It doesn’t get more classic than this. Men and women alike will be drawn to these Simple Strawberries Dipped in Chocolate:

Ingredients:
- 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 lb organic strawberries, rinsed and dried very well

Procedure:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set in refrigerator to chill.

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler by snugly fitting a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the boiling water but rather is heated by the steam created from the simmering water. This will prevent scorching of the chocolate. Pour the chocolate chips in the bowl and, using a spatula, stir the chips until melted and incorporated. Remove bowl from heat.

Remove the chilled baking sheet from the refrigerator. Holding the strawberries by their stems, dip into the melted chocolate, twisting to coat completely and lifting to allow the excess of chocolate to fall back into the bowl before gently laying on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining strawberries and allow to cool completely before serving enjoying.

Parsley packs a lot of punch – it’s a terrific anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and a great immune booster. Rich in Vitamin C, I always prepare the following Ginger-Garlic Soup with Parsley and Miso whenever I – or my loved ones – feel a cold or flu coming on.

Ingredients:
- 1 head of garlic (about 10 cloves), peeled
- 1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and chopped
- 4 cups of vegetable stock or water
- leaves from 1/2 bu parsley
- 1/4 cup white miso
- Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Procedure:

Place the garlic and ginger in a medium saucepan with the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until the garlic is tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer the ingredients to a blender, and, exercising caution, puree until smooth. Add the parsley and blend again to combine. Return mixture to the saucepan and whisk in the miso. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and sip until you feel better.

People are often attracted to the shape and color of Belgian Endive, yet when it comes time to prepare them, they’re often stumped about the best way to enjoy them. The structure of endive spears make them a perfect transport mechanism for any kind of dip or filling. Try my below recipe as an appetizer or snack that balances the natural bitterness of endive with sweet creaminess of cashew cream and saltiness of sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives. Not a bad way to get your bitters.

Endive Spears with Herbed Cashew Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade

Ingredients:
- 12 good-sized individual endive leaves, about 3 endive spears
- 1 cup cashew cheese (recipe follows)*
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced chives
- 3 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Procedure:

Separate the individual endive leaves from the spears and lay out on a serving plate. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the cashew cheese with the thyme, chives, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. In a separate small mixing bowl, combine the sun-dried tomatoes with the kalamata olives and parsley.

Spoon a tablespoon of herbed cashew cheese into the base of each endive spear and top with a heaping teaspoon of tapenade. Enjoy!

To make cashew cheese, blend the following ingredients in a food processor or blender until completely smooth:

- 1 ½ cups cashews, soaked for 2 hours, drained, and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoons white miso
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, more to taste

Alternatively, if you eat dairy and have access to goat cheese from a small, local, organic artisan farm, you can substitute the cashew cheese with chevre.

- Sitarani Palomar, Vegetarian Chef

Spring is here, and so is the asparagus spear! Alright, the rhyme may be weak, but the wisdom is sound: asparagus is as good for you as it is tasty and versatile.

Rich in Vitamin K which helps promote strong, healthy bones as well as potassium, a terrific blood-pressure regulator, asparagus offers you more than just a reminder that warm weather and baseball season are on its way. And there are a multitude of ways you can prepare it, so you won’t get bored before the season is out. Here are some of my favorites:

Prepare a Cream of Asparagus Soup by sweating shallots with a pinch of sea salt, adding chopped asparagus and vegetable stock to the pot, and simmering until tender. Puree until smooth, and just before serving, stir in some fresh thyme and crumbled gorgonzola dolce latte cheese.

For brunch, prepare poached eggs with hollandaise sauce and serve over a bed of blanched asparagus, garnishing with a generous amount of chopped chives.

Roast pencil-thin asparagus spears in the oven until the tips are crispy. Chill thoroughly and then wrap with thin slices of smoked provolone for the ultimate snack.

Try this recipe for Quinoa Tabouli with Asparagus, Easter Egg Radishes, and Fresh Herbs:

Ingredients:
2 cups quinoa, rinsed well and drained
3 cups water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ cups Easter egg radishes, diced
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed into 1-inch pieces and blanched
1 cup chopped green onions
5 fresh mint leaves, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon umeboshi vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Procedure:
Bring the water to a boil. Add the quinoa and salt and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and steam for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.

When the quinoa is cool, combine with the remaining ingredients and enjoy!

-Sitarani Palomar, Vegetarian Chef

For many of us, the childhood reminder to “eat your broccoli” left us with a strong preference against this dinnertime staple. To be fair, the common experience of broccoli often comes down to either an overcooked side dish (think army green and mushy) or undercooked on a raw vegetable platter (think dry and crumbly).

