Awaken to Spring

 In the winter season, our bodies accumulated dryness and cold.  It served us well to eat hearty meals, heavier foods, more good fats and proteins to keep warm and grounded.  As we move into spring, the rains come, snow melts, the earth holds onto more water and so do we.  This often manifests in the body as congestion and allergies. So, as the seasons change, so should our eating habits. Avoid heavy foods like red meat, dairy, nuts and shellfish, and favor lighter foods like bitter greens, sprouts, and beans. We naturally tend to crave lighter meals and looking at what nature has to offer in the early spring we only need to go as far as our own back yard! The dandelion is one of the first blooms to appear and it happens to be just what the body needs to help flush out excess water and fat from the system. Best of all, according to the author of Eating on the Wild Side, Jo Robinson, wild foods offer more nutrients than their grocery store counterparts. Dandelion leaves have eight times more antioxidants, three times more vitamin A and two times more calcium than spinach! All parts of the dandelion are edible: flowers, leaves, and roots. Be sure you harvest dandelions that have not been sprayed with pesticides.  And what to do with those “weeds” you just picked?  Use them as you would any greens in salad, chopped and sautéed, added to scrambled eggs or steep the leaves in water for tea.

Dandelion Tea
2 pinches of cardamom
Handful of dandelion leaves
Steep cardamom and dandelion leaves covered in boiling water 2-3 minutes.
Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Dandelion Salad
Bunch of dandelion greens
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Mix dressing ingredients together and toss with greens