Tag Archives: mango

May 11 2013
30 Comments
Desserts

Mango Margaritas!

This is an incredibly simple drink and mango is in season here in Florida. I figured I’d honor our local bounty and make something really fresh (like from the tree in our backyard) and that’s sure to please. We typically collect our mango as they’re available and peel and then freeze the flesh in 16 ounce containers.

IMG_2541

Place the frozen fruit into your trusty blender with or without tequila (one ounce per person is my rule), 1 cup of orange juice and juice from half a lime. Before you pour your beverage, you’ll want to coat the rim of your beverage receptacle with salt. There are 2 ways to do this. I recommend using fine sea salt but ordinary table salt is fine. You’ll gently dip the lip of your glass into your margarita and then into a bowl of salt OR rub the other half of that lime around the edge of that glass and then do the same with the bowl of salt.

IMG_2544Blend it up to smooth perfection and get ready to enjoy your vitamin A and vitamin C with enough fiber to make a vegan blush.

IMG_2545

Thank-you for visiting the Virtual Vegan Potluck 3.0! Please visit the blogs before and after us in the potluck! They’re also amazing. This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 01 2013
3 Comments
Snacks

May-king a Comeback!

Hi, Veganesers! It’s me, Melissa, coming back from… well, I never really left. But I haven’t been keeping up with the blog. Sadface. I have excuses — some are even valid — but this isn’t a confessional. It’s a blog about turning vegan.

Can you guys believe that it’s already May? I’m glad April is over. May 2012 brought a lot of great surprises and I’m hopeful that May 2013 will be the same. What I’m most excited about is that it finally feels like spring in Chicago. Outdoor Farmers Markets! Dining al fresco! Sunshine! Fresh garden veggies on the horizon! All that said, I still spend most of my time cooped up in the office. Luckily, I have provisions.

photo (25)

Here are just some of the snacks I currently have at my desk:

The CLIF bar that’s hiding back there is my emergency snack, in case I don’t have time to get lunch or am about to hulk out from being so hungry.

The soy milk was given to me by my co-worker Joelen, who has her own food blog (it’s not vegan, but it’s wickedly awesome and she’s an awesome person so check it out). I’ll be opening it soon and using it for my morning cereal and afternoon coffee.

Last but not least are some dried mangoes that my Mom brought back from the Philippines. These are in every Asian market in Chicagoland, so you don’t need to fly to the Philippines to get them. Truth time (even though I did say that this isn’t a confessional): I used to hate these. In fact, when my Mom asked if she should bring some back, I replied, “Nah.” But I found myself craving these, so I brought a bag to work. They were so freaking delicious. Great alternative to gummy bears for anyone who is jonesing for one of those. Furthermore, my co-workers who hadn’t tried them before really liked them. I feel like they’re different enough from real mangoes to stand on their own as a vegan treat.

Not pictured but also currently at my desk are nuts, chips (sigh… chips… I can’t quit you), Biscoff spread, and granola bars. If I ever complain about being hungry at work, you have permission to slap me.

What snacks do you have at your desk or office? Let me know! It’s good to be back!!! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , ,
Apr 23 2013
Leave a comment
Raw

When you’re vegan, gifts come from above.

The first mango of the season was stolen off the tree in our back yard. After that, there were bowls of salsa and gazpacho as well as margaritas and daiquiris!

This is Christie, signing off!

Tagged ,
Aug 12 2012
2 Comments
Snacks

Peaches and Mango

Mango is still in full swing here in Florida and we’re starting to get lovely Texas peaches (though I’m partial to the Georgia sort here in Florida) so we did what any vegan hedonist would do: PEACH MANGO DAIQUIRIS!


All you need is mango and peaches [and rum if you’re so inclined]. We use Flor de Caña rum because it’s vegan. If you’re not sure about your favorite libation check Barnivore. Barnivore is a great resource for those who love a good glass of whatever and doesn’t want to feel guilty about it. We got our mango from a local powerhouse of raw vegan organic AWESOME called Glaser farms just about an hour South of us. We’ve been visiting their farmer’s market every weekend for years and they’ve made being vegan in South Florida virtually painless!

