Watermelon, Mango & Spinach Salad

Let this be your first salad of summer. Light and sweet, these three fresh ingredients are coming in on sale now. At my local Latin market & 99c only Store I picked up small, sweet, Manila mangoes and seedless mini-watermelon for 99 cents or less.

I first had this salad only a few weeks ago at an after-party for a screening of HBO's "A Special Relationship" (About Tony Blair and Bill Clinton's stormy friendship - a memorable scene takes place, at Britian's 10 Downing Street, of Bill Clinton raiding Tony Blair's refrigerator, almost worth the price of a HBO subscription!), at the Director's Guild on Sunset Boulevard. It was quite a spread -- mixing British and American cuisines, including: Fish & Chips, Sliced Beef Sandwiches, Mac & Cheese, Fried Chicken, Mini-Shepherd's Pie, and, most memorably, Watermelon, Mango and Baby Spinach Salad (that was worth a trip for seconds).
The movie was good and the food was terrific.

Soon after, I made my own version with chopped regular spinach (baby spinach is harder to find and usually more expensive) for an outdoor party thrown by our neighbors Bob & Lori for their new baby, Lola. It was gobbled up almost immediately, so I know you will like it!

You can use any light salad dressing you have on hand to mix into the salad -- or make a simple lemon juice (or orange juice) & olive oil dressing. So try out this scrumptious summer salad made with budget and fresh Latin market ingredients.

Ingredients ( serves about 4)

• 3 cups of watermelon - cut into bite-sized pieces. I used seedless for the convenience.
• 2 cups of mango - peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces. Okay to substitute canned, drained, pineapple.
• 1 bunch of spinach - washed and chopped roughly.
• *(Originally, salad was made with whole Baby Spinach leaves, so use that for a nicer display for guests or a party.)

Salad Dressing

• 3 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil.
• Juice of whole lemon - lemon or lime juice from jar is fine, about 1/4 cup. Okay to substitute orange juice.
• A pinch of salt.
• Okay to substitute with a favorite store bought light salad dressing.

Directions
Chop watermelon and mango into bite-sized pieces. Wash well and cut off stems of spinach. Chop roughly. Add all to a large salad bowl.

In a small bowl whisk together lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Pour into salad bowl and mix well. If you have a light salad dressing on hand, it is fine to use that instead.