Cinco de Mayo ~ A Darling Baker's Event!

The Darling Bakers are celebrating Cinco de Mayo ~

and here's what's cooking at my house~

Let's start with dessert first, it's light and fat free, fresh Strawberry Granita.

A truly refreshing and a simple pleasure. (I subbed 1/2 Splenda for the sugar.)

For the main course ~ I found this FABULOUS recipe for grilled shrimp, served with an incredible Chipotle ~ Saffron Cream Salsa on line. Psst... If your experiences with salsas have been limited to the chunky vegetable or fruit varieties you're in for a real TREAT if you make this one.

Proclaimed excellent by my taste testers ~ I'll definitely make it again, it would be great on grilled fish or chicken, too.

The method is very simple; shrimp is marinated for a short time in lime juice, ancho chile powder, garlic and white pepper. Then grilled or broiled until just done.

I started the Chipotle-Cream-Saffron salsa ahead and kept it warm while grilling the shrimp. Very flavorful and simple to put together.

The photo is not the best, (that's what happens when I try to pull a "party" mid-week!) but you can get an idea of how it plates up.

I'll post the recipes on my recipe blog a little later.

I served the grilled shrimp with a favorite recipe from " Fine Cooking';

Arroz Verde (Green Rice.)

This is such a great way to incorporate green veggies into your meal.

I prepare it a bit differently than the instructions in the Fine Cooking recipe, adding the spinach and cilantro at the end of cooking time to retain the vibrant color.

Incidentally, if you don't happen to love cilantro, you can easily omit it here.

I've had this recipe is in my permanent recipe file for a couple of years and have made it numerous times, it's that good! I'll post the recipe over on my recipe blog a little later today.

Finally (what I consider the jewel of the meal), the Fresh Strawberry Granita ~ so pretty to look at, and absolutely bursting with fresh strawberry flavor.

I garnished each one with a little sprig of fresh mint ...

. . . and fresh tiny Alpine strawberry blossoms, both from the garden.

Thanks for joining me today ~

I hope if you try any of these recipes you like them as much as we do.

~ * ~*~*~*~

Sending out good wishes and healing thoughts for our Darling Bakers

who are a little under the weather today. Get well soon, friends!