Breakfast Spinach Salad and Pear Juice

This morning we had another one of our unorthodox breakfasts. I made us a spinach salad with miso mirin dressing and a cardamom scented pear juice. This breakfast was packed with nutrition and we had approximately 6 servings of raw vegetables and fruit this morning for breakfast. I prefer to start our day this way, with a big boost of nutrition. When we start of day this way I know we will have no problem getting at least 10 servings of fruit and vegetables that some doctors now say is required for good health.

Lunch today will be leftovers from dinner last night (spinach salad with bulgur and falafel). For the hubby I also packed some celery sticks to dip into walnut butter and roasted edamame to eat while he sips his green tea at work since having soy and green tea together improve the absorption of both.

Here is what we had for breakfast this morning.

Cardamom Scented Pear and Ginger Juice with Apple Cider

Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 Bosc pears
¾ inch fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 cup apple cider
½ teaspoon cardamom, ground (or to taste)

Directions:

Place the pears, ginger and apple cider in your blender and process until smooth. Add cardamom to taste.

Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 248.26
Calories From Fat (2%) - 5.14

Total Fat - 0.61g
Saturated Fat - 0.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 8.02mg
Potassium - 560.44mg
Total Carbohydrates - 64.75g
Fiber - 10.14g
Sugar - 30.86g
Protein - 1.47g

Comments:

I happen to adore cardamom, so I loved this juice. You could substitute cinnamon if you prefer but I highly recommend the cardamom.

If you are unfamiliar with cardamom it is a plant that comes from the ginger family. It is native to South India and Sri Lanka. The ancient Romans imported large amounts of cardamom and used it not just for cooking, but also for a breath freshener and digestive aid. You can either use the cardamom pods (lightly smashed) in a cooking liquid to add flavor and then remove the pod. Or you can open the pod extract the seeds and grind them. Cardamom is also sold ground if you don’t want to grind it yourself. Cardamom is typically added to Turkish coffee. It has a wonderful aroma that is almost floral

Each serving of this juice contains approximately 70IU of vitamin A, 15mg of vitamin C, 40mg of calcium, 1mg of iron, 23mcg of folate, 15mcg of vitamin K, 40mg of phosphorus and 25mg of magnesium.

If you prefer you could serve this as a fruit soup instead of juice. It would make a nice starter course or dessert.

To go with the fresh fruit juice we also had this quick spinach salad.


Spinach Salad with Miso and Mirin Dressing

Serves 2

Ingredients:
8 cups baby spinach
4 inches seedless cucumber, cut in half and thinly sliced
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon yellow miso
1 tablespoon raw sunflower seeds

Directions:

Place the spinach in a deep bowl, top with cucumber and tomatoes. Whisk the miso and mirin together until smooth and creamy. Top the salad with the miso and then the raw sunflower seeds.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 83.72
Calories From Fat (31%) - 25.68

Total Fat - 3.5g
Saturated Fat - 0.43g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 419.75mg
Potassium - 886.23mg
Total Carbohydrates - 13.38g
Fiber - 4.13g
Sugar - 1.47g
Protein - 5.65g

Comments:

The miso and mirin dressing works just as well on veggie salads as it does on veggie and fruit salads. While this salad dressing is a little high in sodium it has a nice flavor punch for the calories.

Each serving of this salad contains 11,500IU of vitamin A, 40mg of vitamin C, 135mg of calcium, 4mg of iron, 250mg of folate, 585mcg of vitamin K, 130mg of phosphorus, and 105mg of magnesium.

If you compare the nutrition of the salad to the juice you will see that the salad has much higher nutrition. This nutritional difference is almost entirely due to the spinach. Raw spinach is a nutritional superstar. I use it when I can to make our salads, and in place of lettuce on sandwiches.

Unrelated note:

Today I am carrying a little stress in my shoulders. As soon as I get this posted I am going to get back on my foam roller to work the tension out of my back. If you don’t have a hard foam roller I highly recommend them. I use a mine whenever my back doesn’t feel quite right and it seems to almost instantly feel better.

After I “play” with my foam roller I have a little work to do at home. I also have a date with my Pilates Wii game to keep. With a little luck this afternoon I will be able to spend some time decompressing in the kitchen. Either way I will be back later today. I hope you are all having a great day.