Portabella Mushroom Salad

I've been playing with a raw food diet, and in the course of this playing, I've learned a couple of nifty tricks to make things taste cooked without any cooking! Woohoo!

One of these is marinating stuff I wouldn't have thought to marinate before. Marinades soften vegetables, so you still get the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes present in uncooked food, and you also get the feel of cooked vegetables in your mouth. For instance, if you take a vegetable peeler and make strips of zucchini (down to, but not including, the seeds) and marinate them, they end up feeling like pasta, but there's no heavy, bloated feeling that accompanies the pasta--at least, for me! Ha!

And the best part is that you can have tasty, feel-good food without cooking--which, in summer, absolutely works for me!

Serves 4 hearty appetites

For the mushrooms:

4 large portabella mushrooms, stems and gills removed, caps sliced in 1/4" widths

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbs. soy sauce

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Pour the oil, soy sauce, and vinegar into a covered bowl. Shake well to mix. Add the mushroom slices. Shake again to coat. Refrigerate for several hours. The longer they're marinated, the better they taste! And don't worry about soy sauce giving them an Asian taste; when the mushrooms are added to everything else, the flavors blend well.

For the salad:

1 5-oz. bag salad greens

1 5-oz. bag baby spinach

1 beet, grated (I use my food processor--less mess! And beets are optional!)

1 large, or 6 "baby," carrots, grated

1/4 jicama, cut into 1/2" cubes

4 green onions, thinly sliced

Mix the greens and spinach. Divide them between 4 dinner plates. Separately sprinkle the grated beets, the grated carrots, and the jicama over the greens. Top with the green onion slices.

For the dressing:

1/4 c olive oil

1 1/2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

1 1/2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

1 small shallot, minced

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/16 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. salt

Add to a covered bowl and shake well to blend.

To serve:

Divide the salad between 4 plates. (See above.) Place the mushroom slices on the salad, spooning a little of the marinade over the mushrooms. Pour some of the dressing over each salad. You can serve this alone or with garlic bread. (Garlic bread isn't considered "raw!" Ha!) MMMMMM!

Green Beans, Mushrooms, & Sweet Potatoes

I'm sure these dishes will publish in reverse order:  "steaks" after Green Beans & Sweet Potatoes.  They do go together, however!  If this is too much cooking, try adding Rosemary potatoes instead, published on 4-8-09, which are easier, since they bake in the oven after shorter prep time!  The sweet potato dish will go better with the eggplant, but the potato dish would be good, too!

This is the other part to my "comfort food" dinner, one that at least looked like my childhood memories!  Ha!  If I add a salad, I even have my "3" sections on my plate!  (And, although this goes better with a salad and citrus dressing, published at the bottom of the Eggplant Steaks recipe, have I mentioned recently that I love Balsamic Vinaigrette?  1/3 c. balsamic vinegar, 2/3 c. olive or canola oil, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper gives you a great dressing!  If it's too tart--all balsamics are not created equal, so to speak!--add 1/4-1/2 tsp. sugar or xylitol.  Costco sells a balsamic that's sweet and smooth and imported from Italy!)

I fed the eggplant steaks and the green bean/sweet potato dish to my carnivorous father and brother, and there were no leftovers!  Ha!

You can use yams, but sweet potatoes are more easily digestible than yams for most people.

Serves 4-6, depending on the appetites.

1 large sweet potato or yam, or 10-12 fingerling sweet potatoes or yams

1 Tbs. canola oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 lb. fresh green beans, cleaned, or 1 lb. frozen

6-8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 Tbs. fresh thyme, or 1 tsp. dried leaves, crushed when adding (dried leaves will be added earlier in the cooking process than fresh, so they have a chance to soften!)

Heat water under a steamer in a large saucepan or soup pot.  Quarter the large sweet potatoes or yams lengthwise, and cut them into 1/2"-3/4" pieces.  (Similar size allows for even cooking.)  Or cut the fingerlings into 1/2"-3/4" pieces, halving them if the pieces are fairly large.  Place them in the steamer basket, and steam until fork tender.

