This last week I have been eating and craving so many raw greens!! I have been eating huge amounts of basil, coriander, chives, rocket, baby spinach and dill. I feel so incredible and alive since increasing the amount of fresh greens I consume to approx. 3-4 cups greens a day.
Leafy greens like kale, spinach & herbs are full of Potassium, Magnesium, B vitamins, Calcium, and many other nutrients needed for optimal bodily functioning. Leafy greens also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, lower your chances of getting Type 2 Diabetes, increase bone health, improve our immune functioning and protect the eyes. One of the greatest gifts we can also benefit from by eating greens is that they are full of carotenoids, antioxidants, and flavonoids which can help protect us from most cancers.
One of the most fascinating parts of most plants (including leafy greens) is that they have green pigments called Chlorophyll and plants use this to create their own food through photosynthesis. What is even more special about this chlorophyll is it is chemically similar to the non protein part of Haemoglobin, which is essential in red blood cells as it carries oxygen around the human body. In fact if you look at the composition of haemoglobin in our red blood cells and the Chlorophyll found within plants they are both virtually identical in molecular structure. The only difference between the two being the centre atom of Iron (Fe) in the haemoglobin of humans and Magnesium (Mg) in the chlorophyll of plants.
I find the striking similarities between the both Chlorophyll and Haemoglobin fascinating as both play such life giving roles in the bodies of plants and animals. There are many benefits of ingesting green plant matter. Such as the huge cancer fight properties as I mentioned above and the youthful vitality it can give the human body as the 'Chlorophyll has antioxidant properties' says WebMD. So if you think about all this, it does seem more than plausible that leafy greens should be something we all ingest more of to gain a greater health and wellbeing from our bodies.
You can enjoy greens in a green smoothie, juice, salad or even as a lettuce wrap. My new favourite way to get in more greens is with raw Pesto recipes. These are a green creamy, salty herby sauce that I serve with zoodles (and sometimes fresh veggies as as dip).
I always fill these recipes with many greens, citrus, garlic and avocado. The avocado as a binding agent in these recipes creates more benefits as it contains chlorophyll and also avocado is generally good for your health. The major benefit of the fat in these recipes is that Chlorophyll is naturally fat-soluble, which means chlorophyll needs fat to carry it around the human body (benefits of eating good fats!!).
With all the above in mind I now know why I have felt so great eating Raw Pesto over this past week. I also wanted you to feel good too, so I am sharing a couple of my favourite pesto recipes with you all:
raw. Avocado Pesto Oddles
Pesto Sauce
2 avocados
2 tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of baby spinach
1 1/2 cup of fresh basil
Handful of fresh coriander
Juice of a lemon
1 long green chilli
Oodles
1 large cucumber
3 zucchini’s
Garnish
1 tomato
1 dried green chilli
Step 1 Combine all sauce ingredients in a food processor and process until combined into a thick coarse sauce.
Step 2 Create oodles from the cucumber and zucchinis with a spirilizer or vegetable peeler
Step 3 Combine sauce and oodles together in a large bowl
Step 4 Serve a heap of the oodles with some chopped tomato and dried chilli
Another great recipe that I have been enjoying and is lower in overt fats is my raw. Herby Pesto Zoodles. The recipe for this is below:
raw. Herby Pesto Zoodles
Pesto Sauce
1/2 avocado
4 roma tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of baby spinach
1 cup of rocket
1 1/2 cup of fresh basil
Handful of fresh coriander
1/2 cup of chopped chives
1/4 cup of chopped dill
1/2 juice of a grapefruit
1/2 long red chilli
Zoodles
4 zucchini’s
Garnish
1/4 of long red chilli
Step 1 Combine all sauce ingredients in a food processor and process until combined into a thick coarse sauce.
Step 2 Create zoodles from zucchinis with a spirilizer or vegetable peeler.
Step 3 Combine sauce and zoodles together in a large bowl.
Step 4 Serve a heap of the oodles with some chopped chilli on top.
I would love to hear how you enjoy your leafy green chlorophyll fix in the comments below?If you would like more pesto recipes there is also another FREE Recipe from the Roar Recipes page called raw. Pesto kale n noodle slaw with pear and dulse. This is full of many
yummy fresh flavours and has a salty sweet taste from the dulse and pear mixed through the pesto. My FAVOURITES ebook too has a raw.Pesto & avocado smash. So with all this I am hoping you will find a perfect raw vegan pesto dish to enjoy and help fill your body with many benefits. #rawveganrecipes
