5 minute read
Healthy Cooking: Sweet Greens & Carrots
Spring is the time our bodies go through a natural cleansing. We have just spent months indoors, typically eating more heavy foods seasoned with more fat to help keep us warm. When spring comes, it’s time to lighten up your cooking and include cleansing green foods. Green foods contain chlorophyll, which has many healing properties such as detoxing the liver. The liver, gallbladder, and nervous system are organs to focus on feeding and nurturing during the spring. Chemically similar to hemoglobin, a protein that is essential in red blood cells as it carries oxygen around a person’s body, chlorophyll also can help with wound healing, cancer prevention, and is good for your skin. Kale and collards greens are in this category of green foods. Both are high in vitamin C, protein, and iron. Celery helps to cleanse the blood, which brings one’s energy up to help with the busier time of spring.
Carrots are a great vegetable to add color and sweetness to any dish. In the recipe below, the sweetness of the carrots and raisins help balance out the bitterness of the greens. Also known for helping to purify the blood, carrots are high in vitamin A, calcium, and phosphorus. Seasoning this dish with lemon juice and brown rice vinegar brings in the signature flavor of spring—sour.
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Sweet Greens & Carrots
2 cup carrots (pencil-cut) 2 cups celery, including leaves (diced) Olive oil 4 cups summer Napa cabbage (diced) 1/4 cup water 1 T. tamari
Sea salt
1/2 cup raisins 2 cups collard greens (diced) 4 cups kale (diced) 1 T. brown rice vinegar 2 T. lemon juice 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
Directions
1. In a large pot, sauté the carrots in a little olive oil and a pinch of sea salt for a couple of minutes.
2. Move the carrots to the side of pot. Add the celery and another pinch of sea salt to the middle of the pot and sauté for a couple more minutes.
3. Layer the raisins, collard greens, kale, and cabbage on top of sautéed vegetables.
4. Add the 1/4 cup water, tamari, and brown rice vinegar. Cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes, until vegetable are soft.
5. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and sunflower seeds.
6. Mix everything together and serve warm.
Chef Valerie Wilson has been teaching cooking classes since 1997. Visit www.macroval.com for schedule, cookbook purchases, phone consultations, or radio show, and follow her on Facebook at Macro Val Food.
CORRECTION
Our Winter ‘21-’22 issue’s Spotlight On.... AquariusArtVentures.net article incorrectly describes owner Tamara Lee Niemi’s painting Naked Beach as being inspired by Madonna. Rather, according to Niemi, the figure in it turned out to resemble Madonna. We apologize for the error.
Resilience (cont. from p. 4) in a powerless situation. As individuals we cannot make the airline have more staff, more planes, less mechanical failure, and be invulnerable to weather patterns. Standing at the gate yelling at the customer service representative never results in the power to change those things. Yet, we do not need to be helpless. Using our breath to calm down, engaging self-compassionate statements, and being ready with rebooking and hotel apps to act immediately keeps our resilience intact. Weather is another expected and sometimes unexpected, powerless situation. None of us have learned to turn tornados into soft spring breezes. Preparation works here, too, and is something that many of us use. Everything from carrying a raincoat and umbrella and closing windows before a rainstorm to having a NOAA weather radio, safe location to retreat to, and plan for reconnecting with loved ones after a natural disaster is preparation used to build and maintain resilience and confidence and lessen feelings of helplessness in the face of a powerless situation. Lastly, making sure we take care of ourselves after powerless events is critical to regaining the elasticity of our resilience. Connecting with others who are going through or have been through similar situations reduces the sense of aloneness and isolation we feel after such events. Reaching out to others and combining resources for recovery efforts after natural disasters builds strength and community. Using self-help groups and psychotherapy to recover keeps us from staying stuck in a powerless situation with helpless feelings. Taking time to mentally separate powerless situations from helpless feelings and thoughts improves our resilience capacity. Accepting what is right in front of us in the moment cuts through anger and resistance to what is happening and moves us to action more quickly. Tuning into our feelings and thoughts alerts us to the helpless state we find ourselves in, and compassionate self-talk moves us out of that state and into healthier and more effective action. Using these strategies keeps the elastic band of resilience from breaking. Debra Smith resides in Marquette as a licensed clinical psychologist (PsyD, CMU) and certified mindfulness meditation teacher (UC Berkley Good Science Center). She is currently teaching mindfulness mediation, self-compassion, resilience for health care professionals, and worksite health to many populations, groups, and organizations. dls40@aol.com
confirmation—ideas for this article came to me while out on a walk.) DON’T become overwhelmed by a big idea or project you may have come up with. Chunk it down into manageable steps, and even micro steps if needed. DO remember that everything man-made once existed in imagination only, and honor that magical capacity within yourself and others. DON’T listen to the naysayers in your head or your life. Be bold, and put your attention on your freedom to choose to create instead.
Creativity (cont. from p. 6)
DO remember that creativity includes more than fine art. It can also be how you put together a meal, a gift, a room, a schedule, resolve a challenge…. DON’T use the truism above to justify shying away from a creative activity that intrigues you. DO hang around with other creative people. Creativity can be contagious! DON’T imagine what “others” might think or say about your creation. It’s none of your business anyway. Your job is to nourish your creative faculties. DO get enough sleep. The brain requires adequate sleep to process ideas and to function well. And the rest of you needs sleep to be able to carry out your creative ideas effectively. Roslyn Elena McGrath supports fulfilling your innate potential through soul and intuitionbased sessions, classes, and products at EmpoweringLightworks.com, and publishing Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine.
