Category Archives: Spring Recipes

Mango Kiwi Salsa

We’ve been having such an unusual “winter” this year. I hope you’ve been enjoying the mild weather and sun shine as much as I have. This salsa was inspired by the season of transition from winter to spring. The flavor of winter and the kidney system is salt, the flavor of the spleen system and transitions is sweet, and the flavor of spring and the liver system is sour. This salsa has a little bit of each flavor and its quite tasty and easy to make. You can enjoy it all through the spring time too as the sour flavors and cilantro have a gentle detoxifying effect on the body. We enjoyed it yesterday at a very special Yogapuncture for Balance with couples, hosted by Jill Eggert at Malooley Chiropractic in Cary.

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What you need:

2 Mangos, cubed (spleen)

3 Kiwis, cubed (Liver)

1 punch of cilantro chopped (Liver)

Juice of one Lime, or more to taste as you desire (Liver)

A pinch of salt to taste (Kidney)

Corn Tortilla Chips (Spleen/Kidney)

What you do:

Mix everything together and let stand. Eat at room temperature. Refrigerate to retain freshness, eat in 1-3 days. Enjoy!

Creamed Kale with Scapes

There is no cream involved but I didn’t know what else to call this and it was inspired by the idea of creamed kale but I don’t typically have any cream or milk in the house. I think this was even better.

kale

What you need:

one bunch of Kale (washed and shredded)

one bunch of scapes (roughly chopped)

2 tablespoon olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

juice of one lemon

salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

Sautee kale lightly, until just wilted. Remove from heat

Sautee scapes until fragrant.

Add kale to scapes. Melt butter over kale and sprinkle cheese over kale until melted, stirring occasionally. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper and serve immediately.

(if you can’t do dairy this might work with nutritional yeast instead of the parmesan cheese. I eye balled all the ingredients so this is just a guess. Add more or less to taste)

Spring/Summer Zucchini Lasagna

I came across this recipe for spring greens zucchini lasagna in Experience L!fe magazine. I finally had a chance to try it last night. It came out pretty good and I was particularly excited about the roasted carrot sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce. Let me know what you think, here are my adaptations.

carrots

What you need:

  • 4 large, whole carrots, washed and trimmed
  • 1 red pepper
  • 5 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
  • Salt and black pepper (I used pink salt and peppercorns)
  • 1 bag power greens (baby spinach, baby red chard, baby kale)
  • 11/2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 4 cloves garlic, (1 pressed 3 roasted)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 tbs. chopped fresh dill
  • 1/4 cup shredded quattro formaggio cheese (or any shredded cheese you like)
  • 8 lasagna noodles (optional)

zucchini lasagna

What you do for sauce:

Preheat oven to 375.

Roast carrots, red pepper and 3 cloves of garlic for 25 minutes or until tender.

Mix carrots, pepper, garlic and fresh dill in blender with 2 cups of vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: I would have preferred more sauce, next time I will do 6-8 carrots and 3 cups of stock

cooked zucchini

What to do:

While carrots are roasting slice zucchinis lengthwise.

Mix ricotta cheese with egg, garlic, lemon zest and salt and pepper

Pour a layer of sauce at the bottom of a 9×12 pan and put down a layer of zucchini

Pour half of ricotta over first layer. Add half of your greens.

Put a second layer of zucchini, a layer of noodles (optional) and a layer of sauce

Pour half of ricotta and rest of greens.

Layer of zucchini and noodles. Pour rest of sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 covered for 35-45 minutes and uncovered for 10-15 or until cheese is melted.

 

***The original recipe roasted all the veggies first before making the lasagna. If it was early spring I would probably roast everything because the weather is still cooler or more back and forth and the roasting adds a warming element to the recipe. Because it was in the 80s yesterday and we are closer to summer than spring now I did not roast the veggies except for the sauce so that it is not quite as warming in nature. Also it was less time with an oven on! 🙂

 

 

Artichoke Red Chard Lasagna

This is my go to recipe when the garden starts overflowing with red chard. I’ve converted quite a few people to love red chard and even the idea of a veggie lasagna. Today with the snow coming down chard from the garden sounds really nice but I made mine with spinach instead bought from the store. 🙁 This weather is such a tease!