We took the flesh of one ripe mango, about 2.5 cups (they’re huge here so you might want more than one) and 2 cups of peaches and 1/2-1 cup of rum. That all went into the blender for a fresh fruity and slightly naughty treat. Its great without the booze too but this is a Sunday afternoon.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , ,
Jun 25 2012
5 Comments
Recipes

Thank Goodness for Mangoes and Blueberries… and RUM

I needed a cocktail today. Badly.

Disclaimer: I didn’t intend for this post to glorify the consumption of liquor. Please drink responsibly and remember that alcohol is not the answer to life’s problems!

I shall call this cocktail “My Heart May Hurt but At Least I’m Getting My Antioxidants”

1/2 a mango
1/4 cup blueberries
fresh mint (optional)
shot of rum

First, try the rum. Make sure it tastes good. Then, prep the fruit.

Stick the mango and blueberries in a blender or, if you’re lazy like me, in a mini food processor.

Take another sip of rum. It’s vegan. Stick the fruit mixture in a glass.

Add ice.

Add the rum, top with some mint leaves, stir and enjoy responsibly!

Goodness, I need a girl’s night out!! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 03 2012
7 Comments
Snacks

Mango Daquiri with Thai Basil

Brent and I were feeling adventurous this weekend and a generous tree gave me a couple of free mangoes on my way home from work on Friday so I decided to make some daquiris. We combined the following in the blender:

flesh from 2 large mango, skin and seed discarded

juice from 1 lime

several sprigs of basil, leaves only

1/2 to 1 cup of rum (optional)

coconut water as needed

We blended it all up, adding coconut water until we liked the texture and then were ready for an afternoon of watching summer storms and laughing together.

We used Thai basil. It’s got a cinnamon sweet flavor and added a lot to this drink. Regular basil or no basil would be fine too but I love my greens! Mango is definitely a nutritional powerhouse and is great for your digestion as well as being a great source for vitamins and minerals.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
May 21 2012
5 Comments
Desserts, Snacks, Thoughts

Mango Madness and a Milestone!

Guess what?! Today is the six month anniversary of Turning Veganese! Wooot!!!! It’s been six months since I decided to go vegan. I can’t believe it. I never dreamed that the blog would become what it is. I had no idea how much I would learn about cooking, food and myself. I can’t believe that it’s only been six months! I’m so thrilled and… goodness, I wish I had planned better for this day because I have so much to say but no idea how to say it.

So, I’ll say this: I am so grateful. Grateful that I can share this with Christie and Brent. Grateful for how rewarding going vegan has been for me personally. And I am especially grateful for you. Yes, YOU! Our lovely and loyal readers. All of your support, comments, knowledge sharing and humor has meant a lot to me. I think I speak for Christie and Brent when I say that we are happy to have met you and to have joined your community.

Lest I embarrass myself, let me get back to business. It is our anniversary week, but I feel like we should declare this week MANGO WEEK on Turning Veganese.

Noooo, not THAT Mango. The fruit!

Oh hello, delicious goodness! This concoction was fresh and easy. I took a manila mango and made three big slices, cutting as close to the pit as I could. I took the two “ends” and used a melon baller to scoop out the meat. Why? Because balls are pretty. Heh. Balls. Ahem. Next, I cut up some strawberries and threw it in the mix. I still had some mint, so I topped it with some mint. Finally, I spotted some crystallized ginger, so I finished it off with some ginger bits.

It’s funny… I used to hate mangoes as a kid. I think it’s because my first memory of mango was in dried form. We use both ripe and unripe mangoes in my household. The unripe ones are eaten in a savory style and can be quite tart — another turnoff for a little kid.

It’s a small victory for me whenever I have fruit because I used to be very fruit deficient. I kept a food diary a few years ago and went over a month without eating fruit. Unbelievable!

