mango

Whole Food Rainbow Watermelon Fruitsicles (Popsicles)

June 19, 2013 by Veronica Grace

I’m really excited to share this watermelon popsicle recipe with you today. It’s been a long time since I made popsicles (I think the last time I did, I was a kid) and they turned out so pretty! I also just got a new (used) camera to play with and am really impressed with the quality of photos it produces (and the much faster shutter speed).

I had a heck of a time finding some popsicle molds here in Canada. I happened to see a small basic set for at Canadian Tire, but just as I was checking out I found 4 sets of these cute larger style popsicles and quickly snapped them up. I haven’t been able to find the exact popsicle molds I have online, but there are similar types with drip catches and straws a vailable here.

I also got to try out a new natural product. I received some samples of Habitall – All Natural Sugar Replacement, which is aspartame-free, sugar-free, and calorie-free. It’s made with monk fruit, erythritol and polydextrose. Normally I never use sugar replacements such as Splenda or aspartame as they give me headaches and I don’t feel so well after. But for those looking for a calorie free sweetener (that doesn’t have the awful aftertaste of stevia) I think Habitall can be quite useful and best of all there’s no negative side effects. I added a little bit to my all fruit popsicles just to enhance the watermelon flavor, as when they’re frozen it can taste really icy and less fruity.

My watermelon popsicles actually turned out really yummy! Habitall can be used cup for cup as a sugar replacement so I can also see other uses for it such as lemonade, muffins, cupcakes or cookies for those who are looking to reduce calories, are diabetic or are trying to get off sugar in general.

Want A Free Bag of Habitall To Try?

The company also gave me some samples to give away to 2 lucky people. So if you’re interested in receiving a bag to try, just comment below and let me know what you’d like to use it for and 2 comments will be randomly selected to win.

Right now they are doing an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to help get Habitall into stores at an affordable price for everyone. You can only get it through the campaign for now, but if enough funds are raised in the next few weeks you might see Habitall available soon near you.

Whole food watermelon popsicles are really easy to make and you can use pretty much any fruit juice or puree as the base and diced fruit for added color and texture. Next I think I might try mango puree popsicles with sliced strawberries!

Whole Food Rainbow Watermelon Fruitsicles (Popsicles)

Makes 16-20 popsicles (depending on size) I made 16 90 ml popsicles.

Ingredients:

4 cups blended watermelon puree (about 1/4 medium watermelon) You can also use cantaloupe if desired
1 tbsp Habitall natural sweetener or cane sugar *optional
1 medium ripe ataulfo mango, diced or 2 ripe peaches peeled and diced
1 cup pitted cherries, sliced in half (I used frozen) or raspberries
1/2 cup blueberries (I used wild blueberries)

Directions:

1. Prepare the watermelon puree for the popsicles. Seedless watermelon works best. Blend watermelon and optional Habitall natural sweetener or sugar in a Vitamix or food processor on high until smooth. Set aside. (You can leave out the sweetener if desired.)
2. Dice the mango or peaches (make sure they are ripe or they will be too sour)
3. Portion out the cherries and the blueberries.
4. Assemble watermelon popsicles. Place mango or peach in bottom of popsicle molds, next layer in the cherries halves (or raspberries) and then blueberries.
5. Pour the watermelon puree into the popsicle molds until they are full. Place popsicle sticks on top.
6. Freeze for 6-7 hours.
7. Before serving run the popsicle try under warm to hot water to loosen popsicles from mold.

Enjoy!

Disclosure: I was not paid or given any compensation to promote Habitall. I received free samples to review and to give away to blog readers. I paid for shipping myself.

What is your favorite flavor of popsicle or what combination would you like to try?

Contest is closed! Winners were Lavisha and Brooke. Congratulations!

Soy-Free Vegan Tropical Acai Berry Bowl Recipe

June 9, 2013 by Veronica Grace 1 Comment

Whipping up acai bowl recipes are pretty easy. I like to use whatever fresh and frozen fruits I had on hand. This one is similar to my Acai Banana Berry Bowl Recipe , but it’s perfect for summer with fresh mango and berries. Acai bowls can be topped with your favorite fruits, but I know some of you have never had one before and are unsure how to make them at home.

Acai is usually sold in a frozen puree for use in smoothies, acai bowls and frozen desserts. You can also buy acai juice, powder and supplements, but I stick with the puree because it’s delicious and a little less processed.

