It’s easy to get stuck in the same old salad routine. It’s time to add some pizzaz to your greens with this crunchy, cheesy kale salad recipe. Kale can be difficult for some people to introduce into their diet. It’s high fiber, which is great for your health, but it’s difficult to chew; it also has a strong, bitter taste. This recipe calls for a technique called massaging. It’s exactly how it sounds. With clean hands, squeeze and squish the kale with your dressing. This does two things. One is that manually squeezing physically helps to break the fiber in the leaves, making the kale more tender. The acidity of the dressing will also help with this. The crushing also impacts the flavor, making the kale less bitter while maintaining its nutrition. You can use this technique on all sorts of bitter greens in your salad. Try this technique with arugula, mustard greens, chard or collards.
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Cucumber Sorbet
Vegetables for dessert?! It’s not as unusual as it sounds. It’s likely you’ve had carrot cake or zucchini bread before. Finding unique ways to prepare vegetables is vital for maintaining interest in what we eat. When relying on the same few recipes, it’s not uncommon to get bored, and then those veggies fall out of favor.
Many desserts include nutrient-rich vegetables such as black bean brownies, chocolate beet cake, sweet potato pie, pumpkin muffins or a rhubarb tart. You may notice that most of these desserts are baked goods, making this cucumber sorbet recipe stand out. It’s cool and refreshing, a perfect way to end a hot summer day — and a way to get a little extra veg in before going to bed. Try making it with a handful of fresh mint too!
Lemony White Bean Salad
Arugula is a wonderful and flavorful addition to many dishes. It can be used as a topping from everything, from sandwiches to pizza! Or you can enjoy it on its own as a salad like in this recipe. Its lovely black peppery flavor comes from a chemical compound called glucosinolates. Research has found that these compounds, commonly found in plants from the Brassicaceae family (arugula, cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) may have protective qualities for our heart and brain health.
Sweet and Spicy Cherry Chutney
Cherries are delicious on their own, but are you looking for a new and unique way to eat them? Try this tangy topping. Cherry chutney is a great addition to barbecue or spread over some cornbread on the side. Cherries are an excellent source of vitamin A and vitamin C and they’re loaded with antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and help our heart health. This recipe has even greater anti-inflammatory power with ingredients like olive oil and ginger. Cherries are also a natural source of melatonin, and some studies suggest that eating cherries may help you sleep better.
The Best Peas and Pasta
Peas are far more versatile than they’re given credit for. It’s likely you’re used to something like a pile of peas, topped with a little pat of salted butter, rolling away on your plate. But so much more can be done with peas! They can be braised, roasted or pureed into a hummus type dip or a creamy sauce base like this recipe. If you buy whole pea pods, they’re great as a raw snack, sliced and added to salads, or sauteed or even grilled. This recipe features a thick, creamy, garlicy sauce made from pureed peas. Peas are a good plant-based protein high in fiber and they’re an excellent addition to something like pasta. Top this with grilled chicken or shrimp and consider garnishing with some chopped sun-dried tomato to complete the meal.
Strawberry Fruit Rolls
It’s strawberry season! Strawberries are a great little package of nutrients like vitamin C, manganese, folate and potassium, along with many other phytochemicals that act as antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. There is nothing quite like a summer-ripe strawberry. Give this fruit leather recipe a try and enjoy those sweet berries for up to two weeks past peak season.
Spinach Feta Quiche with Sweet Potato Crust
This recipe is a healthier—and, honestly, easier—twist on a classic dish. Quiche is typically a decadent, savory treat with a super buttery crust and a creamy egg filling.
Instead of using butter and white flour to make the crust, this version uses simple slices of sweet potato, a nutritious complex carbohydrate filled with fiber and nutrients. The addition of Greek yogurt, rather than cream, to the egg mix still produces a delightful creamy texture but with added protein and less saturated fat. This also works great with scrambled eggs or omelets. If you’re watching your cholesterol or fat intake, substitute half the eggs with their equivalent in liquid egg whites, or 4 whites from whole eggs.
Roasted Asparagus
Asparagus is a classic spring vegetable, and roasting or grilling are by far the best ways to prepare it. These methods will give an enjoyably fibrous-yet-soft texture, a juicy stalk and crispy charred leaves at the head. Asparagus is full of many nutrients such as Vitamin A, E, C, K and folate, and the fiber strands make an excellent prebiotic to feed your gut bacteria.
Lucky Corned Beef with Horseradish Sauce
You may have heard how we need to cut back on red meats. The saturated fats in red meats are known for increasing our cholesterol, having a negative effect on our heart health. However, when we do have red meats, making sure that we keep to the leaner cuts is key.
The cooking method is one way you can tell if a cut is lean or not. When meats have less fat on them, they need more time at a lower temperature to turn out juicy and tender. Too hot and too fast will cause the protein to tighten rapidly, leading to a tough, chewy piece of meat. This cooking method is sometimes used for higher fat meats, such pork ribs, but it remains a helpful indication of leanness. You may notice the thick layer of fat on the brisket; you can trim some of it off, leaving behind the meat. For an even leaner option, choose a corned beef round, which has less fat within the meat (also known as marbling).
Horseradish is the real star of this show; the perfect sharp accent to cut through the savory meat. It’s been used medicinally for hundreds of years for its anti-inflammatory effects. It has also been researched for its possible cardiovascular benefits and antibacterial properties.
Spinach Dal
We’ve talked about lentils before and how they are an excellent plant-based protein full of fiber and iron. Dark leafy greens, spinach in particular, are also a great source of iron. Iron is important in your body because it is a major component of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen through your bloodstream.
There are two types of iron: heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron comes from animal sources, and non-heme iron comes from plant sources, like spinach. Non-heme iron is not as easily absorbed as heme iron because our body must go through steps to convert it to heme iron after we eat it. To help maximize your absorption of iron from dark leafy greens, add an acid to your dish, like a fresh squeeze of lemon juice or a vinegar-based dressing.