Seasonal Eating
Eating with the seasons brings variety to your diet and helps you get the full complement of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that nature offers. Changes in growing conditions from season to season are essential for balancing the earth as well as your own well-being.
When food is not in season locally, it’s often shipped in from other parts of the world, affecting both taste and nutritional value. Additionally, transporting produce sometimes requires irradiation and preservatives to protect the produce which is subsequently refrigerated during the trip. This means more chemicals in your food.
Just because you can get corn in the winter doesn’t mean you should eat it. Eating freshly harvested foods have a greater amount of antioxidants and can help your body naturally detoxify. In essence, eating seasonally will make you feel better all year round.
We associate many fresh fruits and vegetables with spring and summer—peas, lettuce, strawberries, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, peaches, and more. However, fall crops can include squash, apples, garlic, grapes, figs, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms, and winter crops offer an abundance of root vegetables, kale, leeks, and citrus fruits. To find out what’s harvested seasonally in your area, visit www.localharvest.org.
Dr. Ann Wigmore,
creator of the Living Foods Lifestyle®
“The food you eat can either
be the safest & powerful form of medicine…or the slowest form of poison.”
Red Lentil Lemon Soup
SPRING ... serves 6
Roasted Fish & Snow Peas
SPRING ... serves 2
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 cups dried red lentils
5 cups light vegetable stock or water
1 bay leaf
2 thin strips limon rind
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
6 thin slices of lemon for garnish
​
Chop the onions into medium pieces. Chop the garlic. On a cutting board, mash the garlic into the salt with the side of the knife blade to make a paste.
​
In a 3-4 quart soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat, add the onions and sauté until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic paste and cumin, and cook until the onion is golden, about 6-7 minutes longer.
​
Meanwhile, pick over the red lentils carefully, discarding any stones. Rinse. Add lentils to the onions with the stock or water and bring to a boil, skimming off the foam as necessary. Reduce heat, add the bay leaf and lemon rind, and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and lemon rind.
​
Add the lemon juice to the soup and stir. Pour into bowls and garnish each with a slice of lemon.
​
2 large handfuls snow peas, trimmed
2 limes, halved
2 fish fillets
2 tbsp soy sauce or soy sauce alternative
(tamari or bragg's liquid amino acids)
1 bunch coriander, leaves picked
​
1. Preheat your oven to 450°F.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and scatter snow peas and lime halves. Top with fish (skin side down) and drizzle with a oil. Sprinkle with a little salt.
3. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until fish is just cooked through.
4. To serve, divide snow peas and fish between two plates. Drizzle soy sauce and carefully squeeze over the hot lime.
5. Scatter with coriander leaves and you're done.
Variations:
Hot: add chopped fresh red chili to the soy sauce.
More flavor: add chopped ginger, 1 tsp sesame oil or a pinch chopped garlic to the soy sauce.
Carb-lovers: serve a side of steamed rice or cooked soba noodles.
Vegetarian: roast firm tofu instead of the fish
​
(adapted from www.thestonesoup.com)
Roasted Sweet Corn Salad
SUMMER ... serves 4
Chickpea Summer Salad
SUMMER ... serves 4-6
1 cup grape tomatoes
½ medium sweet onion
1 small jalapeño
2 ears of sweet corn
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups arugula
1/3 cup pepitas, toasted
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
​
Preheat oven to 425Ëš F. Slice the tomatoes in half, dice the onion and jalapeño, then carefully remove the kernels of corn from the cob. Measure the spices/salt and add to the corn mixture along with the olive oil. Toss until the corn is well coated with spices. Roast for 30 minutes until tomatoes are beginning to brown. Let cool until barely warm.
In a large bowl, combine the arugula and pepitas. Add the cooled corn mixture to the salad.
Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. Pour over the salad and toss until everything is well combined. If making this salad ahead of time, wait to add the corn mixture and dressing to the greens until right before serving. Don't want to turn on your oven? Grill the corn with the spices and use a grill pan for the tomatoes and onion.
1 cup dried chickpeas (or one can Eden garbanzo beans)
3" piece of kombu sea vegetable (if using dried beans)
2 ears of corn, kernels removed & blanched
1 small to medium red pepper, diced
1-1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest, to taste
Juice of one orange
1-3 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
Tamari soy sauce, to taste
1/2-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, to taste
3-4 tablespoons parsley, minced
2 scallions minced (or chives)
​
Wash chickpeas, drain, cover with water and soak overnight, 5-6 hours. Drain, discarding soaking water.
​
In a heavy pot, add chickpeas, 3 cups spring water, and 3" piece of kombu. With cover off, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and simmer until chickpeas are tender but shape is still firm... anywhere from 50 minutes to 2 hours. Drain. Set aside to cool.
​
If using Eden beans from can, drain and put in a bowl.
​
To assemble:
Add blanched corn and diced red peppers to cooled chickpeas. Add orange zest, orange juice, and lemon juice. Stir gently. Add parsley and tamari. Drizzle on olive oil, to taste. Ajust seasonings, if necessary. 10 minutes before serving, fold in minced scallions. Serve room temperature on a bed of lettuce, arugula, watercress, or spring greens.
Creamy Ginger Carrot Soup
FALL ... serves 4-5
Broccoli Soup with Ginger & Lemon
WINTER ... serves 2
1 medium onion, diced
4 cups carrots, sliced thin on the diagonal, approx. 1 pound
Scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
3 1/2-4 cups water
1 tablespoon mellow white miso
3-4 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice, to taste
3-4 teaspoons ginger juice, to taste
Ground white petter, to taste
1/8-1/4 teaspoon sea salt
​
In a soup pot, sauté onion in oil until translucent. Stir in oats and carrots; mix together well. Add 1/8 teaspoon sea salt and enough water to barely cover carrots. Bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat and simmer until carrots are tender, about 15-20 minutes.
​
Puree in blender or food processor and return to pot. Mix miso with a bit of soup stock. Season soup with miso, orange juice, ginger juice, and white petter. Low simmer 2 minutes; adjust seasonings to taste. Cover, turn off heat, and let sit for 10 minutes to blend flavors.
​
Garnish with sliced scallions and serve.
​
Note: Using a blender will produce a creamier texture than a food processor.
2 small heads of broccoli, with stems
1 medium shallot, minced
1 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tbsp ginger, minced
3-4 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut milk
toppings: scallions, sesame seeds, roasted broccoli
Preheat oven to 400°F. Remove broccoli florets from stems and cut into small pieces. Peel stems, dice and set aside. Toss with 1/2 tbsp. olive oil and spread into a single layer on a sheet tray. Roast until broccoli is tender and starting to brown, 20-25 minutes.
​
Heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add shallots. Cook for roughly 4 minutes then add in the ginger, cooking for one more minute. Stir in broccoli stems, 3 cups broth, lemon zest, juice, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until stems are tender.
Add in roasted broccoli, reserving a few pieces for topping. Transfer to a blender and purée the soup using a high-power blender. If soup is too thick, add enough vegetable broth to thin down to a good consistency.
Transfer the soup back to the pan and add in the coconut milk. Head the soup over low until ready to serve. Divide soup into two bowls and top with the saved roasted broccoli, sesame seeds, scallions, and extra coconut milk.
Notes: If you find the texture not smooth, pass the soup through a sieve before returning to the pot.
