Aloha Berry Fruit Smoothie

Yield: approximately 6  8-ounce servings

Ingredients
1½ C apple juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 C carrots (shredded)
1½ C raspberries
1 C frozen blackberries
1 C frozen mango

Directions
Place all ingredients in a blender, with hard/frozen fruits on top. Blend until smooth; stop blender as needed to push solids toward bottom.

Tropical Tango Fruit Smoothie

Yield: approximately 6  8-ounce servings

Ingredients

½ C pineapple juice

2 C watermelon (cubed)

2 C frozen mango

½ C very ripe banana

Directions

Place all ingredients in blender -- frozen fruit on top. Blend until smooth; stop blender as necessary to stir fruits and push solids toward the bottom.

Mango-Tomato Salsa

This is an easy recipe to play around with to suit your individual taste. Add more of what you like, less of what you don't. However, all the ingredients -- sweet, salty, sour/acidic, etc. -- work together and against each other to highlight all the different flavors.

Ingredients
1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes*
15 oz fresh peeled, diced mango
2 T minced onion
1+ tsp minced jalapeno or serrano chili pepper
1 T lime juice
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp rice vinegar
1 T chopped cilantro
1 T chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste

* Yes, of course you can use fresh tomatoes and dice them yourself! :)

Directions
Combine mango, tomato, onion and chili in a bowl. Stir in lime juice, sugar, rice vinegar, cilantro and mint. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with tortilla chips.

Pholourie with Spicy Mango Chutney

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including Caribbean style rice & beans, Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and these pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!

Pholourie Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup dried yellow split peas (soaked overnight and drained)

pinch of saffron threads

pinch of turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

½ Tbsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp active dry yeast

½ tsp baking powder

½ - ¾ cup hot water

Pholourie Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl until a smooth and thick batter is formed. Drop the batter into a preheated deep-fryer by the teaspoon. Fry until golden brown and crispy-approx. 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place onto absorbent paper. Season with salt and serve with the spicy mango chutney.

Spicy Mango Chutney Ingredients

1 hard mango- peeled and diced

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 cup water

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

1 whole hot pepper

Spicy Mango Chutney Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and remove the chili pepper. Allow to cool and serve with pholourie.

Caribbean Jerk Marinade

I've made it often before and taken it to family dinners. So, at my brother's request, I'm posting it now. I could give you a 'from scratch' recipe (sugar, salt, onion, red pepper flakes, allspice, thyme, turmeric...) but there are good, premixed jerk seasonings available in the spice aisle at most supermarkets. There are also prepared jerk marinades (liquid, in jars/bottles). My favorite--and what I've brought to family dinners--is McCormick brand dry spice, but others will work too.  I mix it up like this:

Ingredients:

2 Tbls McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning
1 Tbls oil
2 Tbls vinegar
2 Tbls brown sugar
1 Tbls soy sauce

1 to 2  lbs of chicken, pork, beef or seafood

1 or 2 15-oz cans of Dole Tropical Mixed Fruit

     (or fresh, diced tropical fruits of your choice)

Directions:

The meat can be diced or left to cook in whole portions. Place meat in a single layer in a 9x13 casserole dish. Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade. Pour over meat. This can be cooked immediately, but ideally it should marinate 2-4 hours before cooking.

Just before cooking, add tropical fruits. Adding the juice (optional) stretches the marinade, and dilutes and sweetens it. To include flavor without thinning, add 1 tablespoon of corn starch to the cold juice from each can of tropical fruit before pouring it over the meat.

Cover with foil; cook (350°) until the meat is cooked through. (45 min to an hour? depends on thickness of the meat). If marinade/juice is too thin – or there’s too much liquid – uncover for all or part of the cooking time.

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast (for my World Literature students, when we were in our Caribbean Literature unit)...including jerk chicken with tropical fruit. We diced the chicken -- it can serve more people in small pieces -- but I often leave the chicken as whole breasts, thighs, or tenders.

Orange-Mango Gelato

Ice cream, sorbet, gelato...what's the difference? Check it out here.

Personally, I love this mango gelato swirled with raspberry gelato. The smooth, richness of the mango and the tart raspberries are a delicious -- and beautiful! -- blend. Or, garnish the orange-mango gelato with fresh raspberries, or a raspberry purée...  Blueberries would be fun to try, too.

Ingredients
3/4 C sugar
1 C milk
1 lb fresh mango*, cubed
1/3 C orange juice

Directions
Combine the milk, sugar, and mango in a saucepan; heat, stirring frequently, until sugar is completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Place all ingredients, including orange juice, in a blender and process until smooth. Place mixture in ice cream maker for 20-25 minutes. If desired, transfer to an air-tight container to freeze for a firmer consistency.

* If mangoes aren't in season, you can used dried mango (reconstitute with orange juice) or frozen mango.