Now you’re an adult, though, and you’re reading a recipe blog, so improper cooking can no longer be your excuse for avoiding this powerhouse vegetable. And why would you want to when new research is backing up broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables’ anti-cancer benefits?

Try it my favorite way, by blanching it quickly and then popping it into a 350 degree oven to crisp up the florets. Then see if the child inside has changed his or her mind about finishing your broccoli before dessert.

To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil.
Add the broccoli and boil until the color is bright and vibrant and the stems tender but still slightly crisp to the bite, about 2 minutes.
Drain the broccoli well and toss with a little extra virgin olive oil and sea salt to taste.
Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven until the florets reach your desired crispiness, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Enjoy immediately or spice it up with any of the following:
- Minced garlic
- Freshly grated ginger
- A dash of red chili flakes
- A sprinkle of nutritional yeast

Few fruits are as luscious as mangoes. Silky, rich, and decadent, their abundant natural sugars completely satiate even the most discerning sweet tooth.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy mangoes is in a fresh Mango Lassi, an Indian smoothie-like beverage made with pureed mango and yogurt. Check out Simply Recipes Mango Lassi, if the craving hits you. For a dairy-free alternative, substitute coconut milk for the yogurt and cow’s milk. It will increase the beverage’s tropical quotient and add heart healty potassium and waist-whittling medium-chain fatty acids.

Speaking of health benefits, mangoes offer an array of good-for-you nutrients like Vitamins A and C, potassium, super anti-oxidant carotenes, and enzymes which are great for your digestive system.

If uber-sweet is not your thing, you can enjoy ripe mangoes in a savory lettuce wrap, like my favorite Thai Lettuce Wraps from Pure Food & Wine in New York City. They marinate collard greens in olive oil and nama shoyu (raw, naturally fermented soy sauce), and wrap the greens around a mixture of shredded carrots, sliced mango, a mix of thai basil, cilantro, and mint, and cashews with sesame oil and sea salt. Served with a dipping sauce made with tamarind and cayenne, all the desired flavors are hit – sweet, sour, spicy, and salty. Your mouth gets what you want, your body gets what it needs, and everybody wins.

For the complete recipe, check out the Pure Food & Wine cookbook, Raw Food/Real World.

Cinnamon-Chili Sweet Potatoes
Serves 6-8

A wonderful source of Vitamins A, C, potassium and calcium, this recipe, with a couple
adaptations, is equally good for mom and baby. Sweet potatoes are high in fiber, making
them great for digestive health, and the cinnamon and coconut oil are superstars, too.
Cinnamon helps stabilize blood sugar, and coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, a compound
only found elsewhere in mother’s milk that helps the development of a healthy immune
system.

Ingredients:
½ cup extra virgin coconut oil
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 lbs sweet potatoes

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place the sweet potatoes on the sheet pan and prick with a fork to allow steam to escape.
Transfer to the oven and bake until tender, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool enough to
handle before removing the skins from the sweet potatoes.

While the sweet potatoes are baking, use a hand mixer to combine the coconut oil with
the chili powder, cinnamon, sea salt, and cayenne pepper.

In a separate bowl, beat the sweet potatoes until pureed, exercising caution to not to
overmix. Fold the cinnamon-chili mixture into the puree. The heat from the sweet
potatoes will melt and incorporate the spiced coconut oil. Serve hot or chilled and enjoy!

There was once a time when I struggled to get enough greens in my diet. I gave myself pep talks about how great greens were for my health in order to alleviate the resistance felt at eating ‘hearty foliage’, or so they seemed to me at the time. Then, after attending culinary school at The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health & Culinary Arts, my relationship changed from one of concerted effort to absolute effortlessness, and it’s all in how they’re prepared.

Greens are high in fiber, and when raw and untreated (culinarily speaking), can be exhausting to chew, and for many, difficult to enjoy. There are many techniques you can use, though, to balance texture and increase enjoyment. Here are some of my favorites:

Collard greens have broad and resilient leaves that make them excellent stand-ins for tortillas. I remove the tough stem, saving it for juicing later, and then overlap the sides of the leaf to close the seam where the stem was removed. Layer on some mustard, mayonnaise, pesto, or spread of choice, top with sliced vegetables, herbs, cheese, tempeh, or protein of choice, and wrap tightly by folding in the sides and rolling from bottom to top. Skewer with a toothpick to hold together, and serve with dipping sauce for a fast meal high in vital nutrients.

