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Essential part of the meal

One of the hardest part of being a parent is convincing my children to eat their vegetables. As the saying goes, the struggle is real.

Just recently, I introduced microgreens to them and the result really pleased me. They just dig in and get without counting how many pieces. They either use it as toppings or just put it straight into their mouth. The struggle is now gone. I am so inspired that I would like to share this experience with other parents out there who want to give their children the best of health. This is it pancit!

So for today, I’m serving Grey pea microgreens and Kale microgreens. Grey pea microgreens are high in Vitamin C, A and K. An excellent source of these three protective agents: folate, antioxidants and carotene. This is what me and my husband eat.

As for the kids, they eat the Kale. Kale microgreens are also high in antioxidants with anti-cancer properties. It is 30x more nutritious than its adult version. For more information on Kale microgreens, you may refer to https://yogreens.net/blog/the-easiest-but-definitely-not-the-weakest/

I plant microgreens every weekend which will be ready for harvest in 8 to 14 days.

Good news to my readers who reside in Davao City! If you want to serve microgreens to your family but do not have the time to plant it, we can do it for you. To know more, send us a pm through https://www.facebook.com/yogreens.

Stay healthy, #eatyogreens

  • Grey Pea Microgreens
  • Kale Microgreens
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Sesame Honey Dressing

Sharing this microgreens dressing. I like it because it is simple to make and yummy to taste.

Ingredients

50g Microgreens (your choice)

1/2 tbsp Sesame oil

1/2 tbsp Honey

1/2 tbsp Sesame seeds

Procedure:

  • Drizzle sesame oil and honey on the microgreens

Sprinkle sesame seeds

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How to Cook Shrimp Pesto Pasta

Sharing a recipe on How to Cook Shrimp Pesto Pasta. I made a simple video for visualization purposes.

Notes :

  1. The pasta water is just for standby in case your pasta runs dry on the pan, though I did not use it on the video.
  2. Mixed spices and herbs can be a mix of dried thyme, dried oregano, garlic powder and onion powder, paprika and cayenne pepper.
  3. May add salt and pepper after initial mixing of sauce and pasta to taste

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The Easiest but definitely NOT the Weakest

Two questions people often ask me before buying their Yo Greens Microgreens Grow Kit:

  1. Kaya ko ba yan? (Will I be able to do it?)
  2. Madali lang ba yan? (Is it easy?)

Of course, the answer to these are yes and yes. The results are not instant though. There are factors to consider like temperature and humidity. Other than that, it’s as simple as ABC that even little children can do.

The most common difficulty is controlling molds. There are seeds that are more prone to molding. In the coming blogs, I’m going to share which seeds are the easiest to grow and least prone to molding.

But let me define a couple of terms first:

  1. Free radicals – These are unstable atoms or molecules (unpaired electrons) in our body that may cause oxidative stress in our cells. Oxidative stress is the process happening in us that make us sick and physically look old. If compared with metals, it’s like our body is rusting if our cells are full of free radicals. We can acquire free radicals from normal metabolic process of the body and/or the food we eat like too much processed food and too much sugar. Free radicals also arise from pollution, smoking or 2nd hand smoke, exposure to xrays, etc.  
  2. Antioxidants – These are substances that repair the cells with free radicals. It is the antidote to oxidative stress. In short, these are the good guys.

Now let’s move on. One of the easiest to grow microgreens is Kale.

  • Kale Microgreens Day 9

Kale is known to have anti-cancer potential. It is high in Vitamins C and K, and highly loaded with antioxidants. The good news is that Kale microgreens is 30 times more loaded than the adult counterpart. Talk about superfood. As somebody describes it, the microgreen version is like adult Kale on steroids.

Antioxidants in Kale include beta-carotene, vitamin C, flavonoids and polyphenols. Flavonoids and polyphenols are powerful substances that help our body function efficiently and also help fight free radicals and stressors.

We have been talking about boosting our immune system. Here is a superfood that is packed with antioxidants.

Kale is harvestable in 10-12 days. It has spicy, nutty taste that is like wasabi. If you don’t like wasabi, it’s easy to cover up its taste by adding it to your favorite cooked meal, then you will hardly notice it, but your body will thank you for it.

