O' Honey Honey

Oh Honey no go on the mango!  Our fruit of the week was the Honey Mango.  I thought I liked the flavor mango.  However, I realized tonight I do not really enjoy a mango by itself.  When mango is mixed in with other flavors I enjoy its tangy factor.  But by itself I find the mango flavor a little sickening - a bit like an overripe peach.  It has an overt sweetness with a tanginess.  Not really sour, but even thinking about it makes me scrape my tongue against my teeth in attempts of ridding myself of the flavor. 

Our plan was to eat the mango raw mixed into a fruit salad of strawberries, cantaloupe, and possibly a banana - kind of a tropical fruit sensation.  We figured this would pair well with our spinach and bacon quiche, possible asparagus puffs, and then the fruit. However, plans changed.  We still had the quiche which was delicious!  No asparagus puffs because I ran out of time to try out a new recipe that required effort and/or time.  So we substituted roasted brussel sprouts - one of my favorites.  Probably my favorite new produce of the week find - they have such a wonderful nuttiness, with a bit of earthy quality and they are so cute!!! Little cabbages that roast so tastily!  Also our fruit salad went through a major upheaval.  The cantaloupe was too ripe.  It was a bit mushy in texture for a melon.  Then we didn't even think to cut up the banana and my husband after two bites of trying the mango said he was done.  I offered him my incredible mixture of small toasts covered with a thin layer of cream cheese, sliced strawberries, diced avocado, and mango chunks.  Together it was a pretty good combination.  Again it was the combination factor not the yumminess of mango.  I wouldn't say I will crave this creation a lot in the future.  I did find the visual attractive, especially if you are going for a traffic light theme (red yellow and green).  But most likely in the future I will leave the honey mango on the shelf.  I am proud of us stepping out of the comfort zone but not all of our choices get to be winners!  Sometimes they are just an experience that leaves us wiser.

May your HealthFULL Journey include lessons, experiences, and enjoyment.  May every day be an adventure to appreciate all that is around you and inspire the willingness to keep learning new things.
'Til we meet again. . .

Nothing Like a Sweet Date

Oh have I got a fancy snack for you when you are looking forward to a romantic nibble.  Or just a snack that will impress your friends. It can be a bit pricey but oh so worth it.  Have you ever tried a fresh date?  They are delicious pieces of fruit, especially if you have a sweet tooth.  And once you take a bite you'll have a hard time believing these little treasures actually have a lot of health benefits. 

First what is a date?  They are fruits from certain palm trees that look like an oversized raisin with some plumpness.  At least the Medjool kind do.  The dates tend to run a bit expensive.  I usually have found them close to eight dollars for a pound or a little over a pound (Roughly thirty - forty dates).  However, on one of shopping trips in search of our new produce we found I believe the package is 18 oz for 4.99.  Well for that price we had to try these sweet jewels.  Yum! 

Now  a lot of sites on the web recommended eating them raw.  As long as you remove the pit.  You can keep the dates in a cupboard but if you store them in your fridge they last quite a bit longer.  Don't be scared of depitting these fruits.  Just start to  slit the tip as if you were slicing lengthwise.  But just starting to slice.  And you can open the slit far enough to slip out the pit.  The pit looks like a piece of a pecan.  Don't be tempted to taste it though.  They are inedible.  Most recipes recommending slipping in a nut or a cheese.  As dates are awfully sweet it is good to have a salty component.  Also dates by themselves contain NO sodium.  So if you  like your snacks to have some salt you'll have to add that component. 

However, being it was New Year's Day yesterday and our favorite team was playing we opted for a fancier snack.  Since you already have to remove the pit, you might as well stuff the date.   We bought some Brie cheese. Just a little dab into each date.  Then we chose to wrap the dates with a little prosciutto. Oh so good!  Prosciutto is an Italian ham. But not just deli ham.  There is a special process of curing/drying meat depending on the region and the slices are usually pretty delicate we have found.  Just a little bit of that rich fattiness to cover this sweet date filled with a smooth delicate cheese.  Italy meets the tropics meets France; what a beautiful world.  We put them in the oven on 375 degree F for roughly fifteen minutes.  This allowed the date to gooey its sweetness and allowed the meat to release its saltiness and the cheese to soften.  So delicious for a romantic game snack.  I liked the warmth to allow the flavors to blend and to soften the date.  Just handling the date to pit them you can feel the stickiness.  By wrapping the date, the sweet wasn't overpowering and yet had a luxurious texture. 