What you need: 

lasagna noodles (or raw sliced eggplant)

marinara sauce (if you don’t have homemade sauce my favorite is Trader Joe’s garlic marinara sauce)

shredded cheese (Trader Joe’s quattro formaggio is best)

fresh red chard (or spinach or both!) If you are using bagged greens I usually use 2 bags 1 for each layer as it will cook down

artichoke hearts (fresh is best)

If you’ve never cooked fresh artichokes before read this  

Line bottom of 9×13 pan with a thin layer of sauce.

Layer noodles or eggplant “noodles”. sprinkle cheese lightly and half of red chard.

Add another layer of noodles. Pour sauce over noodles.

Layer the rest of red chard and all of artichokes. Sprinkle lightly with cheese.

Add another layer of noodles. Pour rest of the sauce over noodles and sprinkle with cheese. ( I find I like to use less cheese than a regular lasagna and it helps to bring out the other flavors)

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes covered. Bake addition 15 minutes uncovered or until cheese is bubbly.

We are serving with some garlic bread and arugula salad tonight. Enjoy!

Scrambled Meat with Cabbage and Cauliflower Mash

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I had some leftover cabbage from fish tacos and was trying to decide what to do with it. It was a coin toss between Guatemalan hot dogs (which I love everything about but the hot dog) and Scrambled meat. I was cooking so you can see who won.

This is a classic recipe from my childhood with some basic modifications. My mom didn’t have a recipe so its a whole lot of a little of this and a little of that but it is delicious and something we will be bringing into the regular rotation. Its a perfect Spring dish because it incorporates some spring foods but the meat helps to keep you warm on days when it should be warmer than it actually is.

What you need:

1/2 head of green cabbage

5 slices of bacon ( used nitrate free turkey bacon)

1 red pepper

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup water

pepper to taste

1 pound ground beef (preferably grassfed)

1/2 purple onion

3 cloves of garlic

head of cauliflower

salt and garlic powder to taste

What you do:

Start with cooking bacon until crispy.

Meanwhile, shred cabbage, chop red pepper, onion and garlic.

Make dressing for cabbage by combining water, apple cider vinegar, honey, black pepper. Set aside.

Crumble bacon and add to cabbage and red pepper. Drain bacon grease and warm dressing and pour over cabbage salad.

Brown ground beef, add onion and garlic half way through. Steam cauliflower with a clove of garlic. When cauliflower is tender put in blender and blend with 2 tablespoons butter salt and garlic powder to taste until smooth.

To assemble meal start with a layer of cauliflower mash. Add cabbage salad next. Top with ground beef.

Enjoy!

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Butternut Squash Lasagna with Tomato Basil Chicken Sausage

Lyz sent me this recipe to try and I finally got around to it. It a great recipe for spring!

I was a little nervous about the butternut squash noodles as I’m not usually good at cutting squash but it was actually not as hard as I thought it would be.

What you need:

1 small butternut squash

1/2 onion

3 cloves of garlic

15 oz pizza sauce (or tomato sauce, your preference)

3 cups of spinach

1 red pepper

1 orange pepper

package of tomato basil chicken sausage

fresh basil

1/2 cup shredded cheese

What you do:

Preheat oven to 400F

Remove sausage from casing and brown. Add onions and garlic when sausage is about half way done.

Meanwhile, cut the ends off of the squash. Peel skin. Cut squash in half width wise and de-seed. Then cut each piece length wise. Cut into “noodle” planks.

Chop peppers with a handful of fresh basil and add to pizza sauce.

Put a layer of sauce at the bottom of a 8×13 glass pan.

Add a layer of squash, chicken sausage, 1/2 spinach and sauce.

Add a layer of squash, chicken sausage, 1/2 spinach and another layer of squash.

