real food for big families: cantaloupe salad

I have had a few people lately ask me questions about how I feed my family.  So I thought I would try to share some of our favorites on this blog.  My goal is feed my crew with real food, keep it simple and not spend a lot of money.  This cantaloupe salad is very refreshing and perfect for summer.  This night I paired it with BBQ chicken legs and baked beans.  I bought the chicken drumsticks from our favorite local chicken farmer and covered them with Wegman's Organic BBQ sauce.  The baked beans are from a can.  Yes, I said from a can.   While I try to make most of our food from scratch sometimes it helps to have some quick sauces and cans of sides available.

Cantaloupe Salad
1 1/2  cantaloupes peeled, seeded and cubed   (save the other half for snacking)
3 tomato chopped
2 avocado pitted, peeled and chopped
juice from 2 lemons
2 t honey
1/2 T dried parsley
1 drop cilantro essential oil
1 drop cumin essential oil
1 jalapeno chopped (i like large pieces of jalapeno and even to use 2 sometimes, but you can also dice it smaller)

Combine all ingredients, except the jalapeno,  together in a large bowl.  Toss to coat evenly.  Divide out amount needed to feed those in the family who will not want the jalapeno pepper.  Combine jalapeno to remaining batch.  Cover both bowls and refrigerate overnight.  This salad really does taste better if it has time to sit at least a few hours.  If you don't want to use two bowls, then you can add the jalapeno when serving.

Shopping List  - serves family of 7 (my kids eat like adults most of the time)
18 chicken drumsticks
1 bottle of Wegman's Organic BBQ sauce
3 cans of Organic Baked Beans
2 cantaloupe
3 tomato
2 avocado
2 lemons
Honey
Essential oils:  Cilantro and Cumin
Jalapeno