NUTRITIONAL RECIPES FOR SPRING

Mindful Nutrition, additional recipes for spring. 

The secret of adaptability to changes in weather is to always have plenty of vegetables in house to choose from.  This enables you to adapt your diet to the weather.  On cold and wet days you might feel like a warming and drying breakfast; rice congee might then feel to cold and cooling, even if you cook it with warming spices such as turmeric. 

If, like myself, you like to sit in meditation or do some Qi Gong or Tai Qi before breakfast, these warming breakfast recipes are for you.  You start them before you begin your exercises and complete them when you are finished. Of course, you could just start them before you get dressed, else keep them for Sundays.  

You will note that I use Sunflower oil.  This comes from a colder ground than olive oil,  therefore the Omega 3 and 6 in it should be of a higher quality.  Sunflower oil is slightly anti-inflammatory, which is helpful in spring. 

In spring, early greens such as parsley and chives high in Omega 3 and 6.  In addition, they are warming and rich in minerals such as iron. 

I use mild shoyu since we are talking breakfast, here.  Shoyu is less strong than tamari and miso.  In the mornings, the sweet flavour should dominate, this strengthens the Stomach and Spleen.  These organs achieve their energetic maximum in the morning and the sweet flavour strengthens them.  The salty flavour belongs more to the evening meal when we want to boost the Kidneys. 

For the same reason, I use white sesame seed.  It strengthens the Spleen.  Black sesame seed strengthens the Kidneys.  Dry-roasted seeds are easier to digest. 

Note that you can also make these breakfast recipes for lunch! 
 

Fried potatoes, onions and beetroot breakfast, for a cold and wet spring day 

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons sunflower oil; a small to medium chopped onion per person; a pinch of (crushed) rosemary and thyme per person; cooked potatoes (from your evening meal on the previous night); a small, cooked and finely chopped or grated beetroot; a handful of sliced chives or parsley; mild shoyu; white sesame seeds, preferably dry-roasted. 

Cooking method

Heat the sunflower oil over a low to medium flame.

Add the onions, rosemary and thyme, stir-fry for a minute, cover with a lid, place over the lowest heat, and leave for anything from 10 to 40 minutes.

Add the sliced potatoes in the last 10 minutes and replace the lid again.

Turn them over regularly.

Remove the lid, turn the heat up to medium.

Add the beetroot and mix well till everything is hot.

Turn off the heat and add the chives or parsley and the shoyu, mix well.

Top with sesame seeds when the mixture has been dished out. 

Note: If you are unable to digest fried foods, you can cook this in some water.  Make sure not to cook it in milk!  Dairy products and veggies or meats do not go together, they deplete the minerals in the veggies and meat, causing a Blood-Deficiency in the long run. 
 

Fried onion, button mushrooms and mung bean sprouts, for a cool spring day 

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons sunflower oil, a small to medium finely-chopped onion per person, a pinch of rosemary and sage or thyme per person, quartered button mushrooms, a handful of mung bean sprouts per person, a handful of parsley or chives per person, mild shoyu, dry-roasted white sesame seed.  

Heat the oil on a low to medium flame, add the onion, rosemary, sage/thyme.

Stir-fry for a minute on medium heat.

Lower the heat to the lowest stand, cover with a lid and leave for 30 minutes.

Clean and quarter the mushrooms and add to the mixture, stir well over a medium flame, turn the heat down again and replace the lid.

Rinse the mung beans and chop off all brown ends.

Add the mung beans to the mixture, remove the lid and stir-fry for a minute or so over a medium flame.

Rinse and chop the parsley or chives.

Turn off the heat, add the parsley/chives and shoyu, mix well.

Top with sesame seeds when the mixture has been dished out. 
 

Rice gruel breakfast for a warmer spring day (Rice Congee)

You cook the grains on the previous night and draw them overnight in the haybox.  

Ingredients

I cup brown basmati rice, 1/3 cup quinoa, pinch of salt, pinch of turmeric (curcuma), 5 times as much water as grains, a few drops of fresh ginger (use a garlic press), finely cubed or sliced red sweet pepper, mung bean sprouts, parsley/chives, mixed seeds, dry-roasted (see below for dry-roasting seeds and nuts) 

Cooking method

In the evening:

Wash the grains, add them with the salt and turmeric to the water and bring to the boil.

Simmer very gently for 10-15 minutes and place the pot in the haybox

(If you do not have a haybox, this pot should draw for 2 to 4 hours over a minimum flame) 

In the morning:

Remove the pot from the haybox.

Bring a small amount of water and the ginger to the boil

Meanwhile: finely chop the sweet pepper, rinse the mung bean sprouts and remove any brown ends, rinse and chop the parsley or chives.

Add the finely cubed or sliced pepper to the boiling water, return to the boil.

Add the rice/quinoa, and mung bean sprouts, return to the boil, stir for a minute, turn off the heat.

