From the Kitchen of Jesse Haas, CNS, LN

Throwing together a salad is the easiest way to pull together a healthy meal. To create a balanced and nutritious salad, try this formula topped with one of our simple dressing recipes:

• 2 cups greens
• 1 cup high-fiber hard or firm veggies (broccoli, asparagus) and fruits (apples, pears)
• 1/2 cup cooked grains (quinoa, wild rice, millet)
• 1/2 cup protein (meat, hard-boiled eggs, tofu, beans)
• 2 Tbsp fat (nuts, seeds, dressing)  

Easiest Salad Dressing Ever
Ingredients:

• ¾ cup oil (olive, walnut, sunflower, or avocado) 
• ¼ cup vinegar (red wine, white wine, apple cider, or balsamic) or a combo of vinegars 
• and a pinch of salt. 

Whisk these ingredients together and call it delicious. Good ingredients make all the difference so buy the best quality you can reasonably afford. Makes 8 servings.
 

Garlic Vinaigrette From In the Green Kitchen by Alice Waters
Raw garlic gives this dressing a spicy punch (vampires beware). Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:

• 1 small garlic clove
• salt
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• fresh-ground black pepper
• 3-4 Tbsp olive oil

Put the garlic and 2 big pinches of salt in a mortar and pound into a puree, with no chunks remaining. Add the wine vinegar, grind in some black pepper and taste for a balance of salt and vinegar. Allow this to macerate for a few minutes, and whisk in olive oil. Taste the dressing with a leaf of lettuce. It should taste bright and lively without being too acidic or too oily; adjust the salt, vinegar, or oil as needed.
 

Honey Dijon Dressing
This dressing pairs well with...well, everything!

• 3 Tbsp walnut or olive oil
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Simply whisk all the ingredients together until well mixed. 

In honor of St Patty's Day and all (edible) things green. Here is Dr. Barrett's recipe for Kale Burgers that will knock your socks off. This is a bonus recipe because it sneaks a whole serving of vegetables in a burger. Win win!

Authored by Jesse Haas, CNS, LN

I know plenty of people who would not sit down at my table if I was serving liver for dinner - my mom is the first to come to mind - but man do I love it. It leaves me feeling strong and powerful. Liver is actually on my list of "super foods" - it's an amazing source of iron and B vitamins, a great food for women during menstruation. 

When buying liver, it's incredibly important to choose organic and free-range. This organ has many important functions in the body including detoxification. So every exposure to pesticides, heavy metals and other toxins is filtered through it. The body burden of factory farmed livestock can be overwhelming, so avoid conventional factory-farmed liver.

This recipe is one of my favorite ways to enjoy chicken liver and a great gateway recipe for giving this superfood a chance. 

Crispy Spiced Chicken Liver adapted from 
Well Fed author Melissa Joulwan

Ingredients

• 1 lb. free-range and organic chicken liver 
• 2/3 cup coconut flour
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
• 2-4 Tbsp coconut oil
• chopped parsley or cilantro for serving
• lemon wedges

Directions:

1. To prepare the chicken livers: With a paring knife, cut lobes apart and trim away any fatty membrane. Rinse and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. Mix coconut flour, curry and cayenne together in a mixing bowl. Toss liver in flour mixture until thoroughly coated. 
3. Heat 2 Tbsp coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 
4. Fry livers in a single layer for 3-5 minutes on each side, using a tongs to flip them over once they are browned. Add more coconut oil to the pan as needed.
5. Place cooked liver on a paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil.
6. Serve with chopped herbs and wedges of lemon.

From the kitchen of Jesse Haas, CNS, LN

Last week we posted an article about the anti-inflammatory benefits of curcumin. Curcumin is the active compound in the vibrant yellow spice, turmeric commonly used in Indian cooking and credited with their low incidence of chronic disease. 

Turmeric is used in a lot of all-American foods (mustard and chicken noodle soup get their yellow tone from turmeric) but we don't often use it intentionally. 

As the evidence mounts on the healing potential of turmeric, it's time to dust off your spice cupboard and put it in the pot! Here's a simple and versatile bean recipe with Indian spices. 

Basic Dahl
Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil, ghee, or sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup red lentils, green lentils, split peas, or mung beans, rinsed
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 cups water, divided
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh is best)
• 1/4 cup cilantro chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add your cooking fat and heat until melted (if using coconut oil or ghee). Add spices, cooking until fragrant about 1-2 minutes.
2. Add onion and cook until the onion starts to brown on the edges. 
3. Add legumes and sauté for 1 minute longer.
4. Add liquid and bring to a boil. Cover and turn the heat to low. Simmer until the beans are cooked, about 30 minutes.
5. Add lemon juice and serve over cooked brown rice or quinoa with cilantro, if using.

Variations:

• Add vegetables! Cut sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower and/or other vegetables into small, bite-sized pieces and add them to the sauté before the beans. Add chopped greens, like kale, Swiss chard, and/or spinach at the end with the lemon juice.

• Turn up the heat with a dash (or more) of cayenne, jalapeño or serrano pepper. 

From the kitchen of Jesse Haas, CNS, LN

For the record, I am the queen of one-pot meals. 

Soups, stews, roasts, cassoulets; you name it, I'm on it.  Every week, I make a big pot of soup for my wife and I to pack for our lunches. And every pot starts with the same ingredient: delicious, home-cooked bone broth (and love, but that's a given). I make all kinds of soups, but they are always packed full of colorful veggies and generously flavored with herbs and spices. 

Here is the recipe I'm making today for our lunches this week. It's one of our all time favorites that I adapted from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook. The original recipe calls for barley, but as my household shifts to gluten-free (more on that at a later date) I am substituting wild rice. 

Mushrooms are really incredible things: they have cancer-fighting nutrients and are our only plant source of vitamin D. Wild harvested and Asian mushrooms generally have higher quantities of these beneficial nutrients, so try shiitake, maitake, enoki, and oyster. You may not be able to find these varieties fresh at your local grocery store, but you may find them dried. If using dried mushrooms, reconstitute them before cooking by covering them with boiling water and allowing them to soak for 10 minutes or until they plump up. 

Mushroom Wild Rice Soup
makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 cup wild harvested wild rice*
6 1/2 cups bone broth
1-2 tablespoons pasture-raised butter
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 medium cloves garlic, pressed
1 lb. assorted mushrooms, sliced 
6 (or more) kale leaves, de-stremmed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons dry sherry
3 tablespoons wheat-free tamari
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method:
1. Rinse wild rice in a mesh strainer under cold water. Place it in a large soup pot and cover with 1 1/2 cups of the bone broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until some of the rice kernels have split open (approximately 20 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet. Add the onions and saute for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add garlic, mushrooms, and a generous pinch of salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is very tender; about 10-12 minutes. Stir in kale, tamari and sherry. 

3. Add the saute and remaining broth to the cooked wild rice. Grind in a generous amount of black pepper, and simmer, partially covered for another 20 minutes over very low heat. Taste and add more tamari and sherry if desired (I always do!). 


* Cultivated wild rice is a hybrid of brown rice and the Midwest native wild rice. It takes longer to cook than wild harvested wild rice, so if you are using cultivated wild rice, adjust cooking time to 60 minutes.