Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa

A few summers ago my husband and I had a running joke that was based on our observation that we couldn't look at any decent restaurant menu that year without finding "Mango Salsa" on it! It was like mangoes had been discovered by the chefs in our area and they... were... everywhere! I boycotted mango salsa. I couldn't bring myself to give in to the wave - the craze - the trend. We concluded that there must have been a big sale on the stuff at the Sysco food distributor or that there had been a bumper crop of mangoes in the tropics that year and they were dirt cheap. Regardless, we were not going to partake of this mango madness.

Oh, what a mistake!

Several summers later (and now very pregnant) nothing sounds more delicious to me than fruit...especially tropical fruits...especially...you guessed it...mangoes. And so I found myself making this Grilled Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa - an item I could have ordered straight off the sidewalk chalkboard menu at any restaurant in the city 3 years ago and never did. But THIS year? I had to have it. And I'm so glad I did. I adapted this from a Cooking Light recipe, changing up the salsa a bit by adding kiwi and pineapple in lieu of peppers - you know, because of that tropical fruit thing I have going on.

This recipe comes in at under 200 calories and under 2 grams of fat per serving so it is really light, which leaves plenty of room to pair it up with up a fragrant jasmine rice, a green salad, and maybe a tropics-inspired dessert. Key Lime Pie anyone?

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa
adapted from Cooking Light
Photo Credit: CookingLight.com

serves 4

1/4 c. canned light coconut milk, divided
6 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 4 limes), divided
4 (6 oz) mahi mahi fillets
1 diced peeled ripe mango (about 1/2 lb)
2 diced peeled kiwis
1/4 c. finely diced fresh pineapple
3/4 c. diced, seeded peeled cucumber
2 Tbsp. minced sweet onion
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. minced peeled fresh ginger
3/4 tsp. kosher salt, divided
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 lime wedges

1 - Preheat grill to medium high. Combine 3 Tbsp. coconut milk and 3 Tbsp. lime juice in quart sized Ziplock. Add fish; marinate at room temperature 15 minutes.

2 - Combine remaining 1 Tbsp. coconut milk, remaining 3 Tbsp. lime juice, mango, and next 7 ingredients in a bowl. Add 1/4 tsp. salt; toss well.

3 - Remove fish from dish, place on aluminum foil, and discard marinade. Sprinkle fish with remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper.

4 - Place foil with fish onto medium-high grill and cook 5-7 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with mango salsa and a wedge of lime, if you're so inclined.

Stevia - an zero calorie natural sweetener

Stee-what?? Until about 6 months ago, I'd never even heard of stevia. Now it's so key to my cooking repertoire I'd be lost without it! My daughter calls it "that special sugar" - special indeed!

Stevia is a plant, native to South America, grown for its sweet leaves. The extract from the leaves is used to make a natural sweetener that has up to 300 times the sweetness of sugar, but with ZERO calories and negligible impact on blood sugar. And of course, it's all natural, not a synthetic chemical sugar substitute. Does it get any better? YES! It tastes like sugar and has no aftertaste (unlike most artificial sweeteners).

Stevia has been widely used in other countries for hundreds of years (e.g. South America, Japan) but it has gone mainstream in the US more recently followng FDA approval for use. It is marketed under brands like Truvia, Sun Crystals, PureVia, SweetLeaf, and Stevia Extract In The Raw. You can find it in most grocery stores and in any health food store near the sugar (and other sweeteners). It is also slowly being incorporated as a sweetener in beverages and other processed foods.

I've experimented with a number of recipes using stevia as a replacement for sugar. I haven't done any baking with it since sugar plays such a key role in the texture of most baked goods, but I have had great luck with it in salad dressings, marinades, and sauces that call for sugar. My daughter's favorite use is on top of strawberries (when she doesn't think they are already sweet enough - ack!). It of course is a great sweetener option for coffee or tea or other beverages as well. I recently made homemade lemonade by squeezing fresh lemons and adding cold water and stevia - and it was amazing!

Here's a chart from PureVia listing conversion rates from sugar to stevia to get the equivalent sweetness if you're ready to do some experimentation of your own!

And here's a link to some recipes from Truvia if you need a little inspiration to get you started.

I'd love to hear what you try and what your results were!

Greek Salad - as eaten in Santorini

Five years ago today, my husband and I were in Santorini, Greece with our six-month-old firstborn in tow to celebrate the wedding of two of our best friends (That's the happy couple in the picture!). Only for these two would we travel halfway around the world as first-time parents with a still-nursing, not-yet-crawling baby in arms! And so we did. And it was one incredible trip.

We flew into London and spent a few days there before flying to Santorini (one of the Greek Islands). We loved Santorini and took part in just about everything the small group gathered for the wedding celebration had planned. This included, as I recall, a LOOOOONG hike down a STEEEEEEEEP hill accompanied by donkeys to the coast so that we could take a boat out to a smaller island formed by a volcanic crater. We hiked up the hills of that island (baby asleep in the Baby Bjorn!) and took in the incredible view from the top before hiking back down.

