sweet miscellany

Hydrating watermelon and cucumber join forces in the refreshing summer juice. Lime, mint, and ginger root lend flavor and extra cooling vibes to this vegan and gluten free drink.

Ever since the ayurvedic portion of my yoga teacher training, I’ve been highly attuned to the things that will push my naturally fiery pitta constitution out of balance. Unfortunately, the summer months (aka the majority of the year here in Houston) tend to make me overheat and create imbalance. When I’m too hot, I am easily inundated with anger and frustration. It’s no bueno.

To combat the heat I often reach for things that have a cooling affect in the body and keep mint essential oil at my fingertips at all times. Aside from mint, there are numerous other foods that keep the body cool and hydrated as the temperatures start to rise. In this recipe, I combined watermelon, cucumber, and lime for a nice little tonic that will keep you hydrated and cool. I threw a little ginger in for good measure since it’s great for the digestive system.

Cucumber Watermelon Cooler

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 quart 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Hydrating watermelon and cucumber join forces in the refreshing summer juice. Lime, mint, and ginger root lend flavor and extra cooling vibes to this vegan and gluten free drink.

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 quart cubed fresh watermelon (roughly 1/4 of a watermelon)
1 large cucumber
1–2 limes, peel removed
2-inch piece of fresh ginger
1/2 cup fresh mint (packed, leaves & stems)

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Instructions

Juice everything together in your juicer. Shake and serve! Leftovers may be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Makes about 1 quart of juice.

Notes

If you don’t have a juicer, you can blend everything together in your blender and strain out the solids through a sieve.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Category: drink

Spring Market Soup (vegan/gf recipe) | seasonal plant-based recipes via The Sweet Miscellany Blog

This vegan and gluten free spring market soup is made with the delicious trio of fennel, leeks, and dandelion greens. It’s earthy and comforting and gets its creaminess from canned coconut milk. Eat it as-is or with a side of steamed rice, lime, and some fresh basil!

I’ve tried over the several years I’ve written this blog to create a set system for planning and scheduling blog posts. I’ve had dedicated notebooks, some half filled, some full of sticky notes aplenty. I’ve tried both digital and analog versions of lists. But eventually, no matter what I try, the method that tends to work the best is an organic one. When I sit back and stop trying so hard to come up with something, more often than not, a recipe will make it’s way into my head. Ingredients come together seamlessly and soon enough my hands are quick at work, chopping, mixing, and arranging. And then I wonder why in the world I try so hard to come up with lists when my best recipes are often created on the fly, using the contents of my fridge or the farmers market as inspiration.

In a way, I’ve been having the same issue in my life outside of the blog. I’ve been trying too hard instead of letting things fall into place organically. There’s an odd balance of the right amount of effort/thinking and too much. I tend to obsess, which doesn’t help. It’s time to allow things to come together as they may, sort of like this soup.

This recipe came about after a long-awaited trip to the farmers market. The week prior to my market visit, I had been staying in a hotel and having to mostly rely on eating out. I wasn’t feeling the greatest and was craving something green, earthy, and comforting. Typically I don’t eat or make soup in the warmer months, but this is what my body was craving. It’s more like a thick and slightly chunky puree than a soup and actually tastes better closer to room temperature when it’s not piping hot. Since I was looking for comfort in addition to green goodness, I served the soup up with some cardamom scented basmati rice. This is the perfect soup for spring as the dandelion greens aid in detoxification and the fennel aids in digestion. Coconut milk has a cooling affect in the body so this is a good option for those of us that seem to get hot easily.

Spring Market Soup

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 2–3 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
1 bulb of fennel, roughly chopped
3 leeks, sliced and rinsed well
1 bunch dandelion greens, roughly chopped
2 inch piece of ginger, grated
4 garlic cloves, grated
1 can coconut milk
1/2 to 1 cup of filtered water
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp mellow miso
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
steamed rice for serving, optional
fresh basil for serving, optional
lime wedges for serving, optional

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Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute the leeks and fennel until they begin to soften (5-7 minutes), then add the grated ginger and garlic. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes, then add the dandelion greens, coriander, coconut milk, 1/2 a cup of water, salt and pepper to taste, and the miso. Once the liquid comes to a simmer, cover the pot and cook the soup for 10 minutes until all of the veggies are very tender. Puree the soup to your desired consistency, adding more water if necessary.

Taste the soup and add more salt or pepper if needed. Serve with steamed rice, fresh lime juice, and basil if you like.

Notes

You can leave the soup as chunky or as smooth as you like. Mine is slightly chunky because I used an immersion blender instead of my high speed blender to make the process easier.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Category: soup