Time to Refresh, Renew, and Revive.

Photo: Torkil Stavdal

Photo: Torkil Stavdal

Nothing says Spring and Summer more than fresh new leafy greens, raw vegetables, and fruit, -and what you can make with it. The juice craze has probably reached pretty much everyone by now, at least in urban areas. And this is indeed the time of year where these juices come in not only handy, but also healing. I am personally not much of a juice detox fan, but adding juices to the daily food choices can feel really good when the Spring is here and we feel like cleansing a bit. They are also great summer drinks, since they act in a cooling way in the body. This is however also the reason why I don’t favor them in the winter time.

So for those who need to feel the lightness of Spring coming on, the desire for lighter foods, easy choices, and something to cool you down; have a juice as a snack.

The above are different juices from vegetables that you can then mix as if you are the new hot cocktail chef.

Lettuce, cucumber, carrot, beet, and kale. You can certainly do the whole thing if you don’t mind the color…it will be somewhere in between green, red, yellow and… ok… -kind of brown. But it tastes yummy!! add a dash of ginger, lemon, or some apple. I do prefer to use mostly vegetables since fruit juices are higher in fructose and with the fiber removed, makes it quite the “rush” of the blood sugar levels.

The difference between juices and smoothies is not only the machine used for it…one is a juicer, the other is a blender. I actually prefer smoothies because the fiber is maintained, and there is a lot less waste. Adding water or coconut water makes it closer to the lightness of a juice. That can all be decided by you as you go along. A smoothie also feels more like a meal because of still containing the fiber, which makes it thicker.

For smoothies you can see the other smoothie recipes here on the blog, but in general you can put pretty much anything in a blender and mix it up. All the above vegetable juices would go in a blender as well, the only thing to remember when you make a smoothie is that you need to add either water or something else that is liquid and will thin it up to a drinking substance. Otherwise you will have either mash or soup. But that of course is an option as well. You will find a great root mash here on the blog also.

For a great easy smoothie to get you Spring Renewal Ready: kale, cucumber, apple or pear, mint, and a dash of lemon and sea salt. Mixed here with water only.

IMG_0238

Photo: Torkil Stavdal

 

Bean and Grain Salads

Personally I have never  been much in favor of the “green salad”. There is just not enough food in it for me and it needs a ton of dressing to have any taste. That does not mean I think it is a “bad choice”, it just means…I want more substance from my food.

So, I prefer to make bean and grain salads and have my leafy greens either as part of it or on the side. My favorite leafy green is kale.

Here are some of my personal lunches and dinner salads – mostly made within a few minutes from organic canned beans; I use Eden Foods for that, and veggies. Either whatever fresh is around or left-overs.

Enjoy

 

1. Cannellini beans, avocado, and pine nuts. Mix with good quality sea-salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Chickpea Salad

2. Cannellini beans, avocado, and pine nuts. Chopped in sundried tomatoes.
Mix with good quality sea-salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Chickpea salad with sundried

3. Japonica black rice, wild rice, left-over roasted roots and onion, pine nuts and a dollop of miso paste from South River Miso (my favorite). Mix with good quality sea-salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Japonica rice and roots4. Mix of grain and beans: brown rice, sweet brown rice, Hato Mugi (Job’s Tears), and barley. If you are gluten free omit the barley. Beans, you can choose whatever you like, but here it is great northern, and cannellini beans. Left-over roasted butternut squash, sweet potato, japanese yam, and sautéd kale. Mix with good quality sea-salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Mixed grain and beans5. Sautéd kale. First add the garlic, peeled and cut into chunks, to the pan with about 1 table spoon of un-toasted sesame oil or olive oil, at low heat. Stir a bit until it is getting brown. Add the washed and chopped kale. Push it around a bit, add a little tiny bit of water to the bottom of the pan if you feel the oil is not enough to coat the kale. Give it only a few minutes. You don’t want to over cook it as it turns both boring and sluggish if you cook it for too long. Take it off the heat while it still has a vibrant green color. About 3 min should do it.