Meanwhile, heat the canola oil in a large skillet.  Add the garlic, and cook a minute or two, or until the garlic is fragrant.  Add the green beans (and the dried thyme, if you're using it--do not add the fresh yet!), and cook until the beans start to become a brighter green, just a few minutes.  Add the mushrooms, and cook until most, if not all, of the water has evaporated from the pan.  Add the cooked sweet potatoes and fresh thyme, and stir until well mixed.  Continue heating over low heat, stirring occasionally to avoid burning, until the sweet potatoes begin to break down, coating the green beans and mushrooms with a little color.  Immediately remove from heat; you don't want complete mush!

To serve with the eggplant steaks:  put the eggplant on a plate, spoon a little sauce over them, put the green beans, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes on the side, and enjoy!  MMMMMM!  Comfort food!!!

Mu Shu Chicken!

Yay! for Mu Shu! I love that stir-fried goodness, all wrapped in a rice pancake and topped with some plum sauce! MMMMMmmmmmm . . . Ok, I actually don’t really care about the pancake. I like the vegetables and the plum sauce. Protein is a bonus.

PLUS! It's HEALTHY! It's almost all vegetables, plus whatever protein you add. There's a little bit of fat for cooking, but other than that, the only thing you really have to be aware of is what's in your sauce. Who could ask for anything more?

The Recipe:
Serves 6-8

2 Tbs canola oil
1 onion, chopped
1 head of celery, stalks sliced diagonally into quarters (in other words, BIG pieces)
½ 10-oz bag grated carrots
1 10-oz bag sliced mushrooms
2 10-oz bags presliced cabbage
6 large green onions, white parts chopped, green parts cut into 3-inch lengths
2 cups cooked protein: chicken, scrambled eggs, steak, whatever (I usually use eggs, but had some leftover chicken to use up, so I used that in this recipe)
*Note: I do NOT add salt or pepper to this; most of the sauces you’ll put on top have salt, and that will be plenty.

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and celery, lower the heat, and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until the celery begins to soften just a little bit, and the onions begin to get translucent.

Add the carrots and mushrooms, stir to combine, and cook until they begin to soften.

Add the cabbage and green onions, and stir gently until the cabbage begins to wilt. (Note: you might have to add the cabbage a little at a time, stirring until it wilts before you can add the next couple handfuls. Your pan will be REALLY, REALLY full.)

Add the protein and heat through.

Spoon generous portions onto plates, and top with plum sauce.

*There are LOTS of sauces that will work with this: sometimes I add oyster sauce or soy sauce mixed with chili sauce. I’ve added sesame oil, I’ve added fish sauce, I’ve added spicy peanut sauce. These particular veggies seem to go best with an Asian-style sauce, but feel free to experiment. The only flavors you’re working with are the vegetable flavors, and the sauces usually have salt, so I don’t even add that to the mix.

Spinach and Mushrooms on a Zucchini "Crust"

Have I mentioned lately how MUCH I love my food processor?!

My dad's been in and out of the hospital for the last 6 weeks--right now, he's in and about to come out!--so I haven't had much time to cook!  My diet has consisted of restaurant food, for the most part.  Last night, I couldn't face this again, and I had these bits in my fridge, leftovers from things I'd hoped to make!  Ha!  The rest of my ingredients got tossed, and these remained.  

It was pretty great, if I do say so myself!  Ha!

1 large onion, sliced (I halved it and used my food processor!)

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 Tbs. fresh rosemary leaves, or 1 tsp. dried

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

4 medium-large zucchini, sliced (again, I used my food processor!)

About 1 lb. sliced mushrooms (you guessed it:  f p!)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

10-12 oz. fresh spinach leaves

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 oz. basil leaves, shredded (If you put the leaves on top of each other and roll them together, it makes the fine slicing easier.  The leaves stay put!)

