Quick & Easy Mushroom Soup

After a long and smoke filled drive home last night due to the fires that are raging around SoCal I really didn't feel up to a lot of cooking but was starving (as usual)!

Decided to make a quick Mushroom Soup....it's incredibly easy and very yummy!

Quick Mushroom Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 oz mushrooms chopped finely (white, cremini - doesn't matter)
2 tbsps flour
2 tbsps light margarine or canola oil
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (low sodium)
1 cup fat free half and half or 1% milk (use the half & half for a richer soup)
squeeze of lemon juice
chopped parsley, croutons for garnish

Throw all the ingredients except the lemon juice and parsley into a saucepan. Bring to a slow boil stirring continuously. Then simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. Add lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste.

Serve garnished with parsley and croutons.

Yum!

Healthy mac n cheese...

Last Friday was a bit gloomy in the weather department so I decided to make macaroni and cheese for dinner. Of course, my recipe is slightly healthy (but yummy) but you can add extra cheese if you feel it's a bit too low in saturated fat! It's important to use extra sharp cheddar cheese for this dish so you can use less cheese.

Here's the recipe: (Serves 3-4)

1/2 box Barilla Plus Pasta (elbows)....I like this one, it has fiber and omega 3's.
2 cups 1% milk
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp dried mustard powder or ready made hot mustard
sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper (white pepper if possible)
1 slice stale bread made into crumbs (whole wheat or white)
sliced tomatoes or cooked sliced zucchini (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Cook the pasta for 1 minute less than stated on the box (about 8 minutes).
Drain and set aside.
Heat the milk (minus 1/4 cup) in a saucepan until bubbles form.
Mix the cornstarch with the reserved milk to make a slurry then add to the warmed milk. Stir constantly until thickened.
Then add the mustard or mustard powder, grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste to the sauce. Stir to evenly distribute.
Add half the grated cheese to the sauce.
Tip the cooked pasta into the sauce and stir to evenly coat the pasta with sauce, then pour into a shallow oven proof dish.
Whizz the bread in a food processor or blender to make crumbs then mix with the remainder of the cheese and some extra nutmeg and pepper.

To make this extra healthy cook sliced zucchini until golden brown in frying pan with some cooking spray then arrange on top of the mac and cheese before adding the breadcrumb mixture. The tomatoes can be used raw (just pat them with a paper towel to remove extra moisture) in the same way.
Once the breadcrumb mixture is on top of the pasta and sauce place in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until the top is golden brown and the cheese melted.

Serve with a green salad on the side.

Finally! Pictures of NKB from my own kitchen.

Well, here it is! This was my first batch of No Knead Bread (NKB) and it was great! Had a crispy crust, a chewy texture inside, and a yeasty flavor! Excellent!
I have made it about 3 times since and I currently have a batch fermenting away on the countertop in the kitchen.
I cannot recommend that you try this recipe enough....best bread ever and all it takes is flour, water, yeast, and a bit of forward planning!
Thanks for the recipe Mark Bittman!

No Knead Bread

I found this recipe on the Steamy Kitchen blog. It was first printed in the New York Times a while ago but it sounds easy and the bread looks much more European style than the bakery bread I see around me. Another plus is that it doesn't cost a small fortune either!

This recipe takes a bit of time so try and get it started the night before you plan to eat it.

The photo is from the Steamy Kitchen blog but I am going to try it this weekend (if the temperature in SoCal drops below 100 F) and will post my pictures when I have them.






Here's the recipe:

No Knead Bread
adapted from Mark Bittman of NY Times who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery

Yield: one 1½ lb loaf
3 cups bread flour (or 1/2 cup whole wheat and 2 1/2 bread flour...extra fiber!)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel…something that can go into a 450F oven.) I have a Le Creuset dutch oven that should work well.

1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.

2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terrycloth) with flour. Set dough seam side down on top of towel. Fold towel over the dough. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you’ve got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.

3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Holding towel, dump wobbly dough into pot. Doesn’t matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes.

Best way to eat it? Smear a warm slice with some good butter (Kerrygold and Lurpac are both found in your grocery stores, usually on top shelf)

See....even Dietitians eat carbs! Especially when they taste this good!

Feel free to post pictures of your beautiful bread too!

Healthy burgers! Not an oxymoron...

Is there such a thing? Well, if you read general fast food restaurant nutritional analyses then the answer is a resounding "no"!
Most small hamburgers run around 400 to 500 calories and 15-40 grams of fat, most of it of the heart-clogging saturated kind and that's without the obligatory slice of processed cheese!

