"It’s not easy being green!" 5 ways to add more greens into your diet!

In honor of Earth Day (belated, it was yesterday) I thought I’d write about being green in a different way.  It’s hard to get more greens in your diet if you don’t know what to do. Here are 5 easy ideas:  

1. Fresh herbs count as greens (especially parsley and cilantro). I always buy fresh herbs and I used to not know what to do with them. 
1. Use them to top your lunch,
2. in a soup or on a salad,
3. as a pretty garnish for your meal
4. take the leftover herbs and make an herb salad to quick garnish or to spruce up any dish.
5. Mint or basil is a great garnish/topping on a yogurt parfait

NOTE: To keep herbs fresher longer wash as soon as possible pat or salad spin until mostly dry and wrap in a slightly damp paper towel.  Then place in a green bag (or Zip-lock if you don't have one) for air tight storage in fridge.

2. Dark leafy greens

1. are great sautéed with any vegetables, add your favorite salad dressing as a "sauce".

2.  in a raw salad (remove stems from the greens and slice thin or chiffonade-see below and place in a bowl with a little salt and some oil.  Massage the mixture for about 5 minutes or so until it softens. Add some avocado and your favorite sliced/ diced veggies (I like diced red bell peppers and avocado) with a homemade light (lemon) vinaigrette. This makes a great and surprisingly delicate salad for a dark green veggie!)

How to Chiffonade Step 1

 STEP 2

STEP 3

1. in a smoothie 40/60 ratio veggie to fruit.
2. In a soup

3. Juiced. Juice of celery,beets, carrots and Kale are very tasty add an apple or orange if that's too much veggie for you. The store bought ones are generally loaded with sugar and most are pasturized and/or preserved. There is a brand called “Evolution” that sells just regular juiced veggies and it’s not bitter, it is flash pasteurized though and costs about $5.00 (depending on the store).

4. Baked
1. Slice them up and make veggie chips- the real kind not the ones full of preservatives or salt. Kale, carrots, radish, beets and sweet potatoes or yams make GREAT chips and even better snacks!
1. It's super easy. Place sliced veggies in a large bowl. Add 1-2 tbsp (or more) of extra virgin olive oil, lightly sprinkle sea salt to coat (maybe 1/4 tsp salt depending on how many veggies you have/ your salt preference) and fresh ground pepper to taste. Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 lemon and gently mix (just use your hands) it all together to coat. 
2. Spread evenly on a lightly oiled cookie sheet 
3. and bake at 375 for about 10 minutes or even better, dehydrate at 103-105 degrees for 4-8 hours (again depending on the veggies and thickness, thinner is better for dehydrating. (The time will require adjusting depending on what veggies you use and how thin you slice them. Note: squash does not make good veggie chips. They basically disappear because they're mainly made of water.)

5. Dipped

1. Use your chips from above OR chop up carrots, celery, jicama, cucumbers or whatever your favorites are and make (or buy) a simple hummus, baba ganoush or salsa! Mmm this sounds awesome... I’ll have to come up with some good dip recipes this spring and share!