Mango season is here! I’m celebrating with a guide to preparing mango, whether you want it sliced or diced. Mango is one of the most popular fruits in the world, but I didn’t grow up eating it and had to learn how to prepare it. I’ve tried all the different methods, and I’m sharing the best way to cut mango today.

Mango tastes sort of like a juicy tropical peach, with notes of honey. Even when it’s ripe, it typically has a light sourness to it, which keeps me going back for more. I love using mango for a burst of sweetness in salads, salsa, and savory entrées—not to mention snacking on them.

Mangoes are at their peak in the summer, typically available from May through September. I’ve been excited to find Ataulfo mangoes (also known as honey or Champagne) on sale at Whole Foods lately. That’s the variety you see here, and they’re particularly buttery and delicious. My preparation methods will work well on any variety and size of mango!

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Think of these sunny mango bowls as a Thai spin on your favorite burrito bowl. They’re refreshing and hearty, sweet and savory, and my new favorite summertime dinner.

These bowls were inspired by my Thai mango cabbage wraps, which are such a fun appetizer. I’ve added rice and shredded the cabbage to turn them into a more hefty dinner.

These bowls feature perfectly cooked brown rice and shredded cabbage topped with crispy baked tofu, fresh mango salsa and peanut sauce. None of the components are difficult to prepare, and the combination is irresistible.

You could make these bowls on a relaxed weeknight, or save them for the weekend. Invite friends over, or keep your leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. You can’t lose with this one.

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Are you craving sunshine and warm days like I am? Let’s divert our eyes from the cloudy weather and focus on these vibrant, refreshing açaí bowls instead. They’re like a tropical vacation in a bowl, minus the jet lag and sand in your pants. You can enjoy them in the morning before work!

I’ve been curious about açaí bowls for a while now, after seeing them pop up on my friends’ vacation feeds from trips to Southern California and Hawaii. Like always, I researched acai bowls to the end of the internet and played with my own acai bowl recipe until it was just right.

Since acai grows in the Amazon, it seemed natural to blend acai with tropical fruits. These smoothie bowls are simply and naturally sweetened with frozen banana, mango and pineapple. If you’ve been looking for a fun way to eat more fruit, this is it.

These vegan acai smoothie bowls are cold, creamy and almost sorbet-like in texture. In fact, the smoothie portion is so delightful that you could serve it as a light after-dinner treat. Or, load it up with crunchy granola, nuts or seeds, and fresh fruit, and you’ll have a nutritious and satisfying breakfast.

Bonus? Unlike most smoothies, this one keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.

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I’m still giggling about the time I shared a green smoothie on Snapchat, and one of my good friends told me it looked totally disgusting. That’s what good friends are for, right? I laughed because I was ninety percent confident that he would have loved it if he had tried it.

It was mostly made of raspberries, but I added some spinach for some extra nutrients. While the raspberry-red and spinach-green colors didn’t combine to produce the most appetizing shade of frozen treat, it was nutritious and seriously delicious.

I’ll never get on the expensive fresh juice bandwagon, but smoothies are a great way to get some extra servings of fruit (and even some greens). With smoothies, as opposed to juice, you get all that goodness without losing the fiber content, which keeps blood sugar levels more stable.

When I discovered that I could portion smoothie ingredients in a mason jar or bag to blend later, I started making a lot more smoothies at home. I’ve been rotating through the three make-ahead green smoothies in my book, but it’s about time to change things up.

I recently got a chance to chat with Jen from Simple Green Smoothies. She’s a pioneer of the green smoothie concept. Somehow, I’d never gotten my hands on a copy of her book of the same name, so she offered to send me a copy. It’s beautifully designed and photographed, with over 100 recipes for green smoothies of all varieties—green smoothies for beginners and kids, post-workout, dessert, and even green smoothie bowls.

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Now that the temperatures are heating up, I find myself craving more light, fresh and green meals. Enter this salad with Thai flavors, which satisfies all three at once. I can’t say I tasted a salad exactly like this on my trip to Thailand, but it would certainly pair well with Thai cuisine.

This refreshing salad features butter lettuce, sweet diced mango, red bell pepper, and jalapeño (optional). I tossed it all in a zingy and creamy peanut dressing.

The result is an irresistible combination of sweet and spicy flavors, crisp and creamy textures, and vibrant colors. It’s a lovely green salad for summertime.

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Last Friday, I stepped off the plane from Montana into Kansas City summer. Ninety degrees and sunny. I ditched my jacket and daydreamed about all the summery outfits I’d rather be wearing while I waited for the bus to take me back to my car. Acclimating to skin-prickling heat is never a pleasant process, but I am so ready for non-stop sunshine and long afternoons by the pool.

I’m also ready for some frozen treats! I’ve had mango on the brain lately (remember those mango spring rolls and that mango salsa?), so when the idea to make a frozen version of a mango lassi popped into my head the other day, I got right to work. Mango lassis are super refreshing blended mango and yogurt drinks. I always make room for one when I visit an Indian buffet.

This frozen yogurt version is just as refreshing as the traditional version, if not more so. It’s smooth, creamy and scoopable right from the freezer, thanks to honey’s mysterious anti-freezing properties (can someone explain the chemistry behind that?). Fresh mangos can be a little pricy and difficult to work with, so I recommend using frozen mango so you can save money and skip the slicing steps!

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Today marks fifteen years since my first post on Cookie and Kate. This date usually passes by without much fanfare, but fifteen years! Wow, my baby’s almost ready to drive a car. This blog really is my baby.

Let’s shout happy birthday with this fresh mango salsa recipe! It’s irresistibly sweet and spicy, super simple to make, and outrageously delicious. Plus, it’s so colorful that it almost looks like confetti up close.

Come to think of it, salsa is the perfect anniversary recipe since my first recipe was for salsa. That post broke records for this blog back then. Three comments in one day!

Thank you for visiting, commenting and sharing my recipes with your friends and family. I literally wouldn’t have posted more recipes if it weren’t for those comments way back then. You’re the best.

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Finally! My friends and I resurrected our long-lost girls’ night last week. It was glorious. We have a few tiny people under our care now, so scheduling has become more challenging. I had all but given up hope on our weekly meet-ups until Alissa proposed a get-together last Monday. I offered to host, naturally, so we could have a whole place to ourselves.

Six months had passed since our last ladies-only dinner, but we all remembered the drill. I’ll tell you how we do it in case you would like to start up your own, which I highly recommend!

Basically, we coordinate plans in our little five-person Facebook group. In the past, we stuck to Wednesdays, which made scheduling easier. Everyone shows up roughly around our standard girls’ night dinner time (6:30-ish).

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Hi, I’m Kate, and I am a chronic over-stuffer. I recognized the theme while I was making these salad wraps last night. In addition to salad wraps, I over-stuff tacos, burritos, bookshelves, closets and worst of all, my calendar. Basically, anything that can be over-stuffed, I over-stuff.

“All the salsas, please.”
—Me, at Chipotle, as the girl behind the counter struggles to fold over my burrito.

“Sure, I can photograph four recipes in one day, then answer comments and emails, go to yoga, stop by the grocery store and make it to bed at a reasonable hour.”
—Lying to myself on a daily basis.

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