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Archive for the ‘mango’ Category

don’t fruit the guac

Posted in avocado, guacamole, mango, Mediterranean, pomegranate on July 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Except that I did, and it was great.

So I made Shape Magazine’s Guacamole de Frutas the other day. It was a recipe I found in the winter (I think their December issue?) but figured I’d wait until summer when some of the ingredients were at the their best (can you even buy peaches in the winter??).  Problem is, the recipe also calls for pomegranate seeds.  Talk about a recipe of conflicting seasons!

Well, as it turned out, last week was quite the debacle of recipe choice vs. grocery store availability.  Long story short:  I was a good wife and had Andrew pick out some recipes he wanted me to make and I should have seen the first red flag go up when he grabbed my Eastern European cookbook.  Don’t get me wrong, we love all those Mediterranean/Lebanese/Turkish dishes, but I have to really pick and choose what I make so as not to have to go on a wild goose chase for some unheard-of ingredient.  Well, I didn’t do that…and ended up with a grocery list a mile long featuring things like “sumac” and “lavender flowers.” (I found neither, but did have acceptable substitutes.  And thankfully we have a Penzey’s Spices on Elmwood, so next time I’m in I’m just going to stock up–expiration dates be damned!)

Anyway, two of his dishes called for pomegranate seeds, as well as this one, and since I’d just seen pomegranates at Wegmans the other day (to my surprise, no less), I figured they must be getting them despite it being summer.  Well, wouldn’t you know that the day I go looking for the infamous red orbs, Wegmans doesn’t have a single one.  Tops to the rescue!

ANYWAY…

I fruited the guac…with apples, peaches, mango, pomegranate seeds, a little onion and lime juice, and a tiny bit of jalapeno.  YUM.  I ate it as a lunch side with tortilla chips, and then had another portion on some cinnamon-sugared pita for breakfast.  Both were very yummy options.  If you like guacamole, be sure to give this one a try.

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while the cat’s away the mice will play

Posted in Andrew, avocado, banana, BBQ, cheese, coffee, cooking, creamer, mango, Movies, pineapples, Pioneer Woman, pizza, sweet potato on April 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Andrew’s out of town for a few days starting tomorrow–he’ll be spending a couple of those days in Texas with Silas and Heather (and Margaret!) to attend Silas’s graduation from pilot training, then heading over to Houston for a conference.

(I realize some of you are gasping at the thought that I would announce to–potentially- the whole world that I’ll be home alone without a big, strong, strapping man to protect me.  In my defense, two things: first, my blog is SO not that popular, and second, we have a giant dog.)

Soooo….what does Holly do when Andrew leaves?  She makes macaroni and cheese!  Duh!

I’ll be making Cooking Light’s Sweet Potato Chili Mac, among other things that involve cheese, like Pioneer Woman’s Breakfast Bread Pudding.  But first, I had to grocery shop!  (It’s like crack to me, seriously.)

I went with a list (of course I did–have I ever NOT?), but allowed myself a few splurges along the way since Andrew wasn’t going to be home.

The list:

1. More bananas.  If I run out, I get panicky.  I used to only eat them when they still had a little green on them, but now I’m way less picky.  Plus, if they’re too far gone, there’s always banana bread :)

2. Seltzer!  I LOVE mixing black cherry and vanilla.

3. A mango.

4. An avocado–what better to add to a ‘southwest’ salad to go with my chili mac?

5. Two ORGANIC Pink Lady apples.  Such a treat.  Did you know apples are number 1 on the “Dirty Dozen” list?

6.  Bow-tie pasta for my chili-mac… You do not even want to know how much time it took me in the past aisle to choose between elbows, spirals or the bow-ties.  (All whole wheat, of course.)  Actually, (and in the vein of journalistic integrity) I went to the store for elbows, doubting I’d find them in whole wheat, but when I did I wondered if I’d prefer spirals because I was making a “chili mac” and not a true macaroni and cheese (in which case elbows would DEFINITELY be preferred), and it was only AFTER I put the spirals in the cart I noticed the bow-ties.  In wheat.  For 20 cents more.  I said “price be damned” (not really, and not out loud–thankfully–but you know what I mean) and grabbed the bow-ties.

7.  Canned pineapple chunks.  I’m also making a hawaiian pizza while he’s away.  I have pizza dough, leftover pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella and deli ham in the fridge…  I mean, is that a no-brainer, or what?

8.  Cottage cheese. Buying pineapple (canned or fresh, but I prefer fresh) necessitates buying cottage cheese, and vice versa.

9.  Bottled creamer.  Confession to make:  I’m back on the wagon, at least temporarily.  I’d been trying out homemade creamers, then no creamers…  Andrew’s mom sent me home with a bottle of “Warm Cinnamon Sugar Cookie” and I got hooked all over again. (Well, maybe not hooked, but it sure is convenient.)  With cinnamon roll and butter toffee-flavored coffee at home right now, I figured the vanilla caramel flavor would go quite nicely.  The truth is, until we make “good” coffee (a.k.a. NOT something from a ‘pod’) at home, I don’t care about dumping sweeteners and flavorings into it.  Health-wise, I’m not thrilled, but I had to.

