Crimini Mushrooms Stuffed with Basil Pesto Flavored Milllet

I wanted to make a stuffed mushroom appetizer to go with our Thanksgiving meal. However, I didn’t want anything that had a gloppy filling. Last week when we went out to dinner our chef friend Ian made a pesto flavored quinoa for us. I loved the combination of quinoa and pesto as a side dish and wanted to make something similar today. It turned out to be a great filling for a stuffed mushroom. Here is what I made.

Crimini Mushrooms Stuffed with Basil Pesto Flavored Milllet
Makes 12 mushroom caps

Ingredients:

Approximately ½ cup of pesto flavored millet (recipe below)
12 crimini mushroom caps, stems removed
1 pinch Italian Finishing salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Sprinkle interior of the mushrooms with the Italian finishing salt. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the mushrooms are beginning to soften.

Now flip the mushrooms over and stuff each cap with the pesto flavored millet and bake long enough to warm the millet. The amount of time this will take depends on the temperature of the millet when you fill the mushroom caps. Don’t overcook since you don’t want the millet to dry out.

If you like you can add a few pine nuts to the millet and/or top with whole wheat bread crumbs if you want a crunchy top.

Nutritional Information (per mushroom cap):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 22.9
Calories From Fat (20%) - 4.64

Total Fat - 0.52g
Saturated Fat - 0.07g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 24.57mg
Potassium - 73.06mg
Total Carbohydrates - 3.65g
Fiber - 0.45g
Sugar - 0.25g
Protein - 0.85g

Comments:

These stuffed mushrooms have a lot of flavor considering how low fat they are compared to standard stuffed mushrooms. Everyone enjoyed them tonight, vegans and omnivores. I will definitely be making many different variations of these during the holidays since they were so well received.

Pesto Flavored Millet
Makes 2 ½ cups – 5 half cup servings

Ingredients:

1 cup millet
2 ½ cups water
3 tablespoons Genovese pesto

Directions:

Combine the millet and water and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling reduce to a simmer and cook covered until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Allow to stand covered for at least 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork. Add the pesto a tablespoon at a time and fluff into the millet with a fork. Add pesto until you like the color and flavor. We thought 3 tablespoons of pesto was enough.

This recipe makes much more filling than is necessary to stuff 12 mushrooms. However, extra pesto flavored millet won’t be a problem. The leftover millet makes a wonderful side dish.

Nutritional Information (1/2 cup serving):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 187.55
Calories From Fat (25%) - 47.01

Total Fat - 5.24g
Saturated Fat - 0.67g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 5.8mg
Potassium - 103.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 29.6g
Fiber - 3.54g
Sugar - 0.1g
Protein - 4.84g

Comments:

This millet is so good you will be glad you made extra. I intentionally made more than I needed for the mushrooms so that we had leftovers for lunch the next couple of days. Adding pesto to the millet adds so much to the millet making it more than an ordinary side dish.

When I made this earlier today both the hubby and I had to taste it and …. let’s just say it was a good thing I made extra since we tasted a bit more than we actually needed to for quality control.

Unrelated note:

I think is going to be my last post tonight. I need to relax and unwind. A hot bath is calling my name at the moment. I will be back tomorrow with more recipes from our Thanksgiving menu. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Warm Olives with Fennel and Citrus

Today has been a whirlwind at our house. I started cooking at 11 am and just finished cleaning up at 8:30 this evening. Every holiday I say I am not going to make so many dishes, and each holiday I do it again. Hopefully I will maintain my sanity this Christmas and make fewer dishes. Needless to say I am exhausted now and there is no way I am going to get everything from today posted this evening. I hope to get a few recipes posted tonight before I crash.

One of our appetizers tonight was warm olives with fennel and citrus. This dish was inspired by a Sicilian salad that contains olives, oranges and red pepper. Everyone serves olives cold, so I decided to heat them for a change. I like how the heat helped the olives to absorb the citrus juice. Here is what I did.

Warm Olives with Fennel and Citrus
Makes 6 appetizer servings

Ingredients:

1 cup olives
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 clementine, zested and juiced
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Directions:

Take the zest off the clementine in strips. Juice the clementine into a baking dish. Combine all the ingredients and stir. Bake at 325 degrees until heated through (20 minutes is more than enough). Serve warm.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 39.3
Calories From Fat (69%) - 27.14

Total Fat - 3.16g
Saturated Fat - 0.41g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 195.43mg
Potassium - 29.26mg
Total Carbohydrates - 3.03g
Fiber - 1.05g
Sugar - 1.13g
Protein - 0.31g

Comment:

The family is evenly split on olives. I happen to be one of members that love olives. They are something I could eat everyday, were it not for the sodium content. This flavor combination is a nice change. If you are looking for an olive recipe with more heat try this recipe, which includes lemon and harissa.

Unrelated note:

Everything at dinner tonight was well received in spite of the fact that it was healthy and vegan. A few dishes seemed to stand out as favorites. As I post those recipes I be certain to add family member reactions. And yes, I do take notes after dinner so I don't forget. I wouldn't want to misquote someone.

There may be a few less posts this weekend as I get our Christmas decorations up. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I like to go all out and decorate all three levels of our house. I like to get the decorating started right after Thanksgiving so tomorrow I will getting all decorations out to get the party started. I will get all the Thanksgiving recipes posted as soon as I can.

Indian Inspired Cabbage and Peas over Yellow Rice

Today was a hectic day at my house and I had not planned dinner. While this is not unusual sometimes it is more problematic than others. I had been so focused on Thanksgiving I couldn’t think of anything to make tonight. When I saw what the Shenandoah Vegan had for lunch today I knew that was the answer.

Indian food is so amazingly healthy due to the large amount of vegetables and the generous use of spice (particularly turmeric). Since turmeric has been linked to both preventing cancer, slowing the spread and working with chemotherapy to make it more effective I like to include it to our diet when I can. Turmeric is not generally well absorbed. However by sautéing it in a little oil with a generous amount of black pepper the body is better able to absorb the turmeric.

Our dinner tonight is not authentic Indian food, at least not that I know of. I combined these ingredients based on what I had in the house after seeing Shenandoah’s lunch. While it isn’t authentic, the hubby and I enjoyed it and would definitely make it again. Here is what I made.

Indian Inspired Cabbage and Peas over Yellow Rice
Serves 3

Rice Ingredients:

½ tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 cup brown basmati rice, preferred (I used short grain brown rice)
2 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves

Cabbage and Peas Ingredients:

1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
1 pinch asafoetida
¼ teaspoon fenugreek
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
14 ounces canned diced tomato
8 cups finely shredded savoy cabbage
1 cup green peas, frozen
2 tablespoons cashews, for garnish

Directions:

Combine the turmeric, olive oil and the black pepper and sauté for a minute or two. Add the remaining crushed red pepper flakes and brown rice and stir to coat with oil. Now add the water, cinnamon stick and bay leaves and bring the water to a boil (with pan covered). When water comes to a boil reduce to a simmer and cook until the water has been absorbed (probably about 40 minutes). After the water has been absorbed turn off the heat and allow the rice to stand in the covered pan for 5 minutes then fluff and serve.

While the rice is cooking water sauté the red onion until soft and water has evaporated. Now add the turmeric, olive oil, mustard seed, cumin, coriander, asafetida, fenugreek, and red pepper flakes and sauté for a minute. Add the canned tomato and cook for a 14 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. When the rice is 10 to 15 minutes from being ready add the cabbage and cook on low to wilt. Remember that cruciferous vegetables are most nutritious the less they are cooked. Add the peas a few minutes before serving (they only need to heat through).

When serving top with the cashews.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 440.15
Calories From Fat (16%) - 68.55

Total Fat - 8.09g
Saturated Fat - 1.46g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 117.06mg
Potassium - 1026.64mg
Total Carbohydrates - 83.99g
Fiber - 15.8g
Sugar - 14.57g
Protein - 13.55g

Comments:

While this isn’t an authentic dish we both enjoyed it. I had intended this to be two servings but it was so large when finished I decided to save a 1/3 of it for a quick snack tomorrow while we are making dinner.

The nutritional information for this meal is fairly impressive. Each serving contains more than 2,300IU of vitamin A, 110mg of vitamin C, 210mg of calcium, 120mcg of folate, 200mcg of vitamin K, 370mg of phosphorus, 160mg of magnesium and 17mcg of selenium.

I hope you all have a happy and health Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see what you are having for your holiday meal. Have a great evening and a fabulous 4 day weekend.

Genovese Pesto

Italians make many different forms of pesto even though in America we tend to only see the basil version that is popular in Genoa. I have a particular fondness for pesto. It packs a big flavor punch and can be used to dress up many different foods. I put it in mashed potatoes, salad dressing, tofu ricotta, and on top of veggie burgers to name a few options.

This particular batch of pesto was made to flavor the cooked grain that will be stuffed into the crimini mushroom caps. Our chef friend Ian made a parsley pesto flavored quinoa last Friday and that inspired my mushroom recipe that will be posted tomorrow. Here is how I made pesto today without parmesan cheese.

Genovese Pesto
Makes a little over a cup – 17 tablespoons

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, cleaned and packed tightly
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
½ cup toasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste (or use Italian Finishing Salt)

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in your food processor and process until smooth. The pesto should be thick and creamy. You may need to stop the processor and scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice while processing. Taste the pesto for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as you desire. Additionally, you can add more olive oil if you wish, but I think it tastes great just like this.

Store in a covered container in the refrigerator with a light coating of olive oil over the top to keep the basil from oxidizing. If you are going to need to store it longer than 4 or 5 days the pesto can be frozen.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 60.59
Calories From Fat (90%) - 54.81

Total Fat - 5.92g
Saturated Fat - 0.64g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 0.4mg
Potassium - 39.87mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.77g
Fiber - 0.23g
Sugar - 0.16g
Protein - 0.72g

Comments:

Pesto is a calorie dense food due to the nuts and olive oil. However, I think the flavor it packs it worth the “price”. This pesto is great over vegetables or pasta if you have leftovers.

If you are a fan of the flavor of nutritional yeast the recipe as written should work for you. However, if you aren’t a fan of nutritional yeast yet start with one tablespoon and taste the pesto for flavor before adding the second tablespoon.

Each tablespoon of this pesto has a little vitamin A (260IU) and K (24mcg) but not a lot.

Basil Oil

(pictured: unstrained basil oil)

This morning I made a quick batch of basil oil for when fresh basil is hard to get this fall and winter. Basil oil is very easy to make. There are only a few steps. The resulting oil is a vibrant green color with a heady basil aroma and flavor. Here is what I did.

Basil Oil
Makes about 1 ¼ cups – 20 tablespoons

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
½ cup fresh parsley leaves, tightly packed
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Thoroughly clean the leaves of any dirt or sand.

Bring a large pot of water with a little salt to a simmer. Create an ice bath with ice and water so that you can shock the leaves as soon as they come out of the hot water.

Place the leaves in the simmering water for 20 seconds. Remove the leaves promptly and place them in the ice bath to shock them and lock in the color. As soon as the leaves have cooled (about a minute) remove them from the water. Dry the leaves on a couple of layers of paper towel. Once the leaves are dry move them to a blender and add the olive oil. Puree until the oil is smooth.

Some chefs like to strain the oil through a couple of layers of cheesecloth so that it is transparent green. I prefer to leave the leaf pulp in the oil for the textural and visual difference. When the oil is unstrained it looks like a broken vinaigrette on the plate, which I find very visually appealing.

Store this oil in the refrigerator and use it in a couple of weeks, or freeze the oil for longer storage.

Nutritional Information (per tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 96.99
Calories From Fat (99%) - 95.8

Total Fat - 10.84g
Saturated Fat - 1.49g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1.23mg
Potassium - 20.93mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.21g
Fiber - 0.12g
Sugar - 0.03g
Protein - 0.18g

Comments:

This oil is great to use any place you would include fresh basil. Anything with tomatoes is the obviously choice. I like to drizzle it on tomato soup, use it in salad dressings, or decorate plates with drops of the green oil around the rim.

Since I use so little oil now the quantity of oil I made will last me at least 4 or 5 months. To keep it fresh I am going to store it in the freezer in a squeeze bottle with plastic wrap over the top. When I need the oil I will take the bottle from the freezer and place it in a warm water bath to partially defrost the oil. Since I will only be using a few drops at the time enough oil should defrost in a minute or two. Enjoy.

Thanksgiving Cartoons

I have been collecting these for a couple of years and pull them out each Thanksgiving to email to friends. At the very least they are thought provoking and some make me smile. Enjoy

I will be back in a little while with a recipe for basil oil.

Miso Dressed Salad with Apple, Raisin, Hazelnut and Seitan

After spending most of the day in the kitchen I wasn’t in the mood to make anything that took much time. When I want something quick I frequently turn to salad, which is what we had tonight for dinner.