4 green onions, thinly sliced

OPTIONAL:  12-16 roasted tomatoes

In a sprayed, large skillet, cook the onions until they're soft.  Add the garlic, rosemary, and salt and pepper, and cook until the garlic is soft, about a minute or two.  Add the zucchini and stir.  Turn the heat up to medium-high.  Cook the zucchini, stirring it often enough so that it doesn't burn, and cook until the water has evaporated out of it, perhaps 30 minutes or more, depending on your heat level.  Pour into a sprayed 9 x 13 baking dish, and set aside.

In the same skillet, pour the mushrooms.  Cook them until the water has evaporated--this won't take nearly as long as the zucchini!  Season with salt and pepper, stir, and add the spinach leaves.  Cook just long enough to wilt the spinach.  Spoon this over the zucchini mixture.  Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top, and bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes, or until the top is light brown.

To serve, place a square on a plate, and top with basil shreds and green onions.  If you're using roasted tomatoes, add them to the toppings.  The picture shows sundried tomatoes--an experiment--but I wouldn't recommend them!  Ha!  I didn't have tomatoes to roast!  Remember, this is from leftover ingredients!  Ha!

Also, you could add artichoke hearts to the mushroom part and delete the tomatoes all together!  Add them before the spinach and heat them through, and then proceed with the rest!

Vegetable Curry

I ran across a blurb (Better Homes and Gardens) about research on bone health done at Tufts University.  It seems that, as you get older, your kidneys don't excrete acids as efficiently, so bones release alkaline stuff--including calcium--to restore the chemical balance.  When you eat fruits and vegetables, your body creates bicarbonate, which counteracts the high acid levels.  So, your bones are more likely to retain their calcium and stay stronger if your eat more produce!  Yet another reason for my being a vegetarian!  Ha! 

Here's a recipe for Thai curry that's mostly vegetables.  I looked up a bunch of curry recipes online to figure out the main ingredients, excluded the ones I couldn't buy here, and included the ones I could buy and liked!

We liked the result--except for Marste, who hates coconut milk!--and so did our neighbors!

I've used zucchini instead of mushrooms, and I've used zucchini with the mushrooms, but I like this combination best!  I haven't yet tried green beans, broccoli, or any of the other myriad vegetables, but I intend to!  Broccoli, in particular, interests me because of its stronger flavor!  So, broccoli and zucchini....

I hope you try this.  It's easier than it looks!

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 can unsweetened coconut milk (not fat-free!*), shaken before opening to recombine the milk and the fat

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped**

1 Tbs. micro-grated, or finely minced, ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. eggplant, unpeeled, cut into even pieces

1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1 Tbs. canola oil

3/4 c. green onions, sliced

1 Tbs. curry powder

Small pinch of red pepper flakes (We thought 1/8 tsp. made it too hot, but we don't like a lot of heat!)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup grape tomatoes

1/4 cup cashews (you can also use peanuts, if you don't like cashews!)

1 lime, quartered

Rice:

Combine rice, water, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on lowest heat for 45 minutes.  In a blender, or food processor, put 1/2 cup coconut milk, cilantro, 1 tsp. ginger, and 2 cloves garlic, and buzz until it's smooth.  When the rice is cooked, stir this mixture into the rice.  Set aside, and keep it warm.

Vegetables:

Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Cook the eggplant over medium high heat.  Turn the pieces occasionally, until they're all brown on every side.  (I usually do "almost" every side; I'm learning not to be perfectionistic!  Ha!)   Add the mushrooms, and cook until they're soft and all the water has evaporated.  In other words, the pan is dry!  Add the green onions, curry powder, pepper flakes, salt, 1 clove garlic, and 2 tsp. ginger, and cook until green onions are slightly softened, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the remainder of the coconut milk (about 1 1/4 cups), and stir it in.  Add the tomatoes, and heat through.  