Some great benefits of the date include extremely small amounts of fat, obviously no cholesterol, some protein and yes it is mainly carbohydrates but a lot of that is fiber.  Because of other vitamins and minerals it includes dates are actually low on the glycemic index as they help regulate blood sugar.  So for those out there who have a sweet tooth but are worried about blood sugars this might be a snack to try,  especially if you stuff the date fruit with a nut.  Also a date is a good source of potassium, calcium, iron, and copper. (See http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/dates.html and http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/natural-foods/natural-weight-loss-food-dates-ga.htm for more nutritional information.)

This was definitely a thumbs up pick for my hubby and me.  I have a sweet tooth and I was a little worried for how sweet the fruit may be.  But with the way we prepared it, even my hubby who prefers spicy or salty over sweet enjoyed this find. 

May your HealthFULL Journey include fun discoveries and moments worth repeating. 'Til we meet again. . .

You're such a peach

Are you a fan of the peach?  Have you ever been complimented as being a peach?  Peaches are such an interesting and distinctive fruit.  We communicate using different expressions about them, (bruises like a peach, peach-fuzz, or "Will you be a peach and do me a favor?")  And I must warn you I am now a days settled in Peach Country.  If I drive about a half hour I can see the infamous peach watertower (though honestly it looks a lot more like someone's fanny).  My brother and sister-in-law have peach trees so I can honestly say I have had a super fresh peach cobbler.  (Delicious!!! by the way).  Most people either love peaches or will not go within fifty feet of them.  What is super intriguing to me; is that it rarely is the flavor of peaches that turns people off, its that pesky fuzzy layer.  Because a peach has that flavor not easily mimicked, its sweet (drippingly so, which is why people rarely peel a peach to eat them), but then most peaches also have a deep sourness to them.  The sourness feels like the peach is taking a bite back at you.  Well this introduction is to discuss the fruit of the week.  I bet you believe I am going to tell you what variety of peaches we sampled, but you would be wrong.  We tried a fruit that tastes like a peach but without that pesky fuzz.  Did you guess nectarine?  Close, Mango Nectarines.

I saw this in the grocery store and knew I had to sample one.  Mangoes are delicious and so are nectarines.  I am going out a limb but believe that the mango part of the fruit is to describe the color.  Otherwise this fruit was all nectarine (which really means it is all peach - because a nectarine is just a peach in a plum's coat).  The taste = peach, the smell = peach, the pit = peach, the peel = plum, and the color = sort of mango.  It was pretty easy without any knowledge of the fruit to anticipate the ripeness of the fruit by just visual.  It starts off as almost a lime green fades into a yellow like a golden apple or almost a super ripe pear.  But here's the thing if you go to touch the fruit which has been squeezed, poked, pinched, prodded by thousands of other people you can understand the expression "you bruise like a peach".  Because as I tried to pick the best of the best of this fruit I too grabbed and poked at these delicate fruits and then was appalled by how many were literally manhandled.  I found several that met my rigorous produce test and was worth my moolah.  I will be the first to admit when it comes to produce I am that annoying person who will pick up each fruit and inspect it twice, wipe of false blemishes.  Just super OCD about picking out the "right" produce (and half the time I don't really know what qualifies the perfect item, I just go with my gut after squeezing, rattling, sniffing, and eagle-eying the specimen).

We went super easy on the preparation for this fruit.  We washed them and then ate them like a snack out of hand.  No slicing, no sauteing, no grilling, and no mixing with other ingredients.  Simply ate it out of hand and it was good, if you like peaches.  My initial couple of bites were very sweet with a lot of juice but then I had two almost bitter bites as I got close to the pit.  But if you are looking to try something new or stump your friends this is definitely a good item to pick up.  Its summer, what's better than enjoying a simple bite of a juicy fruit.

May your HealthFULL Journey remind you that sometimes enjoying a different perspective reminds us of old loves and simple pleasures.  "Til we meet again. . . 