Kale might be the most popular green of the moment. Seen in salads, soups, and sides, this green boasts a beautiful blend of sweet and mildly bitter flavors. The easiest ways to prepare it involves removing the stem (save for juicing!), rolling tightly like a cigar, and slicing as thinly as possible to create little green ribbons, or “chiffonade” as the knife cut is called. Toss with olive oil and tamari, or massage by hand with a pinch of sea salt. The salt or tamari softens the fiberous parts of the plant making it more tender in texture, much like the ribbons it resembles. It’s delicious on its own or mixed with wild rice, sliced kumquats, avocado, and red onion – or any of your favorite grains, fruits, and vegetables. Let your creativity and taste buds guide you into building an entire repertoire of kale salads. Your body will thank you.

Chard is an exceptionally tender green with almost no bitterness, making it a perfect introductory green to those new to dark leafy vegetables. Even the stems are more tender than other hearty greens, so when I cook chard, I finely dice the stems and sauté them with onion to get the most out of my vegetable and put density into my dish. I like to chiffonade the chard much like I do kale, and then add it to my sautéed onion and chard stems with a mix of warming spices like chili powder, cinnamon, and allspice. A generous pinch of salt will help break down the leaves, and then finish off your wilted chard with toasted pumpkin seeds for a crunchy contrast. Whatever manages to not be eaten immediately is delicious with breakfast the following morning. If you’re looking for spices to expand your sautéed chard masterpieces, Ursula Ayrout, aka Jane Spice, shared some excellent suggestions on The Spice of Life show.

No more excuses to not experience the wonder of greens! Enjoy a healthy dose of calcium, B vitamins, C vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, and much more by getting a daily dose of dark leafy greens.

Happy Cooking!
Chef Sita

Listed as one of Mother Nature’s highly regarded “superfoods,” so named because of their ability to protect against a range of diseases, blueberries are gems among fruits. Here’s a short list of reasons to amp your intake of blueberries:
· They are an amazing source of anthocyanins, a dietary antioxidant
· They are a low-glycemic fruit which makes them great for balancing blood sugar
· They contain ellagic acid, a phytonutrient found to slow the growth of certain tumors
· Um – did I mention they were delicious?

Blueberries are good for more than just baking into pies and pancakes. Think outside of the breakfast box and try the below recipe for Bulgur Salad with Almonds and Blueberries for savory spin on this superfood.

Bulgur Salad with Almonds and Blueberries
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
1 cup bulgur
1 ¾ cup water
4 scallions, thinly sliced
4 celery sticks, thinly sliced
½ cup fresh parsley, minced
½ cup red onion, small diced
½ cup toasted slivered almonds
2 cups fresh blueberries or ½ cup dried blueberries
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon shoyu
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon ground dried thyme
½ cup olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Bring 1 ¾ cup water to boil in a small sauté pan. Season the water with salt. Add the bulgur to the boiling water. Cover, bring back up to a boil for 1 minute, then turn off the keep and, keeping the lid on, steam the bulgur for 45 minutes.

2. While the bulgur is steaming, combine the scallions, celery, parsley, onion, almonds, and dried blueberries in a bowl. Set aside.

3. In another small mixing bowl or measuring cup, stir together the lemon juice, shoyu, balsamic vinegar, and thyme. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to emulsify the vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. When the bulgur is cooked, add it to the bowl of vegetables. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad a little at a time, stirring and tasting until desired flavor is reached. Enjoy at room temperature or cold.

Raw or roasted, red bell peppers are sweet and delicious. They make an excellent transport mechanism for dips, so I always include them on my crudités platter. And if you can get them local and in season, their flavor is superior.

Drawing on a tip from my dear friend and colleague Kathy Cummins, Instructor for the Santa Cruz Bauman College Natural Chef Training Program, I now pick up a dozen or more red bell peppers from the Farmers’ Market at the end of their season, take them home and roast them all before slicing and freezing them to use throughout the year. This helps keep my costs and carbon footprint low while allowing me, and more importantly, my friends and family, to enjoy the peak flavor as well as the health benefits of locally grown peppers.

Red bell peppers are rich in beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein, three carotenoids that are great antioxidants and which have been shown to promote eye health and protect against mascular degeneration. Beta-carotene can also be converted into Vitamin A by the body, making red bell peppers an excellent choice for vegetarians and vegans.

Check out the following recipes for yummy ways to enjoy red bell peppers at home:
· Creamy Artichoke Dip with Red Bell Pepper Crudités
· Mediterranean Stuffed Bell Peppers with Goat Feta, Quinoa & Herbs
· Panzanella Salad
· Vineyard Salad