Ready, Set, Spring!

When it comes to eating seasonally, green means go at this time of year! Verdant veggies vie for our attention as they burst up through the earth’s floor, beckoning us to savor their flavor.

If you follow Mother Nature’s lead, she signals us to leave behind the heavier, heating, acid-forming foods of winter that kept us warm, and asks us to focus our attention on the lighter, cooling, alkaline foods that help us to maintain balance as the season shifts and heats up.

Collard greens are the perfect host for the abundance of veggies that grow at this time of the year. Spices and the friendly bacteria on vegetables enkindle agni (digestive fire), and enhance assimilation and absorption of nutrients.

In this recipe, explore how the bitter, astringent, and pungent flavors of broccoli, radish, scallion, avocado, and cilantro team up with just enough of the sweet, sour, and salty tastes of lime and coconut to tantalize our taste buds.

Collard Wraps

• 4 or more large collard green leaves
• 1 very ripe avocado, mashed
• 1 cup finely chopped broccoli
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced or minced radish
• A generous handful of cilantro leaves
• 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or 1/4 each
• 2 tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 3 tablespoons toasted sesame or olive oil
• Himalayan pink salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

*If you are experiencing feelings of heaviness, bloating, and lethargy (kapha dosha), use less avocado, seeds, coconut, and sesame oil.

Directions

1. At room temperature, combine all ingredients (except the collard green leaves) in a large bowl and mix well.

2. Lay the collard leaves out flat, and then spoon and spread some of the mixture evenly onto each of the leaves. Wrap them up and you’re ready to roll!

Serves 4.

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