Okay, I’m back to being really excited about this being our six month anniversary. Yay! I hope you will all do a celebratory dance for us!! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , ,
May 20 2012
4 Comments
Snacks

Mango Margarita POPSICLES!

What is this madness, you say? MANGO MADNESS! Mango is in season and it’s making its way into everything I cook… or don’t cook.

This particular variety is called Irwin and is one of the more common varieties. It is very sweet and soft when ripe and is great for drinks and sauces.

Today I’m making mango margarita popsicles. I sliced up a skinned, pitted mango and added 3-4 slices to each popsicle mold along with a few cilantro leaves, a squeeze of lime, and (for the more daring) a splash of tequila. We use Lunazul tequila because it’s vegan. Lime is really important because these mango are VERY sweet. I also like to use a fork (as above) when I squeeze lemon or lime juice into something, wiggling it back and forth to help break the membranes in the fruit. I find it makes it easier to get more juice out of the fruit and reduces the incidence of citrus-to-eye events. I filled the molds the rest of the way with coconut water.

Here are the popsicles right before they went into the freezer. When they come out, give them a light dusting of salt and put them back into the freezer for 10-15 minutes to let the salt set. Licking up the side will give you all the flavors of the cilantro, salt, mango and lime, or sample each flavor nibble by nibble for the deconstructed version of a mango margarita.

This is my daring food model, trying out my mango margarita pop. Doesn’t he just make it look delectable? Maybe I’m alone but suddenly I want a mango margarita.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 19 2012
7 Comments
Desserts, Snacks

Suman and Mango

One of the wonderful things about Filipino food and veganism is that a lot of Filipino sweets are vegan as-is. One vegan sweet is suman, sticky sweet rice and coconut milk that is steamed, usually in a banana leaf. Suman is a nice treat with fresh sweet mango:

We like to leave the making of suman to those who do it better than we do. We have several of this particular suman in our freezer and steam them when we want to eat them.

This particular suman was perfectly sweet. Sometimes, we dip suman in sugar or a thick cocoa. Another way to sweeten suman as you’re eating it is to dip it in latik, which is reduced coconut milk. Now that I think of it, there are probably a lot of great ways to use latik as a sweetener. I will have to experiment with that! (Sorry, I didn’t have latik this time so no photos!)

Suman and mango make a great combination: it’s a great vegan alternative to mango ice cream or dairy shakes. I actually prefer it to mango ice cream.

I love it when I get to enjoy my favorite foods without having to veganize them! –Melissa

Tagged , , , , , , ,
May 18 2012
4 Comments
Recipes

Curried Raw Pate with Mango

Raw night strikes again!

Mango is in season so I wanted to make something especially mangoriffic. OMG they’re beautiful!!! Mango are available in Florida starting May well into October and a range of varieties are common in the supermarkets and farmer’s roadside stands. This particular variety is called “Philippine” and have a soft honeyed flavor with a light acid content. Mango are a great source of vitamin C, antioxidant polyphenols, vitamin A and carotein. They’re also rich in prebiotic fiber: that means they can help keep your digestive tract healthy. Mango is the national fruit of India so it’s no mystery that curry is a great flavor element to complement this nutritional powerhouse.

In my blender I combined the following:

1 cup of pumpkin seed pits

1 tbsp of curry powder

t tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp raw tahini

1 tsp chili paste (or to taste)

water as needed

tamari (or salt) and pepper to taste

I blended it until we had a fragrant spread. We added it to a cabbage leaf (yes, I’m still wrapping just about everything up in cabbage leaves in order to facilitate eating it) with some spinach, cilantro and fresh sliced mango. I’m a big fan of how the herbal flavors in cilantro bring out the complex flowery, honey tastes in the mango and how the acid in the mango accentuates the cilantro’s minty and peppery overtones. The myriad of spices in the curry marries everything together for an awesome meal.

It was a perfect storm of flavor in our mouths.

This is Brent and Christie, signing off!

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
%d bloggers like this: