Skunked at Lake Anne

Hello Summer! Nice of you to finally join us. Now that the Solstice has come and gone and days are officially getting shorter (I know, that’s the most depressing thing you’ve heard all year), it is time to get out of the kitchen and play while we can.

We've been out-and-about. Our favorite trip so far this summer is a hiking/fishing trip to Lake Ann in the warm, shady trees. And of course, finding the perfect walking stick is often the favored activity on an Evenson hike - poor Bjorn! What am I talking about? poor me! I'm the one caring the beast with his club . . . er . . . walking stick!

The minute we let him out of the backpack, he was attacking rotting trees and darting mosquitos instead of the back of my head!

No fish on this trip - classic case of, "I thought you grabbed the bait?" We had a lot of fun, just no protien with the Tropical Mojito Fruit Salad waiting for us at home. So I put yogurt with the salad. We got home late so it was the perfect light meal after a long day on the lake.

This recipe for Tropical Mojito Fruit Salad is perfect as a salad or chunky sauce to spoon on top of grilled mahi mahi, tilapia, or chicken. Add some rum and a little more sugar, let sit for an hour in the fridge and you have a great fresh fruit dessert sauce to spoon over pound cake or frozen yogurt.

Take this fruit salad to a backyard barbeque and you will be the goddess of the get-together.

I served it as a meal with vanilla yogurt (cause I had some that needed to be eaten . . . and we got skunked and needed SOMETHING to go with the salad). You could sub whipped cream or for a healthier twist use some greek yogurt or serve sans side.

Enjoy this sunny summer!

TROPICAL MOJITO FRUIT SALAD

Ingredients
One large or two small papayas
4 mangos
Half medium watermelon
4 limes
1 pint strawberries
3 sprigs mint
2 tbsp sugar (optional, you can substitute 3-4 tbsp agave nectar or 1 tbsp honey. Using granular sugar works best to macerate, or break down the fruit, for a saucier dessert type salad.)

Directions
1. Half papaya(s), scoop out seeds, peel and cube. Slice, peal, and cube mango (if you stand the mango on end, start cutting about a ½ inch from center to take fruit off the side of the large flat-ish pit. Repeat on the other side.). Slice, remove rind, and cube watermelon. Hull and slice strawberries. Stack and roll mint leaves then thinly slice and finish with one more cut up the middle of the sliced leaves to make shorter strips. Combine fruit and mint in a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle with sugar or drizzle with agave or honey. Fold together. Let sit in the fridge for 1 to 3 hours to let mint infuse the salad and fruit become a bit saucy. The longer the salad rests, the saucier it will become.
3. Serve by itself or with yogurt, whipped cream, pound cake, ice cream or on top of pancakes, shortcakes, crepes, etc.
Serves: AN ARMY! Seriously, this is a large batch – think 10 – 15 servings.