A Bowl Full of Spring

While the calendar may say spring has arrived, for many of you the weather outside says otherwise. Do not let that discourage you from enjoying the 'other' things spring has to offer. The gifts of spring go beyond sunny days and cherry blossoms starting to bloom.  Your produce department – or your favorite Farmer’s Market – should be filling up with an abundance of spring’s best gifts: strawberries, sugar snap peas, arugula, sprouts, asparagus, artichokes, radishes, avocados and more.  These produce stars are not just beautiful to look at, they taste great, too.

Picking produce at its peak freshness and eating it right away is the key to maximum flavor and nutrients.  Combining spring’s bounty into a salad is a simple, easy way to enjoy them. One of my favorites is my Grow in Wellness Spring Salad, where I simply toss my favorite spring offerings with mixed greens and a homemade balsamic dressing. {recipe here}

Want a few more options? The no-recipe method is one way to go; simply chop your favorite produce and toss with a tangy vinaigrette. You can even make a warm, roasted vegetable salad and toss with a lemony, tahini dressing for something a little less ordinary.  And if a more formal recipe is your style, then here are a few from some of my favorite websites:

Spring Salad with Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Sugar Snap Pea Salad

Warm Spring Salad

What is your favorite way to eat the freshest veggies and fruits of the season? Grow in Wellness would love to hear from you! 

“Spring is nature’s way of saying ‘let’s party!’” – Robin Williams

One More Thing for Your Thanksgiving Table...

A quick little post to share with you before Thanksgiving dinner is done being planned, but first I want to say a Big THANK YOU to all of my readers for following this blog and supporting Grow In Wellness!

Are you looking to upgrade parts of your Thanksgiving meal?  One way you can do so is to try one of these two delicious (and easy) recipes. Both center around a vegetable that is most often an afterthought, but please keep reading, because this vegetable has a lot to offer.  I’m talking about cauliflower.  A cruciferous vegetable that gives us a myriad of vitamins like B’s, C and K, it also contributes to cancer prevention, reduces inflammation, gives us fiber and adds cardiovascular support from it’s omega 3’s. 

While it typically shows up on a plate steamed and hiding between carrots and broccoli as a restaurant’s vegetable side dish, there are better ways to prepare this gem of a vegetable.  My favorite is to roast it until it is golden and delicious.  Below are links to two of my favorite (healthy!) recipes - one with garlic and lemon by Emeril Lagasse and the other by Giada Di Laurentiis.  If those don’t sound good to you, I’ve added a link to Bon Appetit’s grouping of cauliflower recipes, too.  (I can’t say BA's are all healthy, but they do look tasty and it’s still a better choice than mashed potatoes and gravy). 

Mix things up a bit at this year’s Thanksgiving dinner and bring a new “guest” to the table with one of these recipes.  Stop back by and let me know if any of these made it to your table this year.

Wishing you a Happy (and healthy) Thanksgiving!

Fall Favorites for Your Plate

I love Michael Pollan’s quote, “If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't. ”  Eating seasonally and organically are two great ways to do that!  And seasonal, organic, plant-based eating will also improve your health and help our environment. Each season brings its own bounty of delicious veggies to eat and this time of year, the fields are full of hearty, warming choices. 

Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what’s really in season when you go to the grocery store.  You can find apples in summer and strawberries in winter, but they will have been grown far away, picked before their peak and then take days to get to your market. Foods that have been picked too early and travel long distances won’t look as pretty as the seasonal ones that grew to their peak. To make them look more appealing, they’re often treated with chemical ripening agents, wax coatings, and other preservatives. Their flavor and nutrient value has been diminished under those circumstances.  Buying what’s in season and what’s grown locally will give you the healthiest, tastiest produce and will reduce your carbon footprint.

The freshest choices for produce, and probably at the best prices, are at your local farmer’s market. If you don’t have time to go to the farmer’s market each week or if there isn’t one close to you, look into CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs that deliver fresh produce to you.  I get a customizable box twice a month for a great price and with the peace of mind that my produce is organic and grown locally.. Plus I sometimes get something new to try, like delicata squash.   If you are in the Southern California area, check out the Farm Fresh to You service. What “something new” will you try this fall?

