Green Options

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What is your favorite summer kale recipe? 

Here’s one of mine . . .
Kale is not one of my favorite veggies, but somehow Green Diva Jen, (AKA Jenifer O’Neill) has been slowly converting me. She contributed this recipe as well as the actual dish for our wonderful staff picnic last year (photo was taken on my back deck!). She seems to find great ways to get more kale into the mix!

Ingredients

1/2 head kale (any variety)
1/2 head green cabbage
1/2 head red cabbage
4 large carrots
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or umeboshi plum vinegar
1 cup your favorite mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
Freshly ground pepper
Splash of water

Instructions

Ok, so according to the calendar, it may not be summer quite yet, but in California, the avocados are just starting to ripen, which is how I mark the start of the season. And when the weather starts getting warmer, I start turning to lighter, fresh meals. This quinoa-based salad is easy to prepare, and contains so many of my favorite healthy ingredients.

I’m always surprised that quinoa hasn’t caught on mainstream, given how easy it is too cook, and its high nutritional content. Despite the fact that in cooking it’s treated like rice or barley, quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain. Known as the staple of the Incas (and also a staple of the vegans, as it’s a complete protein), this crop originated in the Andes Mountains. It’s used more often in Mexican dishes, but I really enjoy it in this Asian-inspired salad.

The kale is chock full of iron and the nori is rich in calcium and iodine. If you opt for a fat-free dressing, then the only fat comes from the avocado. (Which is, you know, a good fat… at least that’s what I tell myself when I’m scarfing down guacamole.) Here’s the full recipe:

I know. It doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, but trust me. This is delicious. We keep basil in the garden and pesto in the fridge during most of the summer season. By now (early Spring), we are ready, but the Basil is not.

When my friend, business partner, and the managing editor of our magazine, Relevant Times shared this recipe with me, I was skeptical too. I’ve learned to trust Green Diva Jen’s (AKA Jenifer O’Neill) recipes. She is not only a WiseWoman herbalist, she is an amazing natural foods and Macrobiotic chef.

Ingredients
2 cups raw kale
1 cup pine nuts
1 cup olive oil
1 cup Romano cheese, grated
4 cloves garlic peeled & chopped
salt & freshly group pepper to taste

Directions

Think you have spring fever? Sandy Dietz walks into a tsunami of vernal anticipation every time she enters her Minnesota greenhouse, bonding with the thousands of seedlings that will eventually find a home outside in the fields. Raising over a hundred varieties of vegetables, Dietz and her family run Whitewater Gardens in northeast Minnesota, growing for area farmers’ markets and a sixty member CSA (community supported agriculture).

“Our first farmers’ market of the season is like an anticipated family reunion for me,” Dietz says with a smile. “To reconnect with the folks who regularly buy our produce every week and watch them act like kids in a candy store when they see our fresh kale for the first time this year confirms that farming is where my heart and passion lie. To contribute to the local food system by taking things from seed to community, that’s priceless to me.”

Dietz’s path to farming represents current trends in small-scale agriculture. While she grew up in a small town setting, she and her husband, Lonny, had no growing experience. After years in traditional office settings, the Dietz duo started their five-acre market garden in 1996. Like many new farmers in training, they met seasoned Obi Wan Kenobi mentors to help them get established. “The strong network of organic farmers helped us get started and keeps us connected today,” Dietz adds. Dietz also represents the changing face of women in agriculture, as increasing numbers of women (particularly those under 55) are purchasing new farms and operating organic and sustainably-managed farms.

In Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, he explains that you can often follow the ripening of a certain vegetable northward, thus eating the exact same thing, in season, for weeks. It’s nice to know this, as I can look southward in anticipation for what will be coming next month. I can also consult a harvest calendar for my zone, and get a head start on recipe planning. Some seasonal eating guides are available at Sustainable Table, but for most, you will need to type “harvest calendar” and your state name into a good search engine.

Of course, I didn’t know any of this my first year of eating local. Thanks to the grocery store experience, I had become very much out of touch with what was in season when. Each week’s CSA bag and trip to the farmers market brought a surprise, and then I had to scramble to figure out how to fix the bounty while it was still at its best.

Early spring crops must be frost-tolerant and hearty to withstand the cooler temperatures. The vegetables that get planted earliest include cole crops like broccoli and kale, lettuces and greens, carrots, turnips, beets and onions also go in the ground in the first month of spring. Asparagus, which is a perennial, has to be planted three years before it can be harvested. (seasonal guide and recipes after the jump).

In my 15+ years of animal and vegetarian/vegan advocacy, I have answered countless questions – some smart, some thoughtful, some antagonistic, some ridiculous, and some over and over and over. Some people seem to think that by virtue of being vegan you hold degrees in nutrition, philosophy, anthropology, animal husbandry, ecology, and the culinary arts and often proceed to cross-examine you on each of these topics. Every vegan or vegetarian has been on the

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