Acai bowls are made up of frozen acai puree, apple juice or soy milk, frozen fruit, granola, fresh fruit and sometimes honey. If you do not have acai frozen puree in your country (I found it at the health food store in Canada and the USA) you can substitute about 1 cup of frozen blueberries.

This is a soy-free version which uses apple juice instead of soy milk to blend it together. You can also use fresh pressed apple juice if desired as well.

Soy-Free Vegan Tropical Acai Berry Bowl Recipe

Serves 1

Bowl Ingredients:

4 oz/ 1/2 cup apple juice (unsweetened if desired)
2 100g packets of frozen Acai (I used Sambazon Original Smoothie Packs)
3/4 cup frozen mango (sub a fresh mango if you do not have a high powered blender such as a VitaMix or Blendtec)

Garnish Ingredients:

1/3-1/2 cup low fat granola of choice (I like Galaxy Granola as it’s oil free)
1/2 -1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup fresh ripe ataulfo mango, diced
1/2 cup diced strawberries
Small handful of blueberries
Drizzle of honey or agave *optional (I don’t find I need this in mine)

Directions:

1. Remove packets of acai and frozen bananas from freezer.

2. Slice the mango, slice the banana and wash the blueberries and set aside.

3. Add apple juice to your blender. Break up the frozen acai into smaller pieces and cut the plastic open and pour into blender. Add the mango. Blend on low or pulse to break up the frozen fruit. If you have a VitaMix use the tamper to puree into a soft serve. If you have another type of blender you may have to stop and stir and keep pulsing to combine. Stop blending when smooth.

4. Scrape acai mixture into a bowl.

5. Top acai with granola.

6. Top with diced mango, bananas, strawberries and blueberries.

7. Serve.

Have you ever had an Acai bowl? What’s your favorite topping?

Tropical Mango Banana Acai Bowl

May 8, 2013 by Veronica Grace 3 Comments

I have another delicious acai bowl recipe for you with mango and banana. This one is similar to my Acai Banana Berry Bowl Recipe , but it’s perfect for summer with this tropical twist. Basically you can top your acai bowl with anything you want, but I know some of you have never had one before and are unsure how to make them at home.

Tropical Mango Banana Acai Bowl

Serves 1

Bowl Ingredients:

Garnish Ingredients:

1/3-1/2 cup low fat granola of choice (I like Galaxy Granola as it’s oil free)
1/2 -1 ripe banana, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup fresh ripe ataulfo mango, diced
handful of blueberries or other berries
Drizzle of honey or agave *optional

Directions:

1. Remove packets of acai and frozen bananas from freezer.

2. Slice the mango, slice the banana and wash the blueberries and set aside.

4. Scrape acai mixture into a bowl.

5. Top acai with granola.

6. Top with bananas, strawberries and blueberries.

7. Serve.

Have you ever had an Acai bowl? What’s your favorite topping?

Vitamineral Green Smoothie Recipe

February 3, 2013 by Veronica Grace 17 Comments

So can you use green powders in green smoothies instead of fresh greens? Why yes you can!

I think a lot of us are guilty of not getting enough green leafy vegetables in their diet day after day. Myself included. Sometimes I don’t have enough room in the fridge to have salad ingredients every single day, and sometimes I get tired of chewing salad every day. So I often opt for a green smoothie to get more greens in my diet and it’s pretty fast and simple.

You kind of need a decent blender to blend the fresh greens though otherwise they can end up a little chunky or not so smooth. So you may consider using green powders in your smoothies instead for texture.

Or you may not have access to the best fresh greens all year round so a green powder is a more attractive option for you as well.

You can find a variety of green powders at the health food store and on Amazon.com. Some are based on wheat grass, barley grass or a mixture. I picked up a new one the other day to try out called Vitamineral Green. I’d heard people talk about it before and really liking it so I thought why not give it a shot.

I first tried mixing Vitamineral Green into some water and stirring well in an attempt to drink it. I figured I could manage it. I was dead wrong! It’s not very edible this way! So instead I’ve been playing around added it into smoothies instead of my regular baby spinach or baby greens or kale.

As soon as I started drinking this green smoothie I immediately felt more alert and had a very positive reaction to it. My body definitely enjoys getting more greens!

This is my favorite version that I came up with so far and it definitely tastes like a fruit smoothie with some greens in it, instead of a strong green drink so I think you’ll enjoy it.

Veronica’s Vitamineral Green Smoothie Recipe

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

1/2 cup filtered water
2-3 large bananas (I use 3 so it’s filling)
1-2 heaping tablespoons of Vitamineral Green (I use 2, but you can work up to it)
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup frozen cherries or blueberries

Directions:

Place ingredients in a Vitamix or blender in the order listed and blend on high for about a minute until smooth and creamy.

