Produce Overload, Mango-Spinach Salad with a Mango Vinaigrette, and Progress

So what did you get for fifteen dollars today?  (Uh, don't answer that.)  I got this:

Holy produce, Batman.

Yes, I got all of that for fifteen bucks.  I'm thinking this is a good week to either go vegetarian or take on a "no processed foods for a week" challenge.  ((Neither are going to happen... I don't think.  Never count me out though.))  Pictured is a bunch of spinach, a huge head of romaine, 3 yellow squash, 3 cucumbers, 7 apples, 2 dozen key limes, a pineapple, a bunch of bananas, a dozen oranges, 4 mangoes, 2 dozen tomatoes, and about a gzillion sunchokes or Jerusalem artichokes.  I nearly separated a rib carrying it all in.  ((Making two trips is for wimps.))

I joined Bountiful Baskets, the food co-op where all this came from, almost two years ago.  Honestly, I have no freaking idea why I did that.  At that time (August of 2010), I could not have told you when the last time was I ate either a fruit or a vegetable, let alone a fresh one.  A few of my friends were doing it,  I guess I turned into some kind of a joiner there for a minute, and here we are.  I'm a convert.  I cannot bring myself to choke down a frozen vegetable now.  Can't do it.

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In an attempt to jump start some clean eating, I threw together a spinach and mango salad.  Simply tear up your spinach, top with cubed mango, crack a little black pepper on top, throw on some toasted pine nuts ((because you feel like it, that's why,)) and add a mango vinaigrette.  This salad is also good with fresh strawberries.  Grilled chicken or shrimp on top would be good with it as well.  

For the vinaigrette simply combine one cup of fresh mango, 1/4 cup of orange juice, 1/4 cup of rice vinegar, the juice of one lime, and a tablespoon of brown sugar.  Run that through the blender and then add salt and pepper.  ((It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks in a sealed container.))

Want/need to know how to make the mango come out in cubes instead of looking like a total disaster?  Cut the mango roughly in half, avoiding the core.  From there, slice straight up and down as close to the core as you can on the three remaining sides.  Take each part and on the fruit side, draw a grid with your knife (like a tic tac toe board?) being careful not to pierce the flesh and/or your flesh.  Then turn the skin inside out so the cubes pop out and cut them off with a knife.   

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In other news, the morning was spent designing the business cards for my new ventures.  ((!!!!!))  I will share them and the details on what the hell I'm up to once they arrive.  I nearly had a psychological break-down after working on the first one for about an hour to get the verbiage just right, the alignment the way I wanted it, etc etc... when it didn't save.  Thankfully, it was fairly easy to recreate and no electronics were injured in the incident.  

Until later...  Jules