I could live on salad and frequently do. Salads are probably my favorite food, followed closely by soups and stews. However, they can be a little boring. I am still completely in love with miso salad dressing. Thanks so much Oraphan for posting your recipe a couple of weeks ago. Without you I don’t know long it would have taken me to make miso dressing. Both the hubby and I are hooked.

Since it is fall, and we have about 50 apples in the house I decided to add those to the salad. They work so well with the miso. I used hazelnuts and hazelnut oil tonight for a change. Golden raisins are so pretty I tossed those on as well. Here is what I made tonight.

Miso Dressed Salad with Apple, Raisin, Hazelnut and Seitan
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 ½ tablespoons white miso
1 ½ tablespoons mirin
½ tablespoon hazelnut oil (or other nut or canola oil)
2 apples, cored and thinly sliced
10 cups mesclun
2 tablespoon golden raisins
2 tablespoons hazelnut
1 seitan cutlet with rosemary and sage, sliced thinly on the diagonal

Directions:

Whisk together the miso, mirin and hazelnut oil. Add the apple slices and toss to coat. Add the mesclun to the apple and dressing and toss to coat.

Plate the greens and apples. Top with raisins, hazelnuts and seitan slices.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 333.29
Calories From Fat (25%) - 84.49

Total Fat - 10.36g
Saturated Fat - 0.98g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 636.88mg
Potassium - 874.47mg
Total Carbohydrates - 49.65g
Fiber - 10.05g
Sugar - 21.78g
Protein - 19.65g

Comments:

Ever since I made that first miso dressing I have been hooked. It is very difficult now to make other dressings I love this one so much. Sorry for the recipe rut.

Each serving of this salad contains more than 1,000IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 120mg of calcium, 170mcg of folate, 130mg of phosphorus, and 12mcg of selenium. Not bad for 333 calories.

Unrelated note:

It is getting late here, after 11pm and it is time for me to start slowing down. I will be back tomorrow with more cooking updates as I have a few minutes. Have a great evening.

Seitan Cutlets with Rosemary and Sage

As you saw on the menu the omnivores are having turkey for Thanksgiving. I wanted something for the hubby and I that was “meat like” so seitan immediately came to mind. Since I wanted something that had a similar flavor profile as turkey I decided to make a “poultry like” cutlet by keeping the flavors light and adding rosemary and sage. I used more rosemary than sage since I prefer the flavor. Additionally, rosemary contains carnosol (a type of terpene), which reduces the ability of cancer to spread. The National Institute of Health has been studying rosemary and its ability to help chemotherapy penetrate cancer cells with good success.

As usual I turned to my typical steam baked method since it is my husband’s favorite form of seitan. When you first add the wet ingredients to the breadcrumbs the mixture is going to appear to be too green. Don’t worry that is how it should look. After you add the gluten the green color will not be noticeable. Here is the recipe for the cutlets I made today for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Seitan Cutlets with Rosemary and Sage
Makes 8 cutlets

Ingredients:

½ cup yellow onions, peeled and sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup water
additional water to make 2 cups of liquid
1 tablespoon rosemary leaves, fresh
6 sage leaves, fresh
¼ teaspoon dry mustard powder
½ teaspoon Italian finishing salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
2 cups vital wheat gluten
olive oil for the pan

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (convection setting).

Water sauté the onions and garlic until completely soft. Place the mixture in your blender. Add enough water to make 2 cups of liquid. Add the rosemary, sage, mustard, finishing salt, and black pepper to the blender and puree until completely combined and smooth.

Pour the contents of the blender over the breadcrumbs and allow the mixture to stand for at least 10 minutes. You want the bread to be completely soft before proceeding.

Add the vital wheat gluten to the wet mixture and knead to combine all the ingredients. If any of the vital wheat gluten remains dry add a little more water a tablespoon at a time and knead to combine.

Preheat a heavy bottomed skillet with a little olive oil. I always use my cast iron skillet.

Divide the dough into 8 roughly equal pieces. Form each piece into a cutlet shape. Cook each cutlet on both sides until crisp top and bottom. Move the cutlets to a half sheet pan. Crisp the exterior of the remaining cutlets and move to the baking sheet.

Now add ½ cup of water to the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes turn the pan around (to make certain both sides cook evenly) and add another ½ cup of water. Bake for an additional 20 minutes. If at the end of cooking the pan is not dry return it to the oven until the water is all gone.

At this point the cutlets can be used as you would use chicken breast. Or they can be cooled and wrapped with plastic cling film and frozen in a zip top bag until needed. These cutlets freeze beautifully. I always make a full batch even though there are only two of us.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 196.34
Calories From Fat (11%) - 21.28

Total Fat - 2.39g
Saturated Fat - 0.41g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 256mg
Potassium - 121.1mg
Total Carbohydrates - 16.87g
Fiber - 2.27g
Sugar - 1.94g
Protein - 27.2g

The numbers above assume that ½ tablespoon of olive oil is absorbed into the cutlets when they are being seared. The fat numbers may be a little overstated, but are definitely not too low. Being a recovering accountant I always err on the conservative side with my numbers.

Comments:

This seitan is mild in flavor that is reminiscent of poultry due to the sage and rosemary. We had it cold tonight on a quick salad and it really worked as a chicken or turkey substitute. I can’t wait to try this hot with a little mushroom gravy, which is the plan for Thursday.

Unrelated note:

As always I didn’t get as many items crossed off my to do list as I had planned. The bread cubes for the stuffing are drying out now. Seitan cutlets are wrapped and waiting in the refrigerator. Caramelized garlic for the mashed potatoes and cauliflower is also done. The onions and celery have been diced and are ready to be used. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day in terms of Thanksgiving preparation. I may not have many posts but will be working on them off line while I cook and will get them posted as soon as I have a few minutes.

I am off to clean the kitchen and plan my day tomorrow. If I have time I will post the salad we had for dinner tonight before we turn in. Otherwise I will get the salad posted tomorrow morning. I hope you all have a great evening.

Flaxseed Oil is Good for Diabetic and Older Women

According to this abstract flaxseed oil has a beneficial effect on bone mineral density for both diabetic and older women.

Working in healthcare for so long I saw many older people that were hospitalized as a result of falls, and quite often they would die. It always seemed to me that older women were much more likely to be admitted for this reason. Osteoporosis in general is more common in women, due I believe to a small frame and less exercise that promotes bone growth (strength training). However, if adding a little flaxseed to my diet can help avoid bone fractures as I age, I willing to give it a try.

Flaxseed oil is high in omega 3, and is something that I have been consuming only because it is good for me. I will admit I don’t love the taste yet, and can’t manage it straight. However, if I use it 50/50 with canola or olive oil in salad dressing I find it acceptable. I am trying to work up to using it straight, but don’t really think that will happen any time soon.

If you decide to try flaxseed oil don’t heat it. It is meant to be used cold. Also, be certain to keep it in the refrigerator, it goes bad quickly. At our local stores they sell it in the refrigerated case near the miso.

Italian Finishing Salt

(pictured: herbs used in the Italian finishing salt)

A few years ago in cooking class we learned how to make seasoned salt. Which is salt and pepper with herbs. That mixture was mostly salt with some herbs and a little garlic. Being the flavor junkie that I am I had to include many more herbs and garlic. I would not suggest you use this on everything, but it works really well on Italian food. It also makes a nice homemade Christmas present for friends that like to cook. Here is how I make it.


(pictured: Italian Finishing Salt, just out of the food processor)

Italian Finishing Salt
Makes about 1 ¼ cups

Ingredients:

4 – 10 inch stems rosemary (about ¼ cup of leaves)
4 – 10 inch stems fresh oregano (about ¼ cup of leaves)
1 small bundle of fresh thyme (about 2 tablespoons of leaves)
8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 tablespoons Tellicherry peppercorns
1 cup sea salt

Directions:

Remove the leaves from the stems and place in your food processor. Add the garlic cloves to the processor and pulse to begin to break up the herbs and garlic. Smash the peppercorns with a skillet, or the side of your chef knife and add to the food processor. Add ¼ cup of sea salt to the processor and puree to break everything into smaller pieces. Add the remaining sea salt and pulse to combine.

Pour the seasoned salt into a container with a lid. The initial texture will resemble damp sand. Allow the mixture to stand uncovered for a few days so the herbs and garlic will dry out. When the mixture is dry put a lid on it and store it on your counter.

This can be used in any Italian dish as you would use salt. It is also a nice finishing salt for Italian dishes.

Comments:

I didn’t include nutritional information as it is essence salt. I use this to finish dishes, or when I am making anything Italian. During the holidays this makes a nice present for friends that cook. You need to make it a few days ahead of time so the herbs and garlic can dry out. But it is a quick present that most people enjoy. The aroma of this salt is really strong and inviting. It smells like an Italian restaurant to me.

Thanksgiving Menu

I wanted to post this earlier but I was still adding and subtracting recipes. At the moment this is what I am making for Thursday:

Thanksgiving Menu 2009

Appetizers

Warm Marinated Olives with Fennel and Orange

Cremini Mushrooms Stuffed with Pesto Flavored Millet or Quinoa

Roasted Root Vegetable Salad over Arugula with Balsamic Glaze

Entrees

Roasted Turkey with Gravy – for the omnis

Seitan Cutlets with Sage – for the veggies

Sides

Whole Wheat Bread Stuffing with Apple, Onion and Sage

Mashed Potato and Cauliflower with Caramelized Garlic

Sauerkraut with Apple and Onion

Butternut Squash with Spinach, Cranberries and Walnuts

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts

Cranberry and Citrus Sauce

Dessert

Cranberry Granita

I have whole wheat bread dough rising now for the breadcrumbs for the stuffing and for the seitan. I will be cooking most of today and tomorrow to get ahead of the game. Individual recipes will be posted here, as they are finished.

My cooking tends to be very freeform and changes often mid stream. I am going to try to stick with my menu as posted, but please don’t be surprised if one of two recipes change mid stream.

With the exception of the turkey and gravy that the omnivore members of the family think de rigueur all the recipes for Thursday will be vegan, low fat and low sugar (agave or stevia only no white sugar). There will all be no white flour on the table. We will see how well this type of cooking goes over for a holiday meal. Wish me luck, I think I may need it. It is a rough crowd at our house for holidays, and expectations are high.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. I am off to the kitchen now to get things going.

Giveaway at Vegan Family Style

If you haven't taken a look yet jump over to Debra's blog Vegan Family Style for a chance to win a copy of Vegan Lunch Box Around the World. It sounds like an interesting book for anyone that packs lunches. Even though my little one is in his 50's I thought it could be fun addition to my cookbook collection.

Pinto Bean and Brown Rice Stew in a Tomato Base

The weather today was cool and rainy with a gray sky that looks like it was about to snow, only it isn’t quite that cold. It was the perfect day for a warm bowl of comfort food. I couldn’t decide between stew and chili so I made something that was in between the two. It has the flavors of chili but the texture was closer to stew. I find most chili recipes to be far too thick for my taste, which is why I call this recipe a stew.

I think the fresh salsa was an important component to this recipe, but not everyone agrees so I have listed those numbers separately. Here is the stew I made for dinner tonight.

Pinto Bean and Brown Rice Stew in a Tomato Base
Makes 4 large servings

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups pinto beans, soaked overnight
6 cups water to cook the beans
½ cup onion, peeled and finely diced
15 ounces canned diced tomato
15 ounces canned tomato sauce
½ cup brown rice
1 cup water, or more if needed
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
1 teaspoon thyme, dried
½ teaspoon chili powder, or to taste
2 bay leaves
1 chipotle in adobo, finely minced
2 cups corn kernels (no need to defrost if frozen)

Directions:

Cook the beans until just tender and set aside.

Cook the onion in the liquid from the diced tomato can until just soft. Add the beans and all the remaining ingredients except the corn and cook until the rice is tender. Just before you are ready to serve remove the bay leaves and add the corn.

I served this soup tonight with a few corn chips and salsa on top. It would also be good topped with tofu sour cream.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 454.29
Calories From Fat (5%) - 23

Total Fat - 2.68g
Saturated Fat - 0.45g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 787.37mg
Potassium - 1909.07mg
Total Carbohydrates - 90.14g
Fiber - 17.48g
Sugar - 12.12g
Protein - 22.03g

Avocado, Onion, Cucumber and Tomato Salsa Topping
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 avocado, diced
¼ onion, finely minced
½ cup cucumber, diced
½ cup tomatoes, diced
¼ cup cilantro, minced
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
½ tablespoon hot crushed peppers
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients and stir to evenly distribute. Stir gently so that you don’t break up the avocado. This will hold overnight in the frig for lunch the next day if your avocado is not overly ripe.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 82.33
Calories From Fat (69%) - 56.48

Total Fat - 6.76g
Saturated Fat - 0.93g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 6.75mg
Potassium - 315.66mg
Total Carbohydrates - 5.97g
Fiber - 3.55g
Sugar - 0.98g
Protein - 1.29g

Comments:

I love a meal that comes in a bowl and doesn’t dirty a lot of pots and pans. The cold fresh topping makes this soup, in my opinion. I also love the crunch of the chips with this meal.