*Note: You can adjust the thickness of the smoothie as desired by added more or less water and banana. If desired you can add some ice and blend again.

Other Tips:

Make sure to add enough water and sweet fruits such as banana or mango to help mask the strong flavor of Vitamineral Green or other green powders.

You don’t have to use Vitamineral Green, you can use another green powder. Be careful as straight wheat grass or barley grass powder may be stronger in taste. Use a small amount of Vitamineral Green or green powders to start until you get used to them. Gradually increase until you use 1 – 2 heaping tablespoons per smoothie.

Try using 1 banana and 1 fresh mango and frozen berries.

Try 1 Hawaiian papaya 2 bananas and frozen berries.

Try 3 bananas, 1/2 cup almond milk and a scoop of cocoa powder.

What’s your favorite green powder to use? How do you drink it?

80/10/10 Recipe: Raw Vegan Strawberry Banana Green Smoothie

August 13, 2012 by Veronica Grace 14 Comments

So last week I launched my new ebook ‘Simply Decadent Smoothies’ as part of my combo recipe package with ‘Savory Raw Dinner Recipes’ and ‘Comfort Soups To Keep You Warm’ and gave it away as a free bonus.

The combo package was incredibly popular, but a few of you wanted to know if you could get just my smoothie ebook if you had already purchased one or more of the other products before. So I just wanted to let you know that ‘Simply Decadent Smoothies’ is now available at a special discounted price here.

Today I’m going to share with you a tasty new green smoothie recipe that is featured in the recipe ebook. Often people have a hard time finding enough green smoothie recipes that they like and that contain different greens so they are not just eating the same ones all the time like baby spinach.

So because I have a few greens growing in my garden (like leaf lettuce, Swiss chard, kale and spinach) I like to at least rotate through those ones and think up new combinations that work well while masking the taste of the greens with sweet fruit.

This green smoothie recipe features banana, mangoes, strawberries and red leaf lettuce and looks more of a burnt orange color than green for a typical green smoothie recipe.

So let’s check it out:

Raw Vegan Strawberry Banana Mango Green Smoothie

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
1 ripe mango (flesh only)
2 cups whole strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1 handful of red leaf lettuce or other mild green
1/2 cup of water

Directions:

Place ingredients into VitaMix or blender in order listed. Blend on medium speed and use the tamper (if necessary) to push the lettuce down until they are incorporated. (If you have a regular blender you may want to chop the lettuce first into smaller pieces.)

Garnish with a fresh strawberry and serve!

What do you think of this smoothie recipe? Have you ever used red leaf lettuce in a green smoothie?

For more delicious smoothie recipes check out:

Simply Decadent Smoothies

Over 50 raw fruit and green smoothie recipes

In this 46 page ebook, you will discover:

What tools are necessary to create the best tasting smoothies
How to tell if your fruit is ACTUALLY ripe
How to design your own fruit smoothies that taste great every time
How to design your own green smoothies that taste great every time
How to make your green smoothies more appetizing and attractive
25 delicious raw and vegan fruit smoothie recipes
26 delicious raw vegan green smoothie recipes

Order Now

How To Select And Ripen Mangoes For Recipes and Smoothies

August 5, 2012 by Veronica Grace 2 Comments

What a ripe ataulfo mango looks like

Mangoes can be hard to understand for those new to tropical fruits. They often don’t know how to select them, when they are ripe, or know how to cut them. Generally I buy the yellow skinned ataulfo/champagne style mangoes because they don’t have a stringy flesh and are very sweet and creamy when ripe. Most people buy the Tommy green/red type mangoes. When ripe these can be good too but they are much stringier and have a larger woody core in them.

Mangoes will take 5-10 days to ripen depending on when they were picked and what kind of climate you live in. You can tell a mango is ripe when it is starting to wrinkle on the skin and get soft. (Just like an avocado gets soft to the touch when ripe.) It should not have any hard spots on it and should be slightly soft and juicy inside and not taught and rock hard. The inside colour will change from light yellow to dark yellow or orange depending on the variety. Unripe mangoes don’t make for tasty recipes, and when it doubt leave it another day or two. Even I sometimes get impatient and open a mango too early and am disappointed that it’s not at it’s peak ripeness yet.

