Stacey D - My Raw Food Experiment: June 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

Mango Salsa

I've been searching for inspiration and found it on Facebook via Beni Johnson - the wife of one of the most influential people of my spiritual life, Bill Johnson. I've subscribed to iBethel.tv for a couple of years now and recently purchased the Wellness Seminar held at Bethel Church in Redding, CA in which Beni speaks about wellness and advocates raw food. I don't have much time these days, as usual with full-time school, parenting, providing child care, and now gardening season. It's important for me to note that every time I take advantage of listening to podcasts or watching streaming sermons online from Bethel it never fails: my life is changed from a deep place in my heart - always. I NEVER go away thinking, "that was a waste of time!"

So Beni recently asked if others had had much luck growing cilantro at home. I never have had much luck myself, but had a nice big fresh bunch of cilantro in my crisper waiting to be used and after a trip to the Iowa City Farmer's Market over the weekend I scored a bag full of hothouse tomatoes and it's time for my first batch of salsa of the season! I just happened to have a very ripe mango here as well and decided to try out some mango salsa. Success!

The recipe made exactly enough to fill this cute jar and because I strained the tomatoes first I got another little jar of fresh tomato juice as well. Mmmm, good!

Mango Salsa

7 small tomatoes, strained
1 medium mango, chopped
1 sweet bell pepper (I used orange to match the mango ;)
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder (you can use fresh if you have it, I didn't have any on hand)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp fresh lime juice

First cut tomatoes in quarters and place in a strainer over a pot or bowl. Gently mash massage the tomatoes to extract juice and allow to sit for 5 minutes or so to drain. Pour tomatoes, chopped mango and all seasonings in a food processor and pulse a few times. Do not over process. Pour into a jar to use later or a bowl to enjoy now!

This is a sweet and tangy salsa and is delicious with raw tortilla chips or in a raw wrap. You can also enjoy it with tortilla chips if you aren't eating all raw. Either way, it's worth giving a try for a new twist on salsa.

Why Eat Raw Foods?

I've been asked this question over and over again, and to be honest, there are so many reasons. But when I go online to try and find a more scientific explanation that I could post here I am too often met with statements such as, "cooking food changes that molecular structure rendering it toxic" which feels like a fear based statement that isn't very encouraging. I personally don't believe that cooked food is poison as many raw foodies do.

Ultimately, eating foods that are not heated above 115 degrees means that all of the enzymes in that food are intact. What does that mean to you and me? Well, just think of enzymes as the "life force" of food. Foods that have their "life force" intact are going to make you feel different when you eat them than foods that do not. It's kind of like eating energy.

So I guess I like to eat the majority of food while it still contains most of it's energy so I can get some :) Who doesn't need more energy? Not to mention that choosing to eat mostly raw foods automatically eliminates a lot of foods that were never meant to be eaten on a regular basis in the first place (chips, soda, etc.) and believe it or not, this whole lifestyle has helped reveal my emotional eating patterns and actually change them.

I just want to be healthy. Health is wealth, no?