Here are five of my favorites for this fall (with a few recipe links):

Brussels Sprouts –  a great source of vitamin C, antioxidants and potassium. They aren’t too tasty steamed, but roast a pan full of these, tossed with olive oil and diced pancetta, until they are a deep, golden brown and your taste buds will be happy (meat free option – substitute pancetta with chopped shallots).

Delicata Squash – new to you? It was to me until a year ago.  This green striped squash is full of beta-carotene, delicate in flavor and easy to prepare.  And the skin is so thin, you don’t need to peel it.  Halve it and clean out the seeds. Then slice ¼ inch thick and roast with red onion, rosemary and a little sea salt.

Butternut Squash – A fall staple, this squash makes a wonderful soup for cold days.  One of my favorite versions is by Ina Garten.  You can find it here: Butternut Squash Soup

Cauliflower – This vegetable might not have a lot of color, but it does have a lot of nutrients: Vitamins B-6, C, K, folate, anti-oxidants and sulforaphane, a compound that has anticancer properties. Another veggie that tastes great roasted.  Try this recipe by Emeril Lagasse: Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic and Lemon Juice.

Pears – This fruit comes in several varieties and while it’s delicious all on its own, it is just as good on a salad of mixed greens, Gorgonzola cheese, pecans and champagne vinaigrette as it is baked in a roasted pear crumble. (I substitute the brown and white sugar with coconut sugar).

Enjoy!

 PS  In case you were wondering, it's the cauliflower that I can eat like it's candy ;)

Those 'Funny Looking' Tomatoes

Summer brings us so many wonderful flavors from the gardens and fields. Peaches, plums, cantaloupe and watermelon fill the farmer’s markets and produce aisles along with tomatoes (which are technically a fruit, but are treated like a vegetable).

Most stores are piled high with your typical genetically-created, hybrid tomato that has been altered to look pretty, resist disease, have a thicker skin to survive long transport times and last longer in the store and in your kitchen.   There’s one problem with that long list of traits – flavor.  Hybrid tomatoes aren’t completely tasteless, but they leave a lot to be desired in the flavor department. Many people don’t like tomatoes and much of that has to do with the tasteless, mealy-like quality of your typical grocery store tomato (that was me, until I ‘upgraded’ my tomatoes).

Are you looking for a tomato upgrade?

Well, now’s the time to try something new.

Of all the wonderful ‘fruits’ of summer, one of the most delicious is the heirloom tomato. 

“A tomato is considered to be an heirloom when the seed has been saved and grown at least 50 years or more and has been passed down from generation to generation.” (veggiegardner.com)

You have probably seen this not-so-pretty tomato in the produce section of your grocery store in a range of colors from green to yellow to orange and red and some with stripes or color variations.  They are misshapen, and some have crevices, but as it is said, “don’t judge a book by its cover”.  Heirloom tomatoes are full of flavor and depending on the color you select, the flavor can vary, one variety even having a lemony taste and nearly all have less acid than hybrids.  (To learn more about the color-flavor connection, visit Tomato Headquarters.)

Try them on your sandwiches, in salads, on pizza or diced and tossed with pasta, basil, olive oil  and cheese. What’s my favorite way to eat heirlooms? I make a twist on the traditional Italian Caprese… I call it the “California Caprese”.  It combines the delicious flavor of an heirloom with the creamy goodness of avocado, fresh buffalo mozzarella and pesto. 

Here’s the easy recipe:

California Caprese

1 heirloom tomato, sliced

1 round of fresh buffalo mozzarella, sliced

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

pesto (homemade or premade)

Simply layer the ingredients in any way that looks good to you.  Sprinkle with a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper and it’s ready to eat.  Enjoy!