Another tip I have to getting good mangoes is to NOT buy them at the regular grocery or mainstream grocery stores. I find that their supplies are often poor, they are picked super early and don’t always ripen properly. This is a terrible place to buy mangoes. Bananas can generally be bought anywhere and will ripen, but not mangoes or papayas. Buy your mangoes from fruit markets, farmers markets, China Town/Asian fruit markets, Indian markets, Whole Foods, health food stores or Costco. (Costco’s ataulfo mangoes are usually fine, but the red/green mangoes when bought out of season often don’t ripen so I avoid those until the spring/summer.)

If you live in tropical places or states like California, Hawaii or Florida you may be able to get mangoes at the regular grocery stores that are fine, but this is usually because they were shipped shorter distances and thus did not need to be picked so hard and unripe or gassed. If you live in the northern states, Canada or northern European countries, you’ll want to avoid the regular grocery stores for tropical fruit purchases because of their bulk suppliers and slow turn around times. Going to Asian markets, Indian markets or other whole sale places will be a better bet for fresher produce.

80/10/10 Recipe: Purple People Eater Green Smoothie with Chard and Blackberries

June 19, 2012 by Veronica Grace 9 Comments

So maybe this smoothie is not a “people eater” per se, but it is purple and it is delicious so I think you need to make this green (err purple) smoothie recipe so you can become a purple smoothie eater! “Purple People Eater” is just a silly song from the late 1950’s about a monster that comes to earth because he wants to be in a rock band. He happens to have only one eye and one horn as and he apparently only eats purple people, so most of us should be ok… I said should… if you drink a lot of this smoothie there’s no guarantee that might not turn purple! Just sayin. I warned ya…

I like to keep my green smoothie recipes fairly simple, so bananas are a very common choice as a base flavour and natural sweetener for my green smoothies. Next I like to throw in some ripe mangoes if I have it (or frozen if I don’t). Make sure your mangoes are soft to the touch like a ripe avocado and the skin will be slightly wrinkled. Ripe mangoes should smell fragrant and have a dark yellow or yellow/orange flesh on the inside. If your mango is still firm, not very fragrant and pale yellow and too tart when you cut it open, it’s not ripe enough yet. It’s not a bad mango, you just didn’t let it ripen and let those enzymes do their job and create the natural sugars that make fruit sweet when ripe.

Baby spinach is a really easy addition to any green smoothie recipe, and if you don’t have any other greens to work with I suggest to start with that or even some leaf lettuce. Swiss chard is a great green to use in smoothies as it’s generally fairly available at the grocery store or farmers markets. If not you can easily grow it at home. It comes in green, red and rainbow coloured stems, any kind will do for a green smoothie. You can either just use the green portion or blend the stalk and the green. The stalks are actually really tasty steamed if you want to save them as well or add them to a fresh stir fry.

One of the best parts about a purple green smoothie is that it looks fairly similar to store made smoothies and no one will know you put some greens in there. So it’s good to give to children or your spouse and they won’t be as likely to turn their nose up to it on account of it being green and looking like a swap smoothie. But you never know, green smoothies are fairly popular, even trendy nowadays and many people who aren’t even into raw or vegan foods are making green smoothies and throwing things like green vegetables into their blenders assuming that will do the trick…

By the way I don’t recommend you throw anything like a bunch of broccoli or really strong cruciferous vegetables (Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower etc) into your green (fruit) smoothie either. They contain sulfur and can be pretty strong and untasty in combination with sweet fruits. Save those veggies for blended soups or raw vegan blended salads or savory smoothies and mask the taste of them with a combo of tomatoes, cucumbers and mangoes (or dates) and this will mellow out the flavour.

Greens like Swiss chard and kale can still get by in smoothies without being too overpowering or strong if you use them in moderation. I would start with 1 leaf (stalk removed) if you’re new to green smoothies and blend it with the rest of the fruit and taste test it before deciding to experiment with more. Even myself I don’t really like more than 2 large leaves of chard or kale in my smoothies as they can add a stronger flavour and some grittiness to it. Baby spinach can always be added as it barely affects the taste of a green smoothie, so that’s why I’m throwing it into the mix as well.

Purple People Eater Green Smoothie

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

2 ripe spotted bananas
1 ripe mango (flesh only) (about 1 cup)
1 handful of baby spinach
1-2 leaves of Swiss chard (stalks optional)
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 cup of water (or more to blend as desired)

Directions:

Place ingredients into Vitamix or blender in order above using the tamper if necessary and blend. If you have a low powered blender you may want to blend the bananas and water first, then add the mango and blend, then add the spinach and blend and so on so that each item is incorporated in the smoothie. Add more water if necessary for your type of blender.

