Days#12-17 If In Doubt, Go Hunt Somewhere New

These are days 12 through 17 of my Eating Green Experiment. You can read about why I began it here.

It's been a hectic week with dangerous and wild recipes. My favorite so far has been:
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Ostrich Meat Stewed with Collard Greens
ostrich hamburger meat
a bunch of greens
spices to taste
garlic sauce

Throw meat into a pan. Stew it in some water and spices. Add greens. Cook until they become bright green and add sauce. (Roasted garlic sauce went well with this.)

That combination was so good! Mmmm.... and ostrich is a much healthier red meat than beef. Low in fat and high in protein.

2-3 servings
Time: 10 minutes
Cost/serving: $4.50

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Conclusions

So, it's the end of March and my brave experiment. What have I learned?

1. There are way too many ways of cooking and eating greens to just make a month of it.

2. If you get bored, go hunt somewhere new. A new store, a farmers market, a flower garden or even a huge supermarket. That's where I found the ostrich.

3. If someone says, "So what will you eat for breakfast today?", and proceeds to chew meat and fried rice in sludgy brown sauce, don't sulk - instead bite your spinach and munch as loud as you can. Moan with pleasure so that he/she gets jealous of your leaf eating. Your body will thank you.

Image by Lollie-Pop used under the Creative Commons License.

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Days# 7-11 Earth Laughs in Flowers

These are days 7 through 11 of my Eating Green Experiment. You can read about why I began it here.

So there we were - my boyfriend and I, looking out onto the Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge. We were 66 miles from home and his car just made a funny noise and died in the toll lane. The E-Z pass green light was demanding GO and the car was disobeying like a pigheaded metal gas-guzzling toddler.

We waited for the rescue tow truck, as the slight whiff of panic in the air (from me,) was slowly mixing with the music, the scenery, and the scent of gasoline. Adventure, adventure, adventure!

So what has this story to do with breakfast, anyway? Well, I was sort of hungry. And there we were, on the side of the road by the flower bed, battling customer service, insurance companies and parents via phone. Very exhausting. A thought appeared. Grew. Budded, if you will... What about eating... a flower breakfast?

Edible Flower Experiment

Thankfully, my revolt for car exhaust and general caution prevented me from trying the poisonous daffodils, but I present to you my new harmless breakfast:

Broccoli or Cauliflower Floret-Bouquet
Hey, it deliciously rhymes. Boil or steam for 5 minutes, dip in a healthy sauce and put on a stick. Many sticks in a glass - and you have a breakfast bouquet.

And then you can go crazy and add other edible flowers

As soon as I get my hands on some of these, there will be some flowery concoctions presented on this blog.

Photo by Gaetan Lee used under the Creative Commons License

PS. I stole the title of this post from Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Day#6 Collard Green Wrap

This is Day 6 of my Eating Green Experiment. You can read about why I began it here.

The Wrap. The epitome of portability. The melding of flavors, one rolling upon the other. Just the right size to grab with your hand and go. It's becoming my favorite food in the world, but the whole wheat wraps that I've seen in the supermarket have ingredients that I can't pronounce, and they make me extremely sleepy, so I've found a substitute! Big leaves!

Collard Green Wrap
1/2 avocado
red cabbage
baby leaf greens
1 cucumber
1 radish

Cut away the tough stem of the Collard green so that it can bend. Stuff with with your favorite veggies and it's good to go.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

And collard greens are a nutritional cancer bomb:
"A study of Chinese women in Singapore, a city in which air pollution levels are often high putting stress on the detoxification capacity of residents' lungs, found that in non-smokers, eating cruciferous vegetables lowered risk of lung cancer by 30%. In smokers, regular cruciferous vegetable consumption reduced lung cancer risk an amazing 69%!"

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Days 2 through 5. I'm Eating Green Experiment Continues.

These are days 2 through 5 of my Eating Green Experiment. You can read about why I began it here.

I went shopping finally. Only organic markets have customers who don't get weirded out from my happy tiny squeals of "Arugula! Oh dearest, I will EAT YOU UP!" Or maybe they do, but I did not notice.

Anyway... so how am I doing? Doing well, thank you. I've been trying everything including the quite unoriginal (but tasty) old standby:


Take a bunch of green veggies, cut/tear them, then steam/boil until they're bright green and eat. Add olive oil if you wish. Very good in the morning, for it's warm and less abrasive on the stomach. 5 minutes preparation, 3 minutes to cook. Yes! It really is that quick. The wormy looking white things are sprouts and brown rice which I added in a moment of inspiration.

Price: (estimated) $2.00

The Effects

Day#2 I did not sleep the whole night, tossing and turning. While detoxification symptoms on the internet include insomnia and I am not an insomniac, I figure my money worries were the real reason. Sigh.

Day#3 Worn out, but surprisingly focused and awake, I munched on a salad and ran off into the urban wild.

Day#4 Fully worn, I tried to keep awake long enough in the morning to make myself a sandwich out of some whole grain bread, avocado and greens. It worked. My brain worked, the job interview went very well and I was unusually happy the rest of the day, though can't say how much of that happiness was food related.

Day#5 I need to get some sleep so that I have strength to write further!

Till tomorrow...

Your Crazy Breakfast Madam.

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Green Day # 1 - Saladicious

This is Day 1 of my Eating Green Experiment. You can read about why I began it here.

Late Saturday morning - the fridge looks like a bunch of hungry gnomes have been sleeping there overnight. All that is left from the week are some carrots, a tiny limp bok choy, a nearly empty jar of miso and the whistling wind, (or is it the hum of the refrigerator?) Definitely need to go shopping.

I grab a lonely carrot, some leftover romaine and dill, and start creating magic.

Recipe
carrot
romaine
dill
scallions
bok choy

Dressing
1 tsp of white miso
1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp of omega 3 oil
1/4 of tsp raw honey

It's a salad - so obviously you chop it up or tear it up and it's ready to eat.
For the dressing, combine all the ingredients until it tastes amazing. Munch gratefully and loudly.

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Go Green for Spring

Food - the great big healer. Swinging in the breeze, waiting, calling me with its big red delicious berries, satisfying roots and crunchy stalks. I can't get enough. And this spring, instead of munching on french toast or a dry bagel with a dab of artery-clogging margarine, I resolve to eat green, chlorophyll-rich plants.

Chlorophyll has an ability to enrich the blood and treat anemia, to stop bacterial growth in wounds, and yeasts and fungi in the digestive tract, to counteract a whole lot of inflammation, to promote intestinal flora, improve liver function and activate enzymes. The blood of plant life, it is calming, cooling and brings peace.

To rejuvenate after wild winter meat pig-outs, my plan is to incorporate some green into breakfast:

(1) Steam/boil some greens and eat with rice.
(2) Add a green drink: Look! Even Oprah is doing it.
(3) Squash a whole lot of lettuce in a sandwich.
(4) Broccoli omelet, anyone?
(5) Herbs are green. Devour the garnish.
(6) Algae -- it's not for fish anymore.

For more tips and actual recipes, stay tuned to this blog during March. I will be recording my green experiments.

Image by sa_ku_ra used under the Creative Commons license

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