10 Healthy Spring Foods to Eat

Spring is in the air and soon all these lovely veggies will be in season. Check out ways to use these good for you vegetables.

​ARUGULA
How to eat it: Just toss raw greens in bowl with other veggies, nuts or seeds and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar or citrus juice. Chop or tear them into bite-sized pieces to enhance the texture of your salad. Try my Hummus & Quinoa Superfood Veggie Bowl and play with the proportions if you like more greens.

ARTICHOKES
​How to eat them: There is an art and science to the basic way of cooking an artichoke, I like to boil it for about 20 minutes then peel off and eat the leaves (well, use my teeth to scrape the bottom edible part of the leaves) after I dip it in garlic infused extra virgin olive oil.

ASPARAGUS
How to eat it: Asparagus is delicious simply sautéed with a garlic and sea salt in some butter, ghee, coconut oil, or even a little vegetable or chicken stock. Just be sure not to overcook it! You want it to remain vibrant green and retain its shape as it softens a bit but stop cooking before it gets too wilted. About 10 minutes should do it!

BEETS  
How to eat them: So many options! You can juice them or add them to a smoothie, roast them as a side dish, use a julienne veggie peeler to shave them into salads, spiralize them or make them into borscht!

CARROTS  
How to eat them: I love to eat them raw and you can play around with many different ways of chopping, slicing, or shredding them onto anything from salads to sandwiches or tacos. You can even spiralize them as an alternative to zucchini to make healthy “pasta.” They’re also the perfect travel snack and are great dipped into nut butter.
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MINT
How to eat it: Mint is a delicate herb so it’s better not to cook it. I love adding it to water or iced tea for refreshing natural flavoring, it also makes a great edible garnish, and can be chopped and added to fruit salads. Here are 10 healthy ways to use fresh mint to get you started.

PEAS  
How to eat them: You can eat sugar snap peas straight out of the pod for a light snack, add them to salads, smoothies, stir-fries, noodle dishes, and basically anything! Fresh peas make a great kid snack and you can also cook and puree them into baby food.

STRAWBERRIES  
How to eat them: Aside from eating them raw, you can freeze them (just cut the stems off before freezing) and add them to smoothies, you can melt dark chocolate over a double-boiler to dip them into and then freeze with a chocolate coating for dessert. You can also put them on your chia pudding or oatmeal, or make a quick jam by chopping them up and simmering in a bit of water with a cinnamon stick and then adding some vanilla extract and maple syrup at the end.

SPRING ONIONS 
How to eat them: You can add raw onions to things like salads or tacos, or simply sauté them with some sea salt as a tasty caramelized onion side dish. They also make the perfect base for your spring sauces and soups.

RADISHES
How to eat them: Sliced thin with a handheld mandolin for a raw salad, and you can also roast them, add them to a quinoa salad like my Mediterranean Herb Quinoa Salad, or even juice them.

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