Homegrown Radishes & Radish Greens ~ simple, clean-eating at its best!

Our neighbor, (the same 'gentleman farmer' that I wrote this post about last year) was kind enough to bring over some of his first of the season's produce yesterday.  It was a robust bunch of radishes ~ I love homegrown radishes!  For some reason I have not had any luck growing them here, luckily for us, we now know someone who does.  :)

I decided to enjoy the radishes simply, with just a sprinkle of some of the ~ Spanish rosemary infused gourmet sea salt ~ that my friend, Anne, sent me for Christmas.  If you've never tried flavored sea salt, I HIGHLY recommend it!  (The trio of flavored sea salts she sent to me came from a lovely shop called the ~ Sea Salt Cottage.  Check out their eShop tab to see their current flavored gourmet sea salt selection ~ it is amazing stuff!!  I adore my wood smoked flavor, it smells and tastes divine!)

After I had my fill of radishes, I kept thinking the radish greens just looked too healthy and vibrant to let them go to waste.  So, I searched the web and discovered you can eat radish leaves!  I never knew that...but thinking of how sorry looking the radish greens are in the market, it's not surprising that I'd never thought to eat them before.  Now I know ~ homegrown and fresh is the only way to go with radish greens! 

   

I threw in a few of the baby radish leaves into my dinner salad ~ it was outstanding!  The radish leaves have a little, sharp/spicy kick and were a nice compliment  to the romaine and Parmesan cheese.  Simple, clean-eating at its best!  Thanks so much for sharing the radishes with us, Brett!

Superfood Veggie Scramble with Chickpeas ~ Meatless Monday

I had one last 'Little Bessie' egg in my fridge, and I was all set to make a pretty meal.  I planned to saute superfood veggies (kale, spinach and 3 colors of bell peppers), getting them ready so I could crack my huge, double-yolk egg on top of their healthy goodness and then poach those two beautiful, mounded yolks (that came out of that one egg) and enjoy my breakfast...  

What really happened was that one of the yolks burst when I cracked the egg ~ WAH!!  Total bummer!  Since I couldn't make what I wanted, I got cranky and just scrambled it all together.  Since I was on a roll, I added some chickpeas that were in the fridge for good measure and topped it all with some salsa.  It had became a glorious, tasty mess.  Not pretty, but it was ~ low fat, low carb, low cal and yummy ~ all the same.    Some days chickens, some days feathers...some days cracked yolks.  Ya gotta roll with the punches and not let it ruffle your feathers.  (tee-hee ~ every pun intended! :)  Happy Meatless Monday!

No-Bake Maple-Nut Granola Topping

I saw this recipe link for a clean eating granola bar (from the site ~ Reboot with Joe) on my Facebook feed  and was intrigued.   So much so, that I went right into my kitchen at midnight (what can I say, I'm a night owl!) and made a batch.  I didn't have all the ingredients that were called for, so I used what I had on hand. (sound familiar?)  

I was thoroughly impressed with the taste, but was unable to get it to set-up properly, it just would not hold a bar shape. :(  So, instead of a bar I turned it into ~ No-Bake Maple-Nut Granola Topping.  It makes a perfect, crumbled crunch that is excellent over yogurt or ice cream.  What a tasty, clean-eating snack treat!  There are so many flavor/ingredient variations that you could do, the possibilities are endless.  I'm sorry that the recipe didn't work out as planned, but so happy that I've got a new superfood creation to top my morning yogurt with. :)  Enjoy! 

 

No-Bake Maple-Nut Granola Topping
adapted from this recipe 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats 
• 1/2 cup oat bran 
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds 
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 
• 1/4 cup carob chips (or raisins, or cacao nibs, or chocolate chips ~ or a mix ~ I used a 1/4 cup mix of carob chips, raisins & cacao nibs)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup 
• 3 Tbsp chia seeds 
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon (or a 1/2 tsp mix of spices like I did ~ cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice & cardamom) 
• a dash of salt 

Directions

Line an 8x8 square baking pan with parchment paper or plastic wrap.  Add all ingredients to bowl and mix well.  Spread mixture into pan and press down firmly, using the back of a spoon.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to set-up for at least an hour in the fridge.  When firm, crumble and store in an air tight container in the fridge. Best when eaten while still chilled.