Sweet Greens

 

The first time I made this soup was last thanksgiving. My husband's sister was visiting. Like my husband, she also has sensitive digestion and was on a very restricted diet. Instead of a list of foods she was avoiding I was sent a short list of foods she could eat. Rather than being discouraged by these limits I decided to rise to the challenge.

The list included rutabagas, kale and chard. So the first version of this soup was simply rutabaga and greens boiled and pureed with no spices or anything else. She was thrilled with it, but the rest of us needed a little more flavor. I took enough out for her, then added carrots, ginger, cumin, coriander, pepper and salt. Now I was getting somewhere but it was still bland and well... a little too rutabagaish. I added lemon juice and served it with a dollop of yogurt. While no one came back for seconds everyone was pleasantly surprised that its wasn't bad.

Trying to sneak greens into our diet can be tricky so I thought I would revisit and revise this soup. I kept it simple and used sweet potato instead of rutabaga. Now this is a soup I would serve again and ask for seconds.

Sweet Potato Green Soup

- 3 medium sweet potatoes chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 bunch swiss chard
- An inch of fresh minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil

In a large pot saute ginger and spices in olive oil. Add sweet potato and saute until starts to brown. Add enough water to completely cover the sweet potatoes, bring to boil, then simmer until potatoes are soft.

While the sweet potatoes are simmering wash and chop the chard and kale. Once potatoes are soft add the greens cook for another few minutes until the greens are wilted and turned bright green. Turn off the heat and then puree in a blender (I was recently given an immersion blender and love it). Add salt to taste. This soup is nice as is or served with a big dollop of yogurt.

This is a pretty big pot of soup so have some friends over or freeze in single serving containers.

Banana Nut Butter Pops

When I was a kid my mom use to let us get one treat when we went to the store. This was a big deal because we didn't go to the store often and we lived so far in the boondocks that we couldn't get there on our own. In the summer's I always got a "Freezee" (grape was my favorite flavor). I did a quick Internet search and couldn't find that brand, it must be Canadian. My husband has talked about "Otter Pops" and I assume it's the same thing. While this artificially flavored and colored sugar water was the best summer treat ever, it definitely wasn't the best for you. 

It's summer and Summer isn't old enough yet to know that icy pops are usually fruity, so I thought I would see how much nutrition I could pack into a pop. This recipe was inspired by a friend who obviously was thinking along similar lines. 

1 very ripe banana

3 tablespoons nut butter (I used one each of tahini, peanut butter and almond butter)

2 dates

2 tbsp ground flax

1 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla soy milk)

Put all ingredients in a blender on high until smooth and creamy. Pour into popsicle  molds and freeze.

I was surprised how yummy these icy pops turned out. The only problem I had was getting them out of the mold but I think this a problem with the molds I bought not the pops.

Green Juice

We've been juicing for awhile. My husband first started juicing on a recommendation from his naturopath when we were still trying to get his health in order. The original recipe was pretty simple: for one juice - half bunch greens, half a green apple, one carrot, 2 stalks of celery, a half inch of ginger and a squeeze of lemon. Since then the recipe has change and grown and morphed (see below). I have experimented with various greens and veggies (kale, collards, broccoli, beets and beet greens, dandilion greens, mustard greens, chard, bok choy, spinach, watercress, parsely, mint, cucumber) and made some discoveries along the way.

First, not all greens are created equal. Many are high in oxalates (or oxilic acid). Oxalates are what cause that gritty feeling on you teeth after eating spinach or chard. So what is the problem with oxalates?  While greens high in oxalates might be loaded with  iron and calcium, they aren't very accessible to the body. The oxalates bind with minerals forming crystals that prevent their absorption. Not only are you not getting the iron and calcium, but these crystals pass through your kidneys and, in some people, may cause kidney stones.

While I believe all this is true, when I look up foods high in oxalates, the list of food is so huge that it would be impossible to avoid them completely. For a full list check out this website http://www.ohf.org/docs/Oxalate2008.pdf.

This begs the question, can something so prevalent in our food really be so bad for you? Yes, if you have a history of kidney stones or some other medical condition that requires you to avoid oxalates. But for the rest of us, as  much as you might want an excuse to give up your greens, you can't write them off so fast. The risk of kidney stones is far outweighed by the benefits of greens. They are packed with nutrients - fiber, folic acid, vitamin C, phytochemicals, antioxidants, iron, calcium, vitamin K,  magnesium, potassium, the list goes on. There are also numerous articles and studies citing the benefits of leafy greens as reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer, for bone health, diabetes, weight loss, and again on and on. So eat your greens ... or in this case, drink them.

While it is important to eat raw and lightly cooked greens, the main benefits of juicing are that it is easier for your body to absorb more of the nutrient and that you can get all the nutrients without all the bulk. I don't know anyone who regularly, or even occasionally, sits down and eats an entire bunch of raw kale. This is the kind of thing you do on a dare. So I dare you to eat one bunch of raw kale! With juicing you can easily drink one or even two bunches of greens.

