Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash Salad with MacIntosh Apples

This delicious salad was the main dish of our Thanksgiving meal and thoroughly enjoyed!

Butternut squash, spiced with clove, cinnamon and allspice and roasted then tossed with a mix of kale and spinach, red onions, chopped apples both dry and fresh, a handful of pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries and then tossed in mild creamy dressing of apple juice, sage, garlic and onions with a slight sweetness of added dates.

This salad just screams fall harvest making use of seasonal vegetables and colors.

The recipe was adapted from the new book by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live Cookbook, and like all the recipes of his that I have tried, is certainly a winner in our home. I'm looking forward to cooking my way through this book.

The best thing about his recipes is that I don't have to worry about them being healthy and I mean truly healthy not just some fad based on someone's opinion. Dr. Fuhrman puts so much emphasis on nutritional research that I don't think anyone else can truly compete in this area. He has enlisted the help of some top chefs to utilize his knowledge and guidelines and put together some winning recipes. I know that the recipes are designed for total wellness and having had such good results with every recipe tried so far, I also know that I don't have to worry about them tasting good. Two big thumbs up from here.

So on to the recipe:

Roasted Spiced Butternut Squash Salad with MacIntosh Apples

Recipe adapted from Dr. Fuhrman's book Eat to Live- Cookbook

Serves 4

For the Dressing:

1 clove of garlic
1 tablspoon chopped shallots
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard (optional)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice or water
2 tablespoons raw almond butter
1 Medjool date, pitted and stemmed
1/2 cup parsley
6 fresh sage leaves

Combine dressing ingredients in a high speed blender until well combined. Set aside.

For the Butternut Squash:

12 ounces butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch diced pieces

1 tablespoon coconut or date sugar (optional)

pinch of cinnamon

pinch of ground cloves

pinch ground allspice

pinch of cayenne

1/2 cup of unsweetened apple juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a big bowl, toss the squash with the sugar, spices and apple juice until well coated. Place the mixture in a roasting pan, cover with foil and roast until the squash is caramelized and slightly browned but still firm when tested with a fork. About 15 mins total but stir/toss about half way through.

Note: If you are fortunate to find fresh diced squash in your grocery store, usually in 32 ounce portions, go ahead and double this portion of the recipe. I guarantee the extra roasted squash will not go to waste. It's so good!

For the Salad:

4 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

4 tablespoons dried cranberries

2 apples of choice, (Winesap is what was called for in the original recipe but I used MacIntosh)

2 tablespoons chopped dried apples

1/2 of a red onion, sliced into fine rings

3 cups spinach, sliced

3 cups kale, sliced

While the squash is roasting, combine the salad ingredients in a big bowl.

When the squash is ready, toss it with the salad dressing until well coated and then add to the salad, toss and serve right away. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. You can substitute sweet potatoes, parsnips or any other type of squash you desire as well. It's all good.

And if you are looking for a nice dessert for this meal, check out the previous recipe for the Cranberry Apple Tart!

Enjoy!

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Springtime Minestrone Soup

For many here in the states the beginning of June is still the end of Spring, just inching it's way into Summer. But around here where we are already steadily over 100 degrees, it's already feeling like Summer. But so as not to rush into things, I decided to post this Springtime Vegetable Minestrone using some of the spring tender asparagus, tomatoes, peas, watercress and kale.

This is another easy recipe, as it uses the crockpot to slowly simmer the flavors all day long. People often think of the crockpot only in cold weather months but forget that it can come in just as handy for those busy warm weather days when you just don't want to be in the kitchen much.

Speaking of warm weather, I have to apologize for being a little light on the posts these last couple of weeks. It's this time of year when we first get into the hot temperatures that I always forget how it effects my health. It causes me a flare up that I knocks out my energy and makes me feel quite sick and every year I am always surprised. I guess I always think it's behind me when I improve in cooler weather. But sadly, not yet.

It's been hard for me to prepare and photograph the meals as I would like. Perhaps I may snap some more informal shots as I do for Instagram from time to time for the simple things. I'll experiment and see what you all think.

So for now, until I get my feet back under me, I will be leaning more toward easy and simple meals for a while. Lots of smoothies, salads, fruit, which is prefect for the summer months anyway but soup is still a perfect fit for highly nutritious no brainer meals.

