Secondary Edible Parts of Vegetables

I will take a brief diversion from my Q&A regime here to pass along an interesting and timely link. 

Since adding green smoothies many months ago to my dietary intake, I drool over greens. And with garden season in full-swing, my drooling habit has increased, sometimes more noticeable than others.

Someone at church knows of my raw food eating and they brought me a kohlrabi that they plucked fresh from their garden. While I was excited to cut into that lower bulbous stem portion of the plant, I reached out, plucked me some of the strong, yet tender greens and popped the wad into my mouth. Others in the kitchen gave me odd looks. I chewed, swallowed and then asked if that part of the plant is edible? 

No one knew. We all knew the rhubarb leaves are UN-edible, but no one had an answer for the kohlrabi. And then yesterday when I was picking up my farm share at the CSA, other above-ground-greenery from plants caught my eye. They looked yummy, but are they good for the tummy (& the rest of the body)?

Today I found this link with a nifty chart on the Secondary Edible Parts of Vegetables. Yahoo! Look at the increased nutrition you can put into your body instead of the compost pile! [please take note that some leaves and what-not need slight cooking to make them consumable...do your own additional research to find out more info; please pass along any other links too!]

Kohlrabi Green Smoothie Recipe

- 1 1/2 cups water

- large wad of kohlrabi greens

- small wad of beat greens

- 1 apple

- 1 cup frozen strawberries

This recipe is likely too "green" for newbies, so add in 1/2 frozen banana too and/or a couple of dates for sweetness. Green old-timers, go for it! Chug-a-lug!

--> Riding the NO-FAT train has been fine & dandy so far! Since I am past the need for dressing, even my home-made healthy varieties, so giving up my cold-pressed olive oil was easy. My only quandary this week came in making hummus, but I still made a yummy non-fat version. Instead of olive oil and tahinni, the traditional ingredients, I used soaked sunflower seeds and some water. 

On a trip to town yesterday (one week into the no-fat ride), one lady at the health food store kept telling me that I looked great. She asked me if I feel as good as I look!  ;-)  Ain't she a sweetheart? Yes, indeed. Anyway, I can only chalk it up to another tweaking of my culinary consumption. 

And to answer her question, "Yes, I feel great!"