To start with, what kind of juicer should you use? I use the omega juicer, but any of the masticating juicers are good. Yes, I did say masticating. Not to be confused with other similar sounding words. When we we're buying our juicer, we called up several places asking if they carried masticating juicers and we got a lot of funny responses. They are also called single gear juice extractors.

So which greens to juice? Kale, chard and parsley are our favorites. Their taste isn't too strong. Chard is mild and sweet, parsley tastes like parsley and kale is a little bitter but easily masked by the carrot and apple and is lower in oxalates than both chard and parsley. While parsley is great for juicing - offering lots of iron and a pleasant taste - it makes this weird dark green sludge. It took me a while to figure out it was the parsley. This sludge is such a dark vibrant green that it has to be good for you, but the slimy sludgy texture is a challenge to get down. I was straining it out but recently discovered that if it is pressed through a strainer it reintegrates with the juice ... although the juice is definitely thicker.

Other greens aren't so easily disguised by apple and carrot.  One day at the farmer's market a seller recommended watercress for juicing. I had read it was very high in iron and calcium and low in oxalates, so I bought two bunches. The next day I was very excited to try my juice. I took a big sip, swirled (I'll talk more about swirling later) it around my mouth and nearly gagged! Watercress. It sounds so benign, so refreshing. It is a very deceiving green. It has a bitter, spicy flavor. Not so different from mustard greens, but at least with mustard greens you know what you're getting into. Beet greens are another not so tasty green, also very high in oxalates. Beets and beet greens are great for cleansing, but if you put too much in the juice, your tongue and throat go numb. The first time this happened to me, I thought that I poisoned myself with oxalates. Enough rambling and onto juicing...

Our current recipe (makes 2 servings):

1 bunch greens (you can also mix two or three different greens - I often mix kale and chard )
1/2 bunch parsley
1green apple
1/2 lemon
1 inch of ginger
3 carrots
1/2 large cucumber
1/2 beet

When you first start juicing, you want to keep it simple. Add extra apple, carrots and lemon if the greens are too overpowering for you. Only 1/4th of the juice should be from leafy greens. Greens have cleansing properties and can make the newbie juicer nauseated. Swirling each sip in your mouth is the same as chewing. It gets all the enzymes in your mouth working and helps with digestion and absorption.

Enjoy, my daughter does :)

Strawberry Jell-no

A couple days ago our play group went strawberry picking at the local organic McGrath Family Farm. The kids got to play on a tractor, feed the goats and Levi - a very friendly bunny rabbit - and of course pick yummy beautiful strawberries. While thinking about all the things I might make with the berries, I remembered seeing a recipe in The Real Food Daily Cookbook (my all time favorite Santa Monica restaurant). The recipe was Strawberry Kanten (see recipe below) and is described as a "healthy person's jell-o...kids love this refreshing dessert". Well, Summer took one bite and spit it out onto the floor.  My hubby only slightly more subtle, said it was like eating a silicone breast implant (not that he's ever tried one).

What went wrong with this rubbery gelatinous mass? I pretty much stuck to the recipe ... except for the agar. I had agar powder instead of flakes. I will confess I was being cheap, agar flakes are really expensive at my local health food store so I bought the powder, which was about four dollars cheaper. I had to guess how much powder to put in and obviously I used way too much. In retrospect, I probably could have guessed that this wouldn't turn into a family favorite as I have never liked those weird agar jelly desserts that are so common in Asia.

At this point you are probably wondering what agar is? Agar, or agar-agar as it is also called,  is a red algae and according to wiki it is a laxative, a vegetarian gelatin, a thickener, and a clarifying agent. It can also be used for sizing paper and fabric, as a culture medium for microbiological work and for weight loss. Apparently it is 80 percent fiber and when eaten, it triples in size so you feel full. Wiki goes on...it is used in dentistry for making impressions, electrochemistry and is in modelling clay. This is one versatile little sea vegetable!

If you do like jell-o desserts - and you stay away from agar powder - I'm sure the Strawberry Kanten recipe in Ann Gentry's The Real Food Daily Cookbook is very tasty. So here it is:

4 1/4 cup apple juice
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1/4 cup agar flakes (not powder)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups fresh strawberries (you can also substitute blueberries or raspberries)

Stir arrowroot and 1/4 cup of apple juice together and put aside.
Combine agar and salt with the remaining juice in a sauce pan. Bring to simmer over high heat then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring frequently for 15 min or until agar dissolves.
Whisk in arrowroot mixture, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat for 5 min. stir in vanilla.
Transfer to large bowl and let cool at room temperature.
When it is just starting to set stir in strawberries.
spoon into bowls, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.