watercress Archives -

Chris recently posted about how eating more vegetables helps her maintain her weight and included some information about roasting zucchini. For some reason that made me think about some of our earlier posts about vegetables so I decided it was time for looking back at our veggie challenges.

If you enter Veggie Challenge in the search field, a lot of entries come up. Scrolling through the search results, I realized we have a lot of great ideas on how to get more vegetables onto our plates.

I found a recipe for a kohlrabi slaw that I made in 2019. Five years ago so I guess that’s why I forgot all about this dish but it sounds good. I need to make it again. It’s basically kohlrabi and apples chopped into matchstick sized pieces with a vinegar and oil dressing.

As I continued looking back at our veggie challenges, I found a post about making a watercress salad. The salad looks great and I remembered that a doctor recommended that I eat more watercress because I think it helped with digestive enzyme issues.

Chris and I are big fans of cabbage apparently because we’ve both posted plenty about it. Cabbage is a versatile vegetable so if you’re looking for ideas on using it, do a search on our website.

Besides maintaining weight, vegetables are good for getting fiber into our diets and provide a wide range of vitamins and minerals. For example, that watercress I mentioned includes calcium as well as plenty of other vitamins.

It was kind of fun looking back at our veggie challenges. This year (2024) we did a Eat the Rainbow challenge. Several of us struggled with getting all of the colors (curses, you blue/purple veggies!) I haven’t discussed it with Chris yet but perhaps we’ll repeat the Veggie Challenge in 2025. I’m sure we can all come up with even more creative ideas on getting in our vegetables.

Watercress is a green that can be used in salads, sandwiches, soup, and anywhere else where you might use arugula, spinach, and other greens.

I just recently heard what a nutritional powerhouse watercress is so thought I’d give it a try. I found it at a local grocery store in a plastic tub similar to what the other greens I buy come in. The watercress that I bought was grown locally. Given that I bought it in March, it must be grown hydroponically or in a green house. There are no greens growing in fields in northeast Ohio this March.The cost was comparable to buying baby kale, spinach, and spring mix.

I liked the flavor of watercress. It’s has a bit of a bite to it, though not as strong as arugula. It’s good. It stands up against other flavors without being overwhelming. As you can see in the photo, watercress has long stems on it. Recipes all said to remove stems, at least the thick ones. That is a long, slow chore so I sort of skipped it.

According to the USDA food composition datatbase, watercress is very low in calories. Actually, it’s very low in fat, protein, and carbohydrates so you can eat a lot of watercress. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals, including potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and calcium.

Watercress Salad

Here’s a salad to make with watercress.

Ingredients

juice from one lemon

1 T minced onion

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup raw mixed nuts

1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into wedges

4 cups watercress, thick stems removed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Salad Dressing: Mix lemon juice and minced onion. Whisk in olive oil and season the dressing with salt and pepper.
Spread mixed nuts on a baking sheet and bake in oven for about 5 to 7 minutes. The nuts should be golden brown and fragrant. Watch them carefully so they don’t burn. Let the nuts cool and then chop them coarsely.
Salt the avocado wedges.
In a good-sized salad bowl, toss the watercress, nuts, and salad dressing until coated. Add the avocado wedges. Serve immediately.

Note: You can use one type of nut. I had the raw mixed nuts that contained walnuts, cashes, and macadamia nuts so used that.

Tag: watercress

Looking Back at Our Veggie Challenges

Watercress Salad for Veggie Challenge

Watercress Salad

Ingredients

Directions