Discover my top spring recipes to boost your health this season. Quick and easy to make using fresh herbs, vegetables and fruits grown this season.
Spring is usually a hectic time for my calendar between Easter activities at church, gymnastics competitions for Clare, tennis matches for Jackson and Grand Canyon training for myself. Yet all of that has stopped with COVID-19 and I’m using this season to slow waaaay down.
I am looking forward to a slow, intentional lifestyle reset this season.
I’ve stocked my kitchen with spring fruits for snacking, and loaded up my to-do list with garden prep, family grill nights in the backyard, and challenged myself (and my fellow rawkstars) to a 30-day fitness challenge while still training for the next Rawkstar Adventure Retreat.
Bottomline: I’m ready for all things Spring, and you should be too!
Wellness Challenges this Spring
With a little extra time on my hands (no gymnastics, tech club, or gym to keep us on the go), I’ve been searching for some ways to embrace this slower season. I’m working to be more intentional with my time, while still seeking adventure.
Springtime Smoothie Challenge: Daily Blends, has a 30-Day Spring Green Smoothie Challenge. Download the app, grab a few friends, and get blending for a great jumpstart on fresh spring foods.
At Home Spring Fitness Challenge; Though my gym is closed, I want to keep up a regular workout routine. I’ve asked my friend Jo Fuller to host a 30-Day at home fitness challenge inside Rawk the Year.
21 Spring Whole Food Cleanse: I like to start this season with a 21-day cleanse, which helps my body recharge and prepare for the season ahead. This spring obviously started off completely different, so instead I’m focusing on embracing a plant-powered whole foods diet.
PSSST: This amazing guide gives me the framework I need to create custom veggie bowls. My husband and son have been cooking dinner with it too!
Foodie Resources for Spring Foods
Looking for some fresh, new activities this spring? I’ve compiled a list of some incredible resources to expand our food horizons.
Plant-Based Online Cooking Class: I found this awesome online cooking class through Wicked Healthy Cooking. They offer plant-based cooking classes (even classes for kids!), to help us have fun while staying at home. Spring foods are probably the cheapest fresh ingredients at the grocery store, so grab some and get cooking.
Seasonal Food Garden: When my family grows our own food, we enjoy it more. We also gain great satisfaction knowing we nurtured that food to life. I’ve had many different kinds of gardens over the years. Everything from kitchen herb gardens, to full blown Hansard Farm raised beds with chickens keeping the bugs out. I even had a tomato jungle that grew out of compost, #freefood
New to gardening? The GrowVeg App is a great place to start. Utilize it to learn what to grow and when to grow it, in all different kinds of spaces.
What Fruits and Vegetables are Available in Spring?
I love cooking/eating seasonal food, and there are so many great spring fruits and foods that are at their peak in the coming months. My Fresh Start 21 Spring Cleanse is loaded with recipes that use spring fresh produce for their flavor + health benefits.
Spring fruits and vegetables to use:
| Apricots | Leeks |
| Artichokes | Lettuce |
| Arugula | Onions |
| Asparagus | Peas |
| Beets | Potatoes |
| Bok Choy | Radishes |
| Carrots | Rhubarb |
| Cherries | Salad Greens |
| Fennel | Scallions |
| Garlic | Spinach |
| Herbs | Strawberries |
Healthy Spring Recipes using fresh ingredients
With all this goodness, I wanted to share a few of my favorite Springtime recipes as well, to make cooking and eating these seasonal spring foods a breeze.
Carrots
Easter is just around the corner, so let’s start with this incredible Carrot Cake Green Smoothie. It is practically a dessert loaded with vitamins to improve eyesight and brain function. Kids can help prep this creation, then sip together while dying eggs, or creating an in-home scavenger hunt for family night (or well, every night this spring!)
Artichokes
High in fiber and loaded with nutrients + antioxidants, this veggie can be roasted, grilled, pickled, you name it. Chrissa has a recipe for Instant Pot Artichokes w/ 3 dipping sauces that has me drooling. One is a vegan cheese sauce that sounds fabulous. Artichoke makes a great side dish on its own, as well as paired with other grilled spring foods from the above list for a backyard dinner.
Strawberries
Spring foods have me craving fresh, bright salads. This Mixed Greens Salad with Strawberry Herb Dressing hits the spot. I love grabbing herbs from my kitchen garden, since they are great ways to add kick up a meal. Though strawberries seem to be stocked in stores year round, I can definitely tell that they are meant to be a spring fruit. They are a bit smaller, have a bright red color, and are super sweet.
Fennel
This veggie is actually a close relation to carrots! It is a seasonal food ingredient exploding with bright, sweet flavor. I love to use it as a salad or pizza topping, but made it the star in this Lentil Fennel Soup recipe. This is one of the incredible dinners found in Fresh Start 21 Spring Cleanse. Fennel helps lower the blood pressure and clear up acne, making it a great cleansing ingredient.
Asparagus
Super simple to cook, fun to grow in a spring garden, and delicious, asparagus is probably one of my fav veggies. Megan from Detoxinista have an incredible recipe for Cauliflower Rice ‘Risotto’ with Asparagus and Mushrooms. It’s as good as it sounds, and also capitalizes on great spring foods to up the flavor factor.
Herbs
Speaking of flavor, I’ve been making a lot of homemade hummus lately. With all the fresh spring foods ripening, I am sharing this Herbalicious Hummus recipe. It is super easy to mix and match with the fresh herbs you have on hand, as well as any dipping veggies your heart desires. This quick and delicious recipe wins snack time.
Beets
Gorgeous in color, both the stem/stalk and actual beet are edible. Beets are great at helping to lower blood pressure, and are full of Vitamin C. Cookie and Kate curated a delicious Beet Salad with Carrot, Quinoa, and Spinach that is full of color and flavor. Beets are also a great addition to a spring food garden, easy to grow and fun to share.
Cherries
This delectable spring fruit disappears fast at my house, though the culprit can usually be found with a red-tinged mouth. Cherries are a perfect seasonal dessert just by themselves, yet I love adding them to smoothies as well. Try this Cherry Almond Cinnamon smoothie for a pre-workout boost.
Lettuce
I give a lot of space on the blog to kale and spinach, yet lettuce is a great spring foods leafy green. It is super versatile and full of Vitamin C. It’s not just for salads either, those big leaves can also be used as a delicious food wrap. These Thai Lettuce Wraps are a rawkstar favorite, and perfect for any takeout cravings!
Radishes
I’m wrapping up this great list with a recipe that I REALLY want you to try. Radishes are an immunity boosting machine, and can be tossed into almost any plant-based meal. Yet Pinch of Yum’s Cinnamon Sugar Radish Chips takes the cake this time. If you want a plant-based dipping sauce, try my Cashew Cream drizzled with a little maple syrup. You won’t regret trying this recipe.
What spring recipes do you love?
Do any of these recipes have you running towards that produce box, or adding a few more seed packets to your garden list? Let me know what you want to make this spring by dropping a comment below.
from
https://simplegreensmoothies.com/recipes/spring-recipes
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