Melon con Crema de Mango
Melons, Melons, Melons seems the only remedy to the Texas heat. We have juiced them, sliced them, made them into salad, had them for breakfast and continue to crave them. This is the time to get in that last taste of summer juiciness, rejoice in the quenching sensation hoping to tame this unbearable humidity. Texas plays by it’s own rules and August has brought us some intense heat that makes us look forward to cooler temps and lighter meals. Some mornings a light breakfast is all that seems appetizing. The thought of spending the day feeling trapped in a oven like atmosphere vehicle mixed with the traffic of back to school business easily makes me almost cry. We reside on one of the two main streets that directly connects to the University and throw in to location several public schools I almost want to skip breakfast all together and drown any future plans of actually completing my errands with gallons of iced coffee spiked with espresso shots. But being the level headed mother I am, really I am. I push aside my fears to make a simple refreshing breakfast which can be made even easier if all is made the night before, see I told you I was level headed.

Cantaloupes are highly prized here in Texas, yup we love them as much as we love our watermelons, our peaches, our citrus, our brisket..okay we Texans love all our State offers. Moving on. Our Texas soil helps to produce perfectly sun kissed cantaloupes that are enjoyed by everyone in the United States. They are shipped mainly form the Rio Grande Valley and West Texas. This summer having been our first in the Rio Grande Valley we have been enjoyed these beauties daily. Another advantage of living so close to the border is the Mexican mangos, the large fleshy fruit that is sold by the case or sprinkled with chili or simply cut “hedgehog style” at mercados. It almost seems like trees sensed a heat filled summer and were kind enough to bless us with a superior fleshy crop to help us survive the heat. Sync these two heavenly fruits together and treat yourself yourselves to a light breakfast or hey enjoy it for dessert, snack time, or better yet blend it together for a cool smoothie. I give you Texas melons with Mexican mangos mixed with crema for a sweet Tex-Mex fusion. I plant the inspiration you take the recipe and make your own, now c’mon let’s enjoy some cantaloupe. Have a sweet week and I send you melon infused kisses. Sweet Life

Melon Con Crema de Mango
by Sweet Life
by Vianney Rodriguez
serves 4
2 Texas Cantaloupes – sliced or cubed
1 large Mexican mango – peeled and sliced
1/2 cup to 1 cup crema mexicana
pinch of salt
agave – to your taste
garnish – pepitas
Taste your mango and you can get a sense of how much agave you would like to add.
I only had to add a quick splash, the agave is only to add a touch of sweetness not to overpower the fruit.
In a blender or food processor combine mango, 1/2 crema, salt and agave.
Blend or process until smooth, if the mix it too thick add more crema by small amounts to slightly thin our the mix.
Place in a bowl and refrigerate until cool or overnight for next day.
Place your sliced or diced melon on plate and drizzle your crema de mango.
Garnish with pepitas.

love the crema..try fresas con crema click…here
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(oh and lastly all pictures and words are mine, yes mine, don’t be sleazy and steal work..it’s copyrighted, yup all mine…love ya! Sweet Life)
Texas Pecan French Toast
The second recipe featured on Chow and Chatter by Sweet Life. I thank everyone for stopping by Rebecca’s blog and leaving lovely comments.
I have closed comments.
Need something sweet to start your day off in the right track? Well let’s add together two of my favorite Texas flavors and see what we come up with. Take our famous Texas Toast dunk it into a savory egg mix, cook until golden brown and then pour over a sweet mix of Texas pecans with brown sugar giving you a little extra motivation to jump out of bed. Enjoy!!