So Super Soup Sunday is still on!

Springtime Minestrone Soup with Raw-mesean 

This recipe is adapted from Dr. Joel Fuhrman's website and member newsletter. I used the crockpot as suggested but this could easily be cooked on the stove in a soup pot for a shorter period of time.

Here is a combination of broth, water and carrot juice for the base. Kale, watercress and green peas up the nutritional quotient, while barley and cannellini beans make it a heartier more filling soup.

Tender asparagus, fresh tomatoes, carrots and onions round out the vegetables. The recipe called for thyme and oregano but I substituted an organic Herbs de Provence mix for a little more flavor with the garlic.

Raw-mesean is a nut based cheese substitute for parmesan cheese. Try it! I think you'll like it!

Ingredients:

1 small bunch of kale, tough stems removed and chopped

3 cups diced fresh tomatoes

1 15 oz can of low salt cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained (1 1/2 cup)

3 carrots, peeled if not organic and sliced

1 onion, diced

1/2 cup hulless barley (dry)

3 cups low sodium vegetable broth

2 cups of water

1 cup carrot juice

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon oregano, dried

1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried

1/4 teaspoon pepper

12 thin asparagus stocks

1 cup frozen organic peas

3 cups fresh watercress

Place everything except the peas, asparagus and watercress in the crock pot.

Cook covered on low for 6 hours.

Add the asparagus and peas and cook another 20 minutes or until asparagus is tender.

Add watercress until wilted.

Ladle soup up into bowls and dust the top with the raw-mesean or pass on the side in a bowl.

For the Raw-mesean:

1/2 cup almonds, (walnuts or even pine nuts work well too)

1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast- for that cheesy flavor

Pulse in a food processor until crumbly and resembling parmesan cheese in consistency.

Kale Waldorf Salad

Looking for a tasty way to add more kale into your life? Then this salad is for you.

Kale, walnuts, cran- raisins, apple, celery tossed in a creamy and tangy non dairy dressing for a salad that tastes even better a little later.

I received the heads up about this recipe from my friend, Jeannette Marchand, who had just come from a Whole Foods' class and had to share. She said she not only had it for lunch but also dinner. She and her husband could not stop eating it. So of course, I had to give it a try.

The original recipe is here on the Whole Foods website but I did adapt it a little so I will share my version here.

Kale Waldorf Salad

Ingredients:

4 cups raw kale, chopped finely ( I used a whole head)

1 large red apple, I used a Fuji, cored and chopped

1 cup chopped celery (about 2 ribs)

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Cran-raisins or raisins

1- 2 Tablespoons of Dijon Mustard

2 tablespoons of water, or more if needed

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/8 tsp sea salt  I do not use salt but if you must...

Tear away bigger leaves from the stems (optional but the stems are a little bitter), roll up the leaves and chop finely and place in a bowl. Add the juice of 1/2 a lemon and squeeze the rest of the lemon in a big glass of drinking water to refresh yourself- just a suggestion. Now with your hands, massage the lemon juice into the leaves. This helps to tenderize the leaves and you will visually see the leaf pile get smaller. Set aside while you make the rest of the salad.

To chop the apple, I decided to try out this onion chopper to see if I could get a fine and even apple dice. I just had to first slice the apple into the thickness I wanted the apple dice to be. It worked. Did I save time? That's debatable but I always forget I even have this thing. It does help keep the crying with onions to a minimum though.

For the Dressing:

Blend half the apple, 1/4 cup of the walnuts, 2 tablespoons of the Cran-raisins, the mustard, the water, and the vinegar until well combined. Add water to thin if needed but you want it like a mayonnaise consistency. Warning: It will be pinkish in color if using Cran-raisins.

Add the remaining ingredients to the kale and top with the dressing. Toss.

Ta da! 

You may want to double this recipe. It will keep in the fridge covered for a few days, if it lasts that long. 

Looking at this picture, you can see why I chose Cran-raisins- color. The designer in me will always go with color. Plus the more color in your food, the more antioxidants in your body.

Big thanks to Jeannette for sharing this one!

