HERBAL BEAUTY

My hubby got me a juicer for my birthday, which is in January, and I am excited to finally start juicing the veggies from our garden! I wanted to find out the best leafy greens to juice (other than spinach) so the kiddos and I picked all the leafy greens we had and started juicing each one. Whatever we juiced, yummy or icky, we all took our turn tasting it.

We started with Kale. We love to eat Kale steamed or sauteed and I thought it would be delicious juiced. WRONG! Pretty bitter and strong. It would be better with an apple or some carrots added to the blend, but we were only focusing on the leafy greens.

One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6, 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

Next, we juiced collards. We have a garden full of collards, but we don't cook with it that much. The juice was pretty strong and bitter. A little bit better flavor than Kale.

Contains: folates, vitamin C, vitamin-A, vitamin-K, vital B-complex groups of minerals such as niacin vitamin B-3, vitamin B-5, vitamin B-6 and riboflavin.
The leaves and stems are good in minerals like iron, calcium, copper, manganese, selenium and zinc

Then we juiced our Rainbow Swiss Chard. This is such a beautiful plant. The kids and I decided that this was the best leafy green to juice. It had the most juice and the flavor wasn't so strong and bitter.

Contains: vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A,  rich in B-complex group of vitamins such as folates, niacin, vitamin B-6, thiamin. A rich source of minerals like copper, calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese and phosphorus. 

Next time we will come up with different blends!

We love to eat Basil Pesto! It is really easy to make and really healthy. Basil contains these important vitamins and minerals: beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin K, potassium, manganese, copper, iron, and magnesium.

We usually keep our recipe pretty simple. Here it is:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1 clove garlic
  
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts (we usually don't add these)
  

Directions: Combine basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and nuts in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Blend to a smooth paste. Mix your pesto with noodles for a light and delicious meal!

Serves 4

If you have spinach or any other leafy vegetable, you can also add them to the food processor. When Stinging Nettles are in season, we like to add those. This will increase the nutrients and it is a good way to use up those greens! 

Freezing Pesto
We know a family in the Wells area who grows A LOT of Basil using the Hydroponics method. They recently cut everything down and were generous enough to give us a huge tub (see picture) of the Basil they did not want.
What did we do with all that Basil? We turned it all into pesto and froze it! This is so easy to do and it will last through the Winter months.
*Make a huge batch of pesto (using the recipe above) and scoop into muffin tins or ice trays covered with parchment paper. Once frozen, pop them out and store them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When ready to eat, put on top of hot cooked pasta, put cover on the pot and let thaw. Mix, add more cheese and pine nuts and EAT!!

John and I are running a small CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the Wells area. We have a garden that is about 1 acre and use only organic gardening methods. To help our customers know what to do with their large baskets of produce, we will be adding healthy, quick and easy recipes to our blog every week.

This week is: Green Onions, Kale and eggs. My favorite way to eat Kale is to saute it with onions and add to soups, pasta or eggs.
To make this meal: Saute Kale, Green onions, add to scrambled eggs, season with pepper and salt . Super easy, very healthy and YUMMY!!

Another passion of mine is HERBS! I am more interested in their healing and medicinal benefits than using them in cooking. That is what my hubby is good at. Whenever my kiddos are sick, I always use herbal remedies to help them feel better. And now instead of buying the natural cough syrup that contains mostly honey and some herbs, I can use my own! This is probably the easiest herbal infusion I have made. All you do is pick fresh organic herbs, wash them, heat up the honey, and add the herbs to the honey. No need to strain out the herbs, they will continue to infuse the syrup. The syrups will last up to 18 months
I made a Lemon Balm and Peppermint infusion. The Lemon Balm syrup is great for an upset stomach, colds, nausea, and a sore throat. The Peppermint syrup is good for allergies, anxiety, colds, congestion, coughs, headache, and nausea. They both taste great and I can use them in teas, cooking, or as an herbal remedy.