I love kale and have become obsessed with it since discovering Dr. Alejandro Junger’s book, CLEAN.

Dr. Junger refers to green foods as the royal family of nutrition and kale is the king.

This dish includes all of my favorites; kale , asparagus, broccoli, garlic, spinach, basil, and a tablespoon of toasted pine nuts and half an avocado for garnish.

I steamed everything and topped it with a spinach, basil, and oilve oil pesto.

What I like about the pesto is that it incorporates spinach and garlic which are raw, thereby adding important enzymes to this meal.

These foods are great for the cleansing program, to be sure, however, I like to include these super foods into my everyday meals.

Making healthy highly nutritious foods a part of your daily diet ensures that you are are getting high quality, nutrient rich food and that you are functioning at optimal levels.

I am attemping to make these dishes easy for everyone to enjoy with recipes that don’t compromise quality and which satisfy the palate and the senses.

Dr. Junger M.D. shares some of the best nutritional advice you’ll ever find.

His program offers detox and dietary programs to help you create optimal health and vitality.

Check out his new book, Clean

I’ve talked about the book now see Jonathan Safran Foer on the Colbert Report discuss his book, Eating Animals.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who eats!

This recipe comes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz of the Post Punk Kitchen who has a new vegan cookbook out; Vegan With a Vengence which features 150 vegan recipes including desserts, cookies, main dishes and snacks.

These look amazing to me and I am anxious to try this recipe.

Recipe courtesy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz

These bars require a good overnight chilling to really firm them up before slicing, so plan accordingly.

Tip: You’ll want to use only sweetened, fluffy white flaked coconut for these. Save the natural shredded stuff for a healthy curry.

Tip: Press the graham cracker crumb crust like crazy into the pan; the more you pat it down the firmer the resulting crust will be.

Ingredients

One 14 oz can (regular or lite) coconut milk (about 1 3/4 cups)
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups vegan graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted margarine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
2 cups flaked, sweetened coconut
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

Method

In a large saucepan whisk together coconut milk and brown sugar over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mixture may form a thin skin on the surface; just stir it back into the liquid. Remove from heat and let cool while preparing the crust.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, melted margarine and sugar; mix well to moisten crumbs completely. Firmly press mixture into prepared pan, pressing evenly from center to sides of pan.

Pour warm coconut milk mixture evenly over crumb base. Top with an even layer of chocolate chips, flaked coconut and nuts, in that order. Firmly pat everything down until coconut milk mixture soaks upward into the toppings. Bake for 28-30 minutes or until coconut is deeply golden and filling is bubbling, remove from oven and let entire pan cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Transfer pan to the refrigerator to completely cool and firm up for at least 4 hours, even better overnight or until very firm. Use a sharp, heavy knife to run along the edges of bars, slide bars on parchment paper out of pan onto a cutting board then to slice into 24 squares.

Store in a covered container in the refrigerator. These also freeze well, tightly wrapped and allowed to thaw for 20 minutes before serving.

Roger Ebert waxes poetic about the beauty of fellowship and community which surrounds food.

He reminisces about the flavors and textures that he misses most since he has lost his ability to eat and drink.

Nostalgia stirs the memory of childhood pleasures and eating in diners.

Nil by Mouth brings a fresh look at why we love food.