Each serving of this soup(without the salsa) contains more than 1,500IU of vitamin A, 130mg of calcium, 440mcg of folate, 490mg of phosphorus, 210mg of magnesium, and 26mcg of selenium.

Afternoon Snack: Apple with Walnut and Brazil Nut Butter and Dried Cranberries

As I said earlier I am definitely more of a snacker than a meal eater during the middle of the day. Whenever I have a light lunch, like today, I always need an afternoon snack about 3 or 4 hours later. This apple and nut butter snack is my current favorite. My husband got me started eating this and it is really good. Here is my quick afternoon snack.

Apple with Walnut and Brazil Nut Butter and Dried Cranberries
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 crisp apple, sliced into quarters and cored
2 tablespoons of walnut and Brazil nut butter
½ tablespoon dried cranberries

Directions:

Smear each apple wedge with walnut butter and top with dried cranberries.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 306.11
Calories From Fat (48%) - 146.45

Total Fat - 17.49g
Saturated Fat - 2.08g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 27.2mg
Potassium - 284.36mg
Total Carbohydrates - 38.14g
Fiber - 6.5g
Sugar - 15.02g
Protein - 4.28g

Comments:

Not only does this taste good but also it is also quite filling. It does a good job of satiating my hunger until dinner. This woman-sized version of the snack contains over 96mcg of selenium. When my hubby eats this he uses double the amount of nut butter.

This is a great snack to pack in the car when you are out running errands. It fits well in a small cooler bag with a knife and a cold pack. Whenever I need to go out for a while and don’t know the area well enough to know where to buy healthy food I carry this with me.

Unrelated note:

About 11 pm last night my hubby felt he needed a snack and wanted an apple and nut butter. Of course we didn’t have any in the frig, which meant I needed to make some. For the first time the hubby was in the room when I made the nut butter and he saw the little squirt of agave that I add to take down the tannic flavor of the walnuts. Much to my surprise he asked me to try stevia in the next batch of nut butter. This is quite remarkable since he is normally the one that doesn’t want me to make his favorite recipes healthier. At the rate we go through nut butter I will be making another batch either Wednesday or Thursday.

I will be certain to let you all know how it impacts the flavor and nutritional information. More importantly, my husband will let me know what he thinks. If the flavor doesn’t measure up I will hear about it right away.

Quick Light Lunch: Veggie Burger, Broccoli and Tropical Salsa

I have had people I know comment that I rarely post what I have for lunch and ask what type of quick meals do I make. They seem to be under the impression that healthy vegan food is time consuming and too difficult for them. Since I know at least a few people are interested I am going to try to post my lunches more often to give you ideas of what you can quickly toss together for lunch that is both healthy and vegan.

Today I grabbed a frozen veggie burger (courtesy of Costco) in a dry skillet and added broccoli and tropical salsa to it and called it a meal. Actually it is a little light on calories, but I am more of nibbler so there will be more food later this afternoon. I also put this into my hubby’s lunch today along with a couple of red potatoes (microwaved) topped with cream of cabbage and spinach, an apple with walnut butter and curried kale chips. I know it sounds like a lot of food for him but it isn’t many calories and he should have the nutrition.

My favorite part of this meal is the broccoli and tropical salsa. I love the pineapple and jalapeno with the broccoli. This is just a good cold as it is warm. It is great to have in the refrigerator for a quick healthy nibble. Here is what I made for my lunch today.

Quick Light Lunch: Veggie Burger, Broccoli and Tropical Salsa
Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 Don Lee Farms Veggie Burger
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 serving tropical salsa

Directions:

Cook the veggie burger in a dry skillet over medium for 3 or 4 minutes on both sides, until it is beginning to brown.

While the burger is heating, place the broccoli in a microwave safe bowl and cook until it is defrosted.

To serve add tropical salsa to both the broccoli and veggie burger and serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 283.49
Calories From Fat (24%) - 68.01

Total Fat - 6.05g
Saturated Fat - 1.15g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 504.47mg
Potassium - 785.51mg
Total Carbohydrates - 40.37g
Fiber - 12.81g
Sugar - 9.25g
Protein - 13.43g

Comment:

Lunch is normally a quick meal at my house. I don’t like to use many processed foods, but occasionally they come in really handy. Today I didn’t have any homemade veggie burgers in my freezer so I relied on my stash of the store bought variety.

This light lunch packs a nice amount of nutrition containing more than 3,400IU of vitamin A, 200mg of vitamin C, 190mg of calcium, 220mcg of folate, 250mcg of vitamin K, 160mcg of phosphorus, and 8mcg of selenium. Not too bad for a mere 283 calories.

Unrelated note:

Those of you that have known us for years know we haven’t always eaten this healthy. In fact, it is safe to say we gravitated toward amazing gourmet food with little concern for health. For a couple of years we would eat a healthy vegan diet at home but there were no rules when we went out to eat. We deluded ourselves into thinking that we were close to the 10% rule that Dr. Fuhrman advocates in "Eat to Live" and "Eat for Health". Had I read the books more carefully I would seen that he was advocating 10% of your calories not 10% of your food could be from those less healthy foods. Even eating only 2 meals out of 21 out of the house had to result in at least 30 of 40% of our weekly calories coming from unhealthy sources due to the calorie density of those foods.

It pains me to admit this but I don’t think my GI system can handle not eating clean anymore. I feel so much better when I eat my own healthy food that it makes the thought of eating out a little worrisome, as I know the side effects to come. After having dinner out on Friday I wanted to blame my not feeling quite myself on the wine. However, I realized that it took me almost 48 hours to feel completely like myself again. I don’t think wine could impact me for that long, at least it never has.

I am mentioning this because sometimes we don’t notice how good something is until it is gone. I was beginning to take feeling good for granted. Eating out has reminded me that what we consume has a big impact on how we feel. In other words we are what we eat. I will be paying more attention to the signals from the body and trying to feed it the healthy food it seems to now crave.

Plant Phytoestrogens Could be a Natural HRT

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a popular topic with women in my age bracket since we will all to need to decide whether to start HRT or not sometime in the next decade. All of us seem to have an opinion regarding whether HRT is a good or bad idea. While the symptoms of menopause are unpleasant (from what I hear), the possibility of increasing your probability of breast cancer makes HRT a scary option at best.

This recent study seems to indicate that plant phytoestrogens can be used as a natural HRT that won’t increase the risk of breast cancer. The abstract highlights a number of foods as containing phytoestrogens. These foods and their phytoestrogens include:

Soy products (daidzein, genistein and glycitein)
Mung beans (coumestrol)
Alfalfa sprouts (coumestrol)
Grape skins/red wine (resveratrol)

Genistein, resveratrol and glycitein all increased apoptosis (cancer cell death) but resveratrol appeared to be most effective. Additionally, daidzein appeared to cause a slight increase in breast cancer risk. However, since daidzein is found in soy along with genistein and glycitein I don’t perceive eating whole soy foods (edamame, tofu, soy milk, miso) to be a risk. Without knowing what specifically is contained in soy supplements I would be even more hesitant to use those at this point.

According to the Linus Pauling Institute resveratrol is found in grapes, wine, grape juice, peanuts, blueberries, bilberries, and cranberries. Interestingly resveratrol is well absorbed but reaches peak concentration in 60 minutes. This would seem to me to indicate that resveratrol consumption should be spread out during the day to be most effective.

On my last trip to Costco I picked up a package of dark grapes for the resveratrol and a bottle of concentrated fruit juice with resveratrol. I also noted that Costco is carrying resveratrol in pill form if anyone is interested.

I will be later after I have had a chance to exercise and get my day planned. I hope you all have a happy and healthy day today.

German Inspired Beet and Apple Relish

(pictured: Seitan paillard with beet and apple relish)

My 80-year-old parents like my seitan, which still blows my mind. They seem to prefer it when I make meals with the seitan, as it more closely resembles the meals they are accustomed to. Tonight we had the seitan paillards from yesterday topped with a German inspired relish. This relish has a lot of flavor, which is a nice counterpoint to the subtle flavors of the seitan and creamed cabbage and spinach.

To reheat the seitan paillards, I place them in my cast iron skillet with a couple of tablespoons of water and turn the fire to high. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for a few minutes until the water evaporates (the sound coming from the skillet will change to tell you to uncover the seitan). This will happen in less than 5 minutes. Now cook the cutlets uncovered, on both sides to recrisp them.

The relish is meant to add a pop of flavor and color to the plate. I combined classic German flavors in an unexpected way to make the relish. Here is what I did.

German Inspired Beet and Apple Relish
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 medium beet, finely diced
1 apple, finely diced
¼ red onion finely diced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ tablespoon walnut oil
1 tablespoon apple cider
2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced

Directions:

Place the diced beet in ice water. Allow the beet to sit in the water for 10 minutes to pull the excess color from the beet. This will keep the entire relish from turning fuchsia. Thoroughly drain the beet of water before the next step.

Combine the beet, apple and onion and stir to combine. Whisk together the mustard, walnut oil, and apple cider. Stir the dressing into the relish. Add the fresh dill and refrigerate until needed.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 40.13
Calories From Fat (29%) - 11.74

Total Fat - 1.34g
Saturated Fat - 0.12g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 42.66mg
Potassium - 91.88mg
Total Carbohydrates - 7.31g
Fiber - 1.43g
Sugar - 4.79g
Protein - 0.49g

Comments:

The most dominant flavor in this relish is the raw onion. Make certain you cut it finely and evenly distribute it throughout the relish. If you think your onion is too pungent soak it in water for 10 minutes or so to pull out some of the sulfur. I prefer the acrid punch of flavor from the onion but I am odd like that. The secondary flavor is apple, followed by walnut oil. The beet, dill and mustard flavors are more background notes that are not as easy to identify.

No one could pick up all the specific flavors in this relish tonight. The hubby, not a big onion or mustard fan, liked it and told me he would gladly eat it again.

Now I am off to finalize the Thanksgiving menu and check the pantry to see if I need to run to the grocery store tomorrow. I will post the menu and timeline as soon as it is ready and the individual recipes as I make then. For big meals like Thanksgiving I try to start cooking a few days before the actual meal. By precooking some the dishes I avoid the dreaded "chaotic day of cooking" that happens in many homes.

I hope you all have a great evening!

Creamed Cabbage and Spinach in a Dijon White Sauce

(pictured: creamed cabbage and spinach over baked potato)

After hearing that my seitan paillards looked like schnitzel yesterday I had German food on the brain today when I was deciding what to cook for dinner.

When I was growing up there was a great German restaurant in Chicago called “The Berghoff”. It had the best German food, but a closed a couple of years ago. Even though I haven’t lived in the mid-west in almost 3 decades, when “The Berghoff” closed it was like losing an old friend. I immediately bought the cookbook they released hoping for the some of my favorite recipes from the restaurant. A few of them were in the book, but mostly those recipes are now just memories.

One of the best dishes I had ever eaten was the creamed spinach they used to serve. I know it was probably a heart attack on a plate but it was utterly delicious. The creamed cabbage and spinach I served tonight was my attempt to make a healthy version of the creamed spinach from my childhood. Here is what I made.

Creamed Cabbage and Spinach in a Dijon White Sauce
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and finely sliced
½ cup water to sauté onion
8 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
5 cups almond milk, unsweetened
5 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup fresh dill, finely minced

Directions:

Water sauté the onion until soft. Add the cabbage and spinach and cook until wilted. Don't overcook the cabbage since it is more nutritious the less it is cooked. Remove the vegetables to a wire strainer to eliminate the excess water.

While the vegetables are draining heat the almond milk until it is simmering. Add the cornstarch that was thoroughly dissolved in water to the hot almond milk and whisk to combine. Return the milk to a simmer to check the consistency of the sauce. If you want it thicker add another tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in water. Whisk the mustard into the white sauce and add salt and pepper until you like the level. Return the cooked and drained vegetables to the sauce and heat through. Stir the fresh dill into the sauce a few minutes before serving.

This dish is good served plain in a ramekin, over baked potatoes (as we had it tonight) or over pasta or rice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 101.07
Calories From Fat (25%) - 25.53

Total Fat - 2.8g
Saturated Fat - 0.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 234.63mg
Potassium - 450.94mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.15g
Fiber - 4.53g
Sugar - 4.7g
Protein - 3.01g

Comments:

When you have something in your memory reality can rarely meet your expectation. However, I really liked this dish. It isn’t as rich as the one I remember but it also isn’t going to raise your cholesterol and/or clog your arteries. For a healthy dish this is quite good. My initial thought was to serve this on potato latkes but I opted for baked potato instead to keep the overall fat level reasonable.