To serve:

Spoon some rice on a plate, and ladle some of the vegetables and sauce over it.  Sprinkle a few cashews over the top.  If it's needed, add salt and pepper to taste.  Add a lime quarter to the plate, so each diner can squeeze as much as s/he likes.  Enjoy!

*Coconut milk with the coconut fat will mitigate the heat of the red pepper flakes, in case you get heavy-handed.  Also, the coconut fat is a plant fat, as opposed to animal fat, and it's considered good for you!

**More nutrition trivia:  cilantro is a very cleansing herb.  There are studies (that I read online) that say it helps the body release toxins, including heavy metals.  It also has many beneficial nutrients.  I consider these a bonus; I'd eat it anyway, because I just like it!  

Balsamic-Roasted Tomatoes with Mushrooms and Spinach

Vinaigrette:

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2/3 cup olive or canola oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 cups grape tomatoes

1 Tbl. olive or canola oil

3 cloves garlic, minced (or 3 cubes, 3 tsp. jarred, or 3/8 tsp. garlic powder)

16 large mushrooms, wiped and sliced

1/4 cup water

1/2 lb. fresh baby spinach

2 Tbl. chopped fresh basil

Spread tomatoes on cookie sheet, and drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette.  Roast at 450 degrees for 15-17 minutes, or until they pop.  Remove from oven, and set aside.

In a large pan, heat oil.  Sauté garlic until soft.  Add mushrooms and water, and cook until "crisp-tender," about 10 minutes, or so.  Add spinach and stir into mushrooms.  Cook, stirring frequently, until spinach is wilted.  Add basil, and mix it into the mushrooms and spinach.  Using a spatula or slotted spoon, move the tomatoes from the cookie sheet to the pan.  Stir just a bit to mix things.  Spoon either into a serving bowl or onto plates.  Drizzle with a little balsamic vinaigrette, and serve immediately.  Enjoy!

Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Stir-Fry (Inspired by PF Chang's)

Mom and I spent the last week at a film convention in Las Vegas. It was fun for the first day and a half, but then I started to feel like if I had to visit another buffet full of steak and pasta, someone was going to get hurt. I needed some vegetables BADLY. Fortunately, we found a PF Chang's at the hotel next door, where it turned out Mom and I could order sides of vegetables - and they even LOOKED like vegetables! None of that warmed-over, brownish-green, overcooked crap. So this is my not-so-faithful-but-still-damn-tasty merging of a couple of their vegetable dishes. ;)

You can use this recipe with pretty much any vegetable you have on hand. Broccoli would be really good, as would edamame. Bell peppers and onions would work, along with baby corn, water chestnuts, green beans, cabbage, chopped carrots . . . pretty much any vegetable you can think of. AND it’s a great way to use up raw leafy greens that haven’t quite gone bad, but that are a little old to use in a salad.

If you serve this with rice, you can stretch this to 6 good-sized servings, or 8 smaller ones. Without rice, figure 4 large servings or 6 smaller ones.

The Recipe:
2 tsp canola oil
1 tbs butter
2 cloves minced garlic
1 inch fresh ginger, grated*
1 10-oz package sliced mushrooms (crimini)
1 lb pre-cooked chicken strips
12-16 oz fresh spinach
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Melt the butter and canola oil in a pan. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté until garlic is golden. Add the mushrooms and cook over medium-low heat until mushrooms are soft, and release their juices.

(If you’re making the sauce below, now is the time: while the mushrooms soften.)

Add the chicken and red pepper flakes (if using) and heat through.

Add the spinach, a couple of handfuls at a time, stirring as you go. As soon as the spinach cooks down, add more. The idea is for it to be wilted, but not soggy.

