Green Soup

Happy Sunday my sweet petunias! I hope your weekend was fantastic. They pass all too quickly don’t they?

I spent the weekend working, mostly, but I did manage to breath some air, do some yoga, relax (sort of) over a foam roller with candlelight on Friday night. Yeah, that’s how racy I am. Candlelight and a foam roller for a Friday night date. I think I was in bed by 10.

Anyway, I just thought I’d stop in and share an awesome and easy meal I threw together. We’ve been picking zucchini and kale like crazy over here. Seriously, the zucchini are beginning to frighten me.

Huge Zucchini Plus, we had visited the farmer’s market and scored some local leeks and garlic. And OMG we were starving and time-starved. Thank goodness dinner came together in a flash.

We put our Brooklyn blackberries in a bowl as centerpiece, roasted this maitake mushroom…

Mushroom Roast!

…and sat down to an incredible gourmet meal in about 20 minutes. Not too shabby.

You can pair this soup with anything. It’s just the green part. But super delicious and filling and satisfying. And healthy like drinking a green smoothie…only so savory.

Get thee to a farmer’s market and make this pronto! You won’t be sorry.

Very Green Soup

Serves at least 4

Ingredients:

2 medium zucchini, halved and sliced
1 bunch kale, torn
2 medium leeks, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
Sea salt to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Hemp seeds (optional, for sprinkling)

Green Soup MakingDirections:

Add zucchini, leeks, kale and garlic to a large soup pot.

Add 4 cups water to the pot.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer about 10 minutes, or until all vegetables are soft.

Ladle most of the broth and about 1/2 of the veggies into a blender and blend until smooth. Return to the soup pot.

Ladle into soup bowls. Drizzle each portion with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Optional: top with hemp seeds.

Dive in!

Green Soup 2 I’ve made something similar but added peas to the mix, which make it heartier, and fresh and springy at the same time. I’ve pureed the whole batch and eaten it smooth, but the BHH doesn’t love it that way as much. What I mean to say is, it’s malleable, make it your own. Got spinach instead of kale? Great. Got onions instead of leeks? Go for it! Use the veggies you have on hand. They seem to ‘work out their differences in the pot’ as Ayurveda says about kitchari.

And with that, I am finally turning off my computer until tomorrow morning. Time for a little wind down.

With love and green veggies,

L.

 

Smart Snacking For Sports (Plus a Sweet Recipe)

I had a little problem this weekend, and I am so glad it’s Monday so I can get it off my hands. I made these amazing little chocolate bites, and they were just too good. A little addictive. Maybe more than a little. I even froze them in self defense, but it turns out they’re great straight from the freezer. READ MORE >

Life is Just a Bowl of Zucchini Flowers

IMG_0259So here I sit on my beautiful deck, on my small mountain, on a brilliant day, looking at my computer. But I tell you what, it’s still bliss. And I can’t help myself. Must share last night’s accidental recipe.

The husband continually asks me not to let him plant too much zucchini. Every year he begs me to stop him. Every year I fail. As if I could change his behavior in any way. We end up leaving them in front of neighbors’ houses and running away. READ MORE >

Southern Style Braised Collards-No Bacon Required

Good morning folks! Let’s start the week with a little Meatless Monday inspiration shall we?

Actually, I usually call this kind of post “veggie man days”. Not that men aren’t often vegetarian as well, it’s just that my man doesn’t like to think about the fact that his meal might be meatless (or maybe he just feels his manhood is threatened by the name) and so I coined the term “Veggie Man Days” for him.

The truth is, I think a lot of people have some idea that vegetarian meals will be

1)   Bland

2)   Boring

3)   Unsatisfying/unsubstantial

4)   “different” not like “real food” that they’re used to

It isn’t true. Or it doesn’t have to be. One of the most important missions of A Life Delectable is to show you that plants can be dressed up into gourmet packages. They don’t have to involve the wheat germ sprinkle over a pile of rice and beans a la 1970s veganism.

And I must have convinced the husband, because, well, I admit it, this recipe was his idea. I was making collards all the time last summer, and he was missing the bits of bacon he imagined should be involved. We had some sun-dried tomatoes in the house and he asked me to chop them in, and, VOILA! An awesome Veggie Man Days recipe was born. From then this side dish appeared frequently on our plates. We like the oil-cured ones we find locally, but regular old dry ones will plump up in the pan too.

I recently served this dish to some friends, and they immediately asked how to make it. So here it is Cheri and Ron, so easy you almost don’t need a recipe, but I’ll give you one to follow anyway.

And, to make it a whole nutrient dense meal, try adding pine nuts or white beans (cannellini, navy, whatever you have on hand) plus some marinated Portobello mushrooms. In fact, I did that with recently (and forgot to get pictures) and it was an amazingly satisfying totally plant based meal.

Happy Monday! Now, go get cooking!

