Snacks!!

I was munching on some watercress today and thought I might just post some nifty healthy snacks today. I'll start with part of my lunch today:

Super simple watercress eating -

rinse watercress, cut or rip to desired size (I don't get rid of the stems personally) and put into appropriately sized bowl. Add equal amounts olive oil, balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar along with half as much soy sauce (you may want to add a little water since the flavor is strong). I suggest adding either cherry tomatoes, chopped tomatoes or cut up radishes to give it an extra little something.

This next has become a favorite with both me and my son, it does require a little bit of work but it's yummy.

requires 1 cucumber, 1 - 1 1/2 cup plain yogurt, a couple of garlic cloves, salt & pepper and an assortment of veggies (we use tomatoes, radishes, broccoli and celery)

the cucumber needs to be peeled, cut into long 1/4 strips and the seeds are simply sliced out, use a cheese grater or something similar and grate the cucumber into a bowl, chop up your garlic to comfortable sized chunks (I prefer them to be super tiny so it mixes well through out but some people enjoy running across the random garlic chunk) and add them to the cucumbers. Stir in yogurt, salt & pepper to taste. This is your dip, it also goes well with pita bread but we're going for the veggies.

Tomatoes, radishes and celery and good raw foods but personally I've always thought raw broccoli needed a little something, so we flash boil. For flash boiling all you really need is a pot with enough water to cover the veggies you want to cook, bring it to a boil while you're chopping up your broccoli. Stems go in first, they take longer (by about a minute), I tend to do them separately so I don't have to pay too much attention, check for color, then pull one out and check for taste. Repeat this with the broccoli tops and any other veggies that you feel need some cooking before some dipping.

I know it sounds complicated but it really doesn't take very long and it's super yummy.

Another flash-boiling favorite is watercress rolls

for this you'll need watercress, nori sheets, water, soy sauce and fresh ginger... you'll probably also want a sushi mat, i've never really tried this one without it.

To start with put equal parts water and soy sauce into a cup or bowl for dipping, you won't need a huge amount.. maybe 1/2 cup each. Grate fresh ginger into the mix, you won't need alot but it's another of those "to taste" things, I'm a ginger fan.

while you do this bring some water to a boil, you'll be flash boiling small amounts of watercress at a time, it doesn't take very long at all for the leaves to turn a darker shade and get super flexible in the water, at which point you fish them out and stretch the watercress across one end of a waiting nori sheet, roll it up using a little water to seal the end and repeat! When you're done you can slice the rolls up like sushi, dip and munch.. yummmmm....