Sautéd Kale and Roasted Garlic

 

 

 

 

 

 

That time of year – Soup is good transition food

Photo : Torkil Stavdal

It is that time of year where we are in between foods. What I mean is, it is still warm during the day, but chilly at nights. We are starting to want warming foods again, more comfort, and more soothing.

Soups are a great way to transition. They can be served warm or cold. At least some of them.

These two are simple and you can follow the same basic outline for other soups as well.

Cook the vegetables, season, put them in a blender, and you have soup.

The first soup above is from butternut squash and sweet potato.

Peel and cut into cubes, then cover and boil. Here we are using butternut squash and sweet potato, use 1 cup of each per portion.
Add 1/2 of a whole onion diced per portion, and 1-2 cloves of garlic perp portion, depending on how much you like garlic. I tend to toss in a couple of whole pepper corn to give it a little spice, dash of sea-salt, and some herbs. So if you are making soup for 4 portions, it becomes 4 cups each of the vegetables, and 2 whole onion, and 1 teaspoon of whole peppercorn, and probably a whole head of garlic.

Boil for about 20-25 min. until the vegetables are soft. Add the vegetables to a blender, blend, keep the left over stock on the side before returning the puree to the stove-pot and add it only as needed to make the soup thinner if you prefer.  Season to taste and serve either chilled or warm.

The soup below is Asparagus and cucumber. 

A much faster soup to make since the asparagus only need about 10 min of cooking, and it could be even less depending on how you like the taste. You can also add fresh peas. The cucumber cubed goes into the blender but is not cooked. Add some sea-salt and blend. You can add more spices and herbs. This is where you get creative, we added some fresh lemon balm, but mint or parsley is nice too . This soup is good both hot and chilled as well.

 

Photo: Torkil Stavdal

 

 

Kale Salad

This is a stable food of mine. I marinate some kale and add it with pretty much anything. Or make it into a salad on its own. It is so much more “food” than a regular lettuce salad.

Kale is high in fiber, high in nutritional values, in the cruciferous family, which means all the health benefits like cancer fighting, alkalizing, anti-inflammatory, and a “good for your liver” bitter green.

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

The way to make marinated kale:

Wash and chop. You can rip it too if you feel like getting more in touch with your kale. You can make small and fine, or chunky bits, depending on your mood.

You can use either of the kale out there for this; curly kale, lacinato kale, red kale. Whatever you can get hold of or fancy.

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

Put it all in a stainless steel or glass bowl. Make it a rather large one so you can move it around.

Add a good quality sea-salt. You need a bit more than you would normally add to cooking. For a whole bunch of kale I use almost a tablespoon full, flat filled though!! Drizzle it over the kale little by little while you massage it. Add some olive oil and massage a bit more. Leave it for about 30 min. You can put a plate over it with something heavy on top to press it. Helps the process.

So there is no cooking needed. The sea-salt wilts it enough to be both tasty and digestible.

Enjoy!!

Lighter meal for hot weather.

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

White fish (this is halibut) grilled or baked in the oven, some freshly boiled new potatoes, or roasted, chopped and sautéed or raw cucumber and zucchini. You can go either way with the above suggestions. It is a light summer meal for hot days.

Fish – either on the outdoor grill (I use a gas grill to avoid the charcoal). In the oven it takes 12 min. on 425 degrees. Add some good freshly ground pepper, maybe some herbs, or leave it with just a dash of lemon.

Here is roasted potatoes, but you can also just boil some of the new fresh potatoes in season right now. 20-25 min normally goes for a new firm boiled potato. If you are roasting them, put them in the oven a good 45 min before the fish. Add garlic, sea-salt and oil. I use un-toasted sesame oil for the higher temperature, and add the organic olive-oil on top at the table.

For the zucchini and cucumber, they are in season right now so you can just chopped them fine and eat them raw, but you can also do a slight sauté of the zucchini first and then mix with fresh cucumber. Here we drizzled some pumpkin seed oil on it. Yum yum.

