Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Cabbage Threads dressed with Mushroom Dijon Sauce and Cumin Carrots



Those of you that have been reading my blog for a long time know that I am a big fan of Joel Fuhrman, the MD that wrote “Eat to Live” and “Eat for Health”. His style of eating food that is nutrient dense makes a lot of sense to me. I think a well nourished body is best able to fight disease and repair itself. Our meal tonight is very high in nutrition and low in calories. It is the perfect option when you need a light meal.

After eating the chili for dinner yesterday and lunch today both the hubby and I felt like a light meal was in order tonight. Not to mention the fact that all I was planning to do tonight was watch the Top Chef finale. Here is the meal I made tonight.

Cabbage Threads dressed with Mushroom Dijon Sauce and Cumin Carrots
Serves 3

Ingredients:

2 cups mixed dried mushrooms
4 cups water
½ cup water
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and minced
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon caraway sees
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
8 cups cabbage, cut into fettuccini like threads
6 full size organic carrots
½ cup water
½ teaspoon cumin seed
2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and water and microwave on high until the water boils. This happened in less than 4 minutes in my microwave. Allow the mushrooms to soak until soft. The exact time this takes is dependent on the mushroom you use. When the mushrooms are soft cut them into bite size pieces. Strain the mushroom liquid and save for the sauce.

Water sauté the onions and garlic until soft. Add the strained mushroom soaking liquid, Dijon mustard, and cornstarch to the sauce and whisk to combine. Incorporate the caraway and cumin seeds and simmer while you prep the cabbage.

I removed the leaves from the head of cabbage, trimmed away the thick ribs and then sliced the cabbage thinly, from side to side, so the stem is in the middle of each thread. Sit the cabbage aside while you cook the carrots.

Slice the carrots thinly on the diagonal. Add the water and cumin seeds and simmer until the carrots are lightly tender.

While the carrots are cooking add the cabbage to the mushrooms sauce and cook. The carrots and cabbage will take approximately the same amount of time. By cooking the cabbage lightly you will maximize the nutrition of the cabbage since it is part of the cruciferous family and is more healthful when cooked lightly.

Add the fresh cilantro to the carrots and toss just before serving.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 262.34
Calories From Fat (7%) - 18.5

Total Fat - 2.23g
Saturated Fat - 0.29g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 394.39mg
Potassium - 1448.67mg
Total Carbohydrates - 60.65g
Fiber - 16.12g
Sugar - 17.58g
Protein - 8.73g

Comments:

This meal was so light in calories and yet high in flavor. The Dijon added a lot of flavor as well as a little bit of spice. Mushrooms made the dish earthy and satisfying. Both Dan and I enjoyed this tonight.

Each serving of this contains more than 27,200IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 220mg of calcium, 180mcg of folate, 200mcg of folate, 200mcg of vitamin K, 220mg phosphorus, 100mg of magnesium, and 13mcg of selenium. This dish was amazingly high in nutrition for so few calories. That is the point that Dr. Fuhrman drives home in his books. If you eat vegetables, fruit, beans, seeds and nuts and a little whole grain you will maximize the nutrition you get from food. Since I look at the nutritionals on all my recipes I can tell you by adding grains you dilute the nutrition of the overall meal.

Unrelated note:

Today I was conducting an experiment in the crockpot with two different seitan doughs. They won’t be finished until after midnight. However, I will be posting the results of the test and the recipes tomorrow.

I hope you all have a great evening. I am enjoying the Top Chef finale as I write this post.

11 comments:

  1. Hooray, exciting experiments!! Can't wait to hear about it.

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  2. This looks and sounds so delicious! What a perfect light meal! My husband always tells me to cook something "light" for dinner and I have no idea what to cook and this recipe is just perfec for his request, YUM!

    p.s. I keep forgeting to thank you for your concern about my finger. It's healing but I still need to put bandage on because it still hurts if I touch it. I'll come back to read all the posts that I missed soon:)

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  3. Not the Top Chef ending that I was expecting.

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  4. Sounds yummy. Have you ever made without caraway seeds by chance? Not a huge fan of those, but not sure how much of an impact they'd have on the total package if taken out. Can't wait to see how the seitan turned out. Never tried to make my own!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oraphan,

    I use cabbage as faux pasta quite often when I want a light meal. It also works well with tomato sauce if you want to give that a try.

    I cut myself often in the kitchen so I understand. I hope your finger is better soon.

    Louis,

    To say I was not happy with who won top chef would be an understatement. I personally think the show enjoys the controversy of their choice.

    Heather,

    I love caraway so I tend to use it often with cabbage. However, it would be great without it. I would also take out the cumin and would use thyme and rosemary for flavor instead.

    I think my best seitan is still the steam baked cutlets from about two months ago. Everyone seems to like it. One of my omni friends even makes it now to help cut back on the sat fat her family consumes.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  6. This looks wonderful--thanks for sharing. I too follow Eat to Live--it is a great nutritious way of life :-)

    Courtney

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  7. Courtney,

    Thanks for letting me know you follow ETL too. I feel so much cleaner and healthier eating this way I can't imagine ever going back to regularly eating unhealthy food.

    Do you find you get fewer colds since eating this way? I am convinced my immune system is stronger since I really focused on nutritarian eating.

    Alicia

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  8. I can't say I get sick less often than before following E2L, but I was already a vegan, so like for you--it wasn't a big stretch. I DID notice a boost to my immune system when I went vegan, though. I went vegan nearly 10 years ago and then I started following E2L about 5 years ago (not doing the 6-week plan this whole time, though, obviously). I really never get sick, lol! And I used to get a lot of colds and the flu every year etc., so that says a lot.

    Courtney

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  9. Courtney,

    I used to get sick 4 or 5 times a year as an omni. It is fascinating that I don't get sick now. I can't say it is vegan or ETL since I went from omni to ETL vegan overnight. Can you say extreme overnight change? ;)

    I definitely feel better when I don't eat as many grains, even though I love the stuff.

    Alicia

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  10. I should have read further before commenting on the mushroom-cabbage option on the other post! This is more intense than I had in mind, but the mustard sounds good!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cindy,

    No problem. If you haven't commenting on the tomato version I couldn't have pointed you here.

    I like big flavors, in case you hadn't noticed. This dish does have a lot of flavor.

    In my mind mustard and cabbage just goes together.

    talk to you later,
    Alicia

    ReplyDelete

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