Seasonal Recipes for Spring from Nourishing Medicine

Nourishing Medicine Presents:
Spring  Seasonal Recipes. These seasonal recipes will make your mouth water and your body healthy.

1. Grilled Asparagus
2. Sesame Spinach
3. Creamy Greens (without the cream!)
4. Almond Butter Shakes
-Red berry variation
-Blueberry chocolate variation
-Chai variation

1. Grilled Asparagus
The best way to grill veggies is the most simple one; tossing them with olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper.  Later in the summer more veggies will be available, but for now stick with in-season asparagus.
Rinse the asparagus. Snap off the bottoms (rather than cutting them, the snapping will ensure you are getting only ripe bits to eat). Toss the asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper and put on the pre-heated grill perpendicular to the metal. Roll them once or twice and watch them pretty carefully so the tips don’t burn. They are done when they are slightly crunchy, not mushy.

2.  Sesame Spinach
Use prewashed baby spinach. Heat a large pan on fairly high heat.
Heat a tiny bit of coconut oil. Once melted, add some spinach. Once it starts to wilt, add more. Repeat and repeat. Amazing how much spinach cooks down!
Once it’s all cooked down, turn the heat to low.
Add a heaping teaspoon of tahini and stir.
Add some sea salt.
Turn off heat.
Add about ½ teaspoon of local, raw honey and stir.
Add some black and brown unhulled sesame seeds and stir.
Adjust seasonings to taste.

3. Creamy Greens (without the cream!)
Heat some oil in a big pot/wok/deep skillet on medium
Add an onion, chopped in whatever size you like
Add ½ a head of minced garlic
Stir until onions are softening
Add a lot of greens: kale, collards, bok choy, etc.
Stir and let them sit.  Repeat this until they get limp
Add diced red/yellow/orange pepper to make it look pretty
Add a lot of tahini, a bit of sweetener (to balance the tahini’s bitterness: molasses, maple syrup, or agave nectar) and stir to combine
Add some sea salt and stir
Additions if you feel like it: black and brown sesame seeds, toasted almonds, if you’re in the mood for sweet you can do raisins, fresh lemon juice, cayenne pepper if you like it hot
Serve hot over black or red rice

4.  Almond Butter Shakes
(different versions are below)
Here are the base ingredients:
Almond or rice milk – cold, a cup or two
Almond butter – from the fridge (where it should be kept anyway to avoid rancidity), a heaping tablespoon or two (the protein in this makes for no blood sugar surges)
Sweetener: Local, raw honey, maple syrup grade B (it’s the most nutritious ‘cause it’s the least refined), or agave nectar – to taste
Vanilla extract – a quick pour from the bottle
Sea salt – a tiny pinch
If desired for health: freshly ground flax seeds (which will thicken the shake and provide omega 3s amongst other goodness – approx. 1 tsp); a bit of coconut oil (1/2 tsp); some tahini (for calcium & iron & other good stuff, but not too much ‘cause it can be somewhat bitter in comparison to the rest – maybe 1 tsp)

Variations:
-Red berry variation:
(For Spring season, this variation is the best)
Frozen strawberries, raspberries, or mixed berries (When you buy your fresh berries in season, rinse them, dry them, and promptly throw them in the freezer – they’ll retain much of their nutrition up to 6 months later. This drink is much better with frozen berries than fresh for smoothie consistency.)
Add coconut milk for a richer drink

-Blueberry chocolate variation:
Frozen blueberries – just pour some from the bag
Cocoa powder – a heaping tablespoon
Cinnamon – a teaspoon
Blend in blender. Adjust ingredients to taste and consistency preference. Too runny? More blueberries. Too blah? More cinnamon or vanilla or cocoa powder or almond butter.

-Chai variation:
Go heavier on the cinnamon and vanilla
Cardamom powder
Ground ginger
A little ground black pepper
Rice Dream frozen dessert