The Hemp Connection:
mango

Practically ever client I have ever had, has come to me with some kind of expectation that the secret to their weight problem/eating disorder/heart disease lies in a magical set of recipes filed away on my computer. If I don't hand them recipes, they feel as though I have failed them.

It's not that I don't mind creating recipes, in fact, it is one of my very favorite things to do! But I feel as if I give you too much structure in what I encourage you to do, you miss the point of cooking. And I feed the delusion that some specific set of instructions on a piece of paper is going to magically fix your problem.

So today I thought I would share what my morning has been like. I hope you will see, that the best kitchen inspirations come from the most surprising places. You often have to put the recipes away in order to see them.

My culinary challenge this week for Chow Locally is developing recipes for mustard greens. My big barrier to this challenge is that try I as I might, and trust me, I have done so many, many times, I just can't get into mustard greens. They are pretty bitter to my palate. But since we have about 125 customers wanting to know what to do with the mustard greens we gave them, and since mustard greens grow pretty well in Phoenix, I got the feeling the Universe decided to tell me it was time to cut the mustard (Ha! Couldn't resist!)

I didn't snap my fingers on this one. I am pretty sure by now, in fact, I have read every single blog post about mustard greens, looking for ideas that sounded like they might work for a wide spectrum of taste buds. When I woke up this morning, needed to try a recipe, I had no idea what I was going to do.

In typical procrastinator's style, I decided to clean my kitchen instead. And…there sat inspiration #1: a couple of inches of stale beer that I was not able to finish last night. It was tasty, a local brewery's White Chocolate Ale, and I didn't want to throw it away. I realized since it was sweet I could get away with less sugar, which I had been thinking of using.

On the way but not totally there, I decided to procrastinate even more by working on my pile of samples from Expo West. This is what my living room floor looks like for about 2 weeks after I get home!

Out from the pile popped my collection of samples from a great family-owned business over in Orange County, Matt's Munchies. They have created a fun variety of healthy fruit leathers. The ginger spice, which is really a ginger and cinnamon-laced mango leather, became ingredient #3.

I poured the beer in a skillet, heated it up to dissolve the mango leather, and then put my chopped mustard greens in to let them braise. I cooked them all the way down until the sugars started to caramelize.

OK, I lied, it did use recipes in this process…but not in the way you are thinking. Because I'd read literally hundreds of recipes in search of inspiration, I noticed that a lot of Indian recipes for greens incorporate just a touch of brown sugar. So I knew if my concoction had something sweet in it, it would caramelize and offset the bitterness that make mustard greens challenging for me.
I am not going to give you any more instructions than this, and you won't get a nutrition analysis. You all know the ingredients here are good ones, and to give you more of a script defeats the purpose of my nudging you to free yourselves of overly rigid behavior in the kitchen. I promise you, your very favorite foods will be the ones where you left the script and started having some fun!

Finally, I threw in just a touch of sweetened coconut flakes for color and texture.

Yesterday I included a recipe for mangos in my matcha post. It so happened that yesterday, my friend Sean also unfortunately sliced his finger while trying to cut a mango…a discussion ensued and one of Sean's friends mentioned that there is actually a kitchen gadget designed to do nothing but cut mangos while saving your fingers. Well, it also saves time and mess.

Mangos are one of my favorite fruits, and they're packed with nutrition, but I just haven't eaten as many as I'd like because of the messiness factor, not to mention the fact that I can be a bit of a klutz in the kitchen. I do buy frozen mango chunks at Trader Joe's, but that's just not as tasty as the fresh, real fruit.

It doesn't matter how healthy a food is, if it is high-maintenance in any way, it's unlikely to have potential as part of your personal health toolkit.

So on behalf of safety-conscious mango lovers everywhere, here is a link to information where you can find your own personal mango cutter.

Here are a few great mango recipes to encourage you to use the gadget once it arrives in the mail!

Mango Vegetable Curry

Sauteed Asparagus with Mangoes

Manto Fish and Chips

And Sean, hope you feel better soon!

One of my inCYST graduates called to say hi the other day. She shared with me that she had discovered mangoes, and loved them. However, she was having trouble picking mangoes that were ripe and sweet. I've put the advice on that at the bottom of this post, courtesy of www.freshmangoes.com, and am devoting this post to one of my very favorite fruits.

I learned while researching this post that one averaged sized mango gives you about 40% of your daily requirement of fiber! In addition, that entire mango only has about 110 calories. For you carb counters, it logs in at 17 grams.

I like to use mangos in smoothies. I also like to make mango salsa. The one thing I don't like about mangos is that they can be so…crazy…messy! So I have gravitated toward the frozen mango chunks I found at Trader Joe's. Not only are they quick, easy, and convenient, they make a great snack to munch out of a bowl while winding down with the evening news. I've also seen dried mango, which is much more portable in a backpack than the real, fresh deal.

A few years ago, when I was in Costa Rica, I encountered green mangoes. These are the not-yet-orange-and-ripe variety that are often found canned. You might find them in your local Latin grocery store.

And that reminds me. When I was in the Mexican grocery store with my friend a few weeks ago, he marveled at how cheap the mangoes were. So don't write them off as an expensive, exotic specialty item. Make it a point to find your closest Latin-oriented grocery store, and stock up on the fruits that make eating fun.

Finally, here's a great recipe for a salmon avocado salad with mango salsa.

Who said healthy eating had to be boring or tasteless?

Selecting the ripeness of mangos can be determined by either smelling or squeezing. A ripe mango will have a full, fruity aroma emitting from the stem end. Mangos can be considered ready to eat when slightly soft to the touch and yielding to gentle pressure, like a ripe peach. The best flavored fruit have a yellow tinge when ripe; however, color may be red, yellow, green, orange or any combination. The ideal post harvest storage temperature for mangos is 55º F. When stored properly a mango should have a shelf life of 1 to 2 weeks. We have found that the best way to ripen a mango is at room temperature, on the kitchen counter and if you wish to accelerate the process place in a paper bag overnight (some folks place an apple with the mango in the bag to create more natural ethylene gas and further decrease the ripening time). Once ripened the mango can be refrigerated for a few days, but should be used shortly thereafter. www.freshmangoes.com