mango avocado salsa recipe
I have to be honest. This is one question that REALLY gets my goat. Whenever I hear someone attacking the raw diet because it’s too “boring,” I go crazy!
Really, I hulk out!
I’ve been following a low-fat raw vegan diet for almost 2 years now. I can honestly say, without any reservations, that there is absolutely NOTHING boring about a raw food diet!
*Deep Breath* Okay, I’m calm now.
Let me explain why a raw food diet is totally NOT boring.
Variety
The variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that exist is astounding. You have apples, grapes, oranges, bananas, peaches, pears, cantaloupe, romaine, celery, cucumber, avocado...and I’m just alluding to what is available in your local grocery store!
In fact, I can almost guarantee you that raw foodists eat *more* variety than ANYONE on a standard American diet...or any other diet for that matter.
This is because most people tend to eat just a handful of dishes that become their staples. And these dishes are usually very similar.
If you eat meat, your meals will generally center around a protein, with some starchy vegetable and maybe greens along side. If you’re from the Southern States, your greens are cooked to death in butter and everything gets a nice heapin’ helping of beef gravy smothered on top. 
If you are vegetarian or vegan, the focus is usually on whole grains or legumes with vegetables. And of course, everyone has his or her favorite dessert.
But when you live on a fruit-based diet, you have to adapt what you are eating to what you can find in your area. Just because you have a few favorite fruits does not mean that they will always be available.
I would gladly eat nothing but mangoes for the rest of my life, but I can’t because they are not always in season!
Where’s the Proof?
Still skeptical that a raw diet is really that varied? Here’s a list of several of the different varieties of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that I eat in a given year:
o Apples
o Apricots
o Avocado
o Bananas
o Basil
o Bell Pepper
o Blackberries
o Blueberries
o Boston Lettuce
o Cantaloupe
o Celery
o Cherries
o Cilantro
o Clementines
o Cucumber
o Currants
o Dates
o Dill
o Grapefruit
o Grapes
o Honeydew
o Iceberg Lettuce
o Kiwi
o Lemon
o Lime
o Mangoes
o Mint
o Nectarines
o Oranges
o Papaya
o Peaches
o Pears
o Pineapple
o Pistachios
o Raspberries
o Romaine Lettuce
o Star Fruit
o Strawberries
o Sunflower Seeds
o Tangerines
o Tomatoes
o Watermelon
o Zucchini
AND I didn’t even include the different varieties of fruit within each species. For instance, there are Navel and Valencia oranges, red and green grapes, the Fuji apples and the Gala apples, Red Haven and White Nectar peaches, etc.
All of this is found conventionally at my local supermarkets in Tennessee. Of course, if you live somewhere tropical or have access to exotic markets, you have a whole different spectrum of fruits to choose from:
o Chocolate Sapote
o Custard Apple
o Durian
o Jackfruit
o Litchi
o Longan
o Mamey Sapote
o Mangosteen
o Rambutan
o Sapodilla
o Soursop
There’s even a peanut butter fruit that has the taste AND texture of peanut butter!
How can a diet that’s full of so many different smells, tastes, and textures be boring?
Quite simply, it cannot.
Raw Recipes
If you *still* aren’t convinced that a raw diet isn’t boring, you probably haven’t considered all the different raw vegan recipes that you can make.
And I’m not talking about fatty dehydrated conglomerations that are made to mimic the flavor and textures of cooked dishes. I’m referring to simple, delicious, healthy meals that contain few ingredients and take literally minutes to put together.
There are fruit smoothies, green smoothies, fruit soups, vegetable soups, fruit salads, savory salads, fruit puddings, dips, salsas, and even fruit ice creams!
You could literally take just a few different healthy raw ingredients and have a completely different dish for every meal for a whole week!
Now how in the world can a diet like *this* be boring?
Quite simply, it cannot.
Don’t Take My Word For It!
If you are still debating going raw, there is no better time than now to get out there and go for it. See for yourself just how varied this diet can be. Buy all the fruits you can and go crazy in the kitchen!
Just be sure to send me the recipes to all of your awesome raw creations. 
About the Author:
For more information on the best raw vegan diet, be sure to visit Fit On Raw and subscribe to Swayze’s newsletter Peachy Keen Ezine. By subscribing, you will also receive the free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet as well as the 5-week mini-course The Fool Proof Transition to Raw.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Is a Raw Food Diet Boring?
History of Salsa
The word "salsa" is the Spanish word for sauce. The salsas that many of us think of are salsa frescas or salsa cruda, fresh sauces served as a condiment aside a Mexican meal. These uncooked sauces might be pureed until smooth, semi-chunky, or the uniformly chopped pico de gallo (my favorite).
The Chile – Tomato Combination
The making of of a sauce by combining chiles, tomatoes, spices and other ingredients like squash seeds and even beans has been documented back to the Aztec culture..
We have Spanish-born Bernadino de Sahagun to thank for the detailed culinary history of the Aztec culture. His extensive writings documented every food common to the culture. This is an excerpt from Sahagun's writings about the food vendors in the large Aztec markets:
"He sells foods, sauces, hot sauces, fried [food], olla-cooked, juices, sauces of juices, shredded [food] with chile, with squash seeds, with tomatoes, with smoke chile, with hot chile, with yellow chile, with mild red chile sauce, yellow chile sauce, sauce of smoked chile, heated sauce, he sells toasted beans, cooked beans, mushroom sauce, sauce of small squash, sauce of large tomatoes, sauce of ordinary tomatoes, sauce of various kinds of sour herbs, avocado sauce. (Sahagun, translated 1950 -1982).
Ingredients Then and Now
The paragraph above refers to many of the ingredients in our modern-day salsas.
Large tomatoes - We believe this references is to a large red tomato similar to what we eat to day.
Ordinary tomatoes - most likely this reference is to the tomatillo or tomate verde.
Smoked chiles - The chipotle or smoked jalapeno was a staple in the Aztec diet.
Avocado - cultivated by the Aztecs the avocado was an important source of fat and protein and was used in a sauce similar to what we call guacamole.
Two Delicious Salsa Recipes:
2 c fresh plum tomato, diced
1 c fresh green tomato, diced
1/2 c fresh green bell pepper, diced
1/4 c fresh purple onion, chopped.
1 tbsp jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt.
1/8 tsp coarsely ground pepper.
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil.
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Stir well. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Serve with corn or flour tortilla wedges, poultry, or fish.
Yield: 3 cups (approx 6 calories per tbsp).
Mango Salsa
2 medium ripe mangoes
1 small cucumber, peeled, diced (it says seeded, but I've never bothered)
1 ripe tomato
juice of 1 lime (lemon works, too!)
pinch of salt
1/2 - 1 small fresh chile pepper, minced, or Tobasco or other hot pepper
sauce to taste (I have always used Tobasco)
1 Tablespoon chopped, fresh cilantro (It says optional, but I don't really
think so)
Peel and chop the mangoes. In a large bowl, mix together the mangoes,
cucumber, tomato, lime juice, salt, chile or tabasco, and cilantro. Let
salsa sit for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend before serving. Mango
salsa keeps refrigerated for 2 or 3 days.
About the Author:
Michael K. Sasaki is the founder of RecipeMatcher ( http://www.recipematcher.com ), where you can find delicious salsa recipes.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Real History of Salsa