Tonight we also had this with seitan paillards (reheated from yesterday’s batch) and a quick beet and apple relish. I will post the relish next.

On an unrelated note when I was at Costco on Friday I bought the new holiday album by Sting. It doesn’t contain the normal Christmas tunes, but I am really enjoying it. If you are Sting fan you may want to check it out.

I am starting to gear up for Christmas at our house. After Thanksgiving dinner we start the Christmas decorating. I adore Christmas and like to decorate every floor of our house. The felines get into the action by taking the decorations down as quickly as we can put them up. There is lots of holiday spirit at our house with humans and felines alike.

Tropical Salsa

(picture: Seitan paillard with tropical salsa and millet)

Our chef friend Ian makes a lot of fresh salsas. Eating his variations so often has had an impact on my love of salsa variations. Today I wanted to make a sweet and sour salsa for on my seitan paillards. This salsa has a lot of different flavors but they all blend well. I love the temperature contrast of a cold salsa on a warm entrée. I added the jarred hot crushed peppers to this salsa since the jalapeno didn’t add enough “heat”.

Salsa is great on seitan, tofu, or vegetables. This would also be good with pita or chips. If you like fried food this would be wonderful with crispy plantain chips. Here is the salsa version I made tonight.

Tropical Salsa
Serves 6

Ingredients:

¼ red onion, finely minced
3 clementines, supremed
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely minced
½ cup fresh pineapple, finely minced
¼ cup grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise and sliced into small half moons
juice from one lime
¼ cup fresh cilantro, minced
½ tablespoon hot crushed peppers, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the salsa ingredients in a large bowl and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as desired. Refrigerate until needed.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 32.37
Calories From Fat (4%) - 1.24

Total Fat - 0.15g
Saturated Fat - 0.01g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 49.59mg
Potassium - 124.07mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.46g
Fiber - 1.45g
Sugar - 5.04g
Protein - 0.66g

Comments:

If you like to add freshness to cooked foods I think you will like this fruit salsa. It is flavorful, sweet, tart and fresh. The cilantro adds a nice bright freshness to the salsa. I could eat this stuff by the spoonful all by itself. However, it is nice with the contrast of the hot seitan.

That is going to be it for me today. I am going to work on menu possibilities for Thanksgiving. I got some input tonight from my parents and the hubby. The final menu will depend on what the organic farmers have tomorrow at the market. However, I like to have the number of dishes determined and a rough outline of what I will be making. The more items I can buy locally the happier I am. Hopefully I will be able to buy all the veggies I need tomorrow at the farm market. I will be posting my Thanksgiving menu just a soon as I finalize it. Have a great evening everyone!

Seitan “White Meat” Paillards

(pictured: seitan paillard topped with tropical salsa and millet on the side)

I wanted to make a seitan that I could top like a chicken paillard or a schnitzel. These cutlets are crispy like schnitzel and a little thicker than a paillard. My seitan recipe is too tender to get much thinner. I may have to make version of seitan without my favorite breadcrumbs to get dough that I can make any thinner.

I intentionally made this seitan light in flavor, as I wanted a chicken or pork approximation. These paillards are very mild in flavor and are a good vehicle for sauces or toppings with big flavor. The crispness is so similar to schnitzel it is rather scary. We used sharp knives to cut bites from the seitan. The tropic salsa was a nice counterpoint to the crispy paillards. I will post the salsa recipe next. I wanted to keep this paillard recipe separate since I think I will be linking to it often in the future. Here is what I made tonight for dinner.

Seitan “White Meat” Paillards
Makes 8 large paillards

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
4 coves of garlic, peeled and smashed
½ cup of water to water sauté the onion and garlic
¼ teaspoon mustard powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion flakes
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon saffron
¼ teaspoon oregano, dried
enough water to make two cups of liquid total for your wet ingredients
2 cups whole wheat bread crumbs (approximately 4 slices crumbed in the food processor)
1 cup vital wheat gluten

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the onion and garlic in water until soft. Add the cooked onions and any remaining liquid to the blender. Add enough water to the blender to make two cups of liquid. Include the seasonings in the blender and puree until smooth. Pour the wet over mix over the breadcrumbs and allow to stand for ten (10) minutes so the crumbs will be completely soft. After ten (10) minutes add the vital wheat gluten to the wet breadcrumbs and knead to combine the wet and dry ingredients together.

Preheat a heavy bottomed skillet (I used a well seasoned cast iron pan) that is lightly greased.

While the pan is heating divide the seitan dough into 8 roughly equal pieces. Using your hands flatten the dough as thin as you can make it without forming holes. Sear two seitan paillards at a time and move to a waiting half sheet pan. Continue searing the paillards until they are all crisped on both sides of the exterior.

Add ½ cup of water to the bottom of the half sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove the pan from the oven. Add another ½ cup of water and return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. If you don’t have a convection oven when you return the pan to the oven turn it 180 degrees to even cook the entire pan evenly. By the end of the cooking cycle the pan should be dry this will ensure the bottom of the seitan will be crispy. If the pan isn’t dry return the pan to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes or cook the seitan in a heavy bottomed skillet to recrisp the bottom.

The cutlets will keep for months in the freezer if wrapped in a plastic cling film and stored in a zip top freezer bag.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 131.49
Calories From Fat (10%) - 13.78

Total Fat - 1.58g
Saturated Fat - 0.24g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 145.23mg
Potassium - 121.42mg
Total Carbohydrates - 16.18g
Fiber - 1.82g
Sugar - 1.62g
Protein - 13.99g

Comments:

Everyone enjoyed this seitan tonight, vegans and omnivores a like. My father commented that I am getting really good at “fake meat”. I guess from a meat and potatoes guy that is as much of a compliment as I can expect. When I asked the hubby what he would do to change these he said nothing. My mother, the most finicky of the bunch, ate all her seitan so I think I scored three points tonight with this meat substitute.

I think these would be a great as a base for seitan parmesan. That may have to go on my short list of recipes to make.

I will be back in a little while with the tropical salsa I served on top the seitan.

Mushroom Soup with Truffle Cream

Friday when I went to Costco I bought yet another container of the gourmet dried mushroom mix. I always think I need another container, just in case. When I got home there were three in the pantry. Okay, I love mushrooms but that was a little excessive even for me. I knew I wanted to make something with mushrooms soon and since the weather was cool I decided to make mushroom soup tonight.

This soup does take a little bit of time, but most of that is inactive time. Like all soups this one really doesn’t take much work. I used raw cashews to make the “cream soup base” and also used them in the truffle cream. Here is the soup I made tonight as part of dinner.

Mushroom Soup
Serves 4

Soup Ingredients:

4 cups dried mixed mushrooms
8 cups of water to soak mushrooms
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ cup water
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely minced
½ cup raw cashews
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 4 tablespoons water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and soaking water in a microwave safe vessel. Heat until the water is hot (this took 4 minutes in my microwave). Allow the mushrooms to sit in the hot water and rehydrate. The mushrooms should be soft in 30 minutes.

While the mushrooms are soaking water sauté the onion in the ½ cup of water. When the onion is soft put the onion and cooking water in your blender and puree until smooth. Return this liquid to a medium large pot and add the carrots and celery.

Strain the mushrooms from their soaking liquid using a fine sieve lined with three layers of cheesecloth or a layer of paper towel. Place the drained mushrooms on your cutting board and give them a rough chop. You want them to be small enough to fit on a soupspoon.

Place one cup of the mushroom liquid in your blender. Add the raw cashews to the blender and puree until completely smooth. Pour this mixture into the stockpot with the veg. Use the remaining mushroom stock to clean out the blender and return it all to the stockpot.

Cook the mushroom soup until you are ready to serve. Just before serving dissolve the cornstarch in water and stir it into the simmering soup. Cook for a few minutes to thicken the soup and cook out the raw cornstarch taste. Check the soup for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper as desired.

Top each serving of soup with a dollop of truffle cream.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories -155.28
Calories From Fat (30%) - 46.17

Total Fat - 5.52g
Saturated Fat - 0.99g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 65.86mg
Potassium -533.5mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.32g
Fiber - 4.07g
Sugar -4.64g
Protein - 4.4g

If you are fond of either thyme or rosemary a little bit of either one would be good in this soup. Don't add more than 1/2 teaspoon or it will become too dominant and overwhelm the mushroom flavor of the soup.

Truffle Cream
makes 28 tablespoons

Ingredients:

12.3 ounces organic silken tofu, firm
½ lemon, juiced
1 pinch salt, to taste
¼ cup raw cashews
1 tablespoon truffle oil

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in your food processor and process until smooth. You will need to scrape the side of the bowl a few minutes to ensure the all the raw cashews get completely pulverized.

Refrigerate the truffle cream until needed. It will thicken when it is completely chilled.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 16.94
Calories From Fat (62%) - 10.43

Total Fat - 1.19g
Saturated Fat - 0.18g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 14.99mg
Potassium - 31.08mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.65g
Fiber - 0.04g
Sugar - 0.23g
Protein - 1.02g

Comments:

This was an excellent soup. It may be my favorite mushroom soup so far. I think the truffle cream really took it over the top. If you are a fan of truffles, you should give this soup a try.

Each serving of the soup (without the truffle cream) contains more than 6,800IU of vitamin A, and 9mcg of selenium.

I served this soup tonight with seitan paillards topped with tropical salsa and millet on the side. I am running a little behind posting tonight. I will try to get the paillards and salsa posted this evening but I think the hubby wants to watch a movie tonight so those recipes may not get posted until tomorrow.

Broccoli, Potato, and Onion Frittata on a bed of Tomato Sauce

Dinner last night with Deirdre and Rob was great. We always have fun when we get together with Deirdre and her new friend Rob is adorable and extremely personable. It was like we had known him for years.

There was a little vino last night and my head is not quite right this morning. I always know I am going to pay the price for drinking wine the next day but it tastes so good going down. We had both a nice Brunello and a Roija Gran Riserva last night. Both bottles were a 2001 vintage and were smooth and very drinkable…hence the headache this morning.

Ian made a very interesting green quinoa for us last night. I loved the bright green color (sorry I didn’t take any photos). We had a little chat with him last night before he left the restaurant and since I know how he made it, I may make my version of his recipe sometime in the coming week.

Today is a going to be a bit of a marathon-cooking day at my house. My hubby is going to go downtown to his office to work before dinner tonight. When he does this I always end up spending more time in the kitchen partly due to boredom and partly due to do the fact that I want him to have a nice dinner since he worked on his day off.

This morning when I got up I felt a little off. I had a touch of a headache and just overall felt a little sluggish. Having wine last night with dinner had to the culprit for how I felt this morning. I knew immediately that I should make something with cruciferous vegetables this morning to help both our livers detoxify the evening’s festivities. So this morning I made a tofu frittata with broccoli, potato and onion. I served the slices of frittata on a bed of simple tomato sauce. Broccoli and tomatoes when consumed together make the nutrition of each more bioavailable so I always try to have them together. Here is what I made us for breakfast this morning.

Broccoli, Potato, and Onion Frittata on a bed of Tomato Sauce
Makes 2 large servings:

Frittata Ingredients:

2 large Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and pierced with a paring knife
½ red onion, peeled and finely diced
2 tablespoon water to sauté onions
4 cups frozen broccoli florets
12.3 ounce package of organic silken tofu, firm
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion flakes
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Tomato Sauce Ingredients:

15 ounce can of tomato sauce, no salt added
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion flakes

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Microwave the potatoes until they are tender. I started with 5 minutes in the microwave and it was enough time. When the potatoes have cooled enough to handle cut them into bite sized pieces and set them aside to cool.

While the potatoes are cooking water sauté the onion in the water until soft. Then turn off the heat and allow the onion to cool.

Microwave the broccoli florets until warm. Allow them to cool until you can handle them. Cut each floret into quarters to make them easy to eat and distribute throughout.

In your food processor, or blender, combine the silken tofu, flour, cornstarch, turmeric, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion flakes. Process until the ingredients are well combined.

Combine the tofu mixture, potatoes, onions, and broccoli and toss to combine all the ingredients. Lightly coat a heavy bottomed pan with canola or olive oil. Pour the frittata mixture into the skillet and pat it into an even layer.

Place the pan over a medium low heat for a few minutes to crisp the bottom of the frittata. Now place the pan in the preheated oven and cook until the frittata is set in the middle. Exactly how long this will take will depend on your oven. Mine was ready in 15 minutes.