Texas Pecan French Toast
By Sweet Life
Serves two
4 slices of Texas Toast
3 eggs, beaten
Salt
pepper
½ cup butter
½ cup brown
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped Texas pecans
Extra halves for garnishing
Heat oven to 200 degrees.
In a large bowl combine eggs, salt and pepper.
Heat a large non stick pan or griddle to medium high heat and add vegetable oil or butter.
Dunk each piece of Texas toast allowing
each piece to soak in the egg mix.Add slice to griddle as many as fit, do not overcrowd.
Cook until golden brown on both sides.
Remove and place in oven to keep warm until sauce is ready.
Melt butter, brown sugar in saucepan over low heat.
Add vanilla and stir to combine.
Add pecans
Drizzle mix over toast and garnish with pecans halves.
If mix becomes too thick add a little bit of water, it will help to loosen mix.?
Chocolate Coconut Bars
I’m almost embarrassed to post these, almost, scratch that I have no shame people, these bars came about for the need to have a quick treat to send with hubby for a work luncheon. Being that they are extremly, embarrassingly easy hasn’t stopped me from making them 5 times since I have been home from vacation. Any event this past week that came up with hubby these beauties were made and quickly cut into bars. The only problem is that I keep leaving small pieces for me, so take into account that I have made these 5 times and add up each piece I have ravished, it quickly adds up to some serious sugar intake. But me being the calm and collective person I am figure that each piece must be consumed to remind myself of my superior baking skills (whatever). The crust is pulsed graham crackers held together with melted butter pressed into a 9×13 pan. This can be even easier, I know I know, if you use packaged ground graham crumbs which I found while searching for panko. I almost fainted, when was this invented? Why didn’t anyone call me? Of course I grabbed a box, then proceeded to melt the butter in the microwave and the process was cut in half, oh I could cry of complete joy.
Okay, people take my word and march into your kitchen or run like I do and whip these up. You won’t be disappointed and while you devour a piece, you can smile thanking me for being super cool. Enjoy Sweet Life!
Oh and since I am in a self praise mode, why don’t you stop by Drick’s Rambling Cafe wherere there is a whole post dedicated to me, you know your truly loved when someone creates recipes in your honor. Check out a great recipe for Livin’ the Sweet Life Chicken Tacos , love it! Texas hugs going out to Drick for thinking of me, your too cool Dude, love ya!

I made smaller versions for this post, the recipe is for a 9×13.

