PLANT-FORWARD DINNERS THAT STILL TASTE INDULGENT
Spring soups, platters and pastas that will lure skeptics. Loving the Foods that Love us Back, Spring Edition.
Hello!
This is the second installment of my Spring-Forward week: vegetables. In the spirit of Loving the Foods That Love us Back (my quarterly column about gut-healthy meals), I wanted to bring you a round-up of fresh, delicious, plant-forward green meals—yes, green in color but also loaded with that verdant, completely life-giving kind of goodness that we all crave this time of year.
Frankly, I wanted to call this Loving the Foods That Love You Back: THE BROCCOLI EDITION, but I was afraid not enough of you would open it, because let’s face it, in a tough world, most of us don’t want to eat the things we know we should.
“Everyone wants their treats!” a wise friend told me recently when I was talking about my desire for the people I love most to center their lives around foods experts know increase longevity and vitality (mostly plants, fresh and in season when possible). She’s right. Treats are wonderful. I am a treat yourself kind of gal, so I get it.
But when you have recipes that make vegetables taste this good, you start to think twice about that bowl of ice cream that seemed like such a good idea just moments before. It’s a concept I think of as not omitting or limiting treats and sweets, but rather crowding them out with so many other nourishing options you no longer place the treats front and center in your ethos.
I love broccoli —and thankfully, my kids do, too. We eat it in stir-fries, steamed with butter and salt, and once a year at the county fair, smothered in cheese in a loaded baked potato (why do I forget to make that the rest of the year?). Those are obvious, easy lifts. But this edition is all about that next layer—soups, orzos, platters, pastas, and even pasta sauces—like a pesto—that get the bulk of their goodness from broccoli or other greens.
Below, you’ll find my two most beloved Broccoli recipes I wrote for the New York Times—a creamy and delicious vegan soup, and a broccoli pasta that wins oohs and ahhs every time they post it on Instagram. It’s so delicious and so easy!! There’s also a handful of goodies from friends and other cookbook authors
, , , and brain health expert .Finally, find a recipe for a Lemon Broccoli Soup (pictured above) with Miso and French Lentils below. That comes from cookbook author Anise Thorogood's book, The Nourished Sprout, about cooking for a vibrant pregnancy. I’m sharing it here because that book may be flying under your radar, but let’s face it, how a mother-to-be eats when she is pregnant is a good example of how we should all eat most of the time—with an eye on how food affects new/healthy cell growth. Here’s to eating like we’re growing new life — inside ourselves! Scroll for the list and recipes.
xx
Sarah
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SIX DELICIOUS DINNERS FOR BROCCOLI SKEPTICS
Vegan Broccoli Soup with Cashew Cream (New York Times, unlocked)
Linguine with Chickpeas, Broccoli, and Ricotta (New York Times, unlocked)
Roasted Broccoli with Whipped Feta and Chili Crisp (by Alexa Weibel, unlocked)
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Sicilian Broccoli, Kale and Pistachio Pesto (by
)Lemon Broccoli Soup with Miso and Lentils (pictured very top, RECIPE BELOW)
FOUR MORE SPRINGY, HEALTH-GIVING SOUPS
Pea Soup with Roasted Garlic Bread (pictured below, by
)Vitamin Soup (pictured on the blue lace), Serbian, from Irina Georgescu’s Danube
Pozole Verde, Mexico, from my book Every Day is Saturday
Turmeric Broccoli, Tofu, and Rice Soup (by
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