Raw Transition Recipe with Kale for the New Year!
Happy New Year! It is 2011 and I am excited. I love clean slates, fresh starts and dates that motivate! When the new year starts, I get in a cleaning out mode. I want to attack the closets, my office, and my diet. I normally give myself way too much leeway between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the new year is a great time to get back on track.
This year my goal is to help you ease into raw. Along with all of the 100% raw recipes, I will be doing more transitional recipes and also our raw plus recipes. At this time of the year, when I wake up to a -15 windchill, I will be exploring recipes that give us a way to add more substance without having to rely on only dehydration or heavy nuts.
Don’t get me wrong, I love raw. In the spring, summer and fall, I am almost 100%. But in the dead of winter, here when it is dark and cold, I like to add in some healthy grains and beans. Today, I wanted to whip up something quick with barley.
Barley is a super healthy grain that not only helps regulate blood sugar, recent studies suggest that it has multiple positive effects on cholesterol. It is loaded with fiber, and helps promote intestinal and colon health. It is a low glycemic grain that has been shown to be anti-inflammatory. Please note: If you are gluten intolerant, barley does contain gluten. You can substitute your grain of choice.
For this recipe, I made the barley, threw it in a pan with some sauteed shallots and kale. It is topped with a tasty sauce and fresh carrots. The kale is sauteed very quickly, just enough to heat and wilt but not destroy all the nutrients. The carrots go on fresh. Kale is one of the greens that I like to eat both lightly cooked and raw. Vitamin K greatly increases in cooked kale but you will also lose some of the vitamin c. So, getting it both ways is a bonus.
Barley Kale Sauté
SERVES 4
- 1 cup barley
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons olive or coconut oil
- 1/3 cup sliced shallots
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 large bunch kale, stems removed, torn into bite sized pieces
- 2-3 carrots, grated
- 2 tablespoons nama shoyu
- 1 tablespoon agave or honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- lemon juice
- Brazil nuts
- Make the barley. Combine barley and water in sauce pan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered until soft (20-30 minutes).
- Heat oil in saucepan. Add sliced shallots and ginger. Sauté until soft.
- Add barley and heat throughly.
- Add kale and sauté until just wilted. You should only have the kale on the heat for a minute or two. *
- Remove from saucepan, top stir in carrots.
- Whisk together 2 tablespoons olive oil, nama shoyu and honey or agave. Mix into kale mixture.
- Top with a squeeze of lemon juice and grated brazil nuts, if desired.
*To keep this a higher percentage of raw, you can massage the kale with olive oil and lemon juice and add it without heating.
Looking for another transitional recipe? Try our Fresh Veggies with Black Beans
RichG wrote on February 9, 2011
interesting Diane re cooked Kale and thyroid. Can u point to some research on this? thx!
RichG wrote on February 9, 2011
Love it. If I were to make this I would use the young Kale I get from a local organic hydroponic farm I visit 2X week here in the Orlando are. They fresh pick young kale and rainbow chard for me, and I find them more tender, less bitter, and delicious than mature kale. Just a thought! They also ffesh pick a salad mix for me that has 18 different greens and edible flowers in them and make for incredible tasting salads I eat each noght as my dinner!
Katelyn wrote on January 13, 2011
Yummmmmmmy!
Thanks for the delicious gingery recipe. This really perked me up on a chilly CO day. Ill certainly be sharing this with others in my community <3
Dianne wrote on January 4, 2011
From the research that I have done, I believe kale is fine to eat if one has thyroid issues as long as the kale is cooked. The same goes for broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts etc… I eat plenty of these cooked along with a raw food diet and my thyroid has improved.
Shakira wrote on January 3, 2011
This looks yummy…gonna see if I can find barley in Jamaica