Kale is easy to grow because given the right conditions, and in my experience, they don’t grow molds. Just follow the basic instructions and you’re good to go.

So there, hope this helps. Stay healthy and eat yo greens!

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The Turning Point

I began my planting journey at the onset of the pandemic. My first experience as an urban farmer was surprisingly pleasant. I was so excited to harvest so that I can serve it to my family, especially our kids. I would even say, ‘Guys, have some vegetables. It came from our greenhouse’. I would often get a silent nod. After saying the same line three times, in three different meals, they began to laugh at me. Then I’d say, ‘Why? It’s organic!’

It made me think that they actually don’t care about the veggies coming from the greenhouse. They also do not care about it being organically grown. They simply do not like eating vegetables.

As a parent, I have tried different ways to convince my kids to eat their greens — mixing in soup, making salad, buying malunggay bread, vegetable chips, etc. I have also tried vegetable supplements — all to no avail.

The turning point was when I came across microgreens. A friend was telling me how easy it was to grow it. He would show me microgreens grown on tissue paper and other soilless medium. I simply ignored it at first, until I came across articles on these so called superfoods which is microgreens. Why superfood? Well, microgreens are said to be up to 40 times more nutritious than their adult versions.

I researched some more and discovered more wonders. Some institutions serve microgreens to their guests and patients because they are rich with vitamins C, K and A, micro and macronutrients. Some even have anti-cancer and anti-Alzheimer’s components. So I tried to grow them to see for myself. It took only 10 days to harvest. When I tasted it, I noticed the subtle taste of some and the nutty and spicy flavor of other varieties.

My desire to feed veggies to my kids was renewed. I offered them various microgreens. They all tried it without resistance. Afterwhich, one of them called out her preferred microgreens for future reference. The other two just quietly got their share and tasted it. So far, for several weeks now, I have been serving them these superfoods and they are willing to try and accept them. That for me is positive change.

Since then I resolved to grow a number of trays / punnets weekly so that I can have a steady supply to feed them. Now that it has become acceptable to my children, I just thought of thousands of parents who might be having the same struggle as me. This thought has encouraged me to learn and prepare more so that I can share the good news about microgreens.

I hope this helps. ?

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What Color Is Your Thumb?

“Planting is not for me because I don’t have a green thumb.”

This statement is so powerful that it disempowers those who say it, sucking all the courage to even touch one tiny seed.

I used to think like that.

I thought there were people who could just throw seeds on the ground, and they will magically grow just because this person has a green thumb. I also thought that there were those who would just touch a plant, and it would wilt and die — just like in the movies, when a dark shadow hovers over the forest, the trees turn brown or black. Guess what? I believed it to be true.

Many years before, I tried caring for roses but they eventually died. This discouraged me and I thought I just didn’t have a green thumb and planting was not in my DNA.

But during COVID lockdown and quarantine, I had nothing to do at home, so I thought of trying my hand at planting once again, with the help of a good friend, who became my mentor and advisor. Now, I have several plants in the greenhouse. Some have died, but some are flourishing, especially my tomato leaves which should be bearing fruits.

I also planted lots of basil — oh how I love and thank them for being so forgiving. And I also have various other leafy vegetables that we enjoy harvesting and eating. Through the dry and wet seasons in this pandemic, I learned things I used to ignore in my science classes. I now understand better the relationship between temperature and humidity. I didn’t even bother about humidity before, but now when it’s rainy, I’m more conscious that I might over water the plants. If it’s too hot, I think about whether the plants are getting enough air and shade, so I visit them more. Same goes with the microgreens which is just beside me as I work from home.

Growing plants is actually science — Natural Science, Physics and chemistry altogether. I appreciate it now more than ever. I totally agree on teaching students to plant but that’s another topic. That’s my husband’s department. Planting is science… people who throw seeds on the ground to make them magically grow is actually not magic. These are germinating seeds that fall on the soil. Oh even a tissue paper can also grow sprouts. We are given several choices to plant. There’s the traditional soil planting, hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics. Take your pick.

There are people more than willing to lend a hand in giving tips and advice on how to make planting work. Youtube, FB groups, your friends, Yo Greens… so many choices.

So it’s not about the color of your thumb. It’s your choice, your will and determination that will make it work.

I have chosen, and I now belong to the green thumb society.