Have No Fear!

Tonight, as I was cooking dinner I was thinking about blogging. I've got a couple of things to blog about from the last two weeks, but haven't gotten around to putting the words to my laptop. As I was thinking about this, and the taco salad I was making, I began to feel uninspired. Not that my taco salad wasn't exciting and delicious, I just wasn't feeling it.

Anyhow, I was going through my produce drawer and came across one lonely avocado. It put me in the mood for salsa. So, since I'm really trying to incorporate at least two items from my Harvest2U CSA shipment every night, I started digging around. I pulled out the last of the cherry tomatoes from last week, along with a handful of radishes, garlic chives, a red onion and some cilantro. I decided to make a 'seasonal' salsa and put as many Harvest items into it as I could.

The salsa is South Beach friendly (all phases) and gluten free (GF). The taco salad briefly described at the end of this post is also South Beach Diet friendly and GF. I did not use a taco seasoning packet as some contain flour (which is a no-no for SB and GF) and/or MSG (not GF). I used spices out of my pantry. I also didn't use any tortillas or chips. SB dieters stay away from these items, but you can add corn tortilla chips and still be GF.

So, when I say "Have No Fear," I mean, don't be afraid to go outside of the box. Don't be afraid to put your own flair into something. Seriously. It was JUST SALSA, but it was delicious, fresh and I was able to use my seasonal produce. If I cannot teach myself how to rely on seasonal produce then there is no way I can wholly support my local farmers, but that is just me though. It's a process and, for some, requires baby steps.

Here's what you'll need for this salsa. Get creative, make it what you want. It's just salsa, anyone can do this, I promise.

A handful or two of cherry tomatoes (like my super precise measurements)
one lonely avocado
1/2 small red onion
A handful of radishes (YES, radishes)
1-2T garlic chives
1/3 bunch cilantro
garlic (1-2 cloves)
salt
the juice of 1/2 a lemon (or lime, but I had a lemon)
1/2 cup black beans (totally optional)

All you have to do is dice the tomatoes, avocado, onion and radishes into salsa sized chunks, chop up some garlic chives, cilantro and garlic. Dump in the black beans. Mix everything together squeeze the lemon/lime juice on the salsa, add a dash of salt and mix again. Take a bite and add anything you want.

I used mine on top of a lovely taco salad that I made for dinner using several different types of lettuce that I had in my crisper, seasoned organic ground beef (garlic, onion, chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper), low fat cheese, a dollop of plain/non fat greek yogurt and topped with fresh salsa and hot pepper sauce. You could absolutely add a jalapeno pepper if you fancy, but I've got preschoolers and that would not be advisable! Once again, a fast, easy, completely family friendly meal that is GOOD for you.