Additional Tips:

To make this smoothie nice and cool you can use frozen blackberries and frozen mango or substitute one fresh banana for a ripe frozen one.

Have you ever used Swiss chard in a smoothie? What combination did you use?

80/10/10 Recipe: Raw Vegan Pineapple Mango Delight Smoothie

May 23, 2012 by Veronica Grace 12 Comments

This delicious breakfast smoothie kind of reminds me of a Pina Colada but gets it’s creaminess from bananas instead of coconut. I was going to throw some other fruit into it, but once I tasted it, it was too delicious to mess around with so I left it with just 3 simple ingredients and it’s definitely one of my favourite smoothies.

The best smoothies are made with fresh ripe produce, so I always make sure to select the best sweetest pineapples, (See my video on How To Select and Cut A Pineapple) and let my mangoes fully ripen on the counter until they are soft and wrinkly (this is when they are at their peak flavour and sweetness).

My favourite mangoes are ataulfo mangoes and right now they are in season until June or so. Generally April-June is prime ataulfo mango season so I always pop down to China Town and get a case or two as these are my favourite. They’re stringless, creamy and the best. You can see part of one in my picture above, it’s on the right. Ataulfo mangoes also have some cousins called the champagne mango, Filipino mango, Thai mango or Indian/Pakistani honey mango. So wherever you are keep an eye out for these yellow skinned (orange inside) mangoes they have a much better flavour than the red and green Tommy mangoes and frozen mango at the store.

We’re actually moving today to a new place today changing from an apartment to a bigger house (in the suburbs), so I wanted to post a recipe on the blog before I get really busy this weekend. I still have some packing to do! So I should get on that…. (who likes packing? I think it’s one of my least favourite things…)

On to the recipe!

Raw Vegan Pineapple Mango Delight Smoothie (Fat Free Pina Without The Colada!)

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 ripe ataulfo mango
1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple (or frozen if needed)
1 medium ripe banana
handful of ice cubes (or none if using frozen fruit)
1/3-1/2 cup water to blend

Directions:

Place ingredients into blender in the order listed and blend until smooth. Serve with a pineapple wedge if desired and enjoy!

Wow that was easy wasn’t it! For variations you could also scoop in some fresh young coconut meat, or add some coconut water instead of the water for a really raw Pina Colada!

80/10/10 Recipe: Raw Vegan Berrylicious (Banana Mango Berry) Smoothie Recipe

May 3, 2012 by Veronica Grace 9 Comments

Happy Friday everyone!

I’m back home in Vancouver after spending 2 weeks in Oahu and Kauai. Hawaii is still one of my top favourite places in the world. Probably because as an island state it has many more amenities than most smaller tropical islands I’ve been to (and loads of fresh fruit and veggie friendly restaurant options).

It’s rather chilly and rainy here right now as we’re getting a late start on warm sunny weather, but it’s the perfect time to start eating more fresh fruits and vegetables now that summer is approaching.

Smoothies are something that there is no standard recipe for, and generally what you get when you purchase one is a lot of added sugar, processed juice or milk (for the base) an unripe banana and a little sour frozen fruit. Generally I don’t like smoothies at smoothie bars, unless they are from places that don’t use processed juice or added sugar.

I actually never have to add sugar or milks to my smoothies because I make sure my fruit has completely ripened before using it. Vegetables generally come ripe when you buy them from the store (except for tomatoes and peppers are they are fruit-vegetables and need to ripen.)

How To Make Great Vegan Smoothies Every Time

The key to making a delicious whole food and sugar free smoothie is to use fully ripe and quality ingredients. Also you don’t have to throw a lot of things into it like some witch’s brew. I prefer to use only 2-4 ingredients to make a fruit smoothie and I generally start with a base of ripe (very spotted) bananas or ataulfo/champagne (yellow skinned) mangoes and then I add other things like ripe papaya, pineapple, berries, peaches, plums, spinach, etc. Whatever is ripe and sweet tasting can go into a great tasting smoothie.

The biggest crime at smoothie bars is probably using underripe yellow bananas or even worse yellow bananas with green still on them. Bananas contain a lot of starch and the enzymes in the bananas have to process the raw starch and convert it into natural sugars for it to taste sweet instead of sticky and pasty. To compensate they put in sugar, when it’s really not necessary.

