I try to eat in season, it helps me have fun and variety in my food. I feel drawn to move into alignment with my environment in this simple way. So now even though it is snowing to beat the band in the northern hemisphere it is Spring. Ayurveda calls this Kapha season. It is time for Spring Eats sprouts and microgreens
Microgreens on your Plate this Spring?
Kapha is wet and heavy. To balance I want to get more light living foods into my diet. I start to crave greens My body wants to let go of of winter and lighten up. My favorite way is to add salads to the menu. Lots of greens of all kinds work their way into my food.
But to really get into the spirit of spring I add sprouts and microgreens. Just as I get excited to see the crocus and daffodil breaking through the earth, I get jazzed about sprouts and microgreens. I have talked about eating sprouts and sprouting as part of spring. If you don’t have a green thumb you can always buy them.
Click this link for more information about the types of microgreens available and the health benefits. You can find them in major supermarkets or grow them yourself.
Micro greens are grown in soil and harvested when early in their life. They suck the minerals out of the earth. The true leaves develop after the first two visible leaves of a plant appear. When the next set of leaves are produced, the plant is a microgreen ready to pick. At this point Micro greens are full of nutrients and enzymes. If the plant was allowed to grow, it would become a seedling.
Micro greens are a really vibrant green. The color jumps out at you. They have a punched up version of the mature plant’s flavor. So Arugula microgreens are peppery peppery. Recent research concludes ” In comparison with nutritional concentrations in mature leaves (USDA National Nutrient Database), the microgreen cotyledon leaves possessed higher nutritional densities.” So you can really bring it nutritionally eating microgreens. Just start adding them to stuff. You can sprinkle micro greens in traditional salad for fun.
Reference:
Assessment of Vitamin and Carotenoid Concentrations of Emerging Food Products: Edible Microgreens Zhenlei Xiao†, Gene E. Lester*‡, Yaguang Luo‡, and Qin Wang*† Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States J. Agric. Food Chem., 2012, 60 (31), pp 7644–7651
Sprouty Spring Salad Recipe
Sprouts and micro greens are great for spring Serve 2 as a side or 1 as a dinner salad.
Equipment:
- Colander
- Knife
- Peeler
- Cutting Board
- Medium Bowl
- Small Bowl
- Fork
Ingredients:
- 3 handfuls of Arugula Micro Greens
- 2 small green onions,
- 10 sugar snap peas
- 2 handfuls of kale sprouts
- 2 mini cucumbers
- 1/4to ½ an Avacado
- 1 TLB Olive Oil
- ½ Lemon
- Sea Salt
- Pepper
Instructions:
- Wash the cucumbers, onions and snap peas. Drain in Colander.
- Trim the ends off the vegie ends. Add waste veggies to the compost.
- Chop the onions, cucumbers and snap peas medium chop. ¼ “ pieces
- Add the snap peas, green onions and cucumber slices to the bowl.
- Put the micro-greens and sprouts on top.
- Mix the Lemon, olive oil and avocado in a very small bowl.
- Drizzle this dressing over the greens.
- Mix and fluff with the fork to distribute the different veggies and the dressing.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Give this a try or just add micro greens to your spring menu to sinc up with spring and have some fun.
The information provided on this website is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment or advice. All the material here is for information purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.