Well, fret no more because there is hope for finding a healthy burger and it exists in two forms:-

1. Buy a healthy frozen variety: turkey patties, Boca, Morningstar Farms, chicken and lime burgers from Trader Joe's.

2. Make your own from the leanest meat you can cope with. Even I have to admit (shock, horror!) that a small amount of fat is needed to keep the burgers moist but you can buy lean meat and moisten with a small amount of canola oil to make it more heart healthy. You can buy ready ground meat or purchase and grind it yourself if you have a grinder or a food processor that is up to the job. Meats can be beef, lamb, pork, chicken, or turkey or even veal, buffalo or bison.

If making burgers I always like to serve them on a whole wheat bun (around 200 calories but most have 5-9 grams of fiber of the 25-35 grams we should be eating daily) and add lots of veggies...spinach or lettuce, sliced onions and tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, and sometimes even shredded carrots or cabbage.

Burger ideas

Mix your ground meat of choice with the following:

A handful of flavorings....try mint with lamb, oregano or thyme with beef, cilantro and lime juice with chicken, cranberry sauce/cranberries with turkey, pesto and/or pine nuts with chicken, curry powder or paste and cumin with beef, lamb or ground poultry...the list is endless!

Then you can also add some extras such as:-

Roasted red peppers (fresh or jarred) cut into small dice.
Cubes of feta cheese.
Cooked onions.
Sauteed mushrooms.
Dried fruits.
Smoked chipotle chillis in adobo sauce.


Bind the meat with a beaten egg and some breadcrumbs if you like, season with salt and pepper and shape into patties using moistened hands. I like to refrigerate my meat for about 20 minutes before cooking to prevent the burgers from falling apart on the grill.
Grill until cooked to your liking (165 F for poultry) then toast the buns and serve with as many veggies as possible and some complimentary condiments....mustard, mayo (light), ketchup, thousand island (light), blue cheese dressing (light), cranberry sauce, hot sauce, peanut sauce, barbeque sauce etc......

Here's my latest creation....a chicken burger on a toasted whole wheat bun with lots of lettuce and tomato and some heart healthy fat from avocado. I made spicy lime mayo by mixing a small amount (1/4 tsp) of adobo sauce from the canned chipotle chillis with about a tsp of lime juice and a couple of blobs of light mayo....it came out nice and spicy!




If anyone out there in cyberspace has any other weird and wonderful burger ideas feel free to post them......I'm working on a Thai one with peanut sauce...watch this space!

Heart healthy fish....yum!

We all know that we don't eat enough fish and especially the oily kind that contains those heart-healthy omega 3 fatty acids (they are called essential fatty acids because we have to ingest them, the body cannot make them) and omega 3's are thought to be helpful in lowering inflammation in the body which can't be a bad thing.....

Of course, you can always pop a pill...but why not branch out a bit and try my heart healthy sesame ginger salmon with baby bok choy recipe. It's quick, easy, and healthy and your heart will thank you!



Sesame ginger salmon with baby bok choy




Ingredients

1 3-4 oz salmon (pref wild) fillet per person.
Light sesame ginger salad dressing (I used Newman's Own).
Squeeze of lime juice.
Extra grated ginger if you like the kick.
Baby bok choy.
Garlic (crushed).
Low sodium soy sauce.
Sesame oil & sesame seeds (toasted) (optional).

Place the salmon and about 2 tbsps dressing in a Ziploc bag
Add the extra ginger and some crushed garlic if using along with a squeeze of lime juice.

Leave to marinate for about 30 mins.

Preheat a grill pan (or the barbeque) and sear the fish skin side down so you get some nice grill marks. Turn the fish over and cook only for a few minutes on the other side (we are aiming for moist, not dry fish).
Meanwhile wash the baby bok choy and saute in a little sesame oil along with some crushed garlic until crisp/tender then dress with a few dashes of low sodium soy sauce.

To serve: place the salmon on a bed of bok choy and sprinkle with a few drops to sesame oil and a teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds if you feel the need!

Carb Heaven!

Just to prove that I don't live on lettuce alone (I think my picture proves that too!!) here's a classic British recipe for those days when a) you really don't feel like cooking and b)you really need some gooey cheese and some fluffy baked potato.
As usual, it's a quick & easy dish and really has no recipe.



Baked Spud (Potato) with Beans & Cheese

1 large baking spud per person washed and wrapped in a paper towel
Baked beans (I like Heinz vegetarian ones)
Grated sharp cheddar

Bung the spud(s) in the microwave for about 10-15 minutes until they yield when squished.
Then throw in the toaster oven/oven at 375F until the skin crips up.

Then, nuke some beans.

Assemble thus so: place spud on plate, cut a cross in the top and open up.
Add some light butter or margarine if you feel it necessary (I did)!
Fill with beans then top with grated cheese.
Broil or nuke again until cheese melts.........

Sit down and enjoy.....
(If you eat the skin too, you get extra fiber in addition to that from the beans).

Serve with a side salad if you are feeling particularly healthy.....