Pico de Gallo meets Jicama Citrus Salad

If you don't like sweet and savory then look away...look away now!

But take a look at this picture first, and I dare you to look away!

I get several recipes weekly via email by Taste of Home, I believe it's one of the best food websites ever! They have realistic recipes that anyone can make!

I love Jicama, but had never prepped one and was a bit scared to try it, so I went to trusty YouTube and Chef John, one of my heroes, had a nice video showing how to prep it and make it into a delicious Cole Slaw, here you go if you want to watch the video.




If you want to see the original recipe on the Taste of Home website, here's the LINK. 

Because I could not find any tangerines in my neck of the woods, I opted to use canned mandarin oranges, which worked out just fine. I also tweaked the recipe by adding Jalapeno (hence my title as Jalapeno is a staple in Pico de Gallo). 

Instead of shallots, I used thinly sliced yellow onion, I love the sweetness of yellow onion. 

We're having this as a side dish with Steak Sandwiches tonight. 

Let me know if you try it and have you ever tasted Jicama?

Kale - A Delicious Super Food!

Have you heard of Kale? Have you tried it yet? Did you know that a lot of people consider it the #1 Super food?

Photo Credit - PositiveMed.com

One day last week my cupboards were bare and I had nothing to take for lunch. So I went to my local Von's Grocery Store to see what they had in their deli that I might be able to eat that would be within my low carb way of eating. I saw they had some tuna salad so I was waiting to get some of that when an older gentleman asked the deli clerk for some of the Kale Salad, then he turned to me and said, "Have you had their Kale Salad? It's out of this world." He told the clerk, "Give this young lady some Kale Salad."

Well thank goodness that gentleman was there that day because I never would have asked for a sample and I never would have found out how great Kale is!

Here's a photo of my lunch that day. Tuna was simple, but good, just a bit of onion and celery and pickle. But the star of the lunch hour was the Kale Salad. It had so many great ingredients and I kept finding new things in it! Von's Kale Salad had Kale of course, dried cranberries, fresh blueberries, red onion, sunflower seeds, slivered onions, carrots and pomegranate seeds. The dressing was a Pomegranate Vinaigrette. Now I know this probably had a lot of sugar, but I went ahead and bought some and shared it with my co-worker and decided I would try to make it a bit more low carb.

So today I search for some recipes and I found this video from Aarti Sequeira. I love Aarti! I remember watching her on The Next Food Network Star and was so happy when she won. If you have a chance watch her video HERE, she's got the most pleasant personality and I love her voice!

Her recipe was super simple and she just added Mango. I didn't have Mango, plus Mango is high in sugar which brings the carb count up. So I massaged the Kale as she explains in her video, then while it wilted and softened I made a dressing almost similar to the one she did except that I used Splenda instead of Honey...again, the carb count.

Once the dressing was made I combined it with the kale, some blueberries cut in half, a handful of walnuts, another handful of pepitas, some red onion and lemon juice and salt/pepper to taste! Here's a picture of mine. I had shredded carrots but they are also high in sugar and before you know it that sugar can add up!

I had some leftover pork chops I'd pan fried yesterday for dinner so I re-heated it. The Kale Salad was a perfect companion! Doesn't this look yummy?

Can't wait to try it other ways and with other ingredients. You can also cook it, so can't wait to try that also. Have you ever had Kale? Got any good recipes or suggestions?

To find Aarti's recipe click HERE