While the frittata is baking make the tomato sauce. Combine the tomato, onion and garlic and simmer for at least 10 minutes so the flavors will combine.

To serve, I place a pool of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the plate and top with slices of the frittata.

The frittata is good hot, warm or cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 445.15
Calories From Fat (12%) - 53.27

Total Fat - 5.95g
Saturated Fat - 0.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 282.73mg
Potassium - 2348.4mg
Total Carbohydrates - 77.22g
Fiber - 8.12g
Sugar - 13.22g
Protein - 23.86g

Comments:

This is a very filling breakfast. It is a man friendly meal. I love to eat things like this when the weather is cool, like this morning. It may be psychosomatic but about an hour after breakfast I was feeling much better.

Nutritionally this breakfast is no slouch. Each serving of this frittata, with sauce contains more than 5,100IU of vitamin A, 190 of vitamin C, 180mg of calcium, 160cg of folate, 430 mg of phosphorus, 160mg of magnesium and 9mcg of selenium.

Something tells me lunch is going to be a salad today. I don’t normally eat such a hearty breakfast I don’t expect to be very hungry at lunchtime.

Time for me to get myself moving and get into the kitchen and figure out what I will be making for dinner tonight. As usual the parents will be having dinner with us tonight. This always makes dinner a little more “traditional” than what the hubby and I would have if it were just us. As you can tell, I have no idea what I am making so I really need to go. I will definitely be back later today with a few recipes. I hope you all have a great day!

Chocolate Mousse - Reduced Sugar with Bourbon

This is hands down my husband’s favorite recipe. Using tofu in chocolate mousse results in the most wonderful creamy mousse. The chocolate chips make the mousse thick and rich. I make many different versions of this chocolate mousse, which you will find here and here and here. This version cuts back on the sweetener by replacing half of it with stevia. I try not to use much sugar in my recipes because sugar feeds cancer. This recipe seems to be the right balance of agave and stevia. This mousse is not deadly sweet. The mousse retains an almost bittersweet feeling, which my hubby and I both like. If you like your desserts more sweet you can add additional agave to taste.

We are having dinner tonight with one of our good friend, Deirdre, and her new guy Rob. We love Deirdre but she has some “quirky ideas about food”. Whenever we get together I like to get Deirdre to try new foods that she thinks she doesn’t like. Tonight’s new food is tofu. Deirdre is convinced she hates tofu. In fact we have had many conversations about her hatred of tofu. Needless to say I am taking a big risk with the tofu chocolate mousse. But, I am never one to play it safe so we will see what happens tonight. I will come back and update the post later this evening with our tofu hater’s reaction to the chocolate mousse. Here is what I made this afternoon.

Chocolate Mousse - Reduced Sugar with Bourbon
Makes 5 large servings

Ingredients:

2 boxes (12.3 ounces) of Mori Nu organic silken tofu, firm
4 tablespoons agave
4 scoops stevia powder (or substitute with 4 tablespoons of agave)
1 pinch sea salt
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon (can use rum, frangelico, kahula, or noccino)
½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated (about 1/3 of a whole nutmeg)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Place everything except the chips in your food processor and process until smooth.

Put the chips in a microwave proof bowl and heat on 30% power until the chips are completely soft. This took about 6 minutes in my microwave. I heat them for 1 minute and check the texture and add more time until they are soft.

Scrape the melted chocolate into the food processor with the other mousse ingredients, and puree to completely combine.

Pour the chocolate mousse into 5 separate containers and cover with plastic wrap and cool completely before serving. They should be ready to eat in two hours or less.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 238.21
Calories From Fat (40%) - 95.72

Total Fat - 11.56g
Saturated Fat - 5.17g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 114.74mg
Potassium - 393.38mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.09g
Fiber - 4.85g
Sugar - 2.49g
Protein - 11.95g

Comments:

Prior versions of this mousse used much smaller serving sizes. I was previously using servings that were what I would eat. However, since my husband is normally the one that eats the mousse I decided to use “husband sized” servings. I think this dessert is too rich to eat an entire serving as listed, but my husband vehemently disagrees.

Eat serving of the tofu chocolate mousse contains more than 130mg of calcium.

If you like nuts with your chocolate you can add some chopped nuts or sugared nuts or nut brittle on top this mousse. I have also added candy sprinkles (white chocolate) on top the mousse. Any topping should be added just before serving.

If children will be eating this mousse substitute brewed coffee for the alcohol. The coffee flavor will intensify the chocolate but you won’t be able to identify the coffee in the final product.

Update:

There was much trepidation before the first bite. Deirdre put it off as long as she could. And …. her reaction after the first the taste and I quote “Alicia, this is freaking awesome”. Need I say more? I couldn’t imagine a more glowing reaction to the tofu mousse from a self-proclaimed tofu hater.

Deirdre, next time we are tackling hummus! We had a great time tonight we need to schedule another dinner again soon. We both enjoyed meeting Rob, he is as nice and adorable as I expected.

Spinach, Apple, Dried Cranberry and Walnut Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

Wednesday was a whirlwind of a day. It started early for me with ravioli making for lunch. I spent about 5 hours yesterday teaching my friends, Sue, John and Wil how to make vegan ravioli. We made three different variations of ravioli, spinach and almond feta, curried butternut squash and white bean puree with fresh sage. All the ravioli were wrapped in my semolina dough. I was too busy chatting and showing everyone how make ravioli to take any pictures or measure the ingredients in the filling. Since my hubby did not get any of these I will be making all the recipes at my house, and posting the recipes, sometime in the next week or so.

Thursday the weather was gray, rainy and cool. Exactly the type of day when you want to curl up on the sofa with a throw, mug of tea and good book and cocoon all day. I did a variation of this most of time when I wasn’t chatting on the phone.

I did make a pot of vegetable stock for miso soup last for dinner. I made a variation of this recipe but I added kombu to the stock, and a little freshly mined ginger. I also doubled the amount of miso.

To go with the miso soup I made another salad variation. Since this is cranberry season I wanted to make a cranberry dressing. I hadn’t had one before, but why would I let that stop me. Cooked and cooled cranberries make a nice thick salad so I thought they would also make a nice thick salad dressing. I added a little Dijon and garlic for flavor. This salad is thick and rich. At the same time it is tart and has a definite background of mustard. This dressing is not at all sweet. You can add agave but I decided the fruit in the salad would add enough sweetness to the overall dish. Here is what I did.

Spinach, Apple, Dried Cranberry and Walnut Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette
Serves 2

Ingredients:

6 cups baby spinach
2 apples, cored and cut into bite size pieces
2 servings cranberry vinaigrette (recipe below)
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
2 tablespoons walnuts

Directions:

Plate baby spinach, top with pears, cranberry vinaigrette, dried cranberries and walnuts and serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 308.5
Calories From Fat (27%) - 82.04

Total Fat - 9.58g
Saturated Fat - 1.03g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 248.05mg
Potassium - 723.52mg
Total Carbohydrates - 56.09g
Fiber - 9.03g
Sugar - 15.48g
Protein - 4.34g

Cranberry Vinaigrette
Makes 1/3 cup or 2 servings

Ingredients:

¼ cup frozen cranberries
¼ cup water to cook berries
½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ clove garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon water, if dressing is too thick

Directions:

Cook berries in ¼ cup of water until they are all soft. Place the cooked berries in your blender. Add the remaining ingredients, except the last addition of water. Puree until smooth. Check the thickness of dressing. Add a little more water if the dressing is too thick, mine was. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper to your taste. Refrigerate until needed

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 40.17
Calories From Fat (77%) - 31.01

Total Fat - 3.52g
Saturated Fat - 0.48g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 174.06mg
Potassium - 23.39mg
Total Carbohydrates - 2.34g
Fiber - 0.82g
Sugar - 0.57g
Protein - 0.26g

Comments:

I liked this salad and dressing combination. Even my husband, who isn’t a big fan of mustard, liked this salad. The apple and cranberry works well in a salad. I liked this dressing enough that I am going to play around with other berries in salad dressing to see what else I can come up with.

One serving of this salad contains more than 8,500IU of vitamin A, 110mg of calcium, 180mcg of folate, and 440mcg of vitamin K.

Today I need to run by the pharmacy and Costco this morning. I hope to be back later today with a post before dinner.

Pine Nuts and Metallic After Taste

A few months ago there was buzz in the news about pine nuts with a metallic after taste. The early information was that it involved pine nuts from Asia and Russia. Further confusing the story was that some people weren’t able to detect the metallic after taste. I was concerned there was some sort of unidentified contamination.

According to this abstract the French safety agency among others, have tested the pine nuts for contaminants and chemical residues. So far the pine nuts have failed to test positive for either. As someone that is part Italian, and loves pine nuts, I will be following the news on this story. If I hear anything else I will post it here.

Update:

This article seems to suggest that one possibility for the metallic taste is rancid pine nuts. I buy my pine nutes from Italian stores with high turnover and then store them in the freezer. So far I haven't tasted the metallic flavor that they refer to, so maybe it is a freshness issue as the article suggests.

If I see anything else on this issue that seems to shed light on the situation I will blog about it.

Battle of the Thanksgiving Salads: Acorn Squash versus Pear

(pictured: Roasted Acorn Squash Salad)

When I am testing recipes my husband is always in line to be a taste tester. The only problem with having him test is when I say “which one did you like better”. No matter what we are testing his response is “I don’t know I don’t remember the last one well enough to compare”. To avoid that problem I decided that tonight we are having both versions of the salad that may end up on our Thanksgiving table.

I decided to roast both the acorn squash and pears. Since each salad is served cold or room temperature the roasted items can be prepared a day or two in advance avoiding the last minute rush of at least one dish. Each salad with be finished with balsamic glaze and nuts and served over greens. The salads are very similar in preparation but the pear salad is much sweeter than the acorn squash. Visually I like the look of the squash half moons. However the hazelnuts on the pear salad are my favorite nut. Clearly I don’t have a clear favorite so that choice is up to the hubby. Here are the salad variations I made this evening.

Roasted Acorn Squash Salad with Almonds and Balsamic Glaze
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash, organic
1 teaspoon amber agave
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups mesclun greens
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 tablespoon balsamic glaze

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (convection). Add 25 degrees to your oven temperature if not using a convection setting. Line a metal half sheet pan with silpat, parchment paper or easy release aluminum foil and set aside.


(pictured: striped squash ready to be sliced and roasted)

Scrub the acorn squash well as most of the skin will remain on the squash. Using a peeler remove the peel from the high point on the ridges of the squash creating a striped effect. This isn’t necessary but makes the squash easier to cut and eat, and it looks pretty. Cut the squash in half (top to bottom) and remove the seeds from the squash. Now cut the top and bottom off the squash and discard, as they are tough. Slice the squash into half moon shapes that are approximately ¾ inch thick.

Place the squash slices on the pan in a single layer. Season the squash with salt and pepper and bake for 20 minutes in your preheated oven. After 20 minutes flip the squash over. Using a silicon basting brush place a drop of agave on the brush and brush the top of the squash. Continue this until each squash has a light coating of agave. Salt and pepper the squash and return to the oven for 10 minutes. The squash will be tender but should hold its shape. The light coating of agave will create a little brown on the top of the squash and will hold the salt and pepper on the squash.

Remove the squash from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature before composing the salad. You can also refrigerate the squash if making the day before.

Place the greens on the bottom of the plate. Top with the squash half moons. Drizzle the salad with the balsamic glaze and top with sliced almonds.

Nutritional Information:

Calories - 87.32
Calories From Fat (24%) - 20.56

Total Fat - 2.46g
Saturated Fat - 0.2g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 11.32mg
Potassium - 510.21mg
Total Carbohydrates - 15.51g
Fiber - 3.01g
Sugar - 2.05g
Protein - 2.44g


(pictured: Roasted Pear Salad)

Roasted Pear and Hazelnut Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 Bosc pears
4 cups mesclun greens
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons hazelnuts

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, convection. If not using convection heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a metal half sheet as outlined above and set aside.

Cut the pears in half top to bottom. I leave the stem on the pears for visual appeal. Use a melon baller to remove the pear core. Take a paring knife and remove the hard bit from the bottom of the pear.

Place the pears cut side down on the half sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes. A paring knife should gently slide into the pear flesh indicated the pear is done.

Allow the pears to cool before plating the salad.

Start with the greens, add the pears, then the balsamic glaze and finish with the hazelnuts.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 160.3
Calories From Fat (24%) - 39.07

Total Fat - 4.67g
Saturated Fat - 0.33g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 16.99mg
Potassium - 418.11mg
Total Carbohydrates - 29.02g
Fiber - 6.55g
Sugar - 17.52
Protein - 2.84g

I included this recipe in case you can’t find balsamic glaze at your local grocery store. It is very easy to make. I always make my own. It is ready in about 15 minutes but the exact time will depend on your stove. Here is how you make balsamic glaze.