Divide the parsley over the plates and pour the grain-veggie mix over the parsley.

Top with dry-roasted seeds and/or nuts 

Note: Once temperatures are consistently over 21ºC, you can pour the grain mixture over uncooked pepper and mung bean sprouts.  Remember that the under-sevens, most ill people and especially people who are chronically ill, and the elderly should not eat raw foods. 
 

Rice gruel breakfast with raisins (Rice Congee)

You can make rice congee without quinoa.  Quinoa is a warming grain that cooks in 10 minutes. Rice is slightly cooling and diuretic.  If you add Quinoa, a pinch of salt, and some turmeric, you counteract the slightly cooling and diuretic effect of rice.

On warmer days, I like to stick to basmati rice alone.  I either cook it overnight in the haybox or I make it in the morning (my exercise regime is about an hour long).  If I cook it the night before, I add a handful of raisins in the morning, return to the boil and let it sit (draw, not simmer) for another 10 minutes, then top with dry-roasted seeds.

If I cook it in the morning, the raisins are added just before I transfer the pot to the haybox. 
 

Flakes with orange peel

Any of the flakes will do: oats, spelt, barley, etc.   

Soak the flakes overnight.

In the morning, cook them as per described on the pack.

For the last 10 minutes, add a chard of orange peel (organic) and, if you like, raisins.

Top with mixed nuts/seeds.

The orange peel is incredibly tasty and it is  anti-inflammatory.  The raisins are lovely and sweet. 

Note: Oats are warming and moistening, not ideal in warm weather, nor in very damp climates.  To make them less dampening and more easily digestible, dry-roast them before soaking or cooking.  You do this in a dry pan, over a medium flame, moving the oats all the time.  When they turn brown, they are done. 
 

Dry-roasting seeds and nuts

Heat a frying pan over a medium flame (you do not use oil).

Add mixed nuts and keep them moving.

When they are beginning to brown, you add 4 times as many seeds (sunflower, pumpkin).

Again keep the mixture moving.

When the seeds are browning, remove the pan from the heat, transfer the nuts and seeds to a bowl or plate to cool off.

Return the pan to the heat and add the linseed (flaxseed).

Partly cover this mixture with a wide lid to prevent the linseeds from popping up all-over the place, keep the mixture moving.

When the linseeds start to seriously pop, turn off the heat.

Add the linseed to the other seeds/nuts and allow this mixture to cool, then transfer it to a sealed container.

Use a teaspoon as required. 

Note: Nuts are hard to digest.  Do not take more than 6 a day, and avoid them in hot summers.  Dry-roasted nuts, seeds, and especially pumpkin seeds are easier to digest. Linseed contains the highest amount  of Omega 3 and 6 of all land plants. 

Dry-roasting sesame seed.

You dry-roast sesame seed separately.  When combined with vegetables, they build calcium, thereby contributing to healthy bones.  For that reason, you take them regularly, with all vegetarian meals, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.

You dry-roast them in a hot frying pan till they are slightly brown and start to pop. 

Button mushrooms and scallions (spring onion) for breakfast or lunch

Ingredients

A little bit of oil, mushrooms, scallions, dry-roasted sesame seed. 

Cooking method

Wash and quarter the mushrooms.

Clean and slice the scallions (including the healthy green)

Put the softest part of the green to one side

Stir-fry the mushrooms and scallions in the oil

In the last minute, add the soft scallion-greens and stir-fry.

Top wit dry-roasted sesame seed. 

Warm apple and cinnamon on bread, lunch

Ingredients

one large eating apple serves two people (do not use a cooking apple)

cinnamon 

Cooking method

Slice the apple rather thinly.

Heat a large frying pan (low to medium heat) and place the sliced apple in it, neatly in a circle around the pan.

Sprinkle generously with cinnamon.

Allow to bake for about 2 minutes, then turn each slice.

Bake for approximately another minute, avoid burning!

Turn the slices again, and bake for about another minute. 

Note: You can eat this on bread but, of course, it is also a nice snack on its own. 
 

Spring lunch soup: carrot and courgette (zucchini) 

Ingredients

1 tbsp. sunflower oil, one small onion - chopped, pinch of thyme, a medium-sized winter carrot – thinly sliced, ¾ of a courgette – sliced fairly thinly, pinch of black pepper, 0,4 ltr water, mild shoyu, handful of chopped parsley, dry-roasted white sesame seeds.  Serves 2. 

Cooking method

In a frying pan, heat the oil over a medium fire, add the onion and thyme, mix well.

Lower the heat, place a lid on top and leave to glaze over 30 minutes on the lowest heat.

Add the carrot, courgette and pepper, mix well, replace the lid, leave for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the water in an ordinary pot.

Add the vegetable mixture from the frying pan, bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Set a cup of this soup aside.

Add the shoyu and parsley and blend.

Add the remainder of the soup (from the cup).

Serve with sesame seed.

Author Details: Leni Hurley