10.  And in case anyone wonders if I love my husband…  I got him some treats for the road.  Funyuns (eeewww!), Combos (these are my mom’s travel food and they’re ours, too–please note the ‘Made with Real Cheese’ sign in the upper left corner of the bag…Andrew doesn’t seem to mind THAT real cheese), and orange gummi bears, all in their own box.  Andrew loves orange anything, and these were definitely an impulse purchase if there ever was one: while waiting in the check-out line, a woman was next to me, already digging into her container of red (cherry) gummi bears, which piqued my interest.  I was about to grab blue raspberry for my guy, when I saw orange.  Done deal.

And check out what else I found:

We’re also white-cheddar fans, too.  (Is that ‘too’ redundant since I have ‘also’ in the same sentence?  Someone tell me…)  We’ve had a Netflix DVD sitting on the coffee table for more than a week now since we’re HOOKED on Big Bang Theory–thanks a lot, Carolyn–and we have to watch it TONIGHT before he leaves!

(You also don’t want to know how much time I spent in the popcorn aisle, trying to figure out which kinds to get…  Andrew likes extra butter, I like Orville Redenbacher’s “natural, simply salted” variety–can you blame me that I don’t like the FILM of grossness that coats one’s mouth after eating other kinds of microwave popcorn???   Anyway, I ended up getting Andrew his own ‘snack bags’ of the movie theater butter flavor, and figured I could always share mine with him.)

At least ONE of us will be eating well while he’s gone!  Who am I kidding? Don’t even get me started on how much I’m going to miss all the awesome Mexican and BBQ I could have had if I was going to San Antonio with him…)

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the things i do for mangoes

Posted in mango on November 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

As I was cutting up some fresh mango (that Emily brought me from Trader Joe’s–like produce GOLD to me!), I dropped a medium-sized piece I hadn’t even cut yet.

GASP!

I haven’t vacuumed the kitchen in a day or so (haven’t mopped at all!) and we have animals.  Three of them.

I picked it right up, marched it right over to the sink, rinsed all the hair and debris off (I checked it out and it was there), and popped it right into my mouth.

A few germs never hurt anyone.

LOTS to do before we leave this afternoon!

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you know you’re addicted to granola when…

Posted in addictions, ginger, Granola, mango on September 10, 2011 | 2 Comments »

…you have multiple UNOPENED containers of it and you keep buying it.

Yes, I do.

These are all unopened.  Brand new.

BUT!  Before you judge, listen to me justify:

-the two bags on the left were from OpenSky and are a fundraiser for another blogger with cancer.  If I had cancer, I would want a nice stranger to buy granola to support me, too.

-the box in the front:  one of two I got for a steal at Wegmans shortly after we got here.  Granola is relatively pricey, and I was in a ‘quantity not quality’ kind of mood that day.

-the two boxes in the rear on either side:  Trader Joe’s finds from my trip in August.  Mango on the left (because I have an open jar of their mango butter with which I use to flavor plain yogurt, so it seemed like a nice pairing) and Ginger Almond on the right because, well, I love ginger and have never, EVER seen it in granola like this before.  Can’t wait to try it.

See?  Now doesn’t it all make sense?  Happy granola-eating to me :)

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pineapples and mangoes…all the way from texas!

Posted in Friends, gifts, mango, pineapples on August 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Someone in Texas loves me :)

My dear friend, Heather, sent me a little care package filled with all sorts of yummy things that remind her of me.  Actually, she had a CD she needed to mail to me, so she thought she’d include some goodies…except that she forgot to put the CD in there!  That is so Heather :)

It was a pineapple/mango-themed box with a few other goodies.  Can you believe she sent a two-liter of soda??  In a box.  From Texas.  Apparently it’s big down there.  Well, everything is big down there.

I’ve already tried the “Just Mango” bits in a cup of tea.  Neat!

Lemon Bars…ahh, this is a joke between Heather and myself that WILL. NEVER. GO. AWAY.  In a nutshell: in a rare moment of imperfection (ha!), I had to throw away a WHOLE BATCH of from-scratch lemon bars I’d made for her and my joint going-away party.  I just had to re-do them!  I thought I’d figured out what I’d done wrong, but after peeking in the oven at the second attempt, found that the same tragedy was about to occur!  Heather and I quickly grabbed the sheet pan and hurriedly started fixing the still-hot shortbread crust with our bare hands! The memory should sting, but it doesn’t, and I grew up on these Krusteaz-brand goodies (my mom was a fan).  So yes, I’ll give the box a try next time.

The note says, “My princess, you are purrfect.”  All I can think about when I see the cover of this card is Antonio Banderas’s voice as Puss in Boots from Shrek, saying that phrase in a sultry way to the white cat.  I love it.

