Tag Archives: liver

Spring Soup, a Gentle Cleanse

Here is the recipe for the spring soup we shared at the self care class at Trillium Yoga in Antioch. Its adapted from the spring vegetable minestrone soup in the Hearth edition of Taproot Magazine. I didn’t make the dandelion pesto but is a lovely addition to the soup and dandelion makes your liver happy (you’ll have to get the magazine to get that part of the recipe, you’ll be glad you did.) 🙂 I don’t have a picture of the soup but it is hearty and makes your belly feel happy. Green is the color of spring and green foods are especially cleansing and nourishing to the body. As the weather sways between warm and cold this helps boost your veggie intake and keep you warm until the warm weather stays and you can switch over to salads and other cooling foods.

What you need:

  • olive oil
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 leeks, white and pale parts, roughly chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 potato diced
  • fresh thyme
  • salt
  • 1 can cannellini beans or 2 cups cooked cannellini beans
  • 7 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/2 bag chopped kale
  • 1/2 bag of sugar snap peas
  • bag of fresh English peas

What you do:

Add the olive oil, onion, leeks and garlic and cook until soft. Add potato, thyme to taste and salt and let cook for about 5 minutes. Add the beans and stock and bring to a boil then simmer until potatoes are soft. To finish the soup add kale and peas and cook until the kale is wilted (about 5 minutes). Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.

Mango Kiwi Salsa

We’ve been having such an unusual “winter” this year. I hope you’ve been enjoying the mild weather and sun shine as much as I have. This salsa was inspired by the season of transition from winter to spring. The flavor of winter and the kidney system is salt, the flavor of the spleen system and transitions is sweet, and the flavor of spring and the liver system is sour. This salsa has a little bit of each flavor and its quite tasty and easy to make. You can enjoy it all through the spring time too as the sour flavors and cilantro have a gentle detoxifying effect on the body. We enjoyed it yesterday at a very special Yogapuncture for Balance with couples, hosted by Jill Eggert at Malooley Chiropractic in Cary.

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What you need:

2 Mangos, cubed (spleen)

3 Kiwis, cubed (Liver)

1 punch of cilantro chopped (Liver)

Juice of one Lime, or more to taste as you desire (Liver)

A pinch of salt to taste (Kidney)

Corn Tortilla Chips (Spleen/Kidney)

What you do:

Mix everything together and let stand. Eat at room temperature. Refrigerate to retain freshness, eat in 1-3 days. Enjoy!

Kiwi Salsa

I posted a picture of this delicious recipe last night on facebook and a few of you requested the recipe so here it is. It was even better than expected and its a perfect spring food for 3 reasons: its green (color of Spring), its sour (taste of Spring), it has cilantro (liver cleanser).

I got it from The Shrinking Kitchen along with this blackened tilapia recipe. It was better than my favorite restaurant fish tacos. Super simple to make, you won’t be disappointed. I think the salsa would be great with chips too. Let me know what you think.

What you need:

4 kiwis, peeled and diced

1 roma tomato, diced

1 jalapeno, deseeded (if you are a wuss and don’t like super spicey)

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 bunch of cilantro

juice of 2 limes

salt to taste

(you could also add avocado chunks if you’re eating with chips)

What you do:

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Put in fridge until ready to use.

Enjoy!