Add the remaining sauce over the lasagna and sprinkle with cheese if you desire. I used 2 handfuls of quattro formaggio cheese.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Let me know what you think. 🙂

Kiwi Salsa

I posted a picture of this delicious recipe last night on facebook and a few of you requested the recipe so here it is. It was even better than expected and its a perfect spring food for 3 reasons: its green (color of Spring), its sour (taste of Spring), it has cilantro (liver cleanser).

I got it from The Shrinking Kitchen along with this blackened tilapia recipe. It was better than my favorite restaurant fish tacos. Super simple to make, you won’t be disappointed. I think the salsa would be great with chips too. Let me know what you think.

What you need:

4 kiwis, peeled and diced

1 roma tomato, diced

1 jalapeno, deseeded (if you are a wuss and don’t like super spicey)

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 bunch of cilantro

juice of 2 limes

salt to taste

(you could also add avocado chunks if you’re eating with chips)

What you do:

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Put in fridge until ready to use.

Enjoy!

 

 

Garlic Lime White Bean Soup with Arugula

This is a great Spring recipe. If you are looking for the benefits of a “liver detox” whithout the suffering that goes into most detoxes give this recipe a try.

What you need:

9 cloves of garlic

9 limes

5 cups of chicken or veggie broth

1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped

2 cans of white beans, rinsed

1 cup rice, optional

2 cups arugula

avocado

What you do:

Add a teaspoon of ghee to your stock pot and cook garlic until fragrant.

Add juice of limes, stock and beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile cook rice in separate pot.

Turn stove off and add rice, arugula and cilantro just before serving so that greens are just wilted.

Garnish with sliced avocado.

Serves 4.

St Patrick’s Day Shake (healthy shamrock shake)

There is a recipe floating around facebook from the detoxinista for a healthy version of the shamrock shake. Dr. Scott printed the recipe for patients to take home and told me it tastes just like a mint chocolate chip shake. Did you know there are over 54 ingredients in a Shamrock Shake? That’s nuts! This version is “paleo” and vegan too so if you’ve been missing your shakes because your allergic to dairy or trying to eat better here is a great alternative that doesn’t feel like an alternative. I tried it on Thursday with my mom and oh my goodness was it delicious!

Give this a try and tell me what you think!

What you need: (this makes 3 small shakes)

2 cup almond milk

1/2 avocado, pitted

2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach

2 drops of peppermint essential oil (from here of course) or you can use peppermint extract for a more pepperminty experience add an extra drop or two this is more of a subtle background mint flavor

10-12 soft Medjool dates, pitted

2 handfuls of ice

What you do:

Put all the above ingredients in a high speed blender. Blend until everything is smooth and creamy. If you want sweeter add more dates. Enjoy immediately.

Thanks Detoxinista! (p.s. she has a bunch of other yummy recipes too!)

How to Sprout Lentils

In yogapuncture for Spring we talked about how eating sprouted foods in the spring is a great idea because it mimics exactly what our environment is doing. (want more info? you can purchase March yogapuncture for $15, message me how). Sprouts are packed with nutrition and energy, just what we need in the spring time. Plus they are super easy to do yourself. You can buy a sprout-ing kit but probably have everything you need at home, you don’t need to spend much money to get started.

What you need:

A mason jar or other class container (sprouts will double in size so make sure your container is big enough)

2 cups of water

2/3 cup of lentils or other legume, seed etc

cheese cloth or paper towel (cheese cloth is preferable) I didn’t have any cheese cloth to start so I just used paper towel to cover but the cheese cloth makes it much easier to drain the water without disturbing your lentils.

What you do:

Put your lentils in your mason jar and soak in water over night. Cover with cheese cloth or paper towel don’t put in an air tight container.

After you soak the lentils over night drain the water completely first and then rinse with fresh water and drain again.

sproutlings on day 2

Do this until your lentils sprout to your desired size.

Take your lentils out of the jar and lay out on a towel to pat dry, place in a dry jar with a lid and keep refrigerated.

Eat and enjoy!