Fruit Lovers!!! Yummy Low Fat Banana Soft Serve Raw Vegan Style!! :)

Hey Fruit Lovers!!

I have been LOVING my Ataulfo mangoes lately!  They are so sweet and juicy!  I get them at my local Sam's Club by the box.  They are often green and it takes a good week to week and a half to get to that orange-colored ripeness!  I still wish I had a local fruit wholesaler who was willing to sell to me as an individual buyer.  Oh well!  I'm still grateful that I can get tropical fruit in Asheville, NC!

I just put up a video on YouTube called "Low Fat Banana Soft Serve".  It is so easy and yummy!  JUST BANANAS!!  Check it out:

I am going to be getting busy in the kitchen with some summer yummies, so be on the lookout for more videos, tips, tricks and FRUIT!!!                                                                    Xoxoxo,  Traci

A Very Fruity Birthday Surprise!!

Hello Fruit Lovers!!

I had the best surprise 40th birthday party ever!  My parents and brother/fam came from Florida and my sister came from Greenville, SC (I live in Asheville, NC) along with my beautiful friends.  My husband took me to what I thought was going to be a quiet lunch at Hana's Japanese restaurant.  I starting walking to the back of the restaurant with my husband and daughter, when I looked up and saw this huge group of people that I love yell "SURPRISE!!!"  I was so excited!!  I feel humbled and grateful that all of these people came to one spot just for me.  My friends from my Tae Kwon Do practice, my friends from my NIA dance practice, and my friends that I know through my daughter's school all gathered.

One of my friends, Anne Z. Johnson, is a certified Culinarian and has a personal chef service.  She specialized in making a complete healthy dinner for you. Well, my wonderful husband arranged to have Anne make two ALL FRUIT, ONLY FRUIT birthday cakes for me!  He told her the fruits I like and she put her creative skills to work!  She made me the most delicious, beautiful "fruit cakes" that looked like they belonged in a glass case at Whole Foods Market!  She used cantaloupe as the bowl to hold the layers of papaya, strawberry, and banana.  She blended strawberry and medjool dates (SWOON) for the frosting and delicately accented the cake with sliced strawberries, pineapple slices, and papaya balls.  Thank you, Anne, for the sweet and delicious birthday gift.  I will never forget it!  :)  If you would like to talk to Anne about a specialty food service, she can be reached via:

Blog:      personalchefanne.blogspot.com
Email:     annezjohnson@gmail.com.
Phone:    (828) 299-4883.

Gorgeous!!

All Fruit!!

The Most Delicious Birthday Cake I've Had!!

I Had the Leftovers in One Sitting!!

Heaven!!

Get Juicy with Mango Fruit!!!

Hey Fruit Friends!

Check out my latest video on the Ataulfo mango!                                                        ~Traci

Mandolin Slicer Injury WARNING GRAPHIC!!

Hello Fruit Friends!!  March 20th is the first day of Spring!!  I am so excited for the Spring and Summer crops.  I just put all of my seedlings in the ground and I'm hoping we don't have too many more nights below freezing.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying my spotted bananas, papaya, dates, tomatoes, pineapple, oranges, and DURIAN!!  

FRUIT WIN:  I scored an incredible durian at my local Asian market.  It was about 6 pounds and had hints of vanilla and papaya.....SO GOOD!  I found that I'm getting faster at opening durian.  I used to fuss with it for several minutes and saw away at it with a serrated knife.  Now, I just find the "zipper" line along the body of a pod and press firmly into the zipper with both thumb pads as if I'm spearing it.  The zipper just splits open and I can pull it apart.  Sometimes I can pull it open so that the durian splits in half!  Then, I just do the same thing with all of the other pods.

Splitting the first pod

Aerial view of 5 split pods

FRUIT CHALLENGE:  I used my mandolin slicer for the first time last night and made a careless mistake.  I was slicing cucumber and got impatient with the guard slipping, so I just used my hand to slice.  I got my fingers a little too close to the blade and sliced my fingertip off of my right hand ring finger!!  I didn't get stitches, but it was a serious cut.  Lesson learned.  So, please be careful when you are using a mandolin.  They make beautiful slices for raw pizza or lasagna, but use care and don't be in a hurry.  

My ouchie:

Sur La Table actually has some pretty nice looking mandolines and there are instructional safe use videos on their website:

http://www.surlatable.com/category/SCA-5833/Mandolines-and-Slicers

Xoxo, Traci

Spotted bananas and blender benders!!!

Hey Fruit Friends!!

FRUIT WIN:  I have been enjoying all of the beautiful papayas I scored recently.  They are so lovely and sweet when they turn golden in color and give to gentle pressure.  I also scored some beautiful spotted bananas at my local salvage food store for $0.29/lb!!  Make sure to ask your grocer what they do with their spotted bananas.  Some grocers bag them and discount them, but others simply throw them out.  You may be able to arrange to regularly pick them up at a certain time at the discounted price!  :)

FRUIT CHALLENGE:  I have been blending my fruit dressings in a food processor, but it is limiting in terms of creating a smooth creamy texture and I can't put tough-skinned fruit or ice in my food processor!  I've heard that BlendTec blenders are the best.

http://www.blendtec.com/

I went to Amazon and even the used Blendtecs are close to $400!!!  Yikes!!!  Do you guys know of any other good blenders that work just as well for whipping up fruit and ice?  I used to own a Vitamix blender and got it used on Ebay.  It worked for blending softer fruits, but struggled when it came to blending ice and tough-skinned fruit.  Let me know what you guys think!!                                                  
                                                                                                                                       ~Traci

Persimmon Seeds!!

Fresh Dates!!