Green Goddess Salad

Anyone who knows me well knows I don’t particularly like sandwiches.  It’s not that I won’t eat them, but if given the choice of a sandwich or something else, I will usually choose something else… which means I have to be creative sometimes. Do you ever have those days where you are hungry and don’t know what you feel like eating?  That was me one day last week.  I stood staring into the open refrigerator, feeling hungry, but not exactly sure what I was looking for.  What I did see were lot of “parts”. I pulled them out one by one… green leaf lettuce, spinach, ½  of a leftover avocado, sprouted sunflower seeds, cucumber, a ripe pear and some Manchego cheese.  Hmm… looked like a great salad was about to come together.

I recently Instagramed a picture of this thrown together salad I nicknamed the Green Goddess Salad and I received a lot of requests for the recipe.  There isn’t an exact recipe, but salads are forgiving that way.  Cut up what you have, toss in a bowl with some ‘clean’ dressing and you’ve got lunch.  Maybe you have some pomegranate seeds or red peppers to add? Or leftover roasted vegetables to add to the mix? Focus on adding in produce and keep the cheese and nuts to a minimum.  And you probably noticed I didn’t use croutons… it’s best to get your crunch from the nuts or veggies, like celery or jicama.  The next time you’re staring in your fridge trying to decide what to eat, pull out your veggies and fruits and throw a salad together.  I’d love to hear what your final creation has in it.  Enjoy!

The ingredients and their nutritional ‘umph’ from my Green Goddess Salad are listed below. 

Salad Ingredients (60% lettuces, 40% add-in ingredients)

Spinach

Green Leaf Lettuce

Cucumber

Pear

Avocado

Sprouted Sunflower Seeds (or substitute with raw sunflower seeds)

Manchego cheese (small amount)

The Dressing -  Apple Cider Vinaigrette

(whisk the ingredients in a small container – all amounts are approximate - adjust amounts to your personal taste.  Leftover dressing keeps well in a small canning jar)

3 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar

¼ Cup  Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp.  Dijon Mustard

pinch  Celtic Sea Salt

pinch   Fresh Ground Pepper

Goodness Listing:

Spinach – packed with vitamins and minerals: vitamins A, C, K, folate, calcium, magnesium, iron, B6, potassium

Green Leaf Lettuce – hydrating and offers vitamin A, C, K, manganese

Cucumber – hydrating, helps flush toxins and stabilize blood pressure

Pears – Help control blood pressure, good source of fiber and vitamin C. High in phytonutrients, which help prevent disease.

Avocado – healthy source of protein, fat, fiber, vitamins B, C, E, K.  Helps reduce inflammation in the body.

Sprouted Sunflower Seeds- sprouting increases the nutritional content of nuts and seeds anywhere from 300-1000%.  Sunflower seed are good source of magnesium (good for bones, nerves and muscles) and vitamin E, and provide ani-inflammatory benefits.  Eat in small amounts (2 TSBP) due to high calorie content and high phosphorous content for large portions. (or you can also substitute raw sunflower seeds)

Manchego Cheese - a sheep’s milk based cheese that gives you a bit of protein and calcium without the lactose of cow’s milk cheese.

Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar – Bragg’s produces an apple cider vinegar (ACV) that is fermented and unfiltered. Only use raw organic ACV that has the ‘mother’ of the vinegar. The ‘mother’ has enzymes of living nutrients and good bacteria. Clear vinegar is processed and doesn’t have any of the benefits that raw ACV has. There are different brands out there but I use Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar.  ACV also helps alkalize the body and regulate blood pressure.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – healthy fat base for the dressing that has good flavor, too.

Dijon Mustard – for some added zing. Make sure you buy one without fillers

Celtic Sea Salt – an unprocessed, whole salt full of naturally occurring essential minerals. Not all sea salt has a high mineral content, Celtic and REAL Salt brands, do.