You can leave it this way, or if you like, you can add the sauce (below). If you’re serving this over rice, put the rice on the plate, then the chicken mixture, then pour some sauce over the whole thing. If you’re not serving rice, just pour all the sauce into the chicken pan and give it a good stir. :)

*Note: Ginger can be a real pain in the ass. The easy way to grate fresh ginger? Go to the store and buy a ginger root. Cut it into pieces roughly 1 to 1.5 inches each, then toss them all in a sandwich bag and put the bag in the freezer. When you need some fresh ginger, grab a grater with teeny little holes (I use this Microplane grater) and grate the frozen ginger, peel and all, right over the pan/pot. Works like a charm, and it's dead easy. None of that mucking around, trying to peel the freakin' ginger. FanTAStic.


Stir-fry Sauce:
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup water
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp white vinegar
Chili paste (optional)
Chinese hot mustard (optional)

Combine soy sauce, water, sugar and vinegar in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, just enough to heat lightly. Mix ingredients together until sugar is melted.

Taste. Little by little, tasting as you go, add chili paste and hot mustard to taste. (Did I mention that you should taste as you go? ;D) If by chance you get too much spice in the sauce, just add a splash of white vinegar to calm it down.


Since I'm not a big rice person, I just poured the sauce into the pan, and then the whole mixture into a bowl. Like this:



YUM. That is all.

Steakhouse at home: Steak with Bacon-Shallot Sauce and Creamed Spinach

I love steak. Love, love, LOVE. My diet generally hews more toward Atkins than Pritikin, although the late Dr. Atkins would not approve of my carb intake. (It’s on the low side, but I don’t shy away from the occasional piece of – gasp! – toast.) Anyway, I found filet mignon on sale over Valentine’s Day (specifically, I found “Tenderloin Butt,” which is a larger cut that includes the filet – I butchered it myself), and stashed some in the freezer to experiment.

Lucky, lucky me. I mean YOU! You, I meant you. Ahem.

The Steak Recipe:
3 strips bacon, chopped
1 Tbs butter
4 small steaks (I used filet mignon) or 2 large, about 1 inch thick
Salt and pepper
1 large shallot, diced
10 oz mushrooms, sliced (1 grocery store package)
1 ½ cups red wine

In a large frying pan, cook the bacon in the butter over medium-high heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, get the bacon out of the pan, but leave the drippings in. Add the steaks, using tongs (TONGS, people – don’t pierce the meat with a fork or you’ll lose all the juice!), salt and pepper them, and cook: about 2 minutes per side for medium-rare. (Add a minute for each gradation of doneness: 3 minutes for medium, 4 for medium-well, etc.)

[While the steak cooks, microwave the spinach in the recipe below.]

Remove the steaks from the pan (again with the tongs, people), and put them on a plate. Cover them with foil to keep them warm.

Add the shallots and mushrooms to the pan, and cook until the mushrooms start to soften, 5-10 minutes. Add the red wine, and the bacon bits, scraping the pan to get all the good bacony-steaky bits off the bottom. Reduce the heat to medium and allow it to simmer until the liquid is about half gone, about 10-15 minutes.

[If you’re making the spinach, now’s the time to finish it.]

Place the steaks on plates, and pour the bacon-shallot sauce over them.


Too-Easy-and-Good-to-Believe Creamed Spinach
2 packages frozen chopped spinach – 16 oz
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup sour cream (I use Daisy brand because I can pronounce all the ingredients, and I usually use Light – mostly because I like the consistency better for this)
½ cup mayonnaise
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup Parmesan cheese

*Note: I like garlic – I like to be able to taste it – but if you don’t, use 1 clove of garlic instead of 2.

Microwave the frozen spinach in a large bowl until hot. Add all remaining ingredients and stir to combine. (You might have to toss it back in the microwave for a minute or so – sometimes the other ingredients cool off the spinach too much.)

I KNOW, RIGHT?! How easy is THAT?!

I don’t eat a lot of bread, but if you do, this would be FANTASTIC rounded out with a baked potato or some garlic bread. YUM. Can’t beat a steakhouse meal at home-cooked prices, you know? ;)


(And no, that's not blood. That's the red wine. ;D)

Beef and Mushroom (or just Mushroom) Pot Pie

Ok, I'm not going to lie. This one takes a little time, but it's TOTALLY worth it. It's fantastic on a weekend afternoon when you want something warm and comforting for dinner. It's also a good company dish, because you can prepare it all the way up to putting in the baking dish, and then just add the crust and pop it in the oven at the very end.

