Kohlrabi Apple Salad with Microgreens

Here’s some more ideas for just what to do with kohlrabi (including how to cook the greens)!

It’s taken me years to make friends with this funky vegetable. It’s soooo good for you, though. Before this recipe (which finally makes eating raw kohlrabi exciting for me!), I could easily chop the greens into my throw-everything-together stew and all I could think of to do with the bulb was slice and roast it with olive oil, salt and pepper (which is pretty tasty, by the way). But this! I hear raw olive oil is way better for you than cooking with it. And I can finally enjoy the raw crunchiness of the kohlrabi in all its healthy glory. I hope you do, too!

Ingredients:

1 Kohlrabi

1 Apple

1/2 lemon or lime

Olive Oil

Trader Joe’s Dukkah Nut and Spice Blend (Almonds, Sesame Seeds, Fennel Seeds, Coriander, Anise Seeds, Salt)

Microgreens (we’re trying a Kale and lemony Sorrel mix this week, but any mild mix would work!)

Instructions:

1. Use a knife to remove the thick peel, then thinly slice the kohlrabi bulb. Think half-moon shapes.

2. Thinly slice apple. Half-moon again.

3. Toss kohlrabi and apple together with a squeeze of lemon or lime, drizzle with olive oil and generously sprinkle with Dukkah nut and spice blend.

4. Top with microgreens.

Receta de Quelites de mi Nanaita (My Great-Aunt's Quelite Greens Recipe)

Quelites in Mexico

What exactly are “quelites” is a contentious issue amongst some because the plant most commonly known as “quelite” varies from region to region in Mexico. So, my grandmother’s quelites might not be your grandmother’s quelites.

On my quest to find clarity over the years, I came across this poster and this great article. Quelites are a pre-columbian dish indigenous to the americas. The name comes from the Nahuatl word Quilitl which translates roughly to
”tender and edible green”. Another key characteristic is that they are wild-harvested, a weed, not something you plant in your garden. At least that’s how it used to be. The one my father excitedly found growing as a weed in our yard, that his mother called quelite de monte, was green amaranth. The plant my Nanaita used the day I was introduced to this quelites recipe was spinach (not a traditional quelite, but available and delicious nonetheless). I felt nourished and was in love with the simple magic of her recipe. Since then, I make it with whatever I have around, including amaranth, spinach, chard, collards, chaya, beet greens, turnip greens, arugula, kale, and the list goes on. So here it is—-

Ingredients:

1 bunch of greens (try chard, kale, amaranth, chaya, spinach, collards, beet greens, turnip greens, arugula…)

olive oil

1 tsp coriander (ground)

1 tsp sea salt

black pepper (to taste)

2 cloves garlic (sliced)

1 handful of organic corn masa

1 cup water

lemon or lime

Instructions:

1. Thinly slice your greens

2. In a pan (I prefer to use cast iron), drizzle a little bit of olive oil (maybe a tablespoon) and saute the garlic, coriander, salt and pepper for a minute.

3. add water to the pan, then sprinkle the masa into the pan immediately (before water gets too hot) while stirring so the masa dissolves and doesn’t clump up too much.

4. Bring to a low boil, add greens and cover to simmer for just a couple of minutes (unless you’re using some of the tougher greens like collards or chaya, which you’d want to cook for a few minutes longer).

5. Remove from heat, add a little squeeze of lime (or the juice of a whole lemon or lime, like me, depending your preferences!) and serve.

Guava Spinach Muffins

Our guava harvesting crew at work!

I don’t bake muffins very often, but my basic muffin recipe (that started out inspired by a protein-rich zucchini bread back when I was a high school teacher looking to feed my kids well on those long testing days) has seen several funky incarnations. This is a new one, now that I’m looking to use what I have around (I’m learning to eat with the seasons!) and feed my two hungry, growing little kids. My goals: it must be sweet enough for them to love it, not so sweet that I feel guilty about feeding it to them and enough protein and greens in there that it’s almost a meal for my stubborn little newly-turned two-year old. Sigh! Ok, so here’s the late fall recipe—-

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts

⅓ cup coconut oil

2 tbs molasses

1 tbs maple syrup

2 tbs fruit preserves (I used strawberry, and only added this ingredient because I ran out of maple syrup…you could skip this and add two more tbs maple syrup instead)

2 eggs

½ cup almond milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tbs cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

zest from one orange

1 cup chopped guava (which is about three large guavas, de-seeded…here’s how)

1 cup spinach (finely chopped)

1 cup oat flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Warm up the coconut oil until it’s liquid. I did this by placing the metal mixing bowl on the stove top while the oven preheats.

3. Crush and toast walnuts for two minutes in a cast-iron pan with a little syrup or fruit preserve to candy them up. You can also do this step in the oven by laying out the walnuts on some parchment paper, drizzling with syrup and toasting for about 5 minutes).

3. Take the liquified coconut oil and add the molasses, maple syrup, fruit preserves (if using), eggs, almond milk, vanilla, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well.

