Bernies Healthy Spinach Dip

Bernies healthy spinach dip can be made in a jiffy.

To make any hearty snack, all you need to do is keep out the crap; that means no lemon juice concentrate or solvent extracted oils.

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 24th July, 2019.

By Bernard Preston

So, no preservatives or flavour enhancers but just your own favourite herbs, fresh lemon juice, olive oil and a bit of this or that; so I generally make just enough for today's salad,  and perhaps a little left over.

You do have a salad every day, right? Remember 5 to 10 brightly coloured foods per day is absolutely vital if you want to minimise the chances of getting the big C.

It's the coloured fruit and veggies that have many of the phytosterols. 

Please don't assume that it's only other people who get cancer. It's a horrible way to die, and prevention is the name of the game. Coloured raw fruit and vegetables every day is a great start to reduce that risk substantially.

Then avoid as many chemicals, especially those in your food, as you can; asbestos, certain medications like post menopausal hormones and smoking. I watched my father die of lung cancer; it wasn't pretty. Fifteen precious years were lost. Bernie's healthy spinach dip contains five of those colours in just one dish.

Lemon juice concentrate

There are few things more ugly than lemon juice concentrate, preserved unto everlasting life; just read the label and then taste it. It's pure crap.

If you have no access to fresh lemons, then rather use apple cider vinegar; it too may sulphur dioxide as a preservative.

Every home should have a lemon tree in the garden. Currently in South Africa they sell for R4 each, about US 30c; I've just counted and we have over 200 hanging on our tree and have already eaten perhaps another 100; so at least R1,000 worth of fruit at the retail price each year.

• Growing lemon trees ...
• WHAT ARE PHYTOSTEROLS ...?

Find the links to those topics highlighted in bold by copying and pasting into the Site Search function in the navigation bar on your left. 

Recipe for spinach dip

Basic ingredients

1. Olive oil
2. Lemon juice
3. Young leaf of spinach
4. Your favourite herbs
5. Salt and pepper

Frankly, it's different every time I make it, it's such fun to try a bit of this one day, or that another... never follow strict recipes! Boring! Like living life in a box, confined, trapped and limited by Bernies Healthy Spinach dip recipes! Sometimes I might throw in a radish, or half a peach, a sprig of coriander...

Bernie's healthy spinach dip

Bernie's healthy spinach dip says now just watch all the salad get eaten; less calcium deposition in your joints too. One of the carotenoids inhibits the rapid digestion of starch in the small intestine which is vital for those who are insulin resistant.

This is the dip that the family raves about, so the basic ingredients have settled down around these:

• A good slosh of olive oil, perhaps a third of a cup.
• 1/3 freshly squeezed lemon
• 1/2 freshly squeezed orange
• One young spinach leaf.
• One small shallot / spring onion
• One half of an avocado
• Fresh parsley, mint, sweet basil, add your favourites
• 1/3 clove garlic.
• 1 tsp raw honey
• S&P

Raw honey? You have to find a small local beekeeper, or perhaps even how to start beekeeping - my life-long fascinating hobby. Whilst the African bee is very dangerous, most European and American bees are relatively tame, and you will be making one small contribution to sustaining the environment. Sigh, what kind of a world are we leaving to our children and grandchildren?

How to grow spinach

You do have a spinach patch, right? After radishes, it's the easiest veg in the world to grow. A 3' x 3' patch in the tiniest garden will keep you going right through the summer.

We have to surround the patch with sticks to keep the dogs out of the spinach patch.

A stick blender is one of the essential bits of equipment for the kitchen. I like it because it's so easy to clean compared with the big kitchen appliances.

How to make spinach dip

HOW TO MAKE SPINACH DIP

Really, no more than about 5- 10 minutes.

1. Nip down to the garden and pick one or two tiny fresh spinach leaves. Cut out the stalks with a sharp knife.
2. Wash the leaves and drop them into the hand blender bowl.
3. Squeeze the lemon and orange, not tooo much lemon, or it'll overpower your spinach dip.
4. Toss in a handful of your favourite herbs.
5. Half an avocado makes Bernies healthy spinach dip smooth and creamy.
6. Add the honey, salt and pepper.

Blend!

Lutein benefit

Lutein benefit in an important subject for every single person, especially for smokers. Together with zeaxanthin, these carotenoids protect both the retina and the lens from damage from high energy light radiation.

A deficiency is likely to cause you to suffer from lutein macular degeneration, an irreversible cause of blindness in the older person; and cataracts too.

The richest sources are your greens; enjoy Bernie's healthy spinach dip regularly, kale and broccoli at least once a week and corn on the cob in season and you have adequate protection against MD blindness and cataracts.

Now of course, I need a list of ingredients for Bernie's Healthy Spinach dip ......... please? I remember the honey, and the herbs, but nothing else. It's the best 'dressing' I've ever tasted!

Zeaxanthin macular degeneration

Zeaxanthin macular degeneration reminds of the tragedy of five million Americans would rather be blind that eat their coloured foods.

Zeaxanthin is a potent antioxidant found almost exclusively in the cones in the macula of the eye; that's the region where colour and fine discrimination are detected.

It functions together with a twin brother called lutein in protecting the eye from high energy ionising radiation that enters the eye from damage.

Both zeaxanthin and lutein are found in rich amounts in Bernie's healthy spinach dip. Let your food be your medicine.

Chemicals in food

If you were to buy a dip like this in the supermarket, you can be sure that food scientists would add preservatives, it just won't keep, antioxidants and flavour enhancers; once they've made it in a factory, bottled it, and it's been some months on the shelf and in your refrigerator, you can be sure it won't taste a patch as good as Bernie's healthy spinach dip.

Make just enough for a couple meals; it doesn't keep, of course.

A PROMISE

I know it's dumb to make promises like this, but if you make Bernie's healthy spinach dip, I can give you a reasonable assurance that all the kids, even dad, will finish their salad, and come back for more. Even my grandkids, four and two comply! With no coercion.

• What's potting in the garden ...?

PS: I love Google, but it's meant the end of the road for the very important apostrophe. Bernie's healthy spinach dip, of course. As a writer I'm mourning the demise of the apostrophe. Know the difference between Teddybear's picnic, teddybears' picnic and teddybears picnic?

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