The best tip for having quality ripe produce every day for smoothies or recipes is to make sure you are buying it at least a week in advance. I always have bananas and mangoes or papayas (when in season) ripening on the counter. It generally takes 4-8 days to ripen (I’m in Canada and it’s not hot or humid right now) on the counter in cooler climates. In tropical and subtropical places fruit can ripen in 3-4 days and then be stored in the refrigerator when it’s ripe. Frozen berries or bags of pineapple or mango are great additions to a base of ripe bananas or even fresh papaya.

How To Select And Ripen Mangoes

Now onto my smoothies. I make raw smoothies because they are the tastiest and are completely whole food based. I don’t like adding supplements or super foods (especially cacao and maca as they are too addicting and stimulating) so my goal is to show you how to enjoy a simple delicious whole food fruit based smoothie. Many people don’t get enough servings of fruit in their diet, including vegans who tend to eat more packaged foods. But breakfast is the perfect time for a juicy water rich easy to digest fruit meal whether it is a smoothie or a large fruit salad. Often I only feel like eating fruit in the morning because it’s so hydrating and a great choice for eating before or after a workout. My smoothies are also enough for a whole meal, so I’m not having a little glass of smoothie and a bunch of toast or heavy breakfast foods. If you’re a woman with a small stomach or not used to eating smoothies you may only use half of this recipe, but you will soon be hungry again and probably want something again, so you can take the other half with you or keep in the fridge. If your an active man you may need to add a few more bananas to this recipe to accommodate for your higher caloric needs. When I have a smoothie this size it’s all I need for breakfast and it will hold me over until lunch. So with this information you can decide how to accommodate your needs with breakfast smoothies.

Also for those new to my site I do have a print button option on the top of every post so you can decide exactly what information to print and print with or without pictures if necessary.

(80/10/10 Style) Raw Vegan Berrylicious (Banana Mango Berry) Smoothie Recipe

Makes 2 medium glasses

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas (see my post on ripe bananas)
2 ataulfo/champagne mangoes (cut around the inner woody seed and scoop out the flesh from the skin)
1 cup frozen mixed berries (I used raspberry, blackberry, blueberry and strawberry)
1/3 cup water

Directions:

Add ingredients to your Vitamix or blender starting with the mangoes and bananas at the bottom, add the water and place the frozen fruit on top. Blend until smooth.

Drink and enjoy!

Variations:

You can also use frozen cherries, just raspberries, or just blackberries instead of the mixed berries if desired.

If you don’t have bananas just add another mango, if you don’t have mangoes add another banana.

You can easily make this a green smoothie by throwing in a handful or two of baby spinach or chopped kale (remove the stems first though).

Have you ever eaten an ataulfo/champagne mango before?

Raw Vegan Valentines Day 80/10/10 Style: Cherry Mango Love Smoothie

February 13, 2012 by Veronica Grace 10 Comments

Whether or not you have a sweetie on Valentines Day this year, you can make your own 80/10/10 style holiday meal pretty easily. Make a beautiful breakfast smoothie for yourself or your loved one, or slice up some mangoes into heart shaped pieces. There you go, festive and edible!

It’s just starting to become mango season, you will see them available at grocery stores slowly, but they will be in full availability starting in April.

I got these mangoes from Costco and they are starting to ripen up.

How To Cut Mangos Into Heart Shape Pieces

To make heart shaped mango slices, you’re going to need a really sharp preferably thin knife. Slice off the cheeks of the mango (around the inner woody pit) and trace an outline on the skin in a heart shape, or any desired shape. Carefully cut out the mango trying to be as smooth in your cuts as possible. When you’re done you can trim any choppy bits after to make it look more streamlined.

Serve your mango pieces on top of a fresh fruit salad or smoothie. You can use any leftover scraps in a delicious smoothie as well. I saved mine for the smoothie below.

Raw Vegan Valentines Day Smoothie: Cherry Mango Love

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2-3 ripe bananas (spotted all over)
2 ripe mangoes (very soft and wrinkly all over)
1-2 cups frozen black cherries (Dole, H-E-B and Costco all have these available. Costco in Canada)

Directions:

Place mangoes in the bottom of your Vitamix or blender, then bananas and then frozen cherries on top. If you need to you can add a little water to make it blend easier, but I like my smoothies thick. Blend until smooth.

Serve and garnish if desired.

Additional Tips:

If you don’t have frozen black cherries, you can use frozen raspberries. Strawberries are a possibility, just make sure they are sweet.

You can easily make this a green smoothie by adding some spinach to it. The cherries will mask the green colour and make it look more purplish.

What do you think of this recipe? Are you doing anything special for a raw vegan Valentines Day?