Mmmmm, Mangoes!

I was hosting a dinner party last week and bought two mangoes with the idea of using them as a topping on the salad that I was serving. The salad was great – tart and sweet at the same time – but I only ended up using one mango. I thus found myself in a predicament: what to do with the other mango?

I must be honest: I am not a huge fan of eating mangoes on their own, so simply munching on my mango was out of the question. Throwing it in the compost bin was also out of the question, for those who know me know that I absolutely abhor food waste.

Alas, it seemed that my lonely mango was destined to end up in the “fruit bag” – the large bag in my freezer that receives all the peaches, pears, apples, and bananas that are on the verge of going bad. Periodically I defrost the bag, puree, and create a batch of spelt/kamut muffins sweetened only with these fruits. However, I wasn’t convinced that the intoxicating

ly sweet and exotically flavourful mango would pair well with the rest of the fruits in the “fruit bag.” Surely there must be something I could do with the mango?

The answer came to me the following evening. Roasting, sweltering, positively melting in my un-air conditioned house, I had visions of freezies, popsicles, and ice-cream dancing in my head. However, freezies and popsicles contain refined sugars and food-colouring, while ice-cream is dairy-based – all no-no’s in my household and thus all absent from my freezer.

Rather quickly, an idea began to form in my head – why can’t I make my own popsicle using my lonely mango and some other healthy ingredients? I threw open my fridge door and I assessed the ingredients available. A little of this and a little that (recipe to follow!) went into my VitaMix and I yielded a thick, creamy, and sweet concoction that settled itself quite neatly into six popsicle moulds.

As the popsicles were freezing, I began to research mangoes and was quite intrigued by what I learned. Mangoes have been used in South Asia for several thousand years, and were only later exported eastward to East Asia and westward to India, Africa, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. Not only is their cultivation vast, but their use in cuisine is vast too!

Unripe and sour mangoes are often used in chutneys, while ripe mangoes are typically eaten fresh. Ripe mangoes have additional uses in many cuisines such as South Asian “mango lassi” (ripe mangoes mixed with yogurt and sugar) and curries. Mangoes are also a popular additional to ice creams, sorbets, gelatos, and many other non-frozen desserts. Mangoes also mix well with tomatoes, onions, mint, chilli peppers and a bit of olive oil to create a sweet and spicy salsa.

Something that tastes so good must be unhealthy, right? Wrong! Mangoes are rich in a variety of phytochemicals and nutrients. The fruit is rich in pre-biotic fiber, vitamins A, B6, C, E, & K, polyphenols, carotenoids, quercetin, potassium, copper, pro-vitamin A and several amino acids. These are just to name a few!

While mangoes are a power-house of nutrients, those who are on a restricted-sugar diet should enjoy mangoes in moderation. Despite the immensity of nutrients, the sugar content of mangoes is quite high. Like all fruits, the sugar content in mangoes is fructose, which is far better that refined sucrose. Yet fructose, like all sugars, should be consumed in moderation. Eating mangoes with a bit of low-fat plain yogurt will give the flavourful taste of mangoes, while balancing the sugar with a bit of carbohydrate and fat. By doing so, we won’t cause such a huge spike to our blood sugar levels.

Prior to this little experiment of mine, mangoes were never on my priority list at the grocery store. However, the more research I did, the more I came to realize not only the nutrient value but also the diverse uses of this fantastic fruit. My family will certainly be enjoying m

uch more mangoes in the future!

Creamy Mango Popsicles

Ingredients:

1 ripe mango, peeled & diced

2 cups coconut milk (I use So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk, not the kind from the can; if you are using canned coconut milk, use 1 cup coconut milk & 1 cup water)

2 tbsp. raw agave nectar

2 tbsp. chia seeds

Add all ingredients to a high-powered blender. Puree. Taste, and add additional agave or coconut milk to taste. Pour into popsicle moulds. Freeze, and enjoy! (Note: If there is any left over after all moulds have been filled, throw a few ice cubes into the blender and enjoy as a smoothie).

Namaste!

Beet & Flax Crackers

I recently purchased some Garden Vegetable raw crackers from our local healthy foods store, Organic Garage. My first thought: these are delicious! My second thought: I can totally make these myself! And so began my quest.

I scrutinized the label and saw that these crackers contained various ingredients including sunflower seeds, flaxseed powder, beets, kale, celery, carrot, and garlic. Simple enough, n'est-ce pas? The trick would be in getting just the right ratio of ingredients to ensure optimal deliciousness.

In checking my fridge, I found - to my delight - that I had everything I needed except for the kale. No matter - this was to be, after all, an experiment in ingredients. As I started to chop, spiralize, process, and blend all of the ingredients, my crackers grew from a simple combination of foods into conglomerate! The end result, however, was delicious!

Don't be put off from trying this when I say that it's a conglomerate of ingredients - the making of the recipe is still quite simple, it just calls for a few more ingredients than anticipated.

Please enjoy!