3. Stir in the guava, spinach and orange zest.

4. Stir in the flours.

5. Pour mix by the spoonful into muffin tin lined with baking cups.

6. Sprinkle tops with the candied walnuts.

7. Bake for about 20 minutes. Check with a fork when you start to smell them. If the fork comes out clean, then they’re done.

Makes about 16 small muffins

Quick Veggie Ramen

Quick Veggie Ramen

If you grew up like me, ramen is one of the comfort foods that takes you back. For me, it was Top Ramen that represented my first taste of independence when my formerly stay-at-home mom went to work and I proudly fed myself RAMEN! Sometimes, I even put ketchup on it. My more ‘sophisticated’ self now still longs for those days eating noodles and watching Mr. Belvedere sprawled out on my mom’s bed. So, transforming my ramen experience from noodles and a flavorful powder into something with healthy stuff in it is a beautiful thing. Here’s my current version of a ramen dinner night (it looks like a long recipe, but it’s actually pretty quick to make!)—

Ingredients:

Sesame seed oil

1 onion (thinly sliced)

2-inch piece of ginger (sliced, more or less as desired)

1-inch piece of fresh turmeric (or 1 tsp dry powdered)

Two handfuls dried shitake mushroom

6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

4 tbs sunflower seed butter

8 tbs soy sauce

2 veggie bouillon cubes or 4 cups veggie broth

1 handful nutritional yeast

ramen noodles (it’s up to you how much, but think along the lines of four servings)

1 bunch of bok choy (thinly sliced)

1 box tofu (cut into cubes)

Miso to taste

The Toppings (any or all!)—

other veggies you’ve got around (such as carrots, green onions, cilantro)

microgreens (whichever are around! I especially like the spicy ones in this dish, like radish and cress)

toasted sesame seeds

lemon or lime

hard boiled eggs

Instructions:

Saute onions, ginger, turmeric and mushrooms in sesame oil for a few minutes.

Add garlic and saute for another minute.

Add sunflower seed butter and soy sauce and saute for another minute.

Add veggie bouillon plus 6 cups water OR 4 cups veggie broth and two cups water, nutritional yeast and bring to a boil.

Add bok choy, tofu and ramen and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in miso paste to taste.

Add toppings and serve

Roasted Acorn Squash with Sauteed Kale and Sun Shoots

Acorn Squash

Ingredients;

1 acorn squash, cut into 1 inch slices

olive or coconut oil

salt and pepper to taste

coriander, cumin or other spices you love…

garlic, peeled and sliced

kale, thinly sliced

sunflower shoots, rinsed

Instructions:

Place sliced acorn squash on a baking sheet (I line it with parchment paper for easy clean up) and drizzle with oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper

Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes or until soft and a bit crispy.

Meanwhile, put a bit of oil in a pan and add garlic, salt, pepper and coriander (and/or other spices) over medium heat. After a minute, add kale, cover and let cook for another couple of minutes.

Remove cover and add a dash of balsamic vinegar.

Serve acorn squash slices over bed of sauteed kale and top with fresh sunflower shoots.

Sunflower Shoots

Simple Guava Punch

Guava fruit (in Spanish, guayaba) comes in different flavors and colors, and its leaf, in particular, has many traditional medicinal uses.

So, today, the weather finally turned cool and my bones are already asking for warmth! The abundance of guavas in our backyard and our friends’ farms provides a key ingredient in the most exciting drink to warm up to—Ponche! The traditional recipes are delicious and complex—something to plan ahead for holiday parties. But, in just a little while, you can make this warm, sweet, aromatic drink that people young and old enjoy. You can keep it simple, or get fancy with it and experiment! Here’s a little recipe to get you started:

Simple Guava Punch

Ingredients:

5 guavas

4 cinnamon sticks

1 small piloncillo or 1/4 cup brown sugar (plus a tsp molasses, if you have it around) Note: While this ingredient is essential to the traditional versions of ponche, for those of us working to reduce the amount of sugar in our diets (Too many diabetic elders in my family for me to feel good drinking super sweet beverages anymore!)—I’ve made this without the added sugar or piloncillo, or with half the sugar, and since that’s the only version my kids have around at any given moment, they love them all!

Additional options to experiment with—oranges, apples, pears, raisins, prunes, hibiscus, tamarind, clove, tejocote…(You can add any, all or none of these!)

Instructions:

Slice up guavas (and other fruit you might want to add) as thin as possible and put in a pot with 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 liter (that’s about 4 1/4 cups) water, and any other ingredients you’re trying out including the piloncillo or sugar.

Cover, bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Strain and serve hot. Makes about 4 cups.

Final tip—if you make this at night and let it sit overnight in the covered pot, it will taste even better in the morning when you reheat, strain and serve.

Persian Cress Orange Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or 1 cube bouillon in two cups water)

1 potato or 1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 cup cress (this is approximate; use more or less if you wish)

1 cup kale, finely chopped (also approximate, adjust to your mood or budget!)

