Spring is coming, but not yet here. The manic weather of March in Colorado shows up as 65 degrees and sunny one day and 30 degrees and snowy the next.

This is the time of year we animals like to lighten up our internal and external habitats with a nice deep cleaning.

It is NOT the time of year for extreme lifestyle changes, but rather easy transitional changes made by gradually decreasing the building foods (acid forming) and internally focused habits of fall/winter and increasing the cleansing (alkaline forming) and externally focused activity of Spring into Summer.

In my awareness to take this process gently and lovingly, I find myself approaching “spring cleansing” more gradually and simply every year.

This year I am starting to clean out my closets (and organs) by just noticing what I am storing. Do I really need my portfolio of drawings from design school circa 1997? Do I really need to eat meat, eggs, nuts and dense fats every day to keep my blood sugar stable and adrenals nourished?

One way I am measuring my stores of mineral reserves is by testing my urine and saliva pH levels.
After 2 weeks of consistent testing, I notice that my pH is measuring on the acidic side at an average of about 6.8 for saliva and 6.6 for urine.

An easy  way to increase alkalinity in the body is to eat alkaline forming foods (you guessed it, green vegetables!) and take a break from acid forming foods (meat, dairy and processed foods).

Here are 2 of my favorite meals of the week which not only provide the body with tons of easy to assimilate alkaline minerals(which assist in buffering the bodies’ natural release of stored acids) to begin the easy transition into spring cleaning, but also satisfy the need for warm/rich foods on these cold days of March.

Shitake Almond butter Nori wrap and warm curry beef bone broth (Inspired by my new Health Coach, Summer Bock, she’s amazing, check her out at SummerBock.com)

We always make nori wraps in our house for dinner because the kids love them, but this time I left out the rice (which I often do) and used a spread of almond butter to seal the seaweed (awesome trick I learned from Summer Bock) which makes these wraps so satisfying and stick to your ribs!

To make them super tasty and easy to digest I topped the shitake mushrooms, cilantro, daikon radish, asparagus, carrot, and almond butter with a spoon full of our local preserved foods brand Mm Local’s Kim Chi. POW! Delicious.

Serving this wrap with a nice giant mug of broth is balancing and nourishing. The last batch of broth I made by roasting center cut beef marrow bones in the oven at 425 for 15-20 min and slow cooked them in my Crock Pot with filtered water, bay leaves, mild curry powder, fresh ginger, scallion ends, apple cider vinegar as well as some other veggie scraps I threw in during the 36 hours it brewed. I always spike my bone broth with a tablespoon of fresh lemon or lime juice just before serving to lift it up.

Today’s lunch was equally satisfying, I call it Sweet Green Dreams

Steamed sweet potato slices with sautéed leeks and greens with sweet miso sauce

I used a blend of baby “power” greens I had on hand from the store, no farm greens yet ;( and made a super simple sauce using equal parts sweet white miso to almond butter and whipped in some grated fresh ginger root and fresh grapefruit juice (from a grapefruit my seasonal neighbor brought me from her tree in Tucson, thanks Brenda!)

I topped this dreamy creation off with Ozuke’ brand fermented beets, dulse, and kale as well as a sprinkle of dulse. I wish I was still hungry, I want more!