This might be the best thing I ever ate

Mango-Avocado Salad

Via greenchefs.tv & raw chef, Vanessa Sherwood

Ingredients
2 Ripe Mangoes, peeled, pitted and chopped
1 Large Avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped
1 Tablespoon Lime Juiced
2 Teaspoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Cilantro Leaves
1 Tablespoon Black Sesame Seeds
Instructions:Hand mix all of the ingredients together and serve.

Yum!

I am not kidding. I think this is a little bit of heaven.

I found this recipe on a raw food blog. But let me tell you, you don't need to be all that interested in raw food to appreciate this dish.

I discovered the blog when I linked through the website of raw food chef Sarma of Pure Food and Wine. I am definitely going to check her restaurant out on one of my next trips to NYC.

Roasted Kale- Simple and Quick

Check out this you tube video for a great Roasted Kale Cooking video.

Naoko does a quick (and fun!) video presentation that inspired me to cook kale for the first time. Guess what? It was ridiculously easy and delicious! I ate the whole pan!

2nd time making it update- Brace yourself: My husband and my kids LOVED it!! A success for the whole family- hurray!

The most fun part about eating this is using chopsticks (or, as Nick calls them, “pinchers”). To make it easy for kids, attach the top end of the chopsticks with a rubber band to hold them together and put a little rolled up piece of paper just below the band to create a little space to pinch. Or just buy kid chopsticks.

Roasted Kale

1 bunch of kale- organic is preferable
Bragg Liquid Aminos or Organic Shoyu (soy sauce)
Sesame Oil (Toasted or Regular)

· Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
· Rip the kale off the stem (smaller pieces are easier for kids) and throw it in a big bowl of water
· Swish the kale around in the water to wash it
· Drain the kale in a colander
· Line a cookie sheet (or two if you have a big bunch of kale) with Release Foil
· Plop the kale pieces on the cookie sheet and use a paper towel to quickly blot up the excess water
· Sprinkle the kale with a little Braggs or Soy Sauce and the Sesame Oil (a little of each of these goes a long way)
· Put the sheet of kale in the oven for 5-6 minutes, take it out and dig in
· Watch the time because it can burn pretty easily (experiment and see if you like some pieces to get crispy etc…)
· Eat as a side dish or just as a snack

Heart Apple

Could there really be a heart on this apple?

This heart apple appeared in a bunch of organic Fuji apples (my favorites!) that I bought recently.

Let them dip!

Do you ever feel like you need to be a purist to really be healthy? This is a trait I'm working on eliminating from my personality because....it just never works out. Not for any length of time. It just isn't sustainable.


So I am trying to impart some of that newly gained wisdom to my kids at an early age. And vegetables come up a lot.

Most moms know that kids love to dip. So, if it takes a dip to make those veggies more enticing (for the kids or the adults)...go for it!

Lately we're dipping carrots, cucumbers and red peppers in Annie's Cowgirl Ranch Dressing. You can get product and nutrition info at http://www.anniesnaturals.com/

We're also enjoying Amy's Organic Salsa. http://www.amys.com/


Just be sure to look for the most natural ingredients you can and avoid things like high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, msg, and mystery ingredients you can't pronounce or don't understand.

A great way to make shopping for these kinds of things easier is to seek out brands (like Annie's and Amy's) which generally produce healthy, organic products (but still read those labels- just in case!).

Apple Picking

There are not too many things more fun than this. Why do kids love apple picking? Why do adults? There is something so much more delicious about the apples when you pick them yourselves.







We paid what seemed like a small fortune for a giant bag of Honeycrisps. I thought we'd never eat them all.

They were gone by the end of the week.

But we're still talking about apple picking.