It doesn’t look like spring outside, but for now it can look like spring in my kitchen.
My forsythia exclamation mark was dotted with today’s green juice breakfast.
Good morning Greener March Challenge Day 20! Here in the northeast we’re all reeaaally ready for some greenery outside too.
Today’s juice was so bright green it almost looked like kool-aid.
(Rest easy, it was NOT kool-aid.)
Today’s noteworthy green lemonade ingredient was fresh parsley.
I used about half of this bunch of parsley with a head of romaine, 1/2 of a large cucumber, 2 apples, 2 lemons, a couple inches of ginger root and 3 stalks of celery. I worried that the parsley might be overpowering or really strong – but the taste was subtle and enjoyable too.
I rarely use fresh herbs for cooking – I could probably use a little improvement here, I’m sure that using fresh herbs is better for a number of reasons. I guess I’m so afraid that whatever fresh herb I buy will end up going bad before I’m able to use it all – it doesn’t feel like it’s worth the money. I end up using dried herbs and spices 99% of the time. It was easy shoving parsley through the juicer though. Maybe this is my answer for what to do with fresh herbs that are about to go bad? Into the fresh juice or a smoothie you go!
I originally bought this parsley to chop up and add to salads as a “new” green, but juicing it is as far as I’ve gotten with it so far. Parsley has all sorts of groovy, unpronounceable things going for it. (How do you say myristicin? limonene? eugenol? alpha-thujene?)
I always get a kick of reading the nutritional profile of a vegetable I’ve just eaten. I usually find myself pumping my fist in the and air shouting YEAH! Antioxidants rule! Alpha-thujene IN YO FACE!
It’s late. Clearly I am delirious. Maybe I have spring fever. Or maybe I drank too much parsley today. Or maybe that really was green kool-aid in my glass this morning.
Antioxidants rule!
You are so cute! Here is what I do to use the fresh herbs: buy the smallest bunch, use as much as you can within the few days they still look good. Then at the slightest hint that the herb might be wilting, rip off a sheet of aluminum foil, enough to cover a pie pan. Write the herb’s name and date on the shiny side with a sharpie, blow on the writing to dry it, then lay the foil flat, shiny side down. blowing on the writing prevents the counters from getting imprinted with the writing. then,take the herb bunch in your hands, scrunch it, stems and all, into a long loaf that will fit in the foil with room on each end. Place on one end of the foil, and roll tightly, like the biggest spleef you will ever see. Tuck the ends in, and immediately throw it in the freezer. When you need the herb, there it is. You can actually cut bits off to use. This works only for cooking the herbs of course, but frees you from the fear.
Awesome Pat, thank you! I will totally try this. Parsley, rosemary and thyme doobies in my freezer, here I come!