Have you stumbled across a low fat vegan recipe you think I should try, hit me up in an email either here or through the Purely Nourished Facebook page. I love to learn of new recipes and will share it here if I use it.

This was my first submission for Healthy Vegan Fridays Blog Party. You can check it out here.

Until next time…

Keep eating those veggies!

Ps: Tomorrow is already Sunday so the Super Soup Sunday post will be fast on the heels of this one. Double Post weekend!

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Baby Ruby Salad with Blood Orange Cashew Dressing

A baby greens salad with blood orange sections, strawberries, dried apricots, pistachios in a blood orange cashew dressing.

This post is dedicated to my lovely niece, Claire who asked me the other day what to do with the baby kale she just bought. First of all let me just tell you how excited I am that she bought kale in the first place. She is a young mother with two precious little ones and she actually is making green smoothies for them now.... with kale! Woot Woot! and little  2 1/2 year old Victor is asking for "more." Love it!

See it's really adults that freak out over green looking drinks in the beginning, not the kids.

So this is a recipe I put together when I stumbled across a new looking container in our store:

Baby Kale Medley

I am really partial to tender baby greens, and this baby kale medley is no exception. It's not as hard core as the big leaf kale, in case you are new to the more powerhouse greens.  And also because it's a baby leaf, you don't have to worry about bitter stems, like the full leaves.

While you may not have a Sprouts/ Henry's Farmer's Market where you live, I think baby kale is catching on in the stores, especially ones like Whole Foods.

But if not, any baby greens (spinach or romaine) would work fine and mix them up for more variety too if you feel like it.

Raw Coconut Vinegar

I also stumbled across this new-to-me product:
Raw Organic Coconut Vinegar by Coconut Secret,
which claims to be even more nutritious than organic apple cider vinegar, so I decided to give it a spin for something different.  I do like it.

So this recipe I'm about to share moves away from oils in the salad dressing. Since I am new to this idea,  I turned to Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book, Eat For Health for recipe ideas.

I LOVE this book as it covers not just the nutritional research side and lots of recipes but also explores the emotional component of food addictions and how to stop their control over our diets.

This book was just recently republished from what I have as a two book set into a single paperback.  Highly recommend!

Dr. Furhman is an advocate of a low fat diet but is a big fan of using nuts (in limited amounts) in the diet for the good fats and benefits. His research shows that nuts are especially beneficial to consume with greens, as they help you to absorb more nutrients from them. So his plan is to use the nuts in place of oils in salad dressing and not as snacks.

So that's what I did. This recipe is adapted from Dr. Fuhrman's MishMash Salad with Orange Cashew Dressing in Eat For Health.

Baby Ruby Salad

Baby Ruby Salad with a Blood Orange Cashew Dressing

I decided to call it this because of the baby greens, and then because of the beautiful ruby colors of the blood oranges and the berries. Dr. Fuhrman's recipe calls for using his Blood Orange Vinegar but since I did not have any, I decided to go for the real thing and add the blood oranges directly to the salad and in the dressing.

Baby Ruby Salad Ingredients

Ingredients:

Blood Orange Cashew Dressing:

2 blood oranges (regular is fine too), peeled and seeded

1/4 cup cashews

2 tablespoons organic vinegar (apple cider vinegar, like Bragg's would be good too)

2 carrots grated (for sweetness) 

orange juice (optional)

Salad:

1 container of baby kale medley or mixed greens of choice
1 cup of blood orange sections
1 cup sliced organic strawberries (organic is important as these are like little sponges for pesticides.)
1/4 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons raw pistachio nuts, unsalted and shelled

Directions:

Blend dressing ingredients in a high power blender until smooth and creamy. This should be fine in a regular blender too. It may just take a bit longer to get creamy. Add some orange juice if necessary to thin it a bit.

Toss salad ingredients in a big bowl and use dressing to taste. Extra dressing should keep in a covered container in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Baby Ruby Salad Close Up

So there you have it. A lovely and colorful salad brimming with all the goodness of kale and other greens but in tender bites. I'm a sucker for the ruby color of the veins in the swiss chard. 

I hope you give it a try.  Do you use nuts in your dressing to replace oil? It gives it a creamy texture don't you think? Would love to hear from you.

Until next time, Happy Healthy Eating.

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