Tag Archives: mango

Apr8

“Get Your Protein On” Bean Salads

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Curry Chickpea Salad, Italian White Bean Asparagus Salad + Black Bean Avocado Salad

Recently, I’ve had several conversations with people about how to make sure you get enough protein following a vegan diet. Honestly, this is the most common conversation that I have about eating vegan. The answer for me is by eating a healthy variety of whole plant-based foods that includes beans, nuts, nut butters, seeds, tempeh, tofu and some whole grains like quinoa.

I’m not big on tracking this kind of thing and I don’t count calories, but for a nutrition class I took while I was in culinary school I was required to track my food intake for two weeks. What I found is that my vegan diet met all of my protein needs perfectly. So I don’t sweat this too much. My focus and energy is directed toward holistic wellness and I trust that my healthy lifestyle will always support me.

Matt Frazier, an ultramarathoner and author of the book No Meat Athlete says “If you’re eating enough for your activity level and consuming a variety of whole foods, you will get all of the protein you need.” He explains that for his weight and activity level he needs about 2,500 calories per day and shoots to get about 10% or 250 calories from protein.

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May7

Caribbean Cobb Salad

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Foodie Yoga Girl made the big leap from the blogosphere into the real world last weekend with her very first cooking class event. The hands-on class was in honor of my friend Heather’s birthday. I shared Heather’s raw oatmeal raisin cookie recipe a while back. She and I met during our yoga teacher training. She’s lovely and it was so much fun being a part of her celebration.

For the class, we set up three stations, each focusing on a different cooking method. One group was in charge of baking jerk tofu. Another group at the stove made sauteed plantains and cilantro lime rice. And the third group (Heather’s parents who were visiting from Colorado) was in charge of this beautiful recipe for Caribbean Cobb Salad.

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Feb7

Raw Coconut Cheesecake with Sweet Mango

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So if you said, “Your favorite fruit? 30 seconds. Go.” I’d say, without hesitation, MANGOES! Oh my, oh yes, mangoes. Can you think of a sweeter, sexier fruit? No way. Nothing compares. Mangoes are in a class all by themselves. No wonder they are called the King of Fruits and the Love Fruit.

Uh huh, the love fruit, baby. Among their myriad of benefits, mangoes are also considered an aphrodisiac said to boost the libido and regulate hormones. So, with Valentine’s Day coming up, um, maybe you’ll want to give this little recipe a try.

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Sep18

Lots of Veggies Sushi Rolls

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When I was in yoga teacher training, veggie sushi saved my life. I would come home late, tired and hungry after a long day of practicing yoga. Although I was super hungry, really the only thing I wanted was vegetable sushi rolls…a little seaweed salad was okay too. I’m not sure I can explain this, looking back. Maybe it was the salty taste from the nori and soy sauce. Maybe it was the fact that sushi rolls can be light and filling at the same time. For me, it was a craving that could not be denied.

On these evenings, I usually had rolls from my favorite asian restaurant or really I was not that picky, grocery store sushi was fine too. But now that I have a little more time, I really like making my own rolls. And what’s fun is that I get to come up with weird combinations that I wish I could find on a menu but I never can, like mango/cucumber.

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May1

Mango Cinnamon Horchata

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With Cinco de Mayo coming up, I thought it would be fun to make a batch of homemade Horchata, a sweetened Mexican rice milk drink. Before moving to Houston, I’m not even sure if I’d even heard of this drink. The first time I tried it was at a farmer’s market on a hot day. It was flavored with strawberries and immediately cooled me off and I fell in love.

Horchata is very light and tastes great served over ice. For my recipe I adapted one from David Lebovitz who got his inspiration from Fany Gerson’s book Paletas. You start by grinding uncooked rice in a blender until it resembles cornmeal and then soak it overnight in water. I’m not usually big on soaking things, I’m more of a spontaneous cook, but this was a fun experiment.

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Apr3

Fruity Spa Water

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Lately, my kids have been asking me to buy them Vitamin Water, ugh. Have you read the label on that stuff? The list of ingredients is super long…IT’S WATER for Pete’s sake. Some of the flavors can have up to 32 grams of sugar. Yikes. Or if you buy the Vitamin Water Zero the sweetener is listed as erythritol and rebiana (stevia extract) which might be fine for some people, but smacks of chemical engineering to me.

So, I decided to put my bare yoga foot down and say no to Vitamin Water, Gatorade and Powerade in my house. I’m not naive. I’m sure my kids will still drink this stuff from time to time, but I’m not buying it any more.

As an alternative, I proposed to keep jars of water in the refrigerator with yummy combinations of fruit. My boys were actually a little excited about this. I’ve seen this idea floating around Facebook and thought it was worth a try.

We put filtered water in mason jars filled about 3/4 of the way and added:

Orange + Lemon + Apple

Pineapple + Mango + Kiwi

Lemon + Cucumber + Mint (for me)

They are all really refreshing. You can get as creative as you like here. For a sports drink, you can fill a water bottle with half Fruity Spa Water and half coconut water for electrolytes.