One Body Yoga Kitchen: Two Recipes to Welcome Spring

My Favorite Green Salad

Notes: This recipe doesn’t have a name or a source, and it’s not even a recipe. (How Zen is that?) You're invited to take this list of ingredients and prepare my favorite salad to enjoy your way.

Ingredients:

Your favorite salad greens (based on the number of servings you need; one small handful per person) Pear slices (prevent discoloration with lemon juice) Sliced avocado (same lemon juice treatment) Sliced scallions, green and white parts Crumbled smoked blue cheese (sprinkled on top: Moody Blue or any smoked cheese such as Gouda or mozzarella if blue cheese doesn’t appeal to you) Pecans (regular or candied, sprinkled on top) Chopped parsley (sprinkled on top) Vinaigrette, to taste

Spring Vegetable Soup with Beans and Basil

Notes: Bows to the talented and tasteful Deborah Madison who created the original version of this recipe (called “A Summer Bean and Vegetable Soup with Pesto” in her beloved cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, 2007, Ten Speed Press). I simplified and shortened the preparation for this lighter version. The saffron is expensive, but worth the investment since you only need a pinch, and it’s magic in this recipe!

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons olive oil

3 leeks, the white section plus 1” of the green, diced into 1/2” pieces

3 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

3 carrots, peeled and diced into 1/2” pieces

2 red or Yukon Gold potatoes, diced into 1/2” pieces

1 turnip, peeled and diced into 1/2” pieces

3 zucchini, diced into 1/2” pieces

2 ripe tomatoes, diced into 1/2” pieces

One 15.5 oz. can cannellini or garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 quart vegetable stock, plus water to cover the vegetables (you determine the soup thickness)

2 bay leaves

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 pinches saffron threads Salt and pepper to taste 12 ounces green beans, cut into ½” lengths

1 handful of fresh basil leaves, sliced in thin ribbons, to serve

Grated or shredded Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot and add the leeks and garlic. Sauté and wilt for 5 minutes, turning with a spoon. Add the diced carrots, potatoes, turnip, zucchini and turn in the pan to coat with the oil until all the vegetables are mixed. Incorporate the tomatoes, the vegetable stock and toss in the bay leaves, thyme and saffron. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook covered for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, then the green beans and finish cooking the soup for 10 minutes.

To serve, turn the heat off and add the basil leaves. Garnish the soup with Parmesan cheese.

Photo: Steve Buissinne, Pixabay