On the evening of the wedding, we walked in procession through the cobblestone streets to a tiny hilltop church where the ceremony was (unexpectedly!) conducted entirely in Greek. Then we processed back to the reception site, tourists smiling upon us, as we arrived with our small contingent at the most intimate and beautiful restaurant terrace, where each chair was positioned to have a view of the perfect sunset that evening. It was a night that I'm sure no one present has forgotten.

So as we wish our dear friends a Happy 5 Year Anniversary, I share with you this recipe for an authentic Greek Salad. I developed this recipe to replicate the salad I DEVOURED our first night on the island. I have never tasted anything so fresh, so simple, and so perfectly balanced. I make this all the time when tomatoes and cucumbers are in season (and sometimes even when they're not!). It's perfection on a plate...and it always brings back fond memories of that very special trip.

Greek Salad

serves 4

4 medium heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 small cucumbers, cut into same size pieces as tomato
1 green pepper, cut into same size pieces as tomato and cucumber
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced, each slice cut in half
16 kalamata olives
Freshly ground pepper to taste
4 slices of good feta from the thin end of a block (1/4" thick)
2-4 Tbsp. good fruity olive oil
Sprinkle of dried oregano

Chop the vegetables and toss with olives in a bowl. Season with pepper. Divide among four salad bowls. Top each bowl with a slice of feta, sprinkle of oregano, and drizzle (1/2 Tbsp. - 1 Tbsp.) of olive oil. And that's IT!

Are you on a roll?

There's nothing quite like momentum, is there? You can just feel it in action as the path you're on gets easier and easier and you're picking up speed. You're soaring along with less and less effort and less and less intention...people and things show up in your life to propel you along your chosen path...you are flying! This whole concept would be unequivocally fabulous, except for one thing. Momentum works the same whether you are headed in a positive direction or a destructive one.

I've heard story after story from clients who can't quite figure out when things started heading in the wrong direction. They realize that at some point they must have established habits that have become so comfortable and so ingrained that they are incredibly challenging to break. Life got busy. They stopped cooking. They forgot to exercise. They came to rely on processed foods or restaurant takeout. They neglected key relationships or stopped participating in activities that fed their souls. Their downward spiral built momentum and it seemed unstoppable.

And then one day, thanks to whatever "sign" got their attention, they hit the brakes. They STOPPED the momentum. And they looked up to figure out where they were and how in the world they got there.

I see this stopping point, this resting place, as magical. This moment of stillness and reflection represents the opportunity to consciously choose a new direction. It holds within it the golden opportunity to course-correct.

Yet for all the magic and potential of that moment, it also holds a new challenge. You have to begin from a standing start. There is no momentum yet. Your old lifestyle felt easy and comfortable and effortless as you were rolling along with the wind at your back...coasting. Your newly chosen path feels hard...impossible even. It takes extraordinary effort to begin. It takes even more effort to persevere through the ups and downs and fits and starts of the first days or weeks or months. Memories of the old, easy, way haunt you. You take two steps forward and one step back. Yet slowly, carefully, with great intention, you begin to build momentum for this new direction. The new rituals become more routine and take less mental energy to complete. You begin to feel a yearning for your chosen new behaviors. You start to forget the old direction. Slowly, you gather momentum and new people and new experiences show up in your life to support you on your journey in the new direction. And one day you find that this life has become every bit as easy as the old one and you can't imagine living any other way.

So....are you on a roll? In which direction are you headed? Is it time to bring yourself to that potential-filled resting place and choose a new course?

Thai Coconut Shrimp

I don't often tackle Thai cuisine at home because 1) the ingredients are sometimes a little obscure and 2) we can get such great Thai at local restaurants. However, when I found this recipe in the May/June issue of Clean Eating, it sounded so easy and so good that I had to try it out. Besides, while Thai food from restaurants can be loaded with extra fat and calories, this recipe has under 350 calories and 2 g of saturated fat per serving! Beyond that, it's packed with pungent, fresh flavors like fresh ginger and garlic and balanced with a nice richness from the addition of peanut butter and light coconut milk to the sauce.

If you normally shy away from ethnic cooking, this may be a great recipe to get you started. I like to serve this with a simple marinated cucumber salad, but that Carrot Ginger dressing I posted a few weeks ago on some simple greens would be great too!


Thai Coconut Shrimp with Brown Rice Pasta
adapted from Clean Eating magazine May/June 2010

serves 4

8 oz. dry brown rice noodles (or whole wheat pasta)
2 c. broccoli florets
2/3 c. light coconut milk
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
3 Tbsp. natural peanut butter
2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 c. bean sprouts
24 medium raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and rinsed under cold running water

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Cook pasta, then rinse with hot water and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, place broccoli florets in a glass bowl with 1/2 c. water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 2 minutes on high. Rinse under cold water, drain and set aside.

