Meatless Mondays - Cinco de Mayo

Happy Mothers Day, first of all, to all of you who are mothers. The mother of my only child, my own mom and my mother in law are all readers of this meatless message, and it goes without saying that they are all best of breed. I have much appreciation for everything that the three of them have brought to my life, so it is a day worth celebrating for me, with or without Hallmark getting involved. I hope we can all say that about the Moms in our lives.

I took my inspiration for this week's recipe from another recently-observed holiday called "Cinco de Mayo," which is Spanish for "Fifth of May." It celebrates Mexican heritage generally, the observance of Mexican culture in America and, specifically, the unlikely victory of Mexican forces over the French on that day in 1862. There are lots of great meatless Mexican dishes, because so many of the indigenous food traditions are based on corn, chillies, tomatoes, bell peppers and beans mixed with spices and herbs for flavour.

Since this particular Mexican recipe features it and it is a nutritional world champion, I am declaring mango to be the fruit of the week. I won't even try to pretend that this juicy, delicious tree-grown plant product is anything but the best of what fruit can be. They are grown and eaten in many countries throughout the world. Replete with vitamin C and potassium, beneficial pre-biotic fiber, anti-oxidants and mixed carotenoids, mangoes are also known as powerful cancer fighters.

I'll end off by highlighting some great recipes offered at Green Is Universal from the Bravo TV website. They ran a Meatless Monday feature as part of yet another (semi-)holiday: Earth Day. So much going on this time of year. Before you know it, Father's Day will be here and then the good times will really roll. Have a good Monday!

Cheers,

Mark