Melon & Mint Salad and Bittersweet Goodbyes

Sometimes procrastination really pays off, because I waited until late this week to finally cut into the cantaloupe we got in the last share of the Early Spring Crop Share (which speaking of, are you registered for Spring yet, because if not, you should be!  Register online, as the Spring round kicks off on 5/9!), and oh holy night it was perfectly sweet and juicy.  Possibly one of the best cantaloupes I've never had and it's not even the peak of melon season yet!

Some friends were making shrimp kabobs at their place, so I contributed Quinoa Tabbouleh and then used up the rest of the mint to throw together this lovely Melon & Mint Salad.  While it was crazy juicy, I wanted some sort of added dressing that wasn't loaded with sugar, so I just whisked up 1 tsp each of local honey and lemon juice, and added some extra juice from the melon and ta-da, a perfectly fresh and fragrant melon salad.  Which good thing I added the mint since I also made garlic sauce, and we were all fire breathing dragons by the end of the meal!  So as we head into summer, make this your go to fruit salad base or any melon.  Mmm, mint and watermelon might actually get me over my watermelon phobia!

And now for the bittersweet part of this post's title...this is my last, official post at the helm of Nalls' Kitchen.  I'm still sticking in as a Crop Share member and I'll definitely still send the Nalls team guest posts when I come up with a winner, winner veggie dinner, but after today I'll be turning the reigns back over to Valerie and the rest of the Nalls Produce team.  I would have loved to continue this indefinitely, but any of you who've followed since my departure from Nalls, back into my family's business, know that the posts have been getting fewer and not coming as prompt as they once did.  That's not fair to you all or to the team at Nalls.  So gear up for a new round of Crop Share and a new voice here in Nalls Kitchen!

Now onto the food!

Melon & Mint Salad

Ingredients:

1 cantaloupe, skin removed, seeded and cubed (save any juice to use in dressing)

2 Tbsp mint, chopped

1 tsp local honey

1 tsp lemon juice

Toss cantaloupe and mint together in a large bowl.  Whisk honey and lemon juice, and any reserve juice from the cantaloupe in a separate bowl, then pour over fruit and toss to fully coat.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 1 hour to allow flavors to set up.

Alright folks, that's all she cooked!

Keep it fresh in your kitchens, and if you must "selfie" do it the foodie way and shove ignorant bits of delicious food into your mouth.  Because, it makes it classy.

Kale-ly Yours,

~Tara~