Spring-Greens Detox Soup

Few things these days seem more important than keeping healthy and building our immunity. Taking good care of ourselves so that we can take care of others and live life to the full. 

As we move toward a new season where we'll spend more time outdoors, we'll naturally peel off our cozy comfort-zone-hibernation-mode layers, literally and figuratively, and move toward summertime fellowship and FUN! Preparing our bodies for this more vibrant energy mode feels exciting and timely to me. 

As a newer member of the team here at the farm, I am I learning new ways to prepare healthy meals at home and for loved ones nearby. 

So I was thrilled to meet longtime Polyface patron saint (as our customers are affectionately called) Eleonora Gafton at a recent neighborhood delivery drop! 

Eleonora is a Doctor of Clinical Nutrition professor and Certified Chef in the Nutrition and Integrative Health program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health.  

As Dr. Gafton was picking up her Polyface order, we chatted about her upcoming class where she would use our food to teach students about cooking nutrient dense meals. She promised to send me a couple of her favorite recipes. 

Eleonora grew up on an organic farm and winery in Romania and has fond memories of shopping at farmers markets with her grandmother. Meeting the people who raised and grew their food ignited her passion for natural food and led her to become the first female executive chef in a communist country. 

She moved to the US to follow a job opportunity in Washington DC and quickly fell into a fast-paced career culture and "convenience" grocery store food trap where she'd buy boxed or prepared food labeled as "healthy". 

Ten years later, her body "broke down" and she was diagnosed with cervical cancer that she believes was due to those food choices and stress.

And so began a slow and steady healing process to rebuild her body. She stocked up her freezer with several batches of bone broth, which was all she "could handle" with very low energy, post surgery and treatment. 

All the protein she bought came from Polyface. 

There was a major shift for her where she began to really understand the power of whole foods. Just seeing her transformation, her oncologist and surgeon was "blown away" that she'd lost fifty pounds of inflammation in a relatively short period of time.

With her own health restored, Eleonora is committed to teaching others how to build their health with nutrient dense food as medicine. 

She takes the mystery out of using "all the things" - unusual cuts of meat and organs to develop beautiful and satisfying meals. 

One fun culinary term I've learned from her is the word "schmaltz" - which refers to rendered chicken fat. It is made by slowly rendering chicken skin and fat in a pot over low heat creating a savory, rich fat with a buttery texture. I now love schmaltz!  Gaining the knowledge that it's is so good for me to eat and learning how to use to it for cooking has been such a fun endeavor.

So please enjoy and share these recipes which were so graciously shared with us. Because there is nothing more immunity building than being in community and sharing a delicious, wholesome meal around a table - al fresco!

Find our new recipes here:

Eleonora's Chicken Bone Broth

Dr. Gafton's Spring Greens Detox Soup  

Blessings,

Kristi