Balsamic Glaze
Makes 4 tablespoons

Ingredients:

½ cup good quality balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Place the balsamic in a heavy bottomed pot. I used my smallest All-Clad saucepan. Turn the heat to medium and when the balsamic begins to simmer turn the heat down to the lowest level. Whisk the balsamic every few minutes until it is reduced by half the original amount.

When the balsamic cools if it is too thick you can correct it. Return the balsamic to the heat and add more balsamic vinegar to thin the glaze. You are heating it to melt the original balsamic so it can combine with addition. Once they are whisked together turn off the heat.

The balsamic glaze can be stored in a covered container at room temperature until needed. I drizzle it over salads, risotto, seitan, tofu, and veggies. It is good in any dish where you would like a little sweet and sour.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 28.05
Calories From Fat (0%) - 0

Total Fat - 0g
Saturated Fat - 0g
Sodium - 7.33mg
Potassium - 35.7mg
Total Carbohydrates - 5.43g
Sugar - 4.77g
Protein - 0.16g

Comments:

Based on the nutritional information I would choose the acorn squash salad over the pear. Thanksgiving is always such a calorie dense meal I like to have dishes that are light so I don’t get that bloated feeling after the meal. Additionally I like that the acorn salad is not something that you see everywhere. Roasted pears are nice but they have been popular since the 80’s.

The hubby has decided that he prefers the roasted squash salad for Thanksgiving dinner. He feels, and I agree, that the roasted pear salad is a little sweet and would make a better after dinner salad

Pomegranate Juice and Heart Health

(pictured: Green tea with pomegranate, ginger and lemon)

I was doing a little pomegranate juice research today and came across this interesting study regarding the impact it has on heart health. I found it fascinating that something as simple as consuming pomegranate juice can reduce cholesterol oxidation (atherosclerosis), and reduce blood pressure.

This study is yet another reason to continue to drink pomegranate juice. The doctor that wrote “Anticancer” also recommends consuming 8 ounces a day to reduce the probability of cancer. At our house we add a splash to our ginger green tea to add flavor and get our 8 ounces of juice spread throughout the day.

Whether you are concerned about heart health or cancer it seems pomegranate juice is part of the answer. I am going to make another mug of green now with a big splash of pomegranate juice.

Spicy Brown Rice, Lentil and Kale in a Tomato Based Soup

The weather was gorgeous again yesterday. It was in the mid 60’s by 11am in the morning. I wanted to enjoy the day more than I wanted to cook. So when I finally got into the kitchen I decided to make soup for dinner, which would leave leftovers for lunch later in the week.

My husband loves tomato lentil soup. I like to change the recipes so that we don’t get into a rut. Yesterday I decided I wanted to make spicy version of the soup and add kale to the soup for extra nutrition. Hot crushed peppers (aka wet hots) add heat but also nutrition. Peppers contain capsaicin that is thougth to reduced LDL cholesterol and triglycerideas as well as boost immunity. The capsaicin in peppers also kills the bacteria in the stomach that leads to ulcers. Previously it was thought that hot pepper aggravated stomach ulcers but it is now known that they prevent them. Kale has more nutritional power per calorie than any other food. Kale is high in vitamin A, K and C. The sulforaphane found in kale boosts the body's detoxification enzymes so it can clear potentially carcinogenic substances more quickly. Sulforaphane is formed in cruciferous vegetables when they are chopped or chewed.

If you decide not to include the hot crushed peppers this soup will be a little bland. I would suggest topping the soup with a fresh gremolata if you omit the peppers. You make that by mincing a ¼ cup of fresh parsley, the zest of one lemon and a clove of garlic. Then add a tablespoon of olive oil to the minced aromatics and top each serving of the soup with the gremolata in place of the olive drizzle included in this recipe. Here is the soup I made for dinner last night.

Spicy Brown Rice, Lentil and Kale in a Tomato Based Soup
Makes 8 servings of about 2 cups each

Soup Ingredients:

1 bunch of kales, stripped of its leaves, stems finely chopped
½ yellow onion, peeled and finely minced
2 carrots, scrubbed and minced
2 stalks celery, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed (allow to stand 10 minutes so allicin can develop)
½ cup water to water sauté the vegetables
28 ounces canned diced tomatoes, low sodium version
10 cups filtered water
1 cup green lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 cup long grain basmati rice
2 bay leaves
½ tablespoon oregano, dry
½ tablespoon thyme, dry
1 – 2 tablespoons hot crushed peppers (depends on how much you like spice)
8 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil for garnish

Directions:

Water sauté the kales stems, onion, carrot, celery and garlic until soft. Add the tomatoes, water lentils, rice, bay leaves, oregano, thyme and hot crushed peppers and simmer with the lid on for 45 minutes. Check half way through cooking and add water if necessary.

Remove the bay leaves before adding the kale to make them easier to find. Finely chop the kale leaves and add them to the soup 15 minutes before serving so they retain most of their nutrition. Check the soup for seasoning and add black pepper and salt as needed.

Top each serving of the soup with one teaspoon of your best extra virgin olive oil for flavor and aroma. By including a little olive oil you make certain that your body can absorb the fat-soluble vitamins present in this dish. Additionally by adding the olive at the end it is oxidized by the heat making it more healthy.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 290.18
Calories From Fat (19%) - 54.66

Total Fat - 6.26g
Saturated Fat - 0.91g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 192.16mg
Potassium - 982.6mg
Total Carbohydrates - 49.59g
Fiber - 12.25g
Sugar - 2.18g
Protein - 12.29g

Comments:

This is substantial filling soup that is nice when the weather is cool. By the time we had dinner the temperature outside was in the low 50’s so this soup was perfect. I used the full amount of hot crushed peppers making our soup a little spicy. However, we love spicy food so it worked for us. I would suggest you start with one tablespoon of the peppers and wait 15 minutes and taste the soup for flavor. The heat intensifies as the soup cooks.

Each serving of this soup contains more than 14,400IU of vitamin A, 90mg of vitamin C, 160mg of calcium, 160mcg of folate, 550mcg of vitamin K, 260mg of phosphorus, and 110mg of magnesium. I also like knowing that this soup contains lycopene from the tomatoes.

I packed a big container of this soup in my husband’s lunch today with a green salad with creamy herb dressing and raw sunflower seed, an apple and walnut butter and kale chips. Each day I try to make certain that we get plenty of fresh and cooked vegetables and fruit in our diet. We started our morning with a mixed berry smoothie and green drink. At the moment I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner but it will be something autumnal.

Tomorrow I am going to friend Sue’s to make vegan ravioli. Sometime today I need to make the nut cheese for the ravioli. I will have my camera with me to take pictures of the ravioli for the blog. I will get the photos and the recipes posted later this week. There may be a ravioli preview later today. My husband loves ravioli so I think I should make a small batch for him to have tomorrow for dinner when I am at cooking class.

I will be back later today. I hope you are all having a fabulous day. Now I need to go exercise and then spend a little time cleaning the house. At the moment the felines are shedding furiously and since we share our home with three longhaired Turkish Angoras I am a little overrun with cat hair at the moment.

Why We Avoid Sugar and Minimize Flour

You may have noticed that sugar is not often found in my recipes. I thought that I should elaborate on why we don’t use sugar or much flour.

Sugar and flour are foods we do our best to avoid or minimize when possible. Neither my husband nor I are diabetic, nor do we have high glucose readings. We avoid sugar and flour for entirely different reasons. Sugar is verboten in our house because sugar feeds cancer. If you haven’t known anyone that has gotten a PET scan this works by adding a material to a glucose solution that can be imagined. The glucose solution is used because cancer will immediately feed on the sugar promoting its growth and spread and making it able to be imagined.

A German biologist (Otto Warburg) was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery that the metabolism of malignant tumors depends on glucose consumption. Glucose is what sugar becomes in the body after you consume it. When we eat foods that have high on the glycemic index our blood glucose levels increase rapidly as all diabetics know. When glucose raises the body releases IGF (insulin like growth factor) that stimulates healthy and unhealthy cells to grow. Scientists are working on new medicines to fight cancer that will reduce spiking insulin and IGF.

Since DNA is mutating in all of our bodies everyday and creating cancer or precancerous cells we have the ability to feed our bodies food that will fight or promote the disease. My husband and I have chosen to consume the healthiest diet possible to fight the disease. We both feel that an optimally nourished body is better able to fight all disease.

Additionally, consuming sugar promotes Advanced Glycation End Products (AGE’s) that have a negative effect on the body and result in an increase in age related chronic diseases. I prefer to reduce our exposure to this negative chemical reaction when possible. Sugar may taste good but in my opinion it isn’t worth the risk of promoting cancer to grow and increasing your risk of age related disease.

This doesn’t mean that we never eat food that tastes good as many or our friends think. We have found that the longer we stay away from sugar the less we crave it and the sweeter other naturally sweet food (like fruit) tastes to us. Sometimes I need to use a little sweetener to make the food taste right and then I use either stevia or agave depending on what I am cooking.

If you are going to eat something with sugar or flour you shouldn’t eat it between meals, but with other foods. Consuming food with a high glycemic index with low glycemic index foods slows the speed at which the body can process the sugar thereby reducing the insulin spikes and release of IGF.

I hope you find this information useful. I decided to write this to make certain that all of you know the pitfalls of consuming sugar and flour as I understand them. I am not trying to imply that our diet is perfect since it is far from it. We do eat pasta and bread but try to consume them as infrequently as possible without making ourselves nuts. There are always changes we can make to eat a healthier diet. Over time I find that our dietary choices are improving. I hope the same thing happens with all of you.

UPDATE:

I was asked why flour was included in this post and realized that I should have given more background information.

Flour, both white and whole wheat, is a highly processed food. It has been mechanically pulverized into tiny particles almost the size of dust. Think of the size of wheat berries compared to flour. When you consume wheat berries they are somewhat hard and you need to spend a good bit of time to chew them to begin the digestion process. Flour is in essence mechanically predigested so that you need to do no more than swallow it and when it gets into your stomach it is a smaller food particle than the chewed wheat berries. Due to its size flour is easily digested by the stomach acid and therefore more quickly causes your blood glucose and IGF to increase.

The media tries to make whole grain flour sound like it is a health food but that really isn't the case. It is better than white flour, but it is still not what I call a health food to be consumed every day let alone at every meal like most Americans serve it.

All Italians have a fondness for flour products, particularly pasta. It has been very hard for me to reduce our whole wheat pasta consumption. This is a notion I fought for a lot of years. I have finally come to the conclusion that it is best for our health. For me it is easier to minimize it when I know the negative health impact.

If you have any questions about this post please comment so I can try to elaborate. I hope you are all having a great day.

Green Salad with Cucumber, Carrot and Beet topped with Creamy Dijon Dressing and Raw Sunflower Seeds

This is the salad we had tonight with the cream of broccoli soup for dinner. It was very light dinner, but it just seemed right after yesterday’s pasta. I tend to eat more “clean” after I have had a carb heavy meal like pasta the prior day.

Raw grated beets are one of my favorite salad additions from a nutrition perspective. I don’t suggest that you eat this salad while wearing light colored clothing since the beet will stain. We always change into something dark (preferably black) when I make a salad like this.

Tonight’s salad dressing is another variation of the creamy raw cashew dressings I have been making over the last couple of months. This time I added Dijon tonight for a little background tang. Here is the salad I made tonight.

Green Salad with Cucumber, Carrot and Beet topped with Creamy Dijon Dressing and Raw Sunflower Seeds
Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ cup cashews
½ cup water
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 cups of mesclun, washed and spun dry
8 inches of English cucumber, halved lengthwise and then sliced into half moons
½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 carrots, scrubbed and grated
2 beets, scrubbed and grated
2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds

Directions:

Combine the cashews, water, Dijon and pepper in your blender and process until creamy. Refrigerate the dressing until needed.

Plate the greens first, then beet followed by carrot. Top with dressing and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 240.1
Calories From Fat (39%) - 94.8

Total Fat - 11.3g
Saturated Fat - 1.89g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 132.1mg
Potassium - 1340.37mg
Total Carbohydrates - 29.06g
Fiber - 8.85g
Sugar - 13.38g
Protein - 9.05g

Comments:

Each serving of this salad contains more than 7,500IU of vitamin A, 130mg of calcium, 210mcg of folate, 50mcg of vitamin K, 270mg of phosphorus and 130mg of magnesium. This salad contains a lot of nutrition.

If you don’t think you like beets they are very good with a creamy raw cashew dressing. It is my favorite way to include raw beets in a salad.