Aww, she doesn’t want me to get sick!  I agree, the Emergen-C powder drink packets are awesome.  They come in all sorts of flavors now, but I used to have the orange and raspberry stashed away.

Yes, Heather does know me well.  I LOVE off-the-wall grains for cooking.  Hello amaranth and teff flours!

Boy, does she know me well!  What could be better than mango jam?  PINEAPPLE and mango jam!  I cannot wait to try this stuff…

Thank you, Heather, for all my goodies!  Give my love to Margaret and Silas–we miss all three of you so much!

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sugar high

Posted in cranberries, Granola, mango, yogurt on August 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I didn’t sleep very well last night; it was as if I could FEEL the sugar running through my bloodstream!  Seriously…I think I’ve become so used to a “whole foods diet” that something like a giant sundae with all the fixings will totally throw my body for a loop.  Rule of thumb: extravagant desserts are for super-special occasions, single-scoops are for treats.

I fueled up this morning with the last two slices of my Great Harvest cinnamon raisin bread, fruit and yogurt before pilates and kickboxing.  My lunch, however, was worth writing home about:

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM.  I’m trying to finish off my quart of plain yogurt before our trip this weekend to Dayton, so I decided to build a meal around it.  I spooned about 3/4 C into a bowl, swirled in some Trader Joe’s Mango butter to sweeten it up, and topped with granola, shredded coconut, flax seeds, flaxseed meal, dried cranberries and blueberries.  It was almost TOO sweet!  And at 485 calories, it better keep me full for AWHILE.

I’m going to be a busy girl today–LOTS of phone calling, computering and perhaps a trip to the mall.  I have TWO freebie coupons from Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works–can’t wait!

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BIG breakfast & weekend re-cap

Posted in Andrew, banana, breakfast, Food, Granola, mango, maple, nut butters, Uncategorized, yogurt on August 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Wireless is back at the hotel!  Hallelujah!  Seriously, I was really beginning to miss it.  Pathetic, I know, but for a blogger without a day job, what the heck else was I going to do?

After going almost three days (gasp!) with only one picture-less post, I feel I owe my loyal readers (ha!) a bit of a re-cap:

First, this morning (since it’s more timely–it’s the journalist in me):

BIG BREAKFAST!  Plain yogurt flavored with 1/2 banana, mashed, and 1/2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Mango Butter, blueberries and granola, AND Great Harvest whole-grain cinnamon raisin bread with 1 tbsp Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, the other half of the banana and a tablespoon of maple syrup.  I was craving maple this morning.

It was 526 calories and felt pretty heavy in my stomach on the way to the gym, but I’m glad I had it!  It powered me through an hour of Pilates, 45 minutes of hard swimming (did some sprints!), and kept me going for an additional two hours of putzing around after I got back from the gym.  Usually I’m RAVENOUS by the time I pull out of the parking lot of the gym, if not before!

Back to Saturday:

 

This was my post-run breakfast on Saturday.  I went out for a quick three miles while Andrew took Hadrian on a walk/ball-throwing session, then we both did a nice four-miler in the neighborhood near our hotel.  This is one of my best shots yet, so I had to share.

I love granola.  LOVE.  This is Wegmans Granola with Raisins, and unfortunately, it’s only OK.  I mean, what did I expect?  It’s just light and not very cluster-y.  I’d rather it be chock-full of goodies and in big chunks.  Alas, it was cheap.  It was the peach, blueberries and coconut milk that really did it for me!

(I did order the OpenSky cherry chocolate granola fundraiser that Kath recently sent out in support of another blogger–I would want some nice stranger to order granola to raise money if I got cancer, too–so that should be here soon.  Will post when it arrives!)

The rest of Saturday, as I said here, was filled with laziness and movies.  Mad Max is STILL on TV as of yesterday and if Andrew puts it on one more time, I might go through the roof.

We tried a new church Sunday, and liked it enough to go back.  We’ve been a bit discouraged in the church department, so we’re excited that we found something we felt was authentic and like it could be ‘home’ to us.  If we decide it is, I’ll let you know!

As Abigail will be leaving for college in less than a week (where did the summer go?), we popped over there for an impromptu visit.  I brought the computer and snagged some of their internet to catch up on calorie-counting (I was trying not to get obsessive about it, but I’m less than a pound from my goal and my OCD tendencies make it hard to just ‘let things go.’) and check my email.

Did you know you can pickle things just by putting them in the juice from your pickles?  I didn’t…I think I read it in this month’s Shape.  I’ve pickled green beans before, but always using the canning method and pickling salt.  The article said you basically just throw veggies into the juice after you finish off a jar of pickles.  Go figure.

So, I bought a half-pound of green beans (for 50 cents!) and blanched and shocked them before packing them into the jar:

Don’t they have great color?

I also made two batches of Jeni’s sorbets, but they will get their own post :)

 

 

 

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