I love mango. LOVE. IT. It’s the only fruit that five out of the six members of my family will eat. One of my favorite snacks is a bowl of frozen blueberries and mango chunks with just a little dollop of whipped cream or Greek yogurt on top. It’s delicious, and simple, and filling, and healthy.

I only just recently discovered mangoes, though….it wasn’t until maybe last summer that I had ever tried them. Have you tried them? If not, you must. Seriously.

Fun Facts about the MANGO:

• They’re grown year round in certain parts of the world, so you can almost always get them at the grocery store.
• Mangos provide 100% of your daily vitamin C, 35% of your daily vitamin A and 12% of your daily fiber.
• One cup is only 100 calories.

I was invited to join in on a cooking lesson all about mangoes at the Culinary Center of Kansas City last week, hosted by the Mango Board, and I took the girls along because I knew they’d both have a lot of fun. We learned how to cut mangoes (I had googled it before when I first started trying to eat fresh mangoes, so I already knew how to dissect the stubborn, fleshy fruit) and how to make smoothies, quesadillas, and a frozen dessert.

Luckily for you, I get to share the knowledge and recipes.

(And by the way, be sure you check out Mango.Org for tons of recipes highlighting the almighty mango)

My personal favorite was the quesadillas (and if I can speak for the girls, theirs too).

But first! I need to share this video from the National Mango Board on how to select and cut a ripe mango, because there’s no way I’d be able to explain it in words:

Okay, now that we all know what we’re doing, I’m going to share the recipe for this easy, healthy, delicious chicken quesadilla meal.

Cinco De Mango Quesadilla

Servings: 4

Recipe Category: Appetizer, Entree, Kids

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time:

Ingredients

2 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 dried ancho/pasilla chile pepper, stemmed and seeded

4 burrito size flour tortillas (regular or gluten free)

6 ounces thinly sliced Jack cheese

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

1/4 cup minced red bell pepper

1/4 cup sliced green onions

FOR THE MANGO SALSA

large mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup minced red onion

1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tablespoon lime juice

pinch or dash salt

Instructions

Cook chicken on a lightly oiled grill over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side or until lightly charred and cooked through. Let cool slightly and cut into bite size strips. Puree the tomato sauce and dried pepper in a blender or food processor. Transfer to a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes. Add grilled chicken to pan and toss well to coat; season to taste with salt. Place flour tortillas* on a flat surface. Top half of each tortilla with equal amounts of cheese, mango, bell pepper, green onion and chicken; fold over tortilla. Cook in a large skillet on both sides until cheese is melted and tortilla is crisp, about 5 minutes on each side. Serve with mango salsa.

Mango Salsa: In a small bowl, stir together mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt.

Note: If you’re short on time or don’t have the dried pepper, you can simmer the chicken in your favorite salsa instead. Or, make the salsa ahead of time and cook the chicken in a crock pot during the day so they’ll be ready for you when it’s time to assemble the quesadillas.

*We were provided Udi’s Gluten Free Flour Tortillas to cook and eat, because the folks at the Mango Board and Culinary Center were awesome.

So. Good.

We also tested the Mango and Banana Smoothie and the Frozen Yogurt-Dipped Mango Pops, which are both really easy to make and pretty much guaranteed to be popular with the under-four-foot set.

Thanks so much to Mango.Org for giving me and the girls a fun night out and sponsoring this (delicious) post.