1 cup orange juice

salt and pepper

Instructions:

In a pot, saute chopped onion in olive oil until translucent. Add prepared stock or water and bouillon cube along with the chopped potato and simmer until potato is soft. (if opting for the yogurt instead of the potato, do not add yet!)

Rinse cress (save a little for garnish) and kale and add to pot along with the orange juice, salt and pepper. Simmer for a couple more minutes, then remove from heat. If you have an immersion blender (my favorite kitchen appliance these days!), blend the soup directly in the pot. If not, let cool a bit then transfer to blender to puree. (if you opted for the yogurt instead of the potato, mix it into the soup once you’re finished blending it.

Enjoy with toast, croutons, biscuits, or crackers!

Simple Butternut Soup with Fresh Fenugreek

Bitter as it is, this kid (sometimes!) will eat fresh fenugreek by the handfuls. And when he’s not so inclined, we give a pep talk about feeding the good gut bugs and that in order to eat sweets and stay healthy, we need to balance it with bitters that help clean our insides.

There are so many ways to make butternut soup exciting. Here’s the quickest, simplest, kid friendliest one I can think of AND it uses one of my favorite bitter microgreens (fenugreek, such good medicine!) to balance out the sweetness of the butternut—

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized butternut squash

2 cups prepared veggie broth or 2 cups water and one cube veggie bouillon

1 can of coconut milk (13.5 oz)

1 tbs onion powder

2 tbs fresh ginger (grated)

salt and pepper to taste

fresh fenugreek

green onions (chopped)

lemon

Instructions:

The Butternut Squash—

You can either cut it up into slices in a hurry (the thinner, the quicker it cooks through) and put in a pan with a little oil, a splash of water and a well-fitting lid to cook about 10 minutes until soft. The downside to this is that you need to scrape the cooked butternut off of each slice afterwards if you want the soup to be smooth.

or

Cut it in half, scoop the seeds out and roast it on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes until soft. My new discovery—You don’t really need oil to do this (although, the crispiness of a little olive oil on top is delicious). Cover with foil if you want it to soften faster. Overall, this method takes longer but scooping the butternut out is a lot faster than scraping it slice by slice. And you’re free to do other things for the 40 minutes it takes to bake.

In a pot, add the cooked butternut squash (scooped out with no peel), broth or water and veggie bouillon, coconut milk, onion powder, grated ginger, salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher (or use an immersion blender) and stir until smooth.

Top with fresh fenugreek microgreens, chopped green onions and a squeeze of lemon juice

Roasted and Stuffed Kabocha Squash

Ingredients:

1 Kabocha squash

1 bunch of chard or kale leaves

1 small onion (finely chopped)

8 mushrooms

4 cloves garlic

1 cup nuts and/or seeds (try walnuts and sunflower seeds)

rosemary, salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

microgreens

Instructions:

Cut the Kabocha squash in half and scrape out the seeds (This is the hardest part!)

Stuff the kabocha with the chard or kale and onion first and fill 1/2 way. Then add a mix of mushrooms, garlic, nuts, rosemary, salt and pepper and on top of the chard and onion.

Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 until squash is soft (40 minutes to 1 hour)

Garnish with a handful of microgreens

A note on kids and mushrooms—My 1-year-old loves mushrooms of all kinds, in all forms, and in large quantities (weird, right?); my 4-year-old does not. Mushrooms are such good medicine that I refuse to give up on them for him. Sometimes, I cut them in fourths and let him pick them out because I know the mushroom broth that’s cooked into the food is still giving him some of their goodness. Other times, my strategy is to chop them into unrecognizable deliciousness and forget to mention there’s mushrooms in the food. For my picky little boy, this has been working lately. Everyday is different, though!

Kabocha Squash

Butternut Peanut Soup

Ingredients:

1 butternut

1 large onion and/or 1-3 shallots if you want to get fancy.

3 cloves garlic

2 heaping tbs chopped ginger (about a 1/4 cup)

4 heaping tbsp peanut butter

4 tbsp Soy sauce

Veggie boullion (1 or 2 cubes)

oregano

Salt and black pepper to taste

Kale (chopped in thin strips)

and/or any other veggies you want to toss in (carrots, broccoli and cauliflower are yummy additions but really, anything goes!)

Fresh herbs (basil, cilantro or parsley)

Lime

INSTRUCTIONS

Chop butternut and fry in olive oil or palm oil until browned

Transfer to a pot with just enough water to cover it and boil until soft. 

In the meantime, saute onions (and/or shallots)

Once soft, mash the butternut in the pot and then add the rest of the ingredients (except the fresh herbs and lime) and more water.

Bring to a boil and stir until peanut butter dissolves (just a few minutes)

Garnish with microgreens and/or fresh herbs (basil, cilantro or parsley works!)

And of course, I recommend a splash of lime juice and crushed chiltepin or cayenne in your bowl to spice it up.