The Pits

I pack my lunch when I go to work.  There is a pretty standard menu that I follow that takes the stress and thought process out of preparing lunch.  I tend to eat a lot of left overs or re-mix them into a different dish.  But this also helps clean out our fridge and save the budget.  If I don't bring in the left overs they tend to find their own spot in the fridge until they grow their own fur coats.  I know that's disgusting, but has happened (frequently).  Biggest culprit we throw out is produce.  When I buy it I have all these menu plans and ideas and excitement to cook.  We'll say shopping day is Saturday and the next time I think about the fruit is Monday nine days later.  Most of the good stuff is no longer good.  So I have to monitor what I buy and constantly remind myself.  Remember how you bought the berries for snacks.  Eat them!!!  I think my four pound strawberry buy from Costco is brilliant until I eat three of them.  It helps to pack fruit for snacking at the office.  It doesn't take that much time to prepare but I tell myself it does.  For instance blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are delicious.  And they just need a rinse and go.  Summer is absolutely my favorite season for fruit ( I am so a berry girl!)  So constantly we have to monitor our produce drawers.  Currently we are seeing a lot of red in our fridge, raspberries, strawberries, and cherries.  Ohhh I love a good cherry.  They are so pretty, that deep ruby shade that slowly swirls among the berries fading lighter or darker.
Today I was preparing for tomorrow's lunch golden honeydew melon mixed with some cherries.  If I am at home I love to pluck the cherries and spit out the pits.  Which is a solitary activity or for those who truly know and love you.  It doesn't sound like a pleasing work atmosphere activity.  Which means I need to pit my cherries.  I pluck my stems, pluck, pluck, pluck.  And as I grow more accustomed to working with fruit.  I give myself a thumbs up for wearing a red shirt as the cherries are staining my fingers that beautiful ruby shade. And nearby I have a handy bowl to collect my stems and my pits.  Now I have the fruit container on the stove and the cherry garbage over by the sink as I have just rinsed the cherries.  It takes me three individual cherries pitted.  Cut the cherry in half, twist, and push/thumb out pit.  I then turn around and walk the three steps to the fruit container I am bringing to work.  I drop off the cherry halves and walk the three steps back to the sink.  I repeat this cycle two more times.  Then it dawns me.  Bring the container to the sink.  If I was doing this for exercise so be it.  I wasn't, at least not intentionally.  But this visual struck me.  How often do I repeat the pattern?  It's working, its getting the job done; but it isn't enhancing my life nor had I explored different ways to tackle the problem.  I was so focused on removing the pits that the means got lost.   Too often I do this.  Focus on the problem and forget that there could be more than one solution.  Some ways are better than others, and which path depends on the goal.  It is important to remove the pit/obstacle but keep thinking of solutions.  You never know which path will lead you to be your best.

May your HealthFULL Journey never focus on the pits but the numerous solutions.  "Til we meet again. . . 

Golden Opportunity

Have you ever tried honeydew melon?  Really tried it.  I know many of us may associate the honeydew melon with that dreadful frozen fruit cup that many restaurants offer as their standard fruit cup: one or two red grapes, cantaloupe, and honeydew.  All three fruits lose their delicious sweetness as the ice overwhelms their subtle flavors.  Now honeydew is actually an attractive and usually a mellow companion to most fruits.  Most of us know that pale green color but there are two other colors Honeydew can wear.  There is the orange flesh which I believe would resemble cantaloupe and might be hard to decipher the two.  And then there is the Golden Honeydew which is the fruit of the week for my own honey and myself :)  We made it into dessert after we had a delicious dinner.  My hubby is not a fan of the honeydew melon.  So I did warn him before he tried it to see if he was game and agreed.

I cut up the melon and either I hit the perfect ripeness or the golden honeydew is way juicier than its relatives. The seeds scooped out very easily and I poured the pool of juice into the bowl where I was preparing the fruit salad.  Very simple prep but delicious results.  I added just under half of the melon into the bowl and the other half cubed for snacking as it is sweet and light on its own.  For the dessert I added a dozen strawberries quartered and a dozen cherries ( I love summer fruits!!!) halved.  I then added a small amount of coconut rum and a sprinkle of sugar to pull out all three fruits' sweetness.  I also toasted a 1/4 cup of hazelnuts and then drizzled honey just enough to get the nuts sticky into little mini-clumps with a dash of cayenne for that little kick of heat at the end. And just to boost that toasted nut flavor I added a drips of sesame oil.  YUM!  I left the nuts to cool on the cupboard and let the fruit soak in the fridge for thirty minutes.  Combined and ate.  Great summer dessert with lots of flavor and aroma.  I thought a dollop of whip cream would be nice but we didn't have any in the house.  After tasting the finished product I didn't see the need for the cream at all.  My hubby said that the fruit didn't even need the rum.  But I actually liked the coconut aroma, I bet coconut milk/juice might add the same appeal.