I am off to make a variation of my chocolate and banana smoothie for the hubby to keep his calories up since our day was so calorie light. I hope you all have a great evening.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Broccoli is one of our favorite vegetables. I buy it almost every time I got to the farmers market or the grocery store. We like broccoli both raw and cooked. Before I found out that it is healthier the less it is cooked we also loved it roasted. Now that I know that sulphorane and indole 3 found in broccoli isn’t heat stable I try to find ways to enjoy broccoli without cooking the nutrition out of it.

I like to make soup in my Vitamix for a number of reasons. The Vitamix makes quick work of soup. If you like creamy soups, like I do, the texture of soup that comes out the Vitamix is like velvet. Using the Vitamix you can stop processing before the soup is blazing hot and retain more nutrition, if you like.

Raw cashews make a fabulous cream substitute. I have been using a lot of raw cashews lately as a cream, mayo and sour cream substitute. They work well to make non-dairy cream soup.

Tonight’s soup was ready in less than 20 minutes and I was taking my time prepping the ingredients. This would make a great weeknight meal on those nights when you don’t feel like cooking. Here is what I did.

Cream of Broccoli Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients:

5 cups of broccoli, chopped
2 cups of broccoli florets, chopped into pieces no larger than will fit in a soup spoon
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
½ yellow onion, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
½ cup water to sauté vegetables
2 cups of water to puree soup (or substitute non-dairy milk for a richer soup)
½ cup raw cashews
1 pinch salt, or to taste
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
flaked sea salt to garnish - optional

Directions:

Place the 5 cups of chopped broccoli in the blender.

Toss the finely cut 2 cups of broccoli florets with the olive oil and broil until lightly brown. I used my broiler on high and the florets were lightly browned in about 3 minutes. Remove the florets from the oven and save to garnish the soup.

Water sauté the onions, celery and garlic until soft. Add the softened vegetables and raw cashews to the blender with the raw broccoli. You will need to add water or non-dairy milk to come half way up the vegetables in the blender. This amount of liquid is necessary to get a nice smooth puree. Puree the soup until it is smooth and creamy. If you aren’t using a Vitamix you will need to heat the soup to serve.

Taste for salt and pepper and adjust before serving. Top the soup with the broccoli florets. I topped the soup with a pinch of flaked sea salt.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 126.22
Calories From Fat (46%) - 57.73

Total Fat - 6.85g
Saturated Fat - 1.17g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 130.56mg
Potassium - 581.77mg
Total Carbohydrates - 13.56g
Fiber - 1.14g
Sugar - 1.8g
Protein - 6.45g

Comments:

This soup tastes much richer than the calorie count would lead you to imagine. When I asked my husband what he thought of the soup tonight he said he liked the contrast of the creamy soup with the roasted broccoli. He also thought the flaked sea salt was a nice textural contrast. Additionally he liked the strength of the broccoli flavor that came through in the soup. I think this was because the creamy portion of the soup was raw. Overall we both liked it, and my parents also finished their respective bowls of soup so I think we can say this was enjoyed by the vegans and omnivores a like.

Nutritionally each serving of this soup contained more than 3,800IU of vitamin A, 110mg of vitamin C, 80mg of calcium, 100mcg of folate, and 160mg of phosphorus. That is quite a lot of nutrition for so few calories.

If you wanted to make this soup more decadent you could stir the roasted broccoli into the creamy mixture and then top the soup with tofu sour cream. Dill is a nice flavor with broccoli so that would work well in the soup, or the sour cream if you like.

Miso Soup with Shitake Mushrooms

The farmers market this morning was great as always. I don’t ever like leaving the house before 7 am since I am not a morning person, but I love getting to the market early before the farmers get too busy to chat. We always stop at our two favorite organic farmers and talk to them about what they have and will be coming soon. Rudy at "Cats Paw" is writing a book now about nutrition and health that I am anxious to read. He is a fascinating man who I believe has a graduate degree in biology. We frequently have fun conversations about health that I always enjoy and learn from.

Last night I made the mistake of asking my parents if they wanted turkey for Thanksgiving. Big mistake on my part. It my mother less than a second to say, “of course, how can we have Thanksgiving without turkey”. I am not looking forward to bringing a turkey into the house since it will mean a ludicrous about of cleaning to decontaminate the refrigerator and kitchen after the holiday. Additionally, I had to be careful not to buy a lot this morning that needed refrigeration to save room in the refrigerator to defrost a turkey. I had forgotten what a pain cooking a turkey was. I haven’t decided what main dish I am going to make for Dan and I. The idea of involtini with seitan is appealing to me at the moment.

Dinner last night was comforting, but a bit heavier than I normally make. This morning I felt like I wanted something light for breakfast. Since we have two containers of white miso in the refrigerator I decided to make my version of a traditional Japanese breakfast of miso soup. This recipe is not traditional; it is what I had in the refrigerator. I added fresh shitakes for flavor and for the lentinan, which fights cancer. Additionally don’t forget about the article earlier this year regarding mushrooms protecting women from breast cancer. When you make this soup don’t cook the miso as it destroys the vitamin B12. Here is what I made this morning for breakfast.

Miso Soup with Shitake Mushrooms
Serves 2

Ingredients:

8 cups water
½ white onion, peeled and sliced thinly top to bottom
2 carrots, julienned
2 cloves garlic, minced (allow to stand 10 minutes so allicin will develop)
½ head bok choy, finely sliced (about 6 cups) – stems and leaves separated
¼ pound shitake stems, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons white miso
½ teaspoon liquid aminos, to taste
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil for garnish

Directions:

Combine the water, onion, carrots, garlic and bok choy stems in a pot and simmer over medium heat until the vegetables are tender. Now add the shitake stems and bok choy leaves and cook a few minutes to wilt the greens. You want the greens to remain a bright vibrant green. Turn off the heat and remove about a cup of the soup broth to a small bowl. Add the miso to broth and whisk until it dissolves in the soup. Add the miso to the soup pot and taste for seasoning. I added a touch of liquid aminos for salt.

Serve the soup in a warm bowl and top each serving with a splash of toasted sesame oil. This would also be nice with a few fresh green onions on top for a nice fresh onion flavor.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 172.1
Calories From Fat (32%) - 54.89

Total Fat- 6.3g
Saturated Fat - 0.95g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 943.59mg
Potassium - 1005.88mg
Total Carbohydrates - 24.58g
Fiber - 7.41g
Sugar - 9.88g
Protein - 7.54g

Comments:

This soup was a light and refreshing breakfast. I love that it is a huge amount of food for so few calories. The nutrition stats on this meal are amazing. Each serving contains more than 22,900IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 290mg of calcium, 170mcg of folate, 110mcg of vitamin K, and 180mg of phosphorus. No wonder Japanese people as so much healthier than Americans. What a healthy way to start your day. I think this may now be included in my regular breakfast rotation.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Spaghetti Squash with Arugula and Lemon Pesto

Being part Italian when I need a comfort dish I turn to pasta. As far as I am concerned pasta should be a food group. I love pasta like some people love chocolate. I could eat it every night and be perfectly content. Given that pasta is a refined carbohydrate, even when it is whole grain, I know we shouldn’t eat it often. But sometimes it is the only thing I want. Tonight I was in one of those moods.

I added spaghetti squash to reduce the pasta portion size. I made a quick arugula pesto because I love the bitter bite of arugula. Additionally arugula is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family so it is a very healthy part of any diet. The less you cook cruciferous vegetables the more nutritious they are. By using it as pesto it was only heated by the warmth of the pasta. I added lemon juice and zest for flavor and nutrition. Lemon zest contains d-limonene, which has been linked to protection from skin cancer. Walnuts add a wonderful creaminess to the pesto. They mellow the flavor of the arugula just a bit. Additionally the walnuts add omega 3 fatty acids that are anti-inflammatory and are helpful for preventing most typical western diseases.

Don’t let the small number of ingredients fool you. This pasta has a big bold flavor. Particularly if you use the larger more mature arugula. As arugula ages the flavor gets more assertive and I love it, but my hubby thinks it is bitter. Walnuts tame the bitterness enough that he likes it, but I can still enjoy it. Here is what I did.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Spaghetti Squash with Arugula and Lemon Pesto
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 pound of whole-wheat spaghetti
6 cups spaghetti squash, when cooked and shredded
8 cups of arugula (larger arugula has a more bitter bite and is better in this dish)
1 lemon, zested and juice
½ cup walnuts
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil or walnut oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 pinch salt, to taste
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook the spaghetti and squash until the pasta is al dente and the squash yields to the pressure of a paring knife. The spaghetti squash is easiest to cook in the microwave, but you can also bake it in a 350 degree oven cut side down until soft (about an hour).

Combine the arugula, lemon zest, lemon juice, walnuts, oil, and garlic in your food processor and puree. If the pesto is too thick add a little water (a tablespoon at a time).

Toss the pesto with the pasta and spaghetti squash.

If desired you can leave take some of the arugula tops and cut them into bite sized pieces and toss them in the pasta for a textural variation. You could also hold a few of the walnuts back and add them to the top of the dish for garnish if you like.

Serve hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 432.37
Calories From Fat (21%) - 91.24

Total Fat - 10.71g
Saturated Fat - 0.92g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 401.45mg
Potassium - 340.59mg
Total Carbohydrates - 75.66g
Fiber - 12.49g
Sugar - 8.03g
Protein - 13.9g

Comments:

When I asked my husband what he thought of dinner he described it as “creamy and bitter” and “flavorful”. I would say this is a fairly good description. The pesto is rich and creamy from the walnuts and oil and a little bitter from the arugula. This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. My father calls it “green pasta”. Both my father and mother liked the pasta tonight. I was a little surprised when they had seconds. Sometimes the parents still surprise me.

The hubby and I are going to watch a movie tonight as soon as I post this entry. I think I am going to make a new popcorn variation tonight. If I like the new flavor I will post it late tonight or tomorrow morning after the farm market. I hope you all have a great evening.

Cabbage, Apple and Walnut Slaw with Miso and Cider Dressing

My husband has a new obsession with miso so I knew I needed to make a miso dressing for the salad tonight. Then Rose posted a recipe she made last night using cabbage and miso. I had part of a head of cabbage in the refrigerator so slaw it was tonight. In place of the mirin I have been using in the miso dressing I decided to try apple cider tonight since I was using apple in the slaw. Apple cider adds a nice natural sweetness and a distinct apple flavor. Walnut oil was added to give the dressing a little fatty mouth feel. It seems appropriate to use walnut oil since the hubby wanted walnuts in the slaw. This was a very fast salad to put together and the four of us ate all the salad tonight with dinner. Here is what I did.

Cabbage, Apple and Walnut Slaw with Miso and Cider Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons white miso
4 tablespoons apple cider
1 tablespoon walnut oil
8 cups green cabbage, finely shredded
4 apples, cored and finely sliced
½ cup cilantro, minced
¼ cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Directions:

Whisk the miso, cider and walnut oil until creamy. Combine the dressing and the salad ingredients and toss to coat the salad evenly with the dressing. Top the salad with the walnuts and serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 236.99
Calories From Fat (35%) - 82.42

Total Fat - 9.66g
Saturated Fat - 1.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 677.68mg
Potassium - 566.35mg
Total Carbohydrates - 36.99g
Fiber - 9.36g
Sugar - 21.29g
Protein - 5.88g

Comments:

Miso dressing works really well with slaw. Thanks for the idea Rose! :) Next time I may add a few raisins to this slaw but I also really liked it just the way it was.

Each serving of this slaw has more than 100mg of calcium, 90mcg of folate, and 140mcg of vitamin K. One of the reason slaw is such a healthy item to add to your menu is that cabbage is a member of the cruciferous family and is more healthy when lightly cooked or raw. I kept the skin on the apples because the nutrition in the apple is concentrated on and just under the skin.

I will be back in a little while with the main dish from tonight.

Fresh Berries, Matfool and Arugula Salad

The weather is still cool and gray here. It is one of those days when all you want to do is curl up on the sofa with a warm throw, a mug of hot tea and a good book. This type of weather is much more conducive to a nap than doing anything productive.

When it was time for lunch today I was feeling more than a little uninspired. I wish I could say I always love to cook and have ideas in my head but that is not the case. I started lunch while the hubby ran to Whole Foods to pick up more miso since we were almost out. When I looked in the refrigerator there were fresh berries staring back at me waiting to be used. I had just made a berry salad on Thursday so I wanted to make something a little different today. Opening the pantry the matfool was right in front. This is how lunch was born.

If you are unfamiliar with matfool it is a large grain couscous. It looks to me like toasted Israeli couscous. It is soaked in hot water and plumps quickly. I tend to use it in cold salads but it would also work hot. I have found matfool at both Middle Eastern and Mediterranean markets.

