Lisa Kelly is founder of the vegetarian/vegan/raw recipe blog The Vegetarian Pact which features homemade, organic health food recipes, and kale is the main ingredient in a lot of her creations. This Kale & Brussels Sprouts Salad is her favorite, because “it’s really easy to make and extremely delicious.” Tell us what you think with a comment below and be sure to “like” it on the YumUniverse Facebook Page if it gets your vote for the Big Kale Recipe Contest! Read more…
It’s time for a new Whole Food of the Month and I think it’s time we had another recipe contest since our last one was such fun—so let’s combine the two!
Kale is one of my favorite superfoods, and as many of you know, I try to sneak it into everything from veggie wraps to cupcakes. Kale is alkalizing, anti-inflammatory, full of antioxidants, fiber, protein, calcium and even essential omega-3s. While it’s big on nutritional excellence, it’s also powerful from an environmental standpoint. For example, in Brendan Brazier’s book THRIVE Foods, he explains that in order to gain the same amount of micronutrients from beef as you would kale, you need 2900 times more arable land! So if every purchase you make is a vote for the kind of world you want, what are YU going to be buying from the grocery store or Farmers’ Market? Kale. I knew YU were smarties.
Not only will kale provide you with some of the most eco-friendly nutrients around, but it is super versatile in the kitchen. It can be prepared raw, steamed or baked for sweet and savory dishes and it keeps fresh in your crisper longer than any other green I know of. When it finally starts to wilt, you can make a tasty batch of chips out of it.
Alright. Let’s celebrate this nutrient powerhouse—I want to see what YU like to cook with Kale.
We are lucky to have some of the most generous sponsors around. They love the idea of this contest and they want to reward your creativity and efforts with amazing plant-based prizes like 5 days worth of the THRIVE Foods Direct meal delivery program, a 3-day green juice cleanse from BluePrint Cleanse, Vega One All-in-One Shake, Vega Sport Pre-Workout Energizer, Brendan Brazier’s best-selling book THRIVE Foods, a 24-pack of MARK Bars, and I’m adding to the mix with the YU 3-Pack of eGuides.
So. Are YU in?!
Contrary to what its name indicates, buckwheat is not wheat. It’s a triangular seed in the rhubarb family. Buckwheat is gluten-free, contains eight essential amino acids and is known to balance mood and mind clarity thanks to the high amounts of the amino acid tryptophan. Buckwheat even provides calcium, manganese and vitamins B and E. Buckwheat is more alkaline-forming than grains that contain gluten and it is a slow-release carbohydrate which makes it—listen up active people—a fantastic endurance fuel.
Buckwheat has a rich, nutty flavor and can be cooked and used in savory dishes and cereal, it can be sprouted or ground and used as flour and used for pancakes and gluten-free baking. Store buckwheat grains in a cool/dry place and buckwheat flour in your refrigerator. Read more…
Ch-Ch-Ch—remember those tiny seeds that you could spread onto clay pigs and bunnies and they’d sprout into fluffy pat-worthy green “fur”? Yup, chia. Well, did you know that many people consider it be nature’s perfect food? Read more…
I’m going to start a new YumUniverse series this year in an effort to introduce YU to new (or not-so-new) nutrient-dense foods. Once a month, I will choose a particular food, and at least once a week I will share a recipe using that food. That way, you will be able to experiment all month-long. You’ll be able to see how versatile that ingredient is, feel the benefits of that food by month’s end, and if you have to purchase a larger amount of that ingredient, it won’t sit lonely in your pantry or fridge after being used in only one recipe.
I’d like to kick off this series with a particular food that used to scare me, and I imagine it will some of YU, too. Rest assured though, that I have come up with recipes that make this particular food something that you’ll end up craving. And if you have a particular recipe using this food, share with us. We may just post/link to your recipe! Read more…