Fresh Ground Pepper - great flavor enhancer

One More Way to "Healthy Up" Christmas Dinner

Green beans.  That interesting vegetable that shows up on many a holiday table, but usually in the form of a casserole, drowning in canned soup, soggy and nearly tasteless.  That’s the type of green bean side dish I urge you all to skip.  But don’t part ways with green beans completely! They are a great vegetable packed with nutrients and when they are prepared in the right way, they taste delicious!

Green beans, also known as string beans, are a great source of nutrients.  Vitamin K (enhances absorption of calcium, helps prevent bone density loss and osteoporosis), Vitamin C (antioxidant properties, boosts the immune system, cancer fighting), Manganese (helps with osteoarthritis and with absorption of vitamins B, E and magnesium), Vitamin A (another antioxidant that helps fight cancer, heart disease and high cholesterol and reduces signs of skin aging), along with Dietary Fiber, can all be found in fresh, organic green beans.

As you plan for your holiday dinner, consider upgrading that green bean casserole to a nutritious, bright bowl of green beans made with shallots, lemon and walnuts.  Buy organic green beans and be careful not to overcook them. As promised, here’s another way to ‘healthy up’ your Christmas dinner. This recipe has been adapted from Bon Appetit… happy eating!

Green Beans with Lemon & Walnuts

1 lb. organic green beans, trimmed and cut in half

1 Tbsp. chopped shallots

1 Tbsp. organic coconut oil

½ c. coarsely chopped and toasted walnuts 

1 tsp lemon zest

3-4 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp each, sea salt and pepper

In a large sauté pan, heat the coconut oil and add the shallots and green beans.  Cook for 6-8 minutes or until beans begin to soften.  While the beans are cooking, whisk lemon juice, lemon zest, sea salt and pepper in a small bowl or measuring cup.  When the shallots and green beans are done cooking, put them into a bowl, toss with the toasted walnuts and lemon mixture and serve.

Not Your Grandmother's Brussels Sprouts

Last week I promised to post some recipes to help ‘healthy up’ your Christmas Dinner (or any dinner for that matter) and I don’t want you to be disappointed that I am choosing one involving Brussels sprouts as the first contribution. These are not the same Brussels sprouts that your Grandmother used to serve. 

Why bother eating Brussels sprouts at all? They are high in Vitamins K and C, and offer a good source of manganese, folate and fiber.  More importantly, they are part of the cruciferous vegetable group and shine among its peers for having a greater amount of glucosinolate, which in everyday terms means they pack a punch in the cancer prevention department.

If you are thinking, “that sounds great, but I hate Brussels sprouts”, then I understand.  I used to steer clear of the lifeless, waterlogged vegetable, but my first bite of roasted, caramelized Brussels sprouts changed my mind.  For me, there is nothing like roasting vegetables to bring out their sweet, mellow flavor.   Plus, it is kind of fun to buy them still attached to the stalk when they are in season… which is right now.

This recipe is a compilation of several I’ve tried. The sprouts are roasted with shallots, mixed with farro (a nutty, ancient grain) and tossed with fresh Parmesan.  You can add rendered bacon for added depth of flavor.

If you don’t already like Brussels sprouts, maybe this will change your mind.  Enjoy!

Farro and Brussels Sprouts

1 cup farro*

2 ½ cups water

1 pound Brussels sprouts, quartered

1 shallot, chopped

3- 4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon, juiced

1 ½  tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan

Heat oven to 425F

Put the farro and the water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cover and lower heat and simmer approximately 30 minutes*.   Drain excess liquid and set farro aside.

Put Brussels sprouts and chopped shallots in a bowl and toss with 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil, sea salt and pepper.  Set bowl aside for use later. Spread on a baking sheet and cook until browned, approximately 25 minutes. Make sure to stir a couple of times during roasting to ensure they brown evenly.  Add the Brussels sprouts/shallot mixture back to the bowl and add the cooked farro.  Squeeze the juice of one lemon over mixture and toss well. Add the parmesan and mix again.

* It’s best if you can soak the farro in water (toss soaking water) for an hour before cooking, which will reduce the cooking time to 20 minutes.