Mint Lemonade Chickpea Salad, Tropical Smoothie Trio, Mango-Pit Jam

Lemon, Mint & Chickpea Salad
Simple and refreshing -- a great summery salad.

2 cups cooked Chickpeas
3/4 cup Cherry Tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp or more packed Mint leaves finely minced
2 cloves Garlic finely minced
S&P TT
optional:  leafy greens, pita pockets

Toss chickpeas and tomatoes together in a bowl.  In another bowl whisk together the lemon juice, mint and garlic.  Toss dressing with the chickpeas and tomatoes.  Chill.  Serve on a leafy green base  (I used fresh baby spinach) as above, or in pita pockets:

Tropical Smoothie Trio
One of the great pleasures of living in Southwest Florida is our ready access to tropical/exotic fruits which aren't available elsewhere (or are not readily available in perfectly ripe condition anyway).  One of the best ways to enjoy these tropical blessings is in a simple smoothie.  Here are three of our favorites:

Mango-Banana
These are extra special when you can pick the mangos and bananas off of your own trees!!  We like our mangos "falling on the ground" ripe and sweet.  Bird pecks or raccoon nibbles we just cut away and salvage the rest -- no sense in wasting fabulous fruit!  For two smoothies you'll need:

3-4 very ripe Mangos, filleted
1 ripe Banana, peeled and chopped

To fillet the mangos, follow my Mango In A Glass post here:
https://foodingaround-kiltedcook.blogspot.com/search?q=mango+glass

Put the fillets and pit trimmings in a blender with the cut up banana.  For the most mango flavor take just those two things for a spin.  Or, you can add Greek or Skyr yogurt or even half & half to thin things out.  A dusting of cinnamon or nutmeg is a nice touch before serving.

Mamey Sapote
This unique fruit grows here on Pine Island, and from Homestead, FL south.  You want these extra, extra mush soft before making smoothies -- the riper the better.  Firm Mamey. like the one shown, are actually best suited for making Mamey Foster desserts -- check out my post on Mamey and Mamey Foster from 5 years ago.

https://foodingaround-kiltedcook.blogspot.com/search?q=Mamey+Foster

Mamey by itself makes a very, very thick smoothie.  Thin it out using plain yogurt (Skyr or Greek), half & half, or unsweetened Almond Creamer.  Since this Mamey wasn't quite as colorfully ripe, the smoothie is a bit more pale -- but still almost cloyingly sweet!

Dragonfruit
Dragon fruit are certainly 'interesting looking' inside and out,  but they're not particularly flavorful IMHO.  

They are the fruit of a succulent (cactus) related to the Night Blooming Cereus.  Dragonfruit bloom both at night and the early morning hours and are pollinated by moths and other flying insects.  Scoop out the white or red interior and take it for a spin with some unsweetened Almond Creamer of half & half.  

If that's too bland, add a little mango, blueberries, or other fruit to kick things up a bit.

Mango-Pit Jam
Mango-Pit Jam I hear you say????   Yeah, well, sorta...  Sally found a version of this recipe in an Oprah!  magazine (April 2019).  This is a great thing to do with mango pits when you're processing lots of mangos into frozen fillets!  

A lot less messy than cutting the meat off the pits!  The original recipe called for 4 fleshy mango pits.  I multiplied x 4 the number of pits but not the amounts of water or sugar.  Here's my version:

16 Mango-Pits, meat on.
1 cup Sugar
2 cups Water
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30-45 minutes.  

Every 15 minutes or so use tongs and a knife to scrap the meat off the pits, removing pits as they are cleaned.  Continue cooking and reducing the liquid  -- as much as an hour or more low and slow -- until the mango mash is thickened but not browning/burning.  If it passes the "spoon leaves a trail as you drag it across the pot" test  or the "sticks to a spoon" test , you're good to go!  Don't try to rush the reduction, you'll end up burning the fruit.

Transfer to a screw-top container and cool on the counter before refrigerating.  I got a bit more than a pint of jam out of 16 pits.