3. In a bowl, add coconut milk, tomato paste, peanut butter, ginger, garlic, pepper flakes, and lime juice. Whisk to combine.

4. Simmer coconut mixture, red pepper, and bean sprouts in a nonstick skillet over medium low heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes more, then flip shrimp and cook for 1 final minute.

5. Toss noodles and broccoli with coconut-shrimp mixture and serve hot!

Salt - it's what's for dinner.

I guess you really CAN have too much of a good thing. Salt has long been adored by culinarians for its transformative powers over virtually ANY food. And that's precisely the problem. Over time, we've added more and more salt to more and more foods and now we bear significant public health risk as a result.

Excess salt intake most notably leads to high blood pressure, which can lead to increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. Consuming too much salt can also cause water retention or bloating, which are certainly not as dangerous but can be vexing to those trying to maintain their weight or waistline!


I read this NY Times article over the weekend and was blown away by a lot of what I learned. Just a few highlights:

- Processed food accounts for nearly 80% of the salt in the American Diet

- Salt in those foods works with added fat and sugar to achieve flavors that are literally addictive for consumers - consider the old "Betcha Can't Eat Just One" campaign - this is why!

- Nutrient labels overstate the recommended daily allowance for sodium at 2300mg. Most consumers (children, older adults, people with hypertension) actually should max out around 1500 mg. This makes food labels too lenient for most consumers.

- A 1 c. serving of Cheez-Its delivers 1/3 of the (highest) recommended daily sodium for an adult - salt is added to the dough, the cheese AND sprinkled on top of the baked cracker!

- 3 slices of Oscar Meyer ham has 1/2 of the recommended daily sodium for an adult

- A can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup packs the ENTIRE daily sodium intake into just 150 calories!

One of the saddest things is that food manufacturers feel they have little consumer-driven incentive to reduce the amount of salt in their products because there is no weight-loss or appearance benefit for consumers from salt reduction. This differs from the widespread consumer demand to reduce sugar in products, which led to an onslaught of items sweetened with artificial sweeteners. Since salt reduction presents "only" a health benefit, consumers appear far less motivated to demand change.

And, the truth is, reducing the salt in these products DOES negatively impact the taste. Manufacturers fear that consumers will vote with their wallets and simply stop buying lower-sodium versions of their favorite foods if they no longer taste as good!

So what's a person to do? It seems that since 80% of our salt intake is coming from processed foods, one logical step is to reduce the number of processed foods we eat! I advocate this approach for lots of reasons, so just add this one to the list. Restaurants are also notorious for over-salting foods, so the more we can cook at home, the better off we probably are when it comes to sodium intake.

Cooking food from fresh ingredients allows us to control the amount of salt we add to just what we need to enhance flavor. This should result in a far lower salt intake overall than if we were eating a diet rich in processed foods. And to top it off, fresh foods often NEED less seasoning because their natural flavors are so amazing.

So, while I'm not throwing out the jar of kosher salt I use for cooking anytime soon, I am committing to being even more cognizant of the sodium content in any processed foods I may buy. Like Cheez-Its. Sheesh.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

I seem to feel the need to bake on long weekends! Something about wanting to do a little something extra for my family to make breakfast more than just our normal routine. This weekend, I tried a new recipe for a lightened-up blueberry crumb cake and it did NOT disappoint! Blueberries are so perfectly in season right now and I was staring at the huge carton I couldn't resist buying and then I found this recipe...

The test of a good crumb cake for me is threefold:

1- Is it moist?
2- Is the crumb topping crumbly (not soggy) and sweet (but not TOO sweet)?
3- Does it hold up for a few days so I don't feel compelled to find people who can eat the whole thing in one day?

This one, I'm happy to report, passed the three part test with flying colors. Beyond that, it comes in at under 300 calories per serving so you can have your cake and eat it too (so to speak). Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend...and hopefully a piece of this cake as well!.

Blueberry Crumb Cake
From Perfect Light Desserts by Nick Malgieri & David Joachim

serves 12

Cake batter:
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. each baking soda and salt
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. low-fat buttermilk
3 c. blueberries, rinsed, drained, picked over

Topping:
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1. Heat oven to 350. Coat a 9" springform pan with baking spray.

2. CAKE: In large bowl, with electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until lightened, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla and zest, then eggs, 1 at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. On low speed, beat in baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then half the flour. Beat in buttermilk, scraping down sides of bowl, then remaining flour, until batter is smooth. Stir in 2 cups of the blueberries; scrape batter into prepared pan. Scatter remaining berries over top, lightly pressing them in.

3. TOPPING: Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; add butter and rub together with your fingers until mixture is evenly moistened and clumpy; evenly scatter crumbs over top of cake batter.

4. Bake 55-60 minutes or until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove sides of pan; cool cake completely on rack.