It’s that time of year when my kitchen turns into a test kitchen and the annual tradition of getting the most out of the season’s veggies and fruits begins.

We eat salads for some pretty boring reasons – dieting, health etc.

Shedding the last few pounds, fitting workouts into your schedule and eating right is tough enough but that doesn’t mean your salad has to taste boring because your cutting calories and trying to save time.

In fact your salad, if done right, makes for a great meal and can pack everything you need onto one plate.  Simple, easy, healthy and cost effective recipes – here is the first in a series coming your way this season.

Just be ready to toss some funky flavour in your bowl and hang on! You will be sharing this – so make extra.

Mangos – a very popular fruit my parents ate as kids in India and something their grandkids demand as their dessert after dinner these days.

Well there was some left over and it got thrown into a salad and a magical recipe was born.

It started off as a boring garden salad with your usual suspects:  lettuce (chopped), tomato and cucumbers (cubbed)

Sprinkled a handful of pecans and juicy cranberries.

Then came the cheese – and it can be goat, feta or even old chedder (shredded)

Still something was missing.  Then I found a plate of mango’s in the fridge.  Why not I thought?

Juicy mango in chunks was thrown in and then I put the lid on the whole thing and gave it a good shake!

Yummy and delicious but you have to shake it in a bowl with a good lid so the juices from the mango mix well with the rest of the veggies, nuts and cheese.

You can add dressing if you want.  I picked two light ones from Kraft and mixed equal parts of each and added to the salad seperately.  Half sundried tomato and orgeno with roasted red pepper and parmesan flavour.  Both are pretty light and low cal.

Sounds like a madness of alot of flavours but they fit perfectly into every bite – enjoy on the sundeck, the sunshine is finally here!