Seems like I just can’t get enough kale!  Not only is this salad super yummy, but it is incredibly healthy and easy to make. This is a great raw choice for the warm months and a nice dish to bring for a potluck.

Ingredients:
-  1 bunch of kale
-  1 avocado
-  1 lemon, squeezed
-  1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Rinse the kale, remove the stems and chop. Combine the kale, lemon and sea salt in a bowl. Massage the kale with your hands for a few minutes - until the kale becomes tender. Chop up the avocado into small pieces and massage it into the greens.

Optional Add-ins:
− Grated root vegetables such as beet, carrot and daikon radish.
− Toasted sesame or sunflower seeds.
− Crumbled goat or feta cheese.
− Extra Virgin Olive Oil
− Quinoa

Here’s a super easy way to get more greens into your life!Great for breakfast or a super healthy snack. 5 minutes to make and will fill you up for 4-5 hours thanks to the addition of protein (protein powder, flax seed, and almonds). (more…)

Farmers Markets are overloaded with squash this time of year. Here is a simple but delicious recipe that can be served at a dinner party or as a simple meal at home. This naturally sweet vegetable is also a good antidote for sugar cravings.

Ingredients:
3 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tblsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
Cayenne pepper to taste (careful!)
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
3 cups water
1 tart green apple, peeled, cored and chopped
Salt & pepper to taste

In a large soup pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add onion and saute until golden brown. Add garlic, curry powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper; cook, stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Add squash, vegetable or chicken broth, water and apple. Bring liquid to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 25 minutes or until squash is tender. Remove from heat and cool 15-20 minutes.Puree mixture in a blender or food processor and transfer back into soup pot. Season with salt and pepper.

• Refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.
• To serve, warm over low heat, stirring until hot.

Collard green wraps are my new favorite thing! Collard greens replace the tortilla and provide a healthier wrap option. It’s also a great way to get more greens into your diet. Get fresh collard greens from your local Farmer’s Market and fill them with your choice of fillings. You can put just about anything in the collard wrap and make them raw too.

My current favorite:

Take 1-2 raw collard leaves with the inside facing up and fill with:

- Hummus, brown rice or quinoa, grated carrot, 1/2 avocado, dash of toasted sesame oil and tamari. Yum!

Collard greens are packed with nutrition! 

Like other vegetables in the cabbage family, collard greens provide anticancer properties. They offer an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotenes, chlorophyll, and manganese.  One cup of collard greens provides more than 70 percent of the RDA for vitamin C. Collard greens are also a very good source of fiber, and several minerals, including iron, copper, and calcium. They also offer a good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E.

Spring is the perfect time to up your intake of greens. The grass is turning green, the trees are blossoming and green shoots are coming up all over. Nature is reminding us to eat our greens! Greens help cleanse and detoxify our bodies, increase our energy and make us feel more in tune with the season. Greens also have a high fiber and nutrient content - calcium, magnesium, iron, folic acid, as well as antioxidant vitamins A, B, C and E. (more…)

I finished off the summer with a visit to my mom’s on Eastern Long Island. I always joke around that I’ve been to Mom’s Fitness Camp, as we eat really healthy and exercise a lot. My mom is very active, especially in the summer. It is inspiring to see her swim for 50 minutes at a time in the bay.  I don’t try to swim as much as her, but I do get in the water for at least 25 minutes. We also play a lot of tennis. We’re not great tennis players, but it is so much fun and of course good exercise to run around the court. My mom can keep playing endlessly. After 2 hours on the court I told my mom I couldn’t possibly hit another ball! We went to the ocean every day where we took long walks and played in the waves.
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Farmer’s Markets are great for the farmer and great for the consumer. The farmer is able to sell their produce directly to the consumer and the consumer is able to buy unbelievably fresh and delicious food straight from the source. Last week I bought corn which had been picked that morning… you would not believe how unbelievably sweet and delicious it was! Try getting that same corn from the supermarket… you’re lucky to get it 3-5 days after it’s been picked, packed and shipped. The true test is in the taste… the sweetness in the corn from the supermarket has inevitably turned to starch.
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