Southern Style Braised Collards—No Bacon Required

Ingredients:

3-4 Cloves Garlic, smashed and minced
1 Large Bunch Collard Greens (Kale is great too!), cut from the stems and cut into thin strips
½ Cup Sundried Tomatoes, sliced or chopped
1 Tblsp. Olive Oil (or avocado, grapeseed or coconut)
¼ Cup Pine Nuts (optional)
Water as necessary for braising

Directions:

Heat oil over medium high heat

Add garlic and stir till slightly soft

Add collards and sun-dried tomatoes and stir to coat with oil and garlic

Add a splash of water, turn the heat to medium and cover

Let braise to desired consistency, checking frequently for moisture and adding more water as needed to prevent sticking and burning. I like my greens pretty fresh and bright, keeping more nutrients in tact. Often, I add more water while covered, then remove the cover and let it evaporate at the end. Play with it! It’s as simple as can be!

Stir in the pine nuts and serve.

As I said, I serve this very often as a side dish, but for a whole nutrient dense meal I recently added ¾ cup of white beans and then served it with strips of marinated/grilled Portobello mushroom. I think for a party presentation it would be nice to stuff the whole thing into a Portobello cap. Presto! Martha Stewart-esque Veggie Man Day Meal. Get the idea?

Get some collards and let me know how they turn out. Or hey, go plant your own for later in the summer!

Collards and Tomatoes

The Crux of the Matter

I was just about to hit publish on a fluffy little post with a green juice recipe at the end of it. Then I got an email from my sweet cousin, and had to redirect. You see, she hit on the exact nature and purpose of A Life Delectable, and I couldn’t help but share it with you.

She wrote to ask me whether:

1: I’ve ever done a cleanse and would I do it again.

2: Did I actually like the taste of whole foods when I started eating them so long ago.

Ha! She had no idea what she was in for with those questions. Yes, Debra, I’ve done every cleanse on the planet. And I have a variety of thoughts on them. It really depends on the person, where they’re at emotionally and physically and what their goals are.

DId I like the taste of whole foods when I first started? Hmmm, that’s complicated.

You see, I had a certain idea of what they were at first. I ruled out all kinds of things it would have been fine to eat. I put myself in a very tiny dogmatic box. And after a while I felt deprived. 

But, cousin, and everyone else, you don’t have to! I have already been there, done that, for you. Also, the world has come a long way in 11 years and whoa, there are so many delicious indulgences in the “whole food” category now.

But more than that, I think people are scared of the term “whole foods” without knowing what they are. Like whole foods will have to taste like grass clippings or sawdust. Yes, you could include raw kale salad in that category, but no, you don’t have to. I imagine you already love lots of whole foods you don’t really recognize.

Eggs? Free range, organic ones qualify. Sweet potatoes? Lay em on me! Salad. Roasted asparagus or roasted roots. Grilled portobello mushrooms. Cream of mushroom soup with cashew ‘cream’. Lentils. Chickpeas. Avocado (OMG Guacamole!). Fruits. Nuts. Seeds. Nut butters. Oats. Olives. If you eat animal protein, that can be a whole food (just eat it sparingly and please get it local, humanely raised, and antibiotic/hormone free, grass fed).

Did you hear anything in there that you actually already like to eat? I can’t possibly list the entire range of whole foods. It’s everything that doesn’t come in a box! But if you need more convincing, check around my web site a little.

Here’s an example of a whole food treat that knocks even “omni” “regular” eaters’ socks off (and I’m talking about my dad and husband here). Cream Filled Pumpkin Muffins. Do they say 1970s hippie to you? I think not.Muffins Close Upkichari and millet mashPB Balls

IMG_0257If that’s not good enough think cashew based pistachio ice cream, coconut macaroon raw key lime tartlets, coconut based salted caramel, dates stuffed with almond butter and preserved orange peel, chickpeas braised in red wine with sun dried tomatoes, toasted almonds and apricots all stuffed into chickpea blini. A lasagna made with cashew “ricotta” and basil pesto.

All of this can be yours. All you have to do is step away from the low fat, sugar free chemical laced packaged goods.

I can help. These questions are exactly what I set out to help people answer. How do I enjoy a whole foods lifestyle? How do I jumpstart my new habits? How do I “clean up my story” without punishing myself? How do I reset for the season?

Contact me we’ll work it out together. And, oh my goodness, it’s going to be delectable!

Landed (Plus, a sweet recipe)

Payasam Overnight OatsI’ve been home for over a week now, and yet I feel like I’ve just landed. For the first bunch of days, I just felt like I wasn’t quite here. My timing was all off. I wasn’t sure what to eat. I felt all floaty, sort of. And, it was delicious. READ MORE >

Baby It’s Cold Outside…Make Soup!

IMG_0522Baby It’s Cold Outside…Make Some Soup!

I know I know. It’s not that long past New Year’s. Everybody’s feeling all cleansey. You’re pushing the green juice hard and trying to avoid things that feel heavy, perhaps. But seriously, you need a little grounding, not just because Ayurveda says so…it’s cold out there! I’m thinking the phrases “Polar Vortex” and “Raw Food/Juice Cleanse” don’t quite make a perfect match. You know what makes a better match? Soup. Or stew. Something with winter vegetables, healthy fats and warming spices. READ MORE >