Day 1. Mango Fruit Parfait.

For many years - since I got my first cookbook - I have wanted to work my way through a cookbook, trying out all the recipes, aka "Julie and Julia".  But my cookbooks were all too thick.

Over the post-Christmas lull, I perused my "In the Kitchen with Rosie" cookbook, by Rosie Daley, one-time (still?) chef to Winfrey Oprah. I mean Oprah Winfrey.  Looking for a low-calorie dessert.  And I observed how thin it was (the cookbook).  How interesting the recipes. The New Year called for attainment of a goal, purpose to my cooking, maybe eat in the healthy manner which the book espoused. The spark was ignited, taste buds aroused, my arsenal of measuring utensils examined to make sure I had a complete set, and one was not still hiding in the flour bin, my main sauce pan, full of bubbling water, retrieved from the basement woodstove, and the cookbook scanned to select my first recipe.

I started with desserts.  They should just put desserts at the beginning of cookbooks. So, while Swen and Madeline appropriately moaned and sighed with pleasure over the left-over Creme Brulees, I daintily spooned my way through a Mango Fruit Parfait. And because it looked a bit skimpy, compared to Creme Brulee, I added a generous portion of Honeyed Greek Yogurt, which I thought only improved upon the recipe.  Thus was born my first Maxim related to "In the Kitchen with Rosie".

Maxim #1:  If you ignore the directions for no butter, oil, fat, or whole milk, you will have a more intensely satisfying cooking with Rosie experience.

OK, you asked for the recipe so I will type in this one.  I used whatever fruit was ripe at the time: one time I used blackberries, another time strawberries and blackberries. And a dollop of honeyed Greek Yogurt on top.

Mango Fruit Parfait, p.111 of In the Kitchen with Rosie
2 mangoes, cubed
1/4 C freshly squeezed orange juice
24 strawberries, hulled
1 C peeled and sliced kiwi (~4)
12 red raspberries

Put the mangoes and orange juice in a blender and puree until smooth.
Slice 20 of the strawberries, leaving 4 whole.  Line the bottom of 4 balloon wineglasses with the sliced strawberries.  Pour a thin layer of the mango puree over each to cover.  Reserving 4 kiwi slices, layer the rest on top of the puree.  Divide the remainder of the mango puree among the glasses. Top each with a slice of kiwi surrounded by raspberries. fMake a slit in each ofthe whole strawberries and position 1 on the rime of each glass.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.