Clean Bill of Health: One on One With Ivy Larson of Clean Cuisine

Ivy and her gorgeous family enjoying time together in the kitchen.

Friday, October 28, 2011

When I met the lovely and talented Ivy Larson last year, the mom and founder of Clean Cuisine was already a bestselling author and healthy food and fitness guru. Now that she’s got a new book coming out from Penguin and a website that’s even more cram-packed with great recipes and workout videos, I just had to check in and find out more about what makes this inspiring mom tick.

Real Moms: Why did you start Clean Cuisine? What are you hoping your readers will get out of it?
Ivy Larson: I started the site as an online resource for the readers of the 3 books I have written with my husband, Andy Larson, MD. Over the years our recommendations have evolved as we have continued to study nutrition and we wanted our readers (and Andy’s patients) to have a “snapshot” into how we live our lives on a daily basis—the exercises we do, products we buy, foods we make, etc.

Real Moms: What’s your favorite go-to exercise video? (I’m loving your hula hoop video!)
Ivy: I believe in the concept of “fusion fitness” and that the best way to stay fit is to constantly challenge your muscles and switch up your workout. I also believe fitness can absolutely be fun and I love to try new and exciting workouts (hula-hooping is a fun fitness trend I’ve found to be an incredibly good workout—I have hip problems from an acetabular labral tear that was unsuccessfully operated on and so I can not do high impact exercise; I love that hooping really gets my heart rate up with zero impact on my hip.)

Real Moms: What’s your kitchen philosophy?
Ivy: I’m a super busy mom and even though I write cookbooks believe it or not I actually don’t have a lot of free time to spend in the kitchen! I prefer to create recipes that are based on simple cooking techniques and then jazz them up with spices and herbs (which not only boost flavor but also boost antioxidant & phytonutrient content too!) I’m also big on emphasizing more plant foods (beans, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, “whole” soy, etc) and using animal foods in moderation and more like “condiments” rather than the main attraction.

Real Moms: What’s your guilty pleasure when it comes to food?
Ivy: Definitely sweets. I love sweets! I’ve always especially loved ice cream but I’ve found since discovering coconut-based ice cream (my favorite is Coconut Bliss) I can satisfy my sweet tooth with just a little coconut ice cream topped on fresh fruit and drizzled with a chocolate sauce that I make from  heating unsweetened cocoa powder, vegan chocolate chips, water, a smidge of coconut oil and a dash of amaretto—so so good!

Real Moms: What’s a perfect fall recipe that exemplifies the Clean Cuisine philosophy?
Ivy: I put together this recipe [soup, see below] for it’s incredible healing, tasty and anti-inflammatory properties. From a nutritional standpoint this soup blows traditional chicken noodle soup out of the water. Although I don’t use noodles you can absolutely add cooked black rice if you want the soup to be a bit heartier (brown rice is also fine, but black rice just has more antioxidants.)

Healing No Chicken, No Noodle Lemon-Turmeric Soup
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon organic extra virgin coconut oil (such as Barlean’s)
  • 1 whole garlic bulb, minced
  • 1 Spanish onion, finely chopped
  • 3.5 ounces shitake mushrooms, cut into bite sized pieces (use kitchen shears for cutting)
  • 3.5 ounces maitake mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces (use kitchen shears for cutting)
  • 2 teaspoons turmeric
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • “Real Salt”, to taste
  • 1 medium-sized leek, thinly sliced
  • 3 cups chopped carrots
  • 1/2 cup miso paste (such as Miso Master brand “Sweet White Miso”)
  • 10 cups water
  • Juice from 1 whole lemon
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
  • 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 5 large handfuls chopped kale

Directions:

  1. Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion; sauté 3-4 minutes, or until onion softens. Add the shitake and maitake mushrooms; sauté 2-3 minutes, until mushrooms soften.
  2. Sprinkle turmeric, pepper and salt on mushrooms. Add the leeks and carrots and sauté 3 -4 minutes, or until leeks and carrots soften.
  3. Dissolve the miso paste in 2 cups of very hot water and add the miso-water mixture to the saucepan with the vegetables. Add the remaining 8 cups of water and bring to a simmer.
  4. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, tarragon, parsley and kale. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer soup for 10 minutes, until greens are very wilted. Adjust seasoning. Serve warm.

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