Green Soup

Chop and sauté these vegetables in 2T single source EVOO in a 4 quart pot:

10oz. fresh asparagus

8oz. frozen skinny green beans

10oz. turnip greens and chopped turnips

1 celery heart + greens

1 med. onion

Season with whatever you like on green vegetables. Today I used Penzeys black pepper blend and roasted garlic and herb seasoning.

Once everything is sizzling add 6 cups of chicken broth. I used chicken bone broth that I made earlier from a whole roasted chicken.

Heat slowly, bring it to a low simmer then continue at that low bubble heat point about a half hour. Blend as much or little as you like, getting it silky smooth or leave it a bit more textured and rustic.Check the seasonings and make adjustments. I added 1-2T of chicken Better Than Bouillon soup base. Top with some grated pepper jack cheese and almonds, sunflower or pumpkin seeds. . .Lin

Red, Green and Purple Steamed Vegetables

½ lg. head green cabbage

½ med. head purple cabbage

1 red beet - scrub-don't peel

1 scarlet turnip - scrub-don't peel

1c water

1t of each of the spices shown

1t fresh ground garlic sea salt

1 bunch beet greens-(slice) + stems-(chop)

½ med. yellow onion - chopped

⅓ lg. red bell pepper - sliced

2-3t spicy coriander (cilantro) chutney

3-4T basil pesto

⅓ bunch fresh cilantro - leaves + stems - chopped

Cube the cabbage into 1" pieces.  Slice, chop the beet and turnip.  If you use turnip of any kind, slice-chop small, mine didn't cook quite enough and were chewy.  Rinse the chopped beet in a strainer.  This will minimize the amount of discoloration of the lighter vegetables.  Add water and seasonings, cover and steam (once you hear the water boiling) for 15 minutes.  Add the next group of ingredients and a little more water if needed, when this begins to steam again, continue steaming for another 15 minutes.

Sprinkle on the cilantro, cover and remove from the heat for 10 minutes.  Stir and serve.  This is a really healthy vegetable dish.  Mmmm have I mentioned How Much I Love Vegetables!!  This would be perfect by itself, with maybe a sprinkle of panko breadcrumbs and grated hard cheese.  It would also be good with grilled steak, chicken or fish. (or, with leftover ahi tuna meatloaf 😋). . .Lin

A Coconut Vegetable Curry

½-1 can garbanzo beans

½ sm. yellow onion-chopped

1 lg. garlic clove-minced

1T± coconut oil

I had some garbanzos leftover from the other day, so I decided to brown them up a bit in my cast iron stock pot with the little bit of onion, garlic and coconut oil.  You'll probably need to cover the pot with a splatter screen since the beans will start snapping and popping when they begin to brown.  Once they reach that point, turn off the heat and finish your vegetable prep.

4 sm. sweet potatoes
6 quartered radishes

1 lg. turnip

3 cloves garlic

¾c golden raisins

(dried figs, prunes, apricots)

2t± fresh minced ginger

2-3T AROY-D yellow curry paste

2-4c water
~ 4-8oz. AROY-D coconut milk

~ ½ bunch cilantro or Italian parsley

Scrub the sweet potatoes, but don't peel them, just cut off the ends and slice off any skin irregularities or dark patches.  If your turnip's been waxed, cut it in quarters.  This should make it easy to pop the thin layer of wax off the skin.  Since turnip skins are nice and thin, like carrots, you don't need to peel them, just scrub them well, once the wax is off.  The skin gives you a bit more really good vegetable fiber.  Mince the garlic and add these ingredients to the bean pot, down to, and including the water.  Simmer a half hour or longer until the vegetables are cooked as you like them.

Add the coconut milk, greens, simmer a while and then check the flavors.  Serve as is (or over rice, quinoa or angel hair pasta).  Oh, I  SOOO love a really good, well-balanced, curry!  😊 . . . Lin

Oranges and Fennel and Beets - Oh My! (salad)

1 romaine heart*

2 medium golden beets - scrubbed

1 sm.-med. turnip - peeled

~1 lemon or lime - zest and juice

~2T sugar or honey

~3T rosemary olive oil

~1t garlic salt

~½t+ finely ground pepper

~½c craisins

~¼c chopped pecans

~¼c slivered almonds

2 CaraCara oranges

1 lg. fennel bulb

2-4 green onions

several sprigs of fresh parsley

Quarter romaine lengthwise, then wash, spin and dry it in your salad spinner.* <—my favorite!  Transfer it to  a large salad bowl  Using either great knife skills, 😉either julienne slice the beets and turnips - or - crank them through a spiralizer.* <—This will take you to a Paderno Spiralizer demo video.)  Put immediately in with the lettuce.  Combine the next 8 ingredients in a small bowl and microwave 30 seconds.  Whisk, then pour over the ingredients in the salad bowl.  Toss well to distribute everything evenly and coat the whole salad with dressing.

Peel the oranges, then cut into quarters, then segments.  Cut the top and bottom off the fennel, then thin-slice or spiralize across the grain.  Slice onions and break up parsley.  Add all this to the bowl, toss gently, but enough to coat and mix all the components.  This makes a lot!  4 big servings.  *If there will be leftovers romaine is best.  If you're going to finish this soon after composing, and would rather, you could use baby spinach.  Feta cheese could also be crumbled over each serving. . .Lin