Tag: kale

  • Kale chips

    Kale chips

    If you have never tried these, please do! So simple and delicious. And healthy! Great for iron. Just go easy on the salt.

    Massage the kale with a few drops of vegetable oil, then spread the kale out in one layer on your oven rack lined with parchment paper.

    (It is very tempting to make loads of this healthy snack but you need to be sure not to ‘heap’ the kale; the water inside the leaf needs space to evaporate or it will only steam/cook.)

    Sprinkle with salt and bake for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees or until the sides start to brown. Be careful not to let them burn.

    You may choose to only use salt or play around with special flavorings like curry powder, garlic or pimento.

    I used pre-cut kale from a bag, which makes for really small chips. Better even would be to use fresh leaves and cut along the stem (or mid section) of the leaf to get bigger chips.

  • Buckwheat risotto with green vegetables and herbs

    Buckwheat risotto with green vegetables and herbs

    A new favorite: buckwheat risotto! Healthy, heartfelt, full of flavors, absolutely lovely and so easy, too!

    Serves 2-3

    Boil about 1 liter of vegetable stock. You could make your own, I use organic instant stock powder. Add a tablespoon of kurkuma to the stock if you have that available.

    In a frying pan, heat some oil and sauté a small onion (in pieces) and small garlic clove (chopped finely), then add two cups of buckwheat and a handful of dried shiitake mushrooms (in slices).

    Stir well, then add one or two cups of stock to the buckwheat. Bring to a simmer, the turn the heat down to low. Allow the stock to be soaked up before adding a new portion. Stir regularly.

    After about 20 minutes (halfway cooking time), add green beans. After another 10, add broccoli, zucchini, grated rind of 0,5-1 lemon and kale (I used frozen ‘cubes’ of kale, just put the whole cubes in there and don’t stir from then on). Cover with a lid so the vegetables can steam until ready for another 10 minutes or so.

    Meanwhile, chop lots of mint and parsley so you have two nice handfuls of herbs. Just before serving, top with the herbs, drizzle with generous amounts of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and possibly lemon juice.

  • Easy one bowl veggie & egg dish

    Easy one bowl veggie & egg dish

    Hey ho, today I thought I’d share a shakshuka-inspired dish with you.

    I got to know shakshuka as an Israeli dish where you break and boil eggs in a delicious tomato sauce and serve with bread. All Israelis I’ve met love it and it is a staple food in most foreigner/traveler/backpacker oriented restaurants I’ve seen during my travels.

    Here, I am adding a bottom layer of spiced kale and mushrooms (almost the last bit of last year’s forage harvest!).

    Actually, this was just a quick way to do something nice for lunch and so I haven’t made my own tomato sauce but used a store bought jar of pasta sauce, perfect for the occasion. Sorry Israeli friends if I dissed your beloved shakshuka by doing so ;).

    Recipe for one bowl veggies & eggs

    In a pan that will contain all portions and nothing more, heat: olive oil, a chopped piece of onion, some mustard seeds, kale, (dried or fresh) mushrooms.

    Let the kale reduce in size, then add a thick layer of tomato (pasta) sauce. Lastly, break eggs on top (one for each person) and sprinkle with salt and Italian or Provence herbs. Cover with a lid (otherwise the eggs won’t solidify).

    After 10 minutes or so, test to see if the egg white is solid. There may be fluid on top of your dish, don’t be fooled by this as it is probably just water from the tomato sauce and not raw eggs.

    For serving, add olive oil, freshly ground pepper and fresh herbs (here: oregano).

    With love,

    Judith

  • Detox green smoothie

    Detox green smoothie

    This simple combo rocks my mornings these days:

    1 celery stalk
    1 small apple
    3cm piece of cucumber
    1 handful of spinach*
    2-3 cm lemon grass stalk
    1 piece of ginger (to your liking)
    spoonful of turmeric powder**
    dash of black pepper
    5 cashews
    good, long squeeze of lemon juice
    1 cup of cold green tea***

    Blend it all together.

    What makes this smoothie fantastic to me, is its tangy freshness. It is not too sweet, nicely green, full of fibers and it has great character because of the celery, turmeric and lemon.

    Spinach

    * Leafy greens are great, but it is important to switch every now and then because of their alkaloid contents. Replace the spinach for kale, for example.

    By the way, I often use frozen leafs becaus those are super easy to use and have better nutritional values than ‘fresh’ leafs that are a few days old!

    Turmeric

    ** This stuff is one of the most powerful foods in the world and helps fight inflammations and tumors, among many other health benefits. For some time, I have put fresh turmeric in my smoothie each and every morning until I decided to look up if that was even healthy… which, as it turns out, it isn’t.

    Because it is so powerful, raw turmeric is treated by the body as a poison and I have read some explanations that really make sense and led me to refrain from eating raw turmeric.

    Look up the 1976 (yes, old) Goodpasture and Irrighi study if you want to know more.

    Green tea

    *** Green tea has been proven to reduce ageing, prolong lifespan and improve health in remarkable ways. Every night, I make a pot full of green tea, drink a cup or two and save the rest for the next morning, where part of it ends in a smoothie and Jan uses the rest for a homemade ice tea.

    When brewing green tea, make sure to let the water cool down to 70 degrees Celsius after you boiled it and to take out the tea leaves after 5 minutes.

    This smoothie is my favorite thing to drink after my morning runs. It clears and replenishes and I feel as if reborn.

    I hope you’ll enjoy it, too 💗.

     

  • The amazing green breakfast bowl – by Simone

    The amazing green breakfast bowl – by Simone

    I don’t mean to be all frantic about green smoothies, but this one actually changed my days. The simple concept of creating a breakfast (or in my case: lunch) bowl out of a smoothie is now a part of my daily routine. My friend Simone van Putten (a yoga teacher, mother of Jara, and generally shiny beautiful creative being) introduced it to me.

    I had just returned from Brazil, where people love eating ‘acai’: a not too sweet ice cream made from the famous superfood berries, topped with banana, granola and (for those who want) condensed milk.

    Simone pulled two big green bowls from her fridge, looked at them and laughed: “well, this is actually like green acai!”

    It was amazing: the looks of the dish really did remind me of acai (except, well, deep green in stead of purple red) and it just tasted so nice!

    It’s the perfect combo between a green smoothie and a acai: a breakfast bowl made of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, dates… topped with banana and granola, or cacao nibs, or anything else you might fancy to kickstart your morning.

    Simone, thank you for inspiring my morning routine in this way <3.

    The pictures in this article’s image are taken from a Simone’s beautifully crafted, handmade recipe book.