved “Thrive Energy Cookbook” by Brendan Brazier. I was drawn to it because my grocery store has had mangoes on sale for the past couple of weeks, so we have had mangoes in our fruit bowl waiting to be used. Now that I have found this salsa, I expect it will become a regular in our rotation, because it is so delicious, easy, and versatile. I used thawed frozen corn instead of fresh, and substituted honey and olive oil instead of the agave nectar and hemp oil called for in the Thrive recipe.
The days and evenings of this month have been very full. I have not posted as often as I would like to. It’s not that I haven’t been in the kitchen–quite the contrary! I just haven’t gotten the photos or the recipes organized. But that is about to change. I am about to get back on track. Recently, I started playing the piano again, after almost three years away from it. Since my dad died, I have been unable to touch the piano. I think it has something to do with the emotions released when playing the piano.
In any case, although I am very rusty, it feels good to have that part of my life back again, and I know my dad would be glad about it too. I stumbled across a really pretty song that I am now working on, called The Dance, written by Tony Arata. Apparently, Garth Brooks also is known for singing it. I am not usually a country music aficionado, but this song really caught me. The melody is so beautiful, and the words….they are a good reminder. We don’t always know how things are gong to turn out. Sometimes it’s better that way, otherwise we may not take risks or go for our dreams. If we try to avoid heartbreak, disappointment, or failure, we might miss out on the things that make life worth living. “Our lives are better left to chance….I could have missed the pain…but I’d have had to miss the dance.” It’s not like we haven’t heard this message or something similar to it before, but when it is put to music in a beautiful song, sometimes it’s like hearing the message for the first time again.
I hope you all have a great weekend, and enjoy the beautiful fall colors if you live in an area like mine, where the leaves are just starting to turn beautiful shades of red and gold. And if you try this salsa, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do here! I’m sharing this recipe at Angie’s Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Julianna @ Foodie on Board and Zeba @ Food For The Soul.
Black Bean-Mango Salsa
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of cooked or rinsed canned black beans
- 1 cup of mango, peeled and diced
- 1 cup of sweet corn kernels, fresh or thawed from frozen
- 1/4 cup of red onion, finely diced
- a handful of fresh cilantro leaves, torn and stems removed
- 3 or 4 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lime juice (about 1 lime)
- 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Stir gently and thoroughly. Best served immediately, but can also be kept tightly sealed in the refrigerator for up to a week. Use on top of salads, with tortilla chips or polenta discs, or however you like. Enjoy!
This recipe is adapted from the Thrive Energy Cookbook by Brendan Brazier.
It seems that fine lines are a bit of a theme for me this week. In my most recent yoga class, the instructor talked about finding that space between control and letting go. We have to have some measure of control in our lives, in order to keep the train on the tracks (for the most part!). But we also need to not grip too tightly. We need to surrender to larger forces, too, and be open to outcomes we cannot imagine. It is a tricky balance. Things come up continually to help teach us to find balance–car problems, scheduling dilemmas, decisions about budgets and resources, to name a few!
In light of all the challenges and teaching moments, I’m not sure how well I did with the whole balance thing this week, except for with these cookies! With these cookies, I feel like I found it. The recipe is adapted from the inner lid of my Quaker old fashioned rolled oats container, though I used chopped apples instead of raisins.
Sometimes a cook needs a really easy, really quick, yet really delicious recipe to fall back on during busy times. I won’t list to you my family’s schedule these days (it would take too long, and would most likely be boring to anyone but me!) but let’s just say that on many evenings, there isn’t a lot of time to make a complicated meal. This couscous dish has been in a regular rotation with us lately, because it takes under ten minutes to prepare, yet it tastes like it took much longer, and it incorporates great flavor with good nutrients.
Though couscous is not gluten-free (it is made from semolina, so it is actually considered a form of pasta), it does have some health benefits, such as vitamins B and E, and a relatively high amount of the mineral selenium. I am kind of in the middle of the road when it comes to gluten, where I am trying not to eat too much of it, yet I find that eating some foods with it works fine for my body. The thing I really like about couscous is the quick-cooking factor, and also the versatility. It’s a way to get in some vegetables and herbs, like tomatoes and basil, and feel full and nourished at the same time.
Anyway, I love the tangy taste of the pesto with the fresh, ripe tomatoes, which are so good this time of year! If you want to add shredded, cooked chicken to this couscous recipe, feel free. I know we are having it as part of our dinner tonight, and my husband will probably take a container of it with his lunch tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy the last few days of summer! It is really starting to look and feel just a bit like fall, which is not a bad thing, but for me, it is a bit nostalgic. The daylight is fading earlier in the evenings and there is a bit of a chill in the breeze now, yet the sun is still warm and soft in the afternoons. Have a great weekend!
I am sharing this recipe over at Angie’s 
