Fish Tacos from Kauai

Tom and I returned home from Kauai yesterday. We had a wonderful vacation without children this time. They had plenty of fun at home with grandma though! This post is more than a recipe. In fact, after I learned more about mercury levels in Hawaiian fish, I debated posting this at all. But we all make mistakes, and I want to share what I have learned.

When we were packing for our trip I decided to bring a bag of each brown rice, quinoa, pink beans, and raw almonds. I also packed some almond butter, Herbamare, cumin, and our Vitamix. Food is much more expensive over there because everything needs to be shipped in. Relying on all of the local foods and the few things we packed, we were able to prepare amazing, nutritious meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while lessening our impact on the environment. There is a farmer's market everyday on the island. You just need to be sure that the farmers you buy from are using organic farming methods, as GMO's are prevalent in non-organic papaya crops in particular. Most of the meals we ate were vegan, and many were mostly raw or totally raw. One evening we went to the local fish market to purchase fish for tacos. We bought opah, commonly known as moonfish. It is a deepwater fish native to Hawaii. We made a lovely meal that we shared with a friend of fish tacos, quinoa salad, and for dessert a raw macadamia nut-papaya custard. Everything was local except for the corn tortillas, quinoa, cumin, and the coconut oil used for sautéing the fish.

How to make a Green Smoothie ~ an uncooking video

You are about to bear witness to our first ever cooking video. We decided to bring our digital camcorder with us to Hawaii in hopes of producing a few cooking videos with all of the "free time" we would have. Instead, the camcorder was filled with laughing children boogie boarding down sand hills, toddlers chasing the crashing waves, and Ali relaxing in the sun. We shot one cooking video, one take, that's it.

We packed our Vitamix with us and are about to show you how to make a Green Smoothie from local Hawaiian fruits and greens. Edited down to a little less than five minutes.

The boys, now 27 months, help me prepare the green smoothie every morning. Their favorite part? You guessed it - revving the 2.2 horsepower motor to the max. And off again. And on again. Then time to drink our smoothies. The other morning they drank three full glasses each. That's over 24 ounces each in those tiny bodies! Needless to say, they have no issues with their digestion and elimination.

Fresh Papaya Salsa

While we were in Hawaii we lived off of papayas. Papayas with lime for breakfast, papayas in green smoothies, and fresh papaya salsa. We packed rice, quinoa, and pink beans with us. I found it very easy to make a large pot of pink beans, cooked with cumin and onions, to have on hand for quick lunches and dinners.

The sublime flavor of ripe papayas was delicious. I took full advantage of their juiciness and made several large batches of salsa to put over our beans and rice or fish and rice. The salsa even doubled as a "salad dressing" when tossed with fresh greens.

The papaya photos you see here were not taken in Hawaii (except for the market shot above). The papayas I found here were not as ripe, dark, juicy, or as full of flavor compared to those in Hawaii (well, of course!). Still though, they made excellent salsa!

Fresh Papaya Salsa

Even if you don't live in a tropical place and want to try a papaya, you can find them at some health food stores or Hispanic markets. When we were in Hawaii, I made this salsa with halved local cherry tomatoes. I didn't add them to the salsa in these photos but you can. Remember to score your unripe papayas gently with a knife (shallow, lengthwise slits) to help let out some of the sap. The salsa will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

3 cups diced fresh papaya

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

3 to 4 green onions, thinly sliced into rounds

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 to 2 limes, juiced

dash extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Herbamare or sea salt

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving to let the flavors mingle. Serve over mixed greens, beans and rice, or grilled fish. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

Other raw recipes you might like:

Cinnamon-Sunflower Truffles

Cilantro-Lime Chutney

Watermelon Sorbet

Spring Slaw

The Winners of the Cookbook Giveaway have been posted! We brought Cumin with us as our only spice! We also brought Herbamare but I didn't consider this a spice. Since I wasn't clear, we picked a name from both the cumin group and the Herbamare group! Chaos and Love, who guessed cumin won as did Shanda who guessed Herbamare! Please email me your shipping addresses. Thanks everyone for participating!

Anybody have a favorite, unusual Salsa Recipe to share? If so, leave the recipe in the comment section below so we can all enjoy it! Happy Spring! -Ali :)

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