Spring Recipe Series

It's been a long winter and we wanted to get you excited for spring with some wholesome and delicious recipes! Ambassador and Nutritionist Rebecca Fallihee created a breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipe to fuel all those upcoming adventures. Enjoy! 

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins, makes 6 standard size muffins
The idea here is to make muffins that are full of nutritious ingredients to get our days started, rather than be cakey and dessert-like muffins. If it’s a little too early in the season to find fresh strawberries, you can also use frozen ones. If doing that, try to slightly defrost and then drain off some of the moisture, and slice them before stirring into the batter. With both the strawberries and rhubarb, if you get a little heavy-handed, the moisture in them can throw off the consistency of the baked muffin, so reduce the water in the batter, or be forewarned. 😊 These are often really great paired with scrambled eggs to make a full meal.

50 grams / ½ cup oatmeal or oat flour
60 grams / ½ cup raw buckwheat or buckwheat flour
55 grams / ½ cup almond flour
2 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
55 grams / ¼ cup coconut oil or butter
50 grams / ¼ cup sugar
2 Tbs. ground flax seeds mixed with 1/3 cup water
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup rhubarb, diced into small pieces
¾ cup fresh strawberries, sliced into small pieces

1. Begin by weighing or measuring out the oats, buckwheat and almonds, and then finely grind them to a flour mixture in a spice/coffee grinder. Alternatively, if you already have light buckwheat flour, oat flour and almond meal, you can skip this step. 
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare a muffin pan by adding paper liners, or lightly wipe the insides with oil and dust with flour. Set aside. 
3. In a small bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, salt, and spices. Then set it aside. 
4. In a medium bowl, mix the oil and sugar with a spoon until light and fluffy. Then beat in the ground flax seeds, water, and vanilla. Allow it to sit and thicken for a couple minutes. 
5. Add the flours to the sugar and oil and stir just until combined. Gently stir in the rhubarb and strawberries, and then evenly divide the batter into the six muffins cups. 
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool them slightly in the pan before tipping out and eating.
   
   

Spring Green Vegetable Soup, serves about 4
Spring is a good time to incorporate more fresh greens—local if possible—into your routine. Mild greens such as spinach, watercress and nettles really shine here. They are a true spring tonic. If you really want to accomplish a couple adventures at once, plan for a little spring foraging for mild spring greens on your next slow, easy run or hike. Depending on your climate, nettles are incredibly abundant during early spring. Be forewarned though – if you haven’t already encountered nettles stingers, they hurt! Wear gloves to harvest because nettles bite back. Those ‘stingers’ when cooked dissipate and it’s entirely safe to eat their leaves either dried (for tea) or cooked. Otherwise, this soup is meant to be adaptable, hence the many options for choosing slightly different ingredients. The soup in the photo features fennel, broccoli, watercress, and parsley. Pair with a whole grain or whole grain bread – my favorite this time of year is a side of brown (whole-meal) Irish soda bread, which is quick to whip up and bake during dinner prep the day before. 

2 Tbs. ghee or olive oil (or 1 of each)
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ginger, finely grated or minced
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 small fennel bulb, chopped (~2 cups)
2 cups chopped broccoli or cauliflower
2 ½ - 3 ½ cups water or vegetable broth
3 cups cooked white beans (or 2 cans, drained and rinsed)
2 cups seasonal greens (watercress, spinach, chard, nettles, etc.)
½ cup parsley or mint leaves
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

1. In a large pot, heat the ghee or olive oil on medium heat. Add the salt and ginger and heat just until the salt dissolves and the ginger starts to sizzle. Then stir in the ground coriander and cook 30 seconds more. 
2. Stir in the chopped fennel, broccoli, and beans. Add a little water as needed and stir to coat the vegetables in the spices. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Then add the greens and remaining broth or water. Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer for 15 minutes or more. 
3. Remove from the heat, stir in the parsley or mint. In batches, puree into a smooth soup and return to the pot. Add the lemon juice and taste to adjust seasoning. When it’s missing something, I find it often needs just a tiny bit more acid to balance – try adding a bit more lemon juice or a few drops of apple cider vinegar. 

Serve with a little more parsley or mint as garnish. Unless you’re planning to have a big heaping bowlful, it’s nice to serve this alongside a nice crusty bread or whole grain. 

 

Spring Hummus Plate with Roasted Spring Vegetables and Cumin Quinoa, serves about 4
There are a few different parts to this but the grain and toppings components are easy to prep ahead when you have a few moments. Then roast the root vegetables and sauté the greens just before eating. Choose your favorite homemade hummus as a base or purchase one that’s ready to use. Just a note about portions—since the hummus serves as the base of the meal, you’ll want to use a larger amount than any package snack serving size. Think 1- 1 ½ cups worth per serving. Then layer on the cumin-spiced quinoa and top with the roasted vegetables, spiced seasoned greens, and a garnish of toasted nuts or seeds. 

If you have sensitive or somewhat compromised digestion, it’s better to use white basmati or jasmine rice instead of the quinoa and skip the seeds. The result is less nutrient-dense, but when digestion is not optimal, you won’t absorb and assimilate the extra nutrients from the whole grains or nuts/seeds anyway. If you choose to do that, substitute 1 cup rice for 1 cup quinoa and follow the same cooking instructions below. 

    Roasted Vegetables
1 Tbs. coconut oil or ghee
3 cups carrots, chopped
1 cup radishes, chopped
1 bunch broccoli or asparagus, chopped
1 tsp. fresh ginger, finely grated or minced
½ tsp. ground turmeric
¼ tsp. salt

   Cumin Quinoa
1 tsp. cumin
1 pinch of salt
1 cup quinoa
2 ½ cups water

Toasted Nuts or Seeds
¼ cup almonds or sunflower seeds, or a combination 

Quick-Sauteed Greens
a splash of olive oil
a pinch of salt
½ tsp. caraway seeds, optional
4 handfuls of spring greens (1 for each person), chopped or torn (kale works well here but anything works) – radish greens from the radish bunch are great too!
splash of water

hummus of choice – make your own or use store-bought
lemon or lime wedges
parsley, mint, or cilantro

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Place the chopped carrots and radishes on the baking tray. Add 1 Tbs. coconut oil or ghee, and ginger, turmeric and salt. Add a splash of water and roast for 30 minutes. Then stir in the broccoli or asparagus and cook for 10-15 minutes longer, until all vegetables are soft through.
3. Meanwhile, add 1 tsp. ground cumin and a pinch of salt to a medium pot and add 2 ½ cups of water and quinoa. Bring to a boil, then turn down to low, cover, and cook for 35 minutes. 
4. Prepare the toasted nuts or seeds by heating a sauté pan on the stovetop to medium. Add the chopped nuts or seeds and toast for a few minutes until slightly golden. Be careful not to burn! Set aside.
5. Once the nuts or seeds are toasted, turn up the sauté pan to medium-high and add a splash of olive oil, along with a pinch of salt, and ½ tsp. caraway seeds. Stir and cook until the seeds are starting to waft their aroma, then add the greens and stir. Add a splash of water as needed, cover and steam/sauté for just a couple minutes. Then remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. 
6. Remove the roasted vegetables from the oven. Allow to sit for about five minutes to cool a little.
7. To serve, warm the hummus slightly, then spread it on one side of your plate, add the roasted vegetables, top with sauteed greens, and sprinkle over the seeds and herbs. Then serve alongside the cumin quinoa on the rest of the plate.

Contributed by Rebecca Fallihee, MS, CNS, LDN
Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist, Licensed Dietician Nutritionist