Mushrooms keep finding their way into my recipes lately. Maybe my body instinctively knows that they’re a good source of nutrients like potassium, selenium, and vitamin B. More likely it’s just because I dig their earthy flavor. Whatever the reason, I’m happy when there’s fungus on my plate!

For tonight I made a snap pea and mushroom saute. It was de-licious! Snap peas are another favorite of which I definitely don’t eat enough. They too are loaded with nutrients. Vitamin K, manganese and fiber, to name just a few.

I have fond memories from my childhood when my dad grew these puppies in our backyard garden. I would pick and eat them right of the vine. I loved their sweet crunchiness…and I still do!

Snap Pea and Mushroom Saute

• 3 cups snap peas, rinsed
• 2 cups white mushrooms
• half a onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• several sprays of Bragg Liquid Aminos
• red pepper flakes to taste

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add all ingredients and cook for 5-8 minutes.

After this, I definitely feel nourished!

The All-Star and I need nourishment after our Valentine’s Day trauma, so I put my concocting hat on and made a soup. No recipe needed, a Laura original. Always a favorite around here, expect when they’re not so good. We all make a not-so-good dish now and again. It’s all part of learning to cook.

Luckily, this meal was not gross. It was very delicious.

Spinach Soup with Broccoli and Quinoa

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch of fresh spinach, rinsed, steams removed and chopped
• 1 large head of broccoli, cut into small flourets
• 1 yam, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 16 oz creamy portobello mushroom soup
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• In a large sauce pan heat oil over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic and cook until translucent.  Mix in broccoli, yam and quinoa.
• Pour in broth and water and bring to a boil.  Add salt and pepper, set temperature to low and simmer until vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.
• Stir in mushroom soup, thyme and more salt and pepper to taste. Add spinach and chicken and cook until spinach is wilted, about 5 more minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

Feel free to use whatever herbs and spices you like. I’m a fan of thyme. The All-Star said it gave the meal a minty flavor. Sounds good to me.

Last night I made my first chowder. I was numb-scully calling it fish soup not thinking that it was “duh” – chowder.  Anyway it was delicious and worth sharing with you all.  If you’ve never made chowder, I encourage giving it a try.  It was nice and light and I felt sort of humbled eating it.  Not sure why, maybe it was the mushrooms…in the soup.  They gave it a real earthy feel.

Tilapia and Corn Chowder

Ingredients

• 2 slices of bacon (optional of course)
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 leek, white part only, halved lengthwise, rinsed and thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 Yukon Gold potato, diced
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels, (about 4 ears)
• 2 cups white mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 1/2 pounds tilapia fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Directions

• Chop bacon and cook in a large pot over medium heat until crispy, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
• Add oil to the pan. Add celery, leek, salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables just begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add broth, potatoes, mushrooms, and corn. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until the potatoes are just tender and the corn is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir in tilapia and thyme; return to a gentle simmer. Cook until the tilapia is cooked through, about 4 minutes more. Remove from the heat.
• Stir in half-and-half, lemon juice and the reserved bacon. Garnish with chives, if using.

Notes from the cook: I didn’t have chives but did have some scallions so I used those as the garnish.  Tasted good.  Also, if you’re not using bacon, you’ll want to add a little more oil to saute the veggies.  Oh yeah, and I modified this recipe from one found on EatingWell.

Enjoy!

And happy long weekend! It’s a beautiful day out in Southern California and we’re going out to play!

Here’s another recipe featured by The Food Network. It’s a Giada de Laurentiis.  I really seem to like her recipes the best. It must be the Italian in me.  As always I changed some things and I’ll probably change some more the next time I make it but the gist will still be there.  The original recipe called for chicken thighs, a pound of lentils, and one head of cauliflower.  The recipe below is a little different.  I used chicken breast and would recommend half the lentils and twice as much cauliflower. Give it a try and enjoy.

Chicken and Cauliflower Curry

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-inch piece fresh ginger, minced
• 1/2 cup prepared red Thai curry paste
• 3 cups chicken broth, low-sodium canned, or homemade
• 2 cups whole milk plain yogurt
• 6 bone-in skinless chicken thighs, about 2 1/4 pounds
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 lb red lentils, rinsed
• 1 large head cauliflower, broken into large florets
• 2 (16-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 bunch fresh mint or cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 lemon, cut in wedges

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Heat the oil; add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Add the curry paste and continue to cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes more. Whisk the broth with all the aromatics in the pan; then pour the liquid into a slow cooker. Whisk the yogurt into the liquid.

Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper. Add the chicken, lentils and remaining salt to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 6 hours, adding cauliflower and chickpeas about half way through cooking.

Divide curry evenly into bowls and scatter freshly torn mint or cilantro on top. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

I found this website that I really like: EatingWell.com. 

I think Eating Well started as a magazine but who needs paper when you’ve got all their delicious recipes and diet help right at your web-browsing fingertips.  I especially like their Diet, Nutrition and Health section where you can find descent information about food and your health as well as special recipes for those with specific diet needs, ie. gluten free, diabetes, low calorie, etc.  They also include nutritional facts, which is always good.  I’m certainly not saying this is the end all website of healthy cooking but like I say, “when in doubt, go home-made” and this is another great resource for adding healthy choices to your personal recipe collection. 