Not bad.  It was a fun little find that screams summer.  And melons need very little prep which I love.  Also again this might have been the ripeness or the actual fruit but the rind isn't that thick.  It was extremely easy to half the melon which on some produce is a nightmare.  One simple chop and the knife slid through the fruit.  Love that, then easy scoop, quick cut to remove the rind, and cube chop.  Maybe a ten minute prep (and I am the slowest in the kitchen) to prepare a yummy snack with tons of servings (roughly ten is what nutritional data suggests).

It was fun to chop, toast, and macerate in the kitchen.  I felt very chef-like as I grabbed ingredients through suggestions I found on the web and chose myself.  My hubby and I chatted while I "cooked" as the only item truly cooked was toasted hazelnuts and he stayed out of the kitchen which is complete role reversal.  But that is why I like this new produce for the week challenge.  It is not only allowing me a new taste of the product but encourages me to learn and have more confidence in the kitchen.  Fear holds us back a lot.  What if I don't like the flavor? What if I mess up the recipe? What if I. . . and the list continues.  Fear is usually about the unknown.  But the more we equip ourselves with knowledge, experience, and permission to error; we gain back in tenfold.

May your HealthFULL Journey discourage fear and encourage opportunities.  We only fail when we don't try.  'Til we meet again. . . 

Nice long warm up

I was rested and my baby was still resting which means perfect time for a work-out.  I had picked up two DVDs to try new movement from the library.  With a little apprehension and a little giddiness I popped in Mr. Kung Fu. Oh don't worry that's not the name of the DVD.  It was a beginner's DVD for Tai Chi and the narrator/host was David Carradine.  It was fantastic.  There are two parts and I did the thirty minute work out for the mind.  The experience was like completing a thirty minute warm-up/cool-down.  No I didn't burn billions of calories.  But I moved, didn't fret, didn't get frustrated, and let go.  It was nice to not have to give myself a pep talk that I'll be able to catch my breath in less than a minute or stare at the DVD counter - only 12 minutes to go.  This work out was calming and encouraging because I didn't have to modify any of the instructions.  I just followed along.  It was a good DVD to ease back into a daily movement routine.  Also was a great reminder that I like to try new things and appreciate different ideas if I ever want to work out while watching television so I don't feel like such a bump on the log and something else to do besides munch on snacks.

Speaking of munching.  Our little one is starting to eat his veggies and fruits.  Today the plan was to start eating apples (he has tried quite a few of the veggies).  I grabbed the jar, my hubby had the camera and our son seemed confused by the taste.  He's only had veggies before today.  We kept saying how yummy the apples are.  I had tried a quick bite (they were awfully sweet which I thought accounted for the not quite apple flavor).  Our son grew into the taste and he cleaned out that jar.  I looked at the label and the ingredient list caught my eye.  Organic Pears? The food industry is just getting ridiculous using pears for a baby's introduction to apples.  Then I flipped the jar around.  Oh the food industry wasn't to blame for this jar of food.  No mommy grabbed the wrong jar.  So pears were the first fruit for our son.  But this "mommy fog" moment made me think a couple of different things.  My son is a genius to question that this food was not apples.  But also that I had convinced myself that the jar was apples and then even when I tasted the fruit and it tasted off.  I accepted the fact without investigating.  How often am I shoveling food in my mouth because I have told myself it is good or that I like it and really have stopped tasting the food.  Or even allowed myself the chance to let my food taste buds change.  There are a lot of things as a kid not a big fan and a lot of things as a kid as an adult not as yummy (or help the body feel good).  Wouldn't it be sad that my tastes hadn't changed in thirty years?  Don't we get stuck in patterns of all sorts because we used to like the item or hate them?  How many people still have the same favorite color as when they were six?  Is it still truthfully your favorite color or you just tell yourself it is?  How about your favorite food? Let's say your mom made the best spaghetti or lasagna or barbeque chicken or meatloaf (etc. you get the point!), is it still your favorite meal?  Sure they make it when you go home and you enjoy it because it brings back great memories.  But maybe you found your own meatloaf recipe and now that's your favorite but you let your parents think theirs is still number one.  I am not saying that is right or wrong.  But don't we hinder our growth and stand in our own way to keep things simple, non-offensive, time-saving, etc.? That's why we sometimes find ourselves in ruts.  We travel the same path over and over for whatever reason and forget that there are choices involved.  You don't have to drink out of the green coffee cup because you do every morning.  You don't have to stop every Thursday at the local burger joint because you started going there when you got your job.  You don't have to do laundry every Sunday because that was laundry day in your house since you were six.  Again if you love any of these routines then they are not ruts.  You are still choosing these activities because they bring stability, smiles, comfort to your life.  But if you are frustrated with these monotonous actions then choose to change it up.  Treat yourself to a new coffee cup, try a new restaurant on Thursday, or find out if Friday morning laundry lets you feel like you have extra time in your week.  The simplest change can alter your life and remind you that you are still breathing and that choices are a good thing.  They remind us we have freedom, control of our own destiny, and individual preferences that make us unique.

