summer appetizer - no oven needed

i had a few girls over for my very first swap party on friday night. it was a huge success and everyone walked away with a few new items added to their wardrobes (if you're wondering what a swap party is, click here). being that it was 85 degrees and what felt like 600% humidity, i made it my mission to only serve appetizers that didn't require turning on the oven. my homemade mango salsa was a huge hit! although i usually try to shop at the greenmarket for local, seasonal produce, i had to hit up my neighborhood shoprite for the non-tri-state-area-grown ingredients. it makes a lot so cut it in half if you're not making it for a party.

• 3 mangos, peeled and diced
• 1 cucumber, peeled and diced
  
• 1 finely chopped jalapeno (add more if you like it hot)
  
• half of a red onion, diced
  
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 big handful of roughly chopped cilantro leaves
• 3 avocados (chill them beforehand so they don't mush up when you mix them into the rest of the ingredients)
  

mix everything together and season with salt and pepper. serve cold with multigrain tostitos. if you have leftovers, serve over pork tenderloin or fish. i may even add black beans to it next time...

me at a swap party - on nbc's today show

risa and i had the pleasure of going to bobbie thomas' swap party a few weekends ago -- and it was featured on this morning's today show! i took some bad screenshots but you can see us on tv by clicking this link to see the video:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/31238969#31238969

so what is a swap party, you ask (and don't feel like watching video)? the concept is to be a recessionista and amp up your style without spending any money. everyone brings as many shirts, pants, shoes, accessories, bags, etc. as they would like across different price categories (something like up to $50, $50-150, $150+). you get a category-color-coded ticket for each item, write your name on it and throw it in a bowl. your name is pulled at random and you get to choose something from that category. so in essence, you leave with the exact number of items you brought within each price category. anything leftover gets donated to charity.

it's not a "clean out your closet" kind of thing. its more for if you have something that's in great shape but you don't wear it and you think others would appreciate it, or if you have something you don't wear but you paid too much for it to give it to goodwill.

worried about sizing? no big whoop - since everything is "free", you'll have money for tailoring. plus, accessories and bags are one size fits all!