Love What You Eat

Your Food as Your Medicine

I (Brooke) love to cook.... which does not mean that I am a great cook, but let's just say I enjoy "playing" with vegetables as much as I enjoy eating them.  This section features seasonal foods and recipes.  My intention is to share some basic information on these wonderful foods, include medicinal properties, and share my current favorite recipes.

Kale

Kale :: the grandmother of the cabbage family.
(Brassica oleracea acephala) Dinosaur, Italian, or Tuscan Kale; Ornamental Kale; Scotch or Curly Kale; Siberian or Russian Kale

Hardy, sturdy, crisp, fresh. Leaves range from bright to dark green, and violet-green to deep purple. Available year-round, but tastes the sweetest after a good frost or winter season.
Cooking options are unlimited. Try lightly steaming, adding to a stir-fry, adding to a soup last minute, chopping thinly for a raw salad, or juicing/blending in a smoothie.

Kale is a tonifying, or strenghthening, vegetable. Medicinally, Kale eases lung congestion, benefits the stomach, and is healing to the liver and the immune system. Kale juice is helpful in treating stomach and duodenal ulcers. Kale is a remarkable source of chlorophyll, betacarotene, vitamin A and C, and calcium.

Ben's Green Smoothie

Ben's favorite smoothie, featuring kale, is described below. I know he mixes it all up in his VitaMix, but any blender should do. Delicious!
- 1 cup kefir or yogurt (plain or vanilla)
- 1/8 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon ground flax
- 1/2-1/3 cup carrots
- 1/2-1 cup spinach
- 4+ medium kale leaves
- 1 cup strawberries or mango
- 1 cup blueberries
notes: more kale over spinach if prefer leafy vegetable flavor; more spinach over kale if prefer fruit flavor
serving size: two pints
 

Beets

I consider beets a “Super-food.” Super-nourishing. Super-potent. Super-rich. Super-nutritious.  If you eat enough, I believe you might develop Super-powers.

“The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.” – Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

Beets build blood & soothe the spirit. Beets also support the circulation of qi and blood and benefit the heart, liver, and large intestine. Beets benefit women during menstruation and post-partum.
Technically speaking, beets are loaded with the pigment betacyanin which is a potent anticarcinogen. Beets treat anemia, are anti-inflammatory, purify the blood, and help dissolve acid crystals from the kidneys before they turn into kidney stones. In addition, beets alleviate constipation and help to cleanse the liver.

Beets have the highest sugar content of all vegetables! Varieties come in red, gold, and candy-cane stripe. Of course if the beet greens are fresh… eat them! Beet greens are an excellent source of folic acid, vitamin K, vitamin A, calcium, and iron. Clean the greens and cook them up as you would with kale, collards or chard.

In cooking beets, keep the skins on to retain the color. I most often cut the stems off an inch from the root, clean, roast in a pan with beets ½ submerged in water, cook 350-400 degrees for 40-50 minutes, let cool, and peel the skin right off in the sink with my hands. To brighten the color of the beets, add lemon juice or vinegar to their cooking water.

Beet Recipe

Roasted Beet & Blood Orange Salad with Spicy Greens from Heidi Swanson's kitchen

1 1/2 pounds medium gold beets
1 1/2 pounds medium red beets
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 small blood oranges
Blood Orange Sherry Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
1/4 pound baby arugula
1/4 pound baby spinach
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped chives

Cook, cool, and peel the beets.
While the beets are roasting, peel the oranges with a serrated knife and remove all of the white pith. Slice into rounds 1/4-inch thick. Remove the pips and reserve the slices in the refrigerator unless you will be using them within 2 to 3 hours.
Wash the arugula and spinach well and spin dry. Mix the greens together and reserve covered with a damp towel in the refrigerator.
Cut each peeled beet into eight wedges. Keep the red and gold beets separate or their colors will bleed together. Toss each color with 2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Allow the beets to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
In a large bowl, toss the beets and their juices together with enough vinaigrette to coat; add the orange segments and toss gently so that they don't break up.
Drizzle the greens with vinaigrette to moisten and toss with the beets and blood oranges; season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the chopped chives. You may also place the greens on a large platter and serve the beets and oranges on top.
Serves 8.

Blood Orange Sherry Vinaigrette
2 small blood oranges
1 medium shallot, peeled, trimmed, and minced
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice and strain the blood oranges. Measure 1/4 cup of juice.
In a medium bowl, whisk the juice with the shallots and the sherry vinegar; season with salt and pepper to taste and let the mixture marinate for 10 minutes.
Whisk in the olive oil to taste. Add more olive oil if the vinaigrette is too acidic for your palette. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Makes 1/2 to 3/4 cup.

Visit Heidi Swanson's blog at 101cookbooks.com for more delicious recipes and information on her books.