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LIVING GREENER
By Brian Kaller
THIS year more than ever it’s important to keep getting lots of vitamins through the winter, and to use everything you can from the garden while it lasts and while there is still daylight and good weather to go outside.
Since what you have left varies from year to year and person to person, your recipes might have to get a bit creative. We all, however, enjoy things that warm us up and can be made quickly when we come in from the cold or rain. With that in mind, here are some quick and easy recipes for extremely healthy dishes that keep your belly warm and your immune system flying during the harsh months.
Pumpkin seed granola
Nuts are some of Nature’s most nutritious foods, and after Halloween most families have pumpkin seeds left over. This makes a great snack to tide you over on winter days.
800 ml of oats
200 ml of pumpkin seeds
200 ml walnuts
100 ml dried cranberries
100 ml raisins
10 ml cinnamon
20 ml honey
50 ml sesame oil
10 ml dark soy sauce
1 orange
Heat the oven to 120 C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, mix the honey, soy sauce, sesame oil and cinnamon. Then mix in the nuts, seeds and oats. Spread evenly on the baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes.
Let cool and add the cranberries and raisins. Finally, zest the orange and squeeze it over the mix, and mix the juice and zest in well.
Sweet-and-sour Kale
1 litre of fresh, washed kale
1 large onion
50ml of cider vinegar
20ml cooking oil
10ml honey
10 ml dark soy sauce
First lightly oil a pan and peel and dice a large onion. Toss the onion bits in and sautee them until they are yellow. Wash and chop about as much kale as will fit in a small pot – it will cook down, and the amounts don’t have to be precise — and toss it in as well. Add a pinch of salt and stir frequently to make sure nothing sticks to the metal.
After the kale has shrunk and gone soft, drizzle it with several tablespoons of cider vinegar, and a tablespoon of honey, and stir it in. I like to add a bit of ginger powder, black pepper and cayenne pepper, or you can use balsamic vinegar to make it sweeter. These are general recipe outlines, of course — see what formula you like best.
700g beetroot, or one large one.
200g celery
500g onions
50ml lemon juice
10ml dark soy sauce
One large clove of garlic
Black pepper
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade. First peel and dice the beetroots, drizzle a little olive oil over the cubes and toss them around until they are lightly coated in oil. Stretch aluminium foil over an oven tray, spread the cubed beetroot over the tray and put it in the oven for an hour or until they are soft and darkened.
While that is roasting, take a large pot and drizzle the bottom with oil and butter. Dice the onions, put them in the pan and stir around, and then add the celery. If you like, at this point you could also add cabbage or carrots. Finely shred the garlic and mix it in right before the end.
Let them sautee until they are soft and lightly golden. Then pour in a litre of vegetable stock and add 50 ml of lemon juice, 10 ml of dark soy sauce and stir in. Finally, take the beetroots out of the oven and add them to the pot.