As always, use your discretion and make healthy diet choices that are best for you.  When in doubt, follow the advice of your doctor.

Well, Super Bowl Sunday turned out to be a lot more eventful then the actually Superbowl.  I’m sorry, but did anyone else think that game was a little boring?  For me the highlight of those four hours was The Who’s performance. Great light show!

Anyway. In the morning I made Irish Soda Bread.  Not exactly a healthy-as-can-be choice but what’s a little bit of bread now and again?  (Oh, I feel like I’m going to health-nut hell for that one)  If you dare, check out my recipe page for the recipe.  And if anyone out there has a gluten-free/vegan/healthy variation of your choice,  please share with the class.  Here’s what my baking mess looked like.

I am such a messy baker.  They even look messy baking in the oven.

This bread is so good though.  It’s worth the clean-up.

After the bread-making extravaganza, we were off to another museum.  This time it was the Bowers Museum in Orange.  The Art-Student, as I am now calling him, needed to go there for an assignment and I was happy to tag along.  I believe part of my path to wellness is being cultured and looking at art is a great way to do it. Bowers is a small museum exhibiting mostly early Californian art.  At present, however, they are exhibiting the ancient arts of China. Very cool.  They are also showcasing Chris Rainer who documented through photography the culture of New Guinea.  Very intense.

This was my favorite piece…I really love paintings of market places.

The Art-Student fancied this piece done in pastels…He tried to do his own pastel piece tonight but realized he had no fixer.  Anyway know what to use to fix pastels?

We both agreed that this chess set was amazing.  The carving detail was incredible…

So that was our culture for the day.  We then went on to watch the Colts give it up to the Saints, who deserved to win anyway, in my opinion.

And now it’s Monday.  I felt kinda sickly this morning and cruddy all day.  I feel better now and just completed another baking escapade.  I’ve been baking a lot lately and I’ll tell you why…I’m terrible at it and this bothers me greatly so I need the practice.  I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook but baking is just not my forte.  Those who are good at it, hats off to you.  Perhaps next time you can bestow on me some your magic touch or whatever it is.  Regardless, tonight I made vegetable muffins.  I know it sounds weird, but they are actually pretty good. Think of it more as bread with veggies in it.  I figure they will be good for an on-the-go breakfast.  Maybe with a hummus spread.  This recipe can also be found on the recipe page.

I’m excited for tomorrow.  I’m making a Chicken and Cauliflower Curry in the crock-pot, with a few of my own modifications, of course. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

It seems that chili is in season this time of year and I’ve unknowingly joined the trend.  I’m not sure where I got the idea to make it.  Perhaps in was the undeniable force of a collective consciousness. Whatever the reason, I was craving it, so I made it, and it was delicious.  Since my own personal chili-party, I’m seeing other bloggers sharing their favorite chili recipes with cyber space, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon too.  I found this recipe while looking for something to warm my winter-chilled belly.  It seemed like the perfect dish.  I hope you’ll try it and enjoy. (p.s. It’s a slightly modified Giada recipe. Hi, I’m Laura and I’m a Food Network junky.  Two months sober. I don’t have cable.)

White Bean and Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 pounds ground chicken
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 (15-ounce cans) Northern white bean, rinsed and drained
• 1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed, stems removed, and chopped
• 11/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

Directions

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. Add the beans, spinach, corn, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 55-60 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Add the red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Next time I’d like to add some crushed tomato and see how that tastes.  I craved a little acidy-sweet. Maybe even a little Cholula would do the trick!

People often ask me how I find the time to eat right and stay healthy.  I can tell you honestly that it’s not always easy.  But it’s also never that difficult.  With a little effort, you can have home-cooked variety at ever meal.

Be creative with your time. If I have a little extra time, I’ll spend it looking up recipes online or cooking a second meal for later in the week.  Have a free moment in the morning?  Prepare the ingredients you’ll need for dinner later on.  On the weekends, chop up some veggies or bake some chicken tenders for salads during the week.  I also take my time in the market, checking to see what’s on sale and only buying foods that I need for the recipes I’ve planned.  Shopping on the fly?  Be sure to make a list before hand so you don’t need to waste time or buy things you don’t need.  And remember:  Stay out of the snack isles. Peruse the perimeter!

Be inventive with your meals. Before I reach for the take-out menu, I always take a look at what I’ve got on hand. Sometimes I make my best recipes with stuff I already had in the refrigerator.  A couple of celery stalks here, a green pepper there.  The last few drops of raspberry vinaigrette.  Saute that up with some cut-up pork chops, and viola! I’ve got myself a stir-fry. And again, be thoughtful at the market.  See what’s on sale and what’s in season.  Sometimes there’s a delicous meal just waiting for you, and at half the cost.