Chocolate Coconut Bars
by Sweet Life
by Vianney Rodriguez
serves 12
3 cups graham cracker crumbs (almost 20 cookies)
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups sweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or butter a 9×13, set aside.
**************
Pulse graham crackers in the food processor until finey ground or you can used pre boxed graham cups.
In a large bowl mix together crumbs, melted butter, salt until combined. Place mixture into pan and press into bottom.
Sprinkle coconut over crust.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over coconut.
Pour condensed milk over mix.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes until edges are lightly brown.
Fresas Con Crema
Hello my fellow food lovers, how was your weekend? My weekend was tiredly busy- in a good way. It always amazes me how I can be so busy with the girls’, cleaning, washing, picking up (the same toys), cooking only to realize that I have not left the apartment the whole week. It’s sad I know, but my carefree days of my youth are gone. So when Friday rolled around I was ready to escape anywhere and more importantly ready to be fed by a nice waitress who would in no time appear with piping warm trays of food. I have to brag I had the best entomatadas in a small family place in Pharr, Texas and drank enough agaua fresca this weekend to quench away my boring week of chores. In one week ALL my family is heading home to Aransas Pass, Texas( I am sooo excited!) to spend time together, suddenly the enormous home I grew up in, doesn’t seem to enormous. So this weekend was spent prepping for the arrival of our family. The girls needed new dresses for my nephew’s baptism, new pj’s for a breakfast bday party for their cousins and I needed a new purse and cake pans. Oh yes.. I know yall feel me…a useless cake pan can not be taken lightly..new pans must be acquired at all measures, even if I must spend hours at numerous kitchen stores (which was heaven) to find the perfect pan. Read more
Sweet Life Presents Texas Talent Part 4-Diana Barrios Trevino from Los Barrios in San Antonio, Texas-Mexican Hot Chocolate- Giveaway
Good Morning lovely readers. Today we feature Mexican Hot Chocolate from Diana Barrios Family Cookbook. This hot chocolate is a great morning treat for your kiddos or add it to your morning coffee for a sweet kick (hey why should the kiddos get all the goods?). Read more
Chocolate Tres Leches Cake — Celebrating My first Year (giveaway!!)
Today Sweet Life proudly celebrates it’s first year. I am over the moon thrilled at the completion of my first year, in being boldly honest I never thought I would make it this far. I humbly admit I am horribly the most unorganized person and often find myself completing 3-4 task at the same time (at this moment I am typing this post, sorting laundry, finishing the cake, paying bills and loading my dishwasher) if not for my the continuous stream of coffee coursing through my veins I fear I would never complete half the daily task I begin. I also must confess I can spell, yes I am a able adult who in fact can put letters together and form sentences. I put this out for all of you to forgive my awful spelling in your comment boxes and this……what’s up with that? I seem to always ……..every five minutes. I cannot guarantee you …..this will be tamed but, I will try. Read more
Strawberry Tortillas — Blueberry Tortillas
Chuls suggested we make something “Cool” for July 4th since there would be no fireworks, no festivities, not much of anything since Alex decided to swing by for a quick visit. Thankfully we were spared the grunt and only had a full day of rain and slow Internet service so we are blessed and no one is complaining. We are celebrating July 4th small this year, which is kinda cool- just us four hanging out and chomping on our “cool” colorful tortillas. These tortillas are a twist on your ordinary tortilla recipe, simply replace the water with the juice of your choice. We tried strawberry and blueberry juice to add the colors of our flag to our festive meal. I made these in the morning and chuls had one slathered with dark chocolate almond butter and slices of green apple. Pips went for a cheesy version which included sliced peaches. Hubby loved both versions, but thought they would taste even better loaded with Texas brisket. I agree…Happy July 4th, have a wonderful weekend and may you spend time with the ones you love. My family sends you love and well wishes. Thank you for so many lovely comments for our well being in the wake of Alex, I am truly blessed to have great friends from every corner our our beautiful world. Enjoy Sweetlife! Read more
Inspirations….

Alex in upon us, thankful we are not in the direct path but we are expecting substantial rain and loss of electricity. So I will be completely offline until the weather clears. I leave you with some of my favorite recipes for inspiration for your upcoming celebration’s. I send you love and keep those in Alex’s path in your prayers. Read more
Lemon Avocado Sherbert
When I was little my mom made homemade tortillas every morning for breakfast any leftovers were wrapped in a kitchen towel and left on the table. For lunch she would quickly unwrap the tortillas give ‘em a quick reheat, stuff slices of avocado, a light sprinkle of salt and lunch was served. This to her was fast food not happy meals or fried chicken in a bucket. Did we ever complain? Are you crazy we knew we had it good, my mom’s food was glorious, okay scratch that…her food is and continues to be glorious (love ya momo). So I greatly appreciate my beloved avocado as it continues to carry a huge love link to my mom, the only problem is I have no talent what so ever in picking perfectly ripe avocados. I still to this day walk right past them knowing that I don’t stand a chance. This became quite a problem when hubby realized how horrible I was at the task he knew if he ever wanted to eat the “green goodness” again he would have to take charge. So for the last 10 years he has picked every avocado that has happily passed through our tummies. Read more
Blanco Lavender Festival/ Lavender-Cream Cheese Stuffed Strawberries/ Giveaway!!
When we headed out early Saturday morning I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Blanco, Lavender Festival. This was the festival’s sixth year, so compared to my hometown’s annual festival the Shrimporee which has grown incredibly each year, this one was fairly new. When we arrived we drove past the town square and decided to make for the Lavender farms first since the news predicted a hot day and we knew the girls’ would be in ‘better moods”, while it was still cool. As we drove into the first farm we weren’t really sure what to do, but were quickly greeted by a nice lady who gave us the “how-to.” Read more











