Fresh Fruit Salsa and Whole30 Cinnamon Plantain “Chips”
Fresh Fruit Salsa and Whole30 Cinnamon Plantain “Chips” is the best summertime snack. This Whole30 and Paleo-friendly Salsa and Chips is so refreshing.
Summertime has arrived and with that comes an abundance of fresh fruit! We are huge fruit eaters…you should see how fast fresh fruit is gobbled up by the kids (and how high our grocery bill rises when our cart is FULL of fruit!!). Usually we all just eat fruit in the raw…grab an apple, a banana, a nectarine and eat it whole. So I thought it would be fun to make something different with all that fruit! Since the kids are lovers of chips and salsa (yes, we eat tortilla chips with salsa…it’s all about that 80/20 healthy eating rule!), why not make a Fruit Salsa?
We made our grocery list and went shopping for fresh produce. You’ll find my cute little shoppers in my Instagram Feed and ALL the beautifully colored fruit and veggies we stocked up on. Brandon took the boys for a bike ride and I happily listened to a Podcast and prepped the fruit. I’m a stickler about washing every.single.piece of produce in a detox bath before letting the kids eat it. We fill the sink with cool water and add ¼-½ cup of Apple Cider Vinegar and 2-3 drops of Lemon Essential Oil and let the produce soak. It soaks for 5-10 minutes (or longer if I forget about it for a good half hour!!), a quick rinse and onto drying. Ahhhh…fresh CLEAN fruit!
Oh, look at those beautiful colors in that bowl of Fruit Salsa! Strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and nectarine really help in “eating the rainbow”! You guys, as I put this salsa together I had little hands sneaking up over the side of the bowl stealing handfuls of fruit!! I tried to hurry and get it all together and photographed so the little kids could dive into it. Oh, did they ever! Gus declared, “This is the best ever!”
Plantain “chips” or “dippers” or whatever you want to call them really, are new for us. Well, we’ve made plantain waffles a hundred times, but eating them just lightly cooked to golden brown was new for the kids. I will admit, they looked at them and turned their noses up. So being such a creative mom 😉 I explained to Gus that he should really try one because they grow in South America and that’s where the Amazon Forest is AND he’ll have to eat plantains when he goes there. Gus is our little Amazon lover and plans to go to the jungle in search of tree frogs! With that…he tried one! Thankfully he really liked them, ate eight or nine and is now relieved he won’t starve when exploring the jungle!
I made these plantain “chips” a little more thick than a traditional chip. First I wanted a softer plantain as I felt it would taste good with the fruit salsa and second since they’re Whole30-friendly I didn’t want to just re-create an “off-limits food” or a “food with no breaks”. Chips (no matter what kind!) can easily be a food with no breaks, meaning that once we start eating, we just can’t stop. Making them a little different from the traditional “crunchy” chips, they really don’t taste like a chip! Well, yes and no! A LITTLE crunch on the outside, soft in the middle and a little sweet from the cinnamon sprinkled on top. Fresh Fruit Salsa as their topping and it’s the perfect summertime side dish!
- 3 cups strawberries diced
- 1 cup blueberries halved
- 1 cup pineapple diced
- 2 nectarines diced
- 1/2 lime freshly squeezed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 plantains peeled, cut to planks
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2
Tbsp
coconut oil
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
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In a large skillet, melt 1 Tbsp coconut oil over medium-low heat. Place half the plantain planks in the hot skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes and flip when they are easy to remove from pan and are golden brown on the bottom. Carefully flip each plank and cook for additional 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and place on glass plate. Repeat process once more with remaining plantain planks.
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While plantains are cooking, begin cutting up fresh fruit. In a medium bowl, carefully mix together all fruit with freshly squeezed lime and ground cinnamon.
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Serve fresh fruit right away with plantain planks for “dipping” in the salsa. Store leftover salsa in an airtight glass container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