Namaste :)

RAW Beet & Flax Crackers

1 cup sunflower seeds (soak for 6-8 hours in 1 1/2 cups of water)

1 large red beet, finely chopped (I leave the skin on but chop off the ends)

2 large carrots, finely chopped (I use the deep purple & yellow heritage varieties)

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1/2 - 1 cup cashew butter (add 1/2 cup to begin, & add more for flavour if needed)

1/2 cup flax oil

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp mustard seed powder

2 tbsp parsley, dried

1 tsp sea salt

2 cups golden flax seeds

In a food processor or high-powered blender (I use the VitaMix 5200), add the sunflower seeds along with the soak water. Add all of the rest of the ingredients, except for the flax seeds, bit by bit. Play around with the blending speeds - you may need to speed it up, then slow it down, then speed it up (you get the picture!). Depending on the consistency, add more water or flax oil. You want it to be thick but still runny; you should be able to pour it out of the blender without any trouble.

Pour mixture into a large bowl. Add flax seeds. Stir, and let stand for 5-10 minutes to thicken up.

Spread mixture onto paraflexx sheets. Make sure you spread it into a nicely shaped square and that you spread the mixture in an even layer. Score it gently with a butter knife to achieve the desired size of crackers. Dehydrate at 100 - 105 degrees for 12 hours. Then remove the crackers from the paraflexx sheets and flip them over, dehydrating for another 8 hours directly on the dehydrator tray.

I've Returned Bearing the BEST Ranch Dressing Recipe

'Tis true. It has been awhile since I've last posted. Okay. It's been more than awhile; it's been the greater part of a year. I could blame it on several "things" - and valid ones, at that - which have seemed to consume my life, body and spirit, over the past long while. A part of me wishes I could displace this blame so easily. Another part realizes that every action we make in our life is the result of a choice. The fact that I have not written for so long is a result of the fact that I have chosen not to do so. Granted, a number of variables have contributed to this choice that I have made, but nonetheless, 'tis no one's fault but my own.

Having said all this, I have not wasted this past year in vain. I have been un-cooking, meditating, practicing yoga, teaching French, and engaging in a wide variety of other endeavours. One of my most enjoyable forays has been experimenting with raw-foods, or "un-cooking" as I am prone to calling it.

One of my greatest challenges has been to come up with enticing and delicious dressings and dips. I was a great lover of ranch. An admirer of caesar. A fan of creamy poppyseed, thousand island, and greek feta. Le sigh. It pains me to admit that I couldn't seem to get enough of the commercially made "creamy" dressings. Oil and vinegar? I'd rather just use plain old freshly squeezed lemon juice - which I have, in fact, been using since I became informed of the toxic ingredients in conventional salad dressings and dips. However, I still craved that "creamy" texture found in many of my forbidden dressings and dips.

Oh sure, hummus is fabulous. Substituting vegan-mayo (not raw, but better than Hellmann's!) can be fantastic. Still, my tastbuds were wanting. Then, I started to experiment with the creamy texture of cashew butter. Wow! The results were AMAZING! This is one of the best recipes for a dressing/dip that I have ever tasted! Lest I sound conceited or full of myself, might I add that I chalk this discovery up to the random combination of ingredients of my own personal discovery - perhaps you have already tried these ingredients together.

But on the chance that you haven't, let me share with you a FANTASTIC recipe for a raw Ranch dressing:

1 cup raw cashew butter

1/2 cup water (N.B. - this makes a very thick dip-like concoction; increase water if you'd like a thinner dressing-like concoction)

4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

Add all ingredients in the food processor or high-powered blender (I like the VitaMix) and process until smooth. For a thinner texture, add additional water. For a thinner yet creamy texture, add olive or flax oil to taste.

Enjoy and namaste!

Raw Food & Nutritional Yeast - Un-Bakers Beware

Those who know me know that I LOVE FOOD! I am a "foodie" by nature, and (as of late) have become a "raw foodie" as well. I have been scouring websites, devouring books, and valiantly trying recipes left-right-and-centre. My recipe excursions have been facilitated by my recent purchase of an Excalibur dehydrator and a Paderno Spiralizer. While I have long embraced raw food un-ccoking & un-baking, my recipes were limited to salads, and other recipes that didn't involve dehydration techniques.

My very first recipe was "cheesy" kale chips. The sauce was a combo of onion, garlic, chilis, dill, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds, and water (to thin the sauce). I lovingly washed, dried and chopped the kale, prepared the sauce, coated the kale, and dehydrated in my beloved Excalibur 2900. The result? Deliciousness! Crispy kale that was chock-full of nutrients! I ate the entire batch, I am un-ashamed to say.

I noticed, however, that toward the end of the day my legs were, well, puffy. And not even mildly - very noticeably so! I have only ever had this reaction when I've indulged in drinking a Bloody Caesar, and I've linked the reaction to the MSG in the clamato juice (even if the clamato juice only reads "spices" on the label, there's guaranteed to still be MSG!).