Enjoy.

Summer food for entertaining guests

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

One of my favorites for the summer are the local tomatoes that are in season right now. You can slice them up and eat them on a cracker, toasted good wholegrain farm bread, or if you are gluten intolerant, slice them a bit thicker and just eat them as they are.

Add some good sea-salt, olive oil, and fresh basil and you are all set. You can mix up herbs with your sea-salt. The different salts here are for example garlic salt, smoked salt, or just a black salt.

I suggest eating tomatoes seasonally and locally only. These are from my local CSA organic farm upstate Bovina. Steve Burnett is a New York “gone earth” meaning he is now upstate farming fantastic produce. Check out his farm: Burnett Farms : Live, Love, Grow is his motto! He also did a fantastic garlic scape sea-salt mix for us.

I eat tomatoes in the season only, partly because that is when they are so good, but also because they are part of the nightshade family, which can cause higher inflammation in the joints, they are hard on people with arthritis and osteoporosis. The nightshade family includes; tomatoes, white potato, zucchini, peppers, spinach, chard, regular mushrooms, and….coffee.

Enjoy and serve for your guests at a summer gathering. It is easy, yummy, fresh, and summer easy.

 

Summer Kale Salad

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

An easy salad for the summer that still feels like a meal is using kale instead of lettuce. Here is the marinated kale, roasted and chilled yellow beets, sautéed red cabbage, with sliced avocado and sesame seeds.

It gives you the greens, the sweetness, the good fats, and protein.

Enjoy

Easy Asparagus Salad

For warm weather and the summer season it is nice to make something quick, light, and green. I am personally not much of a traditional salad person, but prefer to have some cooked vegetables with my fresh greens. This solutions is grilled asparagus, which could be done on the grille, in the oven, or of course you can sauté or steam them too. Add them to fresh greens, some garnish…here some fresh cherry tomatoes that touch the heat for a few minutes to make them more savory. Season with a dash of sea-salt and some herbs if you care for it. It is all up to your taste. Here I used fresh ground red, green, and black pepper.

Enjoy.

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

Root Salad

Summer dishes can borrow from the foods of the winter but they can be served differently. One favorite is roasted roots that are served cold. They can be mixed with salads or just be a nice side- dish for some sweetness.

Photo : Jeanette Bronee

 

Chop the roots into small cubes. Here I used parsnip, sweet potato, carrots, beets, some garlic, onion, and just turn it all in just enough untasted sesame oil. You ca use olive oil but then the oven needs to be at max. 350 degrees. I normally roast at 425 degrees because the sesame oil can heat up higher without “turning”. A dash of sea salt, some herbs to taste. Somethings a little cayenne and or chili can give it a kick, sometimes just herbs des provence is nice.

Half way through stir. It takes about 45 min in the oven. But it could be you like it more roasted so leave for another 10 min. Tasting is the way you figure that out. And it is ok to try and figure it out as you go along. Remember. This is just my version of a dish. You will find yours!

Photo : Jeanette Bronee

 

A great dish is to make into a chickpea salad with some fresh greens. For crunch use pine nuts, seeds, or nuts.

Photo : Jeanette Bronee

 

Chickpeas 3 Ways

Not only are chickpeas tasty they are also reallllly easy to make a fast meal with. Most know them from hummus and many don’t really like them as much “just as they come”. I prefer them “naked”. Which means, open a can of chickpeas, if they are already salted, rinse them well. I get mine from Eden Foods so they come unsalted and in a BPA free can. You can also soak them overnight and cook them yourself, but then we are talking a bit more planning and here I am talking about easy and fast.

No cooking involved. Mix herbs and spices to your liking, and add good quality sea-salt to taste. Mix with left over veggies or with something new and fresh. Add something green, mix in a good olive oil, hemp, flax, or pumpkin seed oil…and you are ready to eat. Enjoy.

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

Chickpea-Canelli-Salad

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

Photo: Jeanette Bronee

 

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