It's already pretty substantial, but if you feel the need for a side dish, add a salad with some olive oil and red wine vinegar for dressing. Mmmmmmm.

The Recipe:

1 Tbs canola oil
¾ lb beef* (I used beef already cut into stir-fry pieces, and just chopped it a little smaller)
1 medium red onion, cut into large chunks
2 leeks, white part only, sliced into rings (optional)*
2 pinches salt
¼ tsp pepper
3 Tbs dried rosemary
2 Tbs dried thyme
1 lb mushrooms, sliced (I use a 10oz. bag of pre-sliced crimini mushrooms, and 1 6oz. package of portabello mushrooms that I chop myself)*

4 Tbs butter
4 Tbs flour (about ¼ cup)
½ cup milk
½ cup red wine
½ cup beef broth*

½ cup Parmesan cheese

a few springs of fresh thyme and rosemary (optional)
1-2 sheets puff pastry (optional)

*Vegetarian version:
Instead of beef and beef broth, use 10 more oz of sliced mushrooms (so 26oz total), vegetable broth, and DEFINITELY use the leeks. It will be FANTASTIC.

Prepare:

In a large pan, heat the canola oil. When it’s hot enough that you can swirl it around the pan like water, add the beef, a pinch of salt and the pepper. Cook over high heat until the beef is seared on all sides. Add the chopped red onion and leeks (if using). Turn the heat to medium-high and cook until the onions begin to soften. Add all the mushrooms, rosemary and thyme, and sprinkle with the other pinch of salt.

Stir the beef/mushroom mixture together, turn the heat to low, and cover. Let simmer for about 15 minutes.

While the mushroom mixture simmers, make the gravy:
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over high heat. Add the flour, a little at a time, whisking constantly. Continue whisking for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture starts to brown. It will be all bubbly and will look thicker than it is. SLOWLY add the liquids, a teeny bit at a time. When all the liquid is added, the sauce will be thick, but that’s ok, because there will be liquid in the mushroom pot (from the mushrooms), and that will thin it out. (Also, the mixture will turn purple because of the wine. Don’t panic; it won’t look purple when the dish is finished.) Turn the heat to low and let it sit. At this point, it will be fine on its own for a minute or two.

Note: If you’ve never made a roux, you will see right off the bat that the liquid will bind to the flour and you will end up with scary-looking purple dough. You will think you screwed it up. YOU DIDN’T. IT’S FINE. Just keep adding liquid and whisking. It will get saucier in a minute. (I can’t tell you how many perfectly good sauces I threw out when they got doughy, because I thought I did something wrong. I wish someone had told me it wasn’t my fault!)

Uncover the mushrooms, and check them. They should be soft, but not mushy. Pour the purple gravy into the pot, and simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 5-10 minutes. (This is the part where I wash up the other pots, because my kitchen is TINY.)

NOW. You can either eat it just like that, as a stew (which I do pretty regularly), or you can put the crust on.

For the crust: Heat the oven to 400. Pour the mushroom mixture into an 8x10-inch baking dish. (If you’re making the vegetarian version, you’ll need the big 10x14-inch dish. More veggies = more bulk.) Top it with the Parmesan cheese, and optional fresh herbs (as shown).

Unfold one sheet of puff pastry and lay it over the top. I don’t bother with cutting it to fit, or with pressing down the edges. I just lay it there, like this:

Place the baking dish on a cookie sheet (in case it boils over) and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. When the pastry is all puffy and golden on the top, pull it out. It should look like this:

Ta-da! (If you want it to be prettier, cut a second sheet of puff pastry in half and cover the whole pie before you put it in the oven.)

But be warned. There will be no leftovers. SERIOUSLY.