May your HealthFULL Journey be full of wonder as you truly decide your routines, favorites, and free of "ruts". Don't forget to take time to warm up and truly embrace your potential.  'Til we meet again. . .  

Let's get Seedy!!!

Once again I picked a "new" fruit to try this week. This is the first time I have actually tasted the "fruit". Where in the past I have experienced the flavor in juice form. This was the week I tried the pomegranate. My three words to describe this fruit would be Yum, Interesting, and Fun!

The nutritious value of this fruit is outstanding. If you are looking for antioxidants, potassium, phytochemicals, vitamin C, fiber, and the possibility to reduce dental plaque and lower bad cholesterol you can find all those benefits in a neat little package in this particular fruit. Yum, right? :)

This fruit is interesting to view. The color of the pomegranate falls between a deep pink with reddish tones. The outer skin/peel reminds me of an older regularly used baseball; when the leather looks worn, almost cracked. The size resembles an apple. After you have appreciated the outside and cut into this inedible peel is when things get interesting. If you have no knowledge of what to expect , you may take a peek inside the fruit and then throw away a perfectly good pomegranate. Why? Because it may appear fruitless. The pomegranate is filled with hundreds of seeds (roughly six hundred). The seeds are the fruit and they are packaged into clusters protected by white pulp. Unlike the white piths of oranges that have an almost cotton-like texture, the pomegranate's pulp has more of a plastic-like quality. The seeds are fun as they look like tiny jewels because of their intense color and bright sheen. The crunchy minuscule seeds are encased by juice balloons. It is like viewing hundreds of little presents wrapped in see-through balloons.

I chose to eat this fruit raw with little preparation and treated it like a dessert/snack. Extracting the fruit is super fun! There are several approaches one can take with this special packaging. There is the no-mess tactic where you place the halved fruit in a bowl of water that will naturally separate the pulpy membrane and the arils (seeds). Then just strain and scoop. But I was looking for the fun technique. I do suggest not wearing white when taking this next approach as pomegranate stains anything a deep pink almost instantly. To begin the "fun" (and quite messy) technique you remove the top of the fruit and then cut into the fruit four sections. Open the fruit but do not pull apart were the instructions I read. Flip the fruit over the bowl unto your palm and start smacking it with a spoon, releasing the seeds. WHAT FUN!!! I loved it. A way to get some aggression out. It was thrilling to see the pretty jewels fall from the fruit.

Now for the taste, YUM! When biting into these seeds it was like biting into mini-bubbles. You get the satisfying pop of juice which is sweet and finishes tart. Each bubble is quick and instant flavor. After biting into the seed, releasing the juice you are left with the crunchy seed. The seed might be the tart end - note. So as I said this fruit was Yum!, Fun!, and Interesting. . .

Highly Recommended when you are looking to rejuvenate your palate. Enjoy your own HealthFULL Journey as you discover new flavors for yourself. 'Til we meet again. . .