What’s for dinner: One of our favorites: Watermelon Jicama Mint Salad!

Years ago, my besties, Cristianna and Lindsay, invited us over for our first official dinner party. It was delicious!

Ever since then, I have frequently made this crazy refreshing and bright watermelon jicama mint salad. I had to ask Cristianna what jicama was, which is like a Mexican turnip. It has the texture of a starchy potato, but the crispness and freshness of an apple. I also asked for the recipe, and she gave me some overall ideas of what was in it, but nothing specific. So, I had to figure out those deets on my own. (We were just getting to know each other then, so I guess she didn’t want to share her secrets just yet) When I made the recipe video, she let me know I was close, with one correction…smh. Below is my recipe, followed by Cristianna FINALLY letting me know the correct recipe! Thanks, blog!

Here’s a very short video on how to make the salad, and the recipe is below.

Recipe:
-10 cups cubed watermelon
-5 cups julienned jicama
-3 tablespoons fresh, chopped mint
-1/2 cup fresh lime juice
-1.5 teaspoons salt
-1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or 1 tablespoon fresh lime zest
instead, according to Cristianna)
-2 tablespoons honey

Directions:
1. Cut the watermelon into small cubes. This can be done many ways, but the video above shows my favorite method. I have also julienned the watermelon, and that made for a beautiful salad as well.
2. Julienne the jicama. I do NOT suggest cubing it. Jicama is a nice, sublte touch if added in small bites. However, it can be too much if the bites are too large.
3. Make the dressing by adding the mint, lime juice, salt, vinegar (or lime zest), and honey and mixing.
4. Add all ingredients together and refrigerate to cool. Eat at any time.
*Hint: Don’t throw away any of the juice left from the salad. Instead, make a great summer cocktail with it by adding some tequila!

Cristianna’s hint:
Instead of using apple cider vinegar, I just zest the lime and use that. I can’t believe you couldn’t figure that out, Amy!

If you use this recipe, comment and let us know how you like it!

Watermelon Jicama Mint Salad

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Course Appetizer, Dessert, Salad, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

  • 10 cups cubed watermelon
  • 5 cups julienned jicama
  • 3 tbsps fresh, chopped mint
  • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1.5 tsps salt
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or 1 tablespoon fresh lime zest instead
  • 2 tbsps honey

Instructions
 

  • Cut the watermelon into small cubes. This can be done many ways, but the video above shows my favorite method. I have also julienned the watermelon, and that made for a beautiful salad as well.
  • Julienne the jicama. I do NOT suggest cubing it. Jicama is a nice, subtle touch if added in small bites. However, it can be too much if the bites are too large.
  • Make the dressing by adding the mint, lime juice, salt, vinegar (or lime zest), and honey and mixing.
  • Add all ingredients together and refrigerate to cool. Eat at any time.
Keyword watermelon jicama mint salad, mint, jicama, watermelon, amy westerman, light, recipe, summer dish,

Travels: My food and music-filled short trip to Nashville

Drew and I have gone to CMA fest twice before, and had planned to attend again this year as soon as we were driving home from it last year. We had an apartment booked for four nights (Thurs-Mon) on Airbnb, which we booked nine months ago. Everyone was off work. A house/ dog sitter was booked. We were pumped.
But things quickly turned south and we ended up only getting to stay one night. Here is the timeline of events, as well as posts about all of the food, of course.

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We arrived in Nashville around noon. It took about an hour to find a parking spot ($30 btw) and to walk the half mile to get to the Park stage, where the first act we wanted to see, Clare Dunn, was performing.
We first got to see Tucker Beathard, who sings “Rock On”. He was a good filler before Clare.

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Tucker Beathard, CMA Fest 2016

Clare was phenomenal. She sounded great and danced with high energy the whole concert. We even got to meet her the next morning at Fan Fair X.
*Spoiler alert: This was the only fun we had at CMA fest this year.

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After watching Clare, we had planned to go to the bigger free stage to see Maren Morris, Scotty McCreery, and then Terri Clark. However, the stage area was already completely full. There was no standing room anywhere, and they were locking it down due to too many people. So…snack time!

Blog post about Merchants, where I tried duck fat tater tots!
http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=330

After we ate, we headed back to the Park stage.
We saw Native Run here, who I have never heard of before. However, they were pretty good. I really liked their song “2 for 1”. Funny side note: I told Drew that their guitar player looked like the guy from Eden’s Edge. Drew argued I was being silly. I looked it up. Boom. That was him, Dean Berner. Also saw he is engaged to the lead singer of Native Run. I found this odd since I assumed she was married to her co-lead singer, as they almost kissed while holding each others’ faces during a couple songs. So weird.

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Native Run- CMA Fest 2016

After this, we headed to the apartment we rented in East Nashville. We then walked to Mas Tacos to try this place. Everything online raved about it, and it did NOT disappoint.

Blog post for Mas Tacos, Por Favor.
http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=320

With not too much else to do in the neighborhood, we headed in to Kroger to get some breakfast food items and snacks, in case we would need anything for the next four days. We headed back to the apartment afterwards. We were pretty tired, so we went to bed early.

At about 10:30 p.m., we were already asleep, and got a phone call that let us know our house sitter wasn’t going to be able to stay. So, we got our bffs…I think you know them by now. Cristianna and Lindsay? (who let the dogs out earlier that day) to take care of them the next morning. We planned to head back home Friday after we shortly hit up Fan Fair X. We had bought four day tickets to it, and I was at least going to see what it was all about before heading home.

So, the next day, we packed up the car, headed straight to Fan Fair X at CMA fest. We didn’t have time for a sit down breakfast, but ended up having the best breakfast at a food truck.
Blog post on Banh Mi and Roll Factory Food Truck: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=318

Then, at Fan Fair X, we met Clare Dunn, Ashton Shepherd, got to peek at a few other singers like Jamie Lynn Spears and RaeLynn (didn’t care to stand in line to meet them. No offense, ladies, your lines were long).

We also got to hear Chip Easton (Deacon from Nashville) announce officially that Nashville had been picked up for another season by CMT and Hulu. This was awesome, I was so upset when ABC cancelled it last month. So, me and a million other people got very excited. Can you see Chip way up there? He’s on stage, I promise.

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The last person I wanted to see before heading home was Lila McCann. She was one of the first cds I ever bought and I grew up loving her first cd. However, before she took the stage, the Bellamy Brothers performed. They were pretty great as they sang “Redneck Girl”, “Let Your Love Flow”, and many others.

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Bellamy Brothers: CMA Fest 2016

Finally, we got to see Lila. We only stuck around to hear the two songs I was looking for to: “Down Came a Blackbird” and “I Wanna Fall in Love”. She was good, but a little underwhelming. Oh well.

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On the way home, we HAD to stop for lunch at Loveless Cafe, of course.
Blog post about Loveless Cafe:
http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=260

Overall, this trip sucked. It was shortened, the airbnb apartment was pretty gross, and the crowds at CMA Fest made getting close to certain stages impossible. I don’t know if I will want to try going to this again next year, depends on who the line up is, I guess.

I do know I want to go back to Nashville, though, to experience the city and finish eating all of the foods on my list.