Arugula was used as the salad base because it is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family and has the same benefits as broccoli. Walnuts were included for their healthy omega 3 fats. I used raspberry vinegar as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the berries. Miso was added to empty the container and to provide a little salty sweetness. Honestly, I couldn’t taste the miso in the final dressing. If you like the taste of miso add more to your dressing. Here is what I made for lunch today.

Fresh Berries, Matfool and Arugula Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ cup matfool
1 cup water
1 ½ tablespoons raspberry vinegar
½ walnut oil
½ teaspoon miso
2 cups arugula, chopped into bite sized pieces
½ cup strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters
½ cup blueberries
¼ cup raspberries
¼ cup toasted walnuts

Directions:

Combine the matfool and water and heat in the microwave until hot. Allow to stand for at least 10 minutes so the toasted pasta (matfool) softens. When the pasta is soft, drain the excess water and rinse with cold water to cool the pasta.

Combine the dressing ingredients (vinegar, oil and miso) and whisk to combine. Add the matfool and toss to coat it in the dressing.

Place the arugula in the bottom of a bowl. Top the greens with matfool, followed by the fresh berries and then the nuts.

Serve cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 434.21
Calories From Fat (45%) - 196.02

Total Fat - 23.3g
Saturated Fat - 2.2g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 68.25mg
Potassium - 399.29mg
Total Carbohydrates - 49.28g
Fiber - 7.15g
Sugar - 7.41g
Protein - 11.36g

Comments:

This salad is sweet from the berries, tart from the vinegar, and bitter from the arugula. Matfool was added to the salad to absorb the dressing and provide a few additional calories.

Having the fat from the nuts in this salad made it very satisfying. Both the hubby and I were full for 5 hours after lunch.

Recipe Ideas - Ian Made Dinner Tonight

No recipes from tonight since I didn’t cook. We went out to dinner with our Egyptian friend Walid. Since we live in the same neighborhood we had Ian (at least his kitchen) make dinner tonight. Walid is such a pleasure to go out to dinner with. He is a great friend and very chatting so the conversation is always as wonderful as the meal. If only his lovely wife had been home tonight to go with us, dinner would have been perfect. We missed you tonight Jackie!

We started dinner tonight chatting over a pot of white tea. Sorry, I forgot to pull out the camera. But we have all seen tea so I don’t think that is a big deal that I didn’t get the shot.



As we frequently do we got the Middle Eastern Plate for an appetizer. Well, what did you expect we would order for an appetizer since we are having dinner with someone from Cairo? The Middle Eastern Plate contains whole-wheat pita, hummus, house made sweet pickles, caponata, olives and pickled peppers. Yummy! It has been one of my favorites for years. We order it so often they had put the order into the kitchen before we even asked for it. Doesn’t that tell you have often we are there and order it.



Next we ordered Szechuan Tofu with Green Beans, Carrots and Mushrooms in a slight sticky, sweet and spicy sauce. I know it is fried so it isn’t the healthiest thing, but it is so darn good. Both Dan and I find it very difficult to resist it when Ian has it on the specials menu. For a classically trained chef he makes some of the best Asian food I have ever had. His sushi is pretty fantastic too. Maybe I need to request that for next week since we are going back next Friday with our friend Deirdre.



There was also a Vegetable Pizza with Yellow Squash, Roasted Red Peppers, Mushrooms and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto (no cheese) that was quite good. Ian doesn’t understand the “no cheese rule”, but he goes with it for us. I think he thinks we are a little nuts, but respects that our food consumption habits have changed dramatically. I suppose since not that long ago we would order the gin infused escargot with gorgonzola cream sauce on crostini our return to veganism has really thrown him off.

How we manage to spend 3 hours over dinner I don’t know. But even without the vino we were at the restaurant for a little over 3 hours. Sorry about the lack of table turnover tonight guys. We will see you next week and I will bring the jackfruit for you Corey. I am also going to work on the recipe for curried wheat berry salad you mentioned to me tonight.

Avocado Stuffed with a Spicy Miso Dressed “Crab”

I bought a jar of jackfruit in brine on Wednesday at the Asian market. Today I wanted to play around with it and see if I could come up with an appetizer for Thanksgiving. I decided to use the jackfruit like crab. Since I bought the brined version it is a little salty and does a nice job of standing in for crab. Next time I may add a few thinly cut pieces of nori to add a fishy flavor.

The jackfruit looks remarkably like crab. The interior is "thready" and the exterior is a little tough and needs to be cut with a knife. Once the exterior is cut you tear the jackfruit into crab like pieces. I can’t wait to try more crab recipes with jackfruit.

This recipe is patterned after something my friend Ian makes. You could also add finely diced jalapeno and cilantro if you like. I made this quickly from what I had in my house. Here is what I made.

Avocado Stuffed with a Spicy Miso Dressed “Crab”
Serves 2

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon white miso
½ tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon hot crushed peppers (wet hots)
1 teaspoon liquid aminos, to taste
1 tablespoon green onion, finely minced
¼ cup brined jackfruit, pulled into fine pieces that look like crab
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado, cut in half, pit removed and scored

Directions:

Combine the miso, mirin, hot crushed peppers and liquid aminos to taste. Whisk to thoroughly combine. Add the green onion and jackfruit and stuff into the avocado halves. Serve cold as an appetizer.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 174.19
Calories From Fat (64%) - 110.86

Total Fat - 13.66g
Saturated Fat - 1.9g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 328.47mg
Potassium - 547.85mg
Total Carbohydrates - 15.44g
Fiber - 6.55g
Sugar - 0.63g
Protein - 2.57g

Comments:

This turned out really well. Today was my first time using or eating brined jackfruit and I love it. I am definitely buying a few more jars to have on hand. I can imagine so many uses for the jackfruit. Living in Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay I am surrounded by crabs and crab recipes. I can’t wait to make some of the traditional recipes vegan.

Roasted Barley Tea

I picked up this box of organic roasted barley tea bags from the Asian market on Wednesday. Since the majority of the box is written in Japanese, I have no idea what is says including how to use it. I decided to make it hot, like traditional tea or coffee since it smelled a little like roasted coffee in the bag.

This tea has an aroma that is similar to coffee. The flavor is very mild and tastes great black. Once I tried it I decided to do a little research on the tea. Apparently it is normally drunk cold in Japan. However, I think it makes a wonderful warm beverage.

I tried to find a calorie count on this beverage and it is given as anywhere between 0 and 30 on the web. Since you are just soaking roasted barley in water I think it is probably closer to zero like tea or coffee. Either way it doesn’t contain many calories.

Here is an interesting link to barley tea and other teas. It gives a recipe for making your own barley tea, which looks incredibly simple if you are interesting in giving it a try. When I give the homemade version a try I will let you know how it works.

I am really pleasantly surprised by the lovely mild flavor and aroma of roasted barley tea. It is reminiscent of coffee but without the bitter back notes. If are trying to give up coffee but want something similar this beverage may be for you.

When I am at cooking class next week I will check with my Japanese friend Reiko and find out how this beverage is typically flavored and served. I think it is great hot and black but she may have other ideas for how to enhance the taste. What ever I find out I will be sharing with you all.

Beefy Seitan Braised in a Rich Beer Based Brown Sauce

When we were at cooking class last night my husband was again extolling the virtues of the beefy seitan cutlets. Clearly he is enjoying the recipe so I wanted to make him something that was similar to a recipe I used to make in the past with beef brisket.

Since I had to leave out the beef broth I added Worcestershire sauce and marmite to give the sauce a beefy flavor. Other than those few changes the dish is like the version I used to make. I can’t tell you where the original recipe is from because this came from a notebook I kept with recipes and there is no author given. The original dish was called "brisket braised in beer". Here is what I made.

Beefy Seitan Braised in a Rich Beer Based Brown Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ ounce porcini mushrooms, dried
1 cup water to rehydrate mushrooms
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic,peeled and finely minced
¼ cup water
12 ounces beer
8 prunes, finely minced
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ tablespoon malt vinegar
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce - vegan
¼ teaspoon marmite
4 beefy seitan cutlets
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the mushrooms and water and microwave until water is hot (3 minutes in my microwave). Allow the mushrooms to soak with you make the remainder of the sauce.

Water sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are soft. Add the beer, prunes, Dijon, vinegar, worcestershire and marmite and cook to combine the flavor and allow the prunes to disintegrate. This should happen in about 15 minutes. Add the porcini mushrooms to the sauce. Strain the porcini liquid through 3 layers of cheesecloth or a paper towel lined sieve and add that to the sauce and continue to simmer. Add the beefy seitan cutlets and cook until they are warmed through. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 358.11
Calories From Fat (11%) - 39.37

Total Fat - 4.48g
Saturated Fat - 0.67g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 444.17mg
Potassium - 590.51mg
Total Carbohydrates - 47.15g
Fiber - 5.99g
Sugar - 8.97g
Protein - 30.48g

Comments:

The sauce is very complex and no individual flavor stands out. Obviously you can see the onions and mushrooms but their flavors don’t dominate. If I hadn’t put the beer in the pot I wouldn’t have known it was in there. The prunes disappear into the sauce (be certain to cut them very small so this happens quickly) so the flavor isn’t obvious. Surprisingly the dish is richer than you would expect from 39 calories from fat.

Each serving of this main dish contains more than 110mg of calcium, 60mcg of folate, 170mg of phosphorus, and 24mcg of selenium.

This dish is very reminiscent of the original. However it doesn’t have the fatty taste or feel that I now find unpleasant. I really enjoyed this dish tonight, and so did the hubby. We had the beefy seitan in rich beer based sauce over broccoli and a green salad with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and cucumber with raspberry vinaigrette.

I hope you all have a great evening tonight.

Shopping Yesterday and Feline Antics

(picture: Triangular Sushi mold picked up at the Asian Store)

I have been a little busy for the last couple of days. However, today I get to spend the entire day blissfully at home puttering around the house. While many people would consider this torture, it is my idea of heaven. There is nothing I love more than a day I spend in the kitchen playing with my food. Experimenting with food is one of the most relaxing activities for me. I consider cooking therapeutic and when it is healthy cooking it is good for the mind and body. I have not completely decided what I am going to make today, but I will enjoy it and will learn something from it even if I don’t get the results I want.

Yesterday I needed to make a trip to the vet to pick of prednisone for one of the felines that appears to have asthma. This morning we had the pleasure of trying to get the first pill into the cat. Clearly the cat had other ideas about this situation. While my vet tells me that cats can’t spit, my felines clearly didn’t get that memo. Our oldest feline spit the pill out three times this morning before we finally got it down her throat. With all the wiggling and meowing, the pilling process seemed to go on forever this morning. My husband, the cat holder, was undoubtedly happy to go to work this morning and escape the chaos. I can’t say I blame him. Lucky us, we get the pleasure of giving Luca Bella another pill again this evening. Yippee! I love the felines but it would be nice if they could be slightly more cooperative.


(pictured: Fermented Bean Curd)

After the vet yesterday I decided to stop at the Asian market (H-Mart for those nearby) before heading to cooking class. I always love a trip to the Asian market and finding things I haven’t bought before so that I don’t get into a cooking rut. Yesterday I hit the mother load of new “stuff”. First, I found a great triangular sushi mold that I can’t wait to use. Then I found a jar of fermented bean curd. I have no idea how I am going to use this but I can’t wait to try it. Bryanna Clark Grogan mentioned it a while back as having an umami that is similar to cheese. Definitely sounds like another “cheese” experiment is in my future soon. I also picked up a box of organic barley tea. My Japanese friend Reiko drinks it and thinks I will like it so I am going to try it later today. I also bought a bag of dried eggplant slices that I think will be great marinated it an Asian sauce and put into the middle of sushi rolls. The last new ingredient for me is brined jackfruit. I have heard the texture is like shredded beef so I have some ideas for this, which I will be trying soon.

If any of you have used fermented bean curd before I would love to hear how you use it. My Japanese friend immediately thought of using a little of it in soup. She wasn’t familiar with the product so I am going to assume it isn’t traditionally used in Japanese cuisine.

After the Asian market I ran into Home Goods and bought a few kitchen items I didn’t need but I wanted. I found the cutest little single serving pie tins and had to have them. There was a beautiful Lenox coffee mug on clearance for $5 that I decided would make a lovely green tea mug. I picked up a few more pieces of Deruta pottery, which I don’t need but I can never resist. I also picked up another cookbook; this book is a two hundred and fifty page tome on nothing but Tapas. Now, I love tapas. I love eating a little nibble of this and then a little nibble of that. Expect to see a few tapas recipes soon as I take some of these recipes and make them healthy and vegan.

Today the weather is cold with temps in the mid-40’s Fahrenheit, and rainy. It is not good weather for venturing out of the house. I need to get moving and get a few things accomplished today. I will be back later with a few recipes. I hope you are all having a great day. I am off to play in the kitchen just as soon as I finish my green tea.