Be savvy with your appliances. My crock pot and I are best buds.  Give me a set-it-and-forget-it-recipe and I’m in heaven.  It’s awesome to come home from a long day at work to the smell of chicken and tomatoes stewing in the kitchen.  My rice cooker is another one.  Throw in some rice on the bottom and steam some broccoli and carrots on the top and I’ve got myself a meal in 15 minutes.

Be Ready for Tomorrow. I’m always making extra.  Leftovers are a great way to ensure that lunch tomorrow is just as healthy as dinner tonight. Whenever I have a busy work week, I make soup.  It’s also easy to freeze and to re-heat.  Making extra ensures that I’ve got healthy, great-tasting food ready and waiting.

Tonight’s dinner was Cream of Broccoli Soup.   I doubled the recipe so that I would have extra.  And boy, do I have extra.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream

Directions

• Melt butter in large pot over medium-high heat.
• Add broccoli, onion, carrot, salt and pepper and saute until onion is translucent, about 6 minutes.
• Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, until the flour reaches a blonde color.
• Add stock and bring to boil.
• Simmer uncovered until broccoli is tender, about 15 minutes.
• Pour in cream. With an immersion blender, puree the soup. Add salt and pepper, to taste and serve!

If butter and cream are not in your diet, you can easily substitute. Why not try a little olive oil and butternut squash?  Stay tuned for an amazing butternut squash soup recipe.  And if you have any questions or need more recipe ideas, drop me a line, I’d be happy to help!

P.S. You ever notice that eating out doesn’t get you fed any quicker?

On Monday, The All-Star accompanied me on my weekly food shop.  I always enjoy when my partner in crime tags along, after-all, he eats the food too, why not get stuff that he wants.  Anyway.  I mentioned that we needed some breakfast foods.  Most mornings we have either eggs, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or nothing.  It’s the nothing part that’s been looming over me. After all, breakfast is the most….yea yea yea, we got it. So, I threw it out there, and he immediately grabbed from the hot cereal shelf a box of prepackaged cinnamon and pear oatmeal.  I looked at the ingredients for a second, and then at the price, and said, “We can make this ourselves!” And straight to the bulk foods section we went.

So that box of maybe 6 packets of cinnamon and pear oatmeal was around $4, give or take.  It had dehydrated pears and seasoned rolled oats.  One of those instant, just add water, jobs.  I don’t know about you but I have never been a fan of these little oatmeal packets.  They are always too sweet and the fruit is lame and it’s hardly enough for a hearty breakfast.

I found the rolled oats in the bulk section, $1.29 a lb.  You know how many packages of hot cereal a pound of oats make?  Me neither, but it’s more than 6.  Off to the fruit section.  A 3 lb bag of organic pears for $1.68.  (That’s about 10 pears)  Hi, thank you!  What else do we need?  Cinnamon, have that at home.  Sugar?  We’ll use agave nectar.  It’s sweeter and not as likely to spike our glucose levels.  Alright, we’re ready to make oatmeal!

This morning was the first opportunity I had to make this yummy goodness.  I’ll admit that maybe, just maybe, the prepackaged deal would be a just a tiny bit easier but really, we all have time to cut a pear right?  The end result?  Home-made deliciousness for a fraction of the cost.  It was less sweet than I’d expect the boxed stuff is.  My opinion on that is that if fresh pears and a generous drizzle of pure sweetener doesn’t enlighten my sweet-tooth, then there’s probably way to much sugar-stuff in the processed counterpart.

Here’s the recipe.  No thanks, Quaker.  I’ve got my own.

Rolled Oats and Pear

Serves 1

Ingredients

• one pear (peeled & cut into small cubes)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup water
• pinch of salt
• Agave nectar to taste
• dash of cinnamon

Directions

• In small saucepan bring cup of water and a pinch of salt to boil.  Add pears and cook for a minute.
• Add oats and cook until water is fully absorbed
• Drizzle in agave nectar.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve!

Delicious!  And home-made with love!

One of my favorite beans is the chick-pea.  Its sweet flavor and mealy texture make it a perfect addition to any soup, salad, or stew.  In Chinese medicine we learn that the chick-pea, also known as the garbanzo, is beneficial to the pancreas, Stomach and Heart.  In the Western world, we know that it contains more iron than other legumes and is a good source of unsaturated fats! My favorite way to prepare chick-peas is to make hummus, a guilty pleasure of mine I have to admit. Give me a bowl of hummus and a bag of baby carrots and I’m set!

Here’s a great hummus recipe I found in Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford. In this book, Pitchford incorporates the wise traditions of Oriental teachings with that which we know about food in the West.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who’s looking to incorporate a healthy, healing diet into their wellness regime. It contains important information about all things food, as well as fabulous recipes that are easy and delicious. 

Hummus

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked garbanzos
• 1/4 cup tahini or sesame meal
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
• 6-8 tablespoons lemon juice
• dash of hot pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
• sea salt to taste

Directions

• Mash or puree garbanzos with rest of ingredients
• Garnish with parsley and a drizzle of olive oil
• Serve as a dip with pita bread or your favorite veggies

That’s it.  Pretty simple right?