Thinking back to what I'd eaten that day, the only "new" ingredient that I could pinpoint was nutritional yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It's often used by vegetarians and vegans as a substitute for cheese, since it provides a "cheesy" taste to recipes. It also supposedly contains a high source of B-vitamins and protein.

However, nutritional yeast, as it turns out, is a deactivated yeast that is cultured in a basis of sugar and beet molasses. And while it doesn't have any added monosodium glutamate (or, MSG), I found out that ALL inactive yeast products contain free glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is a naturally occurring amino acid and many report similar side effects when consuming MSG as when consuming free glutamic acid.

Gabriel Cousens, M.D., Columbia University medical school graduate, author of Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine and director of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona, writes that "one of the main foods to avoid is yeast, baker's yeast, nutritional yeast, and brewer's yeast." It promotes a high level of mycotoxicity (or, poisoning of the cells due to fungi). Additional studies have also documented to toxic nature of free glutamic acid, as found in nutritional yeast. (e.g http://www.truthinlabeling.org/l-manuscript.htm)

I was, understandably, beside myself! Here I was, embracing what I thought was to be a healthy way of living, only to find that it is perhaps just as toxic!

Where, and how, do we strike a balance?

For me, I believe that the key is knowledge. We are empowered through knowledge. Sure, I happily un-cooked with nutritional yeast before I realized how toxic it was. Now? I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole!

How many people have heard the refrain: If only I had known! I would have done things differently, lived my life differently!

We become empowered through knowledge; through knowledge we have no need for these refrains. Yes, I may have poisoned my body a little through using nutritional yeast, but, in the words of Maya Angelou, "I did then with what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better."

Namaste. xoxo

"The Art of Happiness," by His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler, M.D.

On a recent trip to St. Martin, I read the 10th anniversary edition of "The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living," by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D. (Riverhead Books). Sectioned into parts, and sub-sectioned into individual chapters, this book chronicled countless hours of discussions between Cutler - an American psychiatrist - and the Dalai Lama, and also included Cutler's reflections on these discussions.

When I first picked up the book, I readied myself for a sort-of "battle of wills"; Cutler brings to the book his scientific and evidence-based practice of psychology, while the Dalai Lama brings his Buddhist understanding of human life and mental health. Instead, what ensued was Cutler's critical and insightful analysis of the Dalai Lama's views on human happiness. Each chapter begins with a general transcription of the issue at hand, whether it be sources of happiness, intimacy, suffering, anxiety, hatred, etc. It follows with Cutler's often critical reflections, infused with related clinical experiences as a practicing psychiatrist.
And when I say that Cutler is critical, I don't mean for it to be necessarily negative, but rather that he approached the Dalai Lama's opinions with a questioning mind, as Cutler takes nothing for granted.

Happiness is a right for all human beings, indeed it is our very purpose in life. So purports the Dalai Lama at the outset of the book. Cutler initially believes that the Dalai Lama almost takes the fact for granted, and Cutler reflects, "As I looked back over my years of psychiatric training, I could rarely recall having heard the word "happiness" even mentioned as a therapeutic objective. Of course, there was plenty talk about relieving the patient's symptoms of depression or anxiety, but never with the expressly stated goal of becoming happy. . . To my Western mind, it didn't seem the sort of thing that one could develop, and sustain, simply by 'training the mind.'"

Cutler's interviews with the Dalai Lama seek to identify a set of parameters, or, rather, a set of steps, that one can undertake in order to achieve happiness. As I read this book it became clear that identifying a prescriptive approach to happiness was not a satisfactory approach to attaining happiness as there are too many variables in individual lives. Cutler, I believe, also recognized this.

Although the book does not offer a set of parameters, it does offer a single thread that runs through the book, and through the lives of those that have attained true happiness: compassion. If we remove ourselves from an immediate and acute situation, lay aside our hot-headedness, our impatience, our frustration, our anger, our anxiety, our jealousy, our lust, our passion, and simply attempt to place ourselves in another's shoes, all of the above emotions seem to melt away. We look at one another with a fresh set of eyes and relate to one-another not as different genders, skin colours, religions, or races. Instead we relate to one another as human beings.

We are inter-connected with every single human being - as well as with every living thing - on this planet. Forgetting this simple fact is the root of all unhappiness. Remembering this fact, and living your life mindful of this fact, will help us achieve ultimate happiness and self-satisfaction (or should I say, self-LESS satisfaction!).

I highly recommend this book to all!

Namaste. :)

Greetings!

As you can see from the "About Me" section, I am a B.A., M.A., M.Ed., vegetarian, yoga-teacher-in-training. I love life, and I love learning about life. I love to share what I know - though I don't presume to call it "wisdom" - and I love to learn from what others know.

I would like for this bog to be a forum, of sorts. A communal gathering where individuals can share their opinions and experiences on health and happiness.

My posts will include healthy recipes, information on health issues, insight into holistic beauty & aesthetics, reflections on yoga postures, as well as meditations and musings.

I hope that this blog becomes as much of your blog, as it is mine. I wholly welcome your input, insight, and advice.

I look forward to sharing with you, and gaining from what you share.

Namaste.