Watermelon Salsa

 

About the only good thing has come out of our wet summer in North Carolina is the watermelons. Since we have had so much rain, the melons are large, sweet and full of juice.

 At the farmers market, I have been picking the smallest melons and it is taking us almost two weeks to eat it them.  With the abundance of fruit, I have been able to try different recipes that use watermelon. My favorite has been watermelon salsa that I found over at Eating Well dot com.

The first time I made this my husband grumbled about why would I waste good watermelon. I made chicken tacos that night and served the watermelon salsa and tortilla chips. After about the sixth time of my husband dipping the chips into the salsa, I said, “Honey, I didn’t think you were going to eat any.”  The reply back was “I did not want to like this, but it is too good to stop eating.” I just love proving him wrong!

So what does it taste like? Hmmm… spicy jalapeños biting at sweet watermelon mix in the sharpness of red onion, while limejuice and cilantro dance around all of them.

 You know I don’t usually add salt to my recipes, for this one you do need to add it.  We ate this on hard and soft tacos, beef and chicken. My favorite is with salty tortilla chips since the salt brings out the sweet of the melon… yummy!

The only thing I did not like about was removing the seeds from the watermelon. You can cheat and but the pre-cut watermelon in the containers at the store.

If you have a little chopper, mini-food processor or even gloves, I would use them for the jalapenos so you don’t have to touch them.

Ingredients:

3 cups finely diced seedless watermelon

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup minced red onion

1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Directions:

Place watermelon, jalapenos, cilantro, limejuice, salt and onion in a medium bowl; stir well to combine. Chill in refrigerator half hour before serving. We actually like it better the second day since the flavors will have a chance to marry.

Oh and one more thing, this is ZERO fat and only about 26 calories per 1/2 cup serving.