Mango Salad, Roasted Tubers, & Pure Baked Apples

I made lots of food today in an attempt to finish up the CSA produce. We had one mango, turnips, carrots, beets & green onions. There was a mango in there because our farm has some kind of exchange program with other farms so occasionally there are a few very non-local things thrown in.

Me and the mr. were both apprehensive about eating the mango as a proper 'dessert fruit' since we're used to juicy mangoes heady with sweet fragrance from the balmy summers of Egypt. In comparision, the ones I've eaten here (two to date, including today's) strike me as being crossed with lemon. Anyway, I found a salad in Veganomicon to use: quinoa, mango, black beans, and a little wine vinegar (I used white since that's what I had on hand). I ommitted the black beans and repalced scallions with green onions: I think I would've done well to exclude it altogether. I still think it's wrong to eat mangos in non-fruit fashion, but hey, desperate times & desperate measures, etc. Still, the salad was good, especially pre-green onions; the mango added a nice sweet surprise between the pretty quinoa.

In my newly-purchased cookbook, The Candle Cafe, I found a recipe for roasted tubers and proceeded to throw all my edible roots in: carrots, beets, and turnips. I think there was a similar recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance too, but it was interesting to see the different flavor suggestions. Where the latter frequently suggests maple syrup, ginger, and a splash of lemon; Candle recommended dried herbs (I used fresh thyme, which I've actually frozen in order to freakishly preserve it forevermore - better than being thrown away in two days! - thanks to a tip gleaned on the increasingly useful Chow forums), soy sauce, garlic, and of course, olive oil. It was pretty good, and I think some mushrooms and caremalized onions would've been very happy to join for an all-around hearty winter dish.

For dessert I decided to bake our two remaining apples. Allrecipes suggested coring, then stuffing the hollows with some brown sugar, butter and cinnamon and parking them in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 F (175 C), but I wanted to try them plain to see what flavor they would have in a pure, unadulterated form. I expected them to be really sweet and juicy, but actually they retained a little crunchiness and there was a fair amount of tartness, so I think I will do the brown sugar medeley next time. (Note: in typing this, I realize I probably kept my oven at only 325 by accident, thereby preventing them fom becoming more tender). In any event, I think they will be quite pleasant with some oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow.