It's getting a little paleo around here + Asian meatballs with "zoodles"

Zack and I thought we ate healthy before. But since we jumped on this low-carb, low-sugar bandwagon a couple weeks ago, my viewpoint has completely changed. We're getting down to pretty bare bones, meat and vegetables. You know you're eating paleo when you have shredded vegetables in place of pasta. You may find, however, that it's surprisingly delicious and satisfying.

Asian meatballs

As adapted from Nom Nom Paleo.

Makes 36 meatballs.

Ingredients for meatballs:

8-10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, minced

2 small (or 1 medium) shallot, minced

3/4 cup minced sweet potato

2 heaping tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

2 lbs. ground beef

1 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, brush with melted coconut oil, and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Toss minced vegetables and herbs in a large bowl to combine. Add ground beef, soy sauce, tomato paste, and season with salt and pepper. Thoroughly combine ingredients, being sure to not overwork the meat. Roll out 3 dozen meatballs and place on foil-lined baking sheet. Each meatball should be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Bake for about 20 minutes, until cooked through and browned, rotating baking sheet about halfway through. (If you want, you can reserve half of the raw meatballs, freeze on a baking sheet, toss them in a freezer bag, and save to pull out, thaw, and bake laker.) Serve with "zoodles" or on a bed of cabbage slaw, etc. and drizzle with sriracha.

For "zoodles:"

Wash zucchini, slicing off ends. Use a mandolin to julienne zucchini. Heat coconut oil or bacon fat (oh my) in a sauté pan over medium heat. Briefly sauté zucchini until crisp-tender, tossing frequently, about 4 minutes. Serve with meatballs.

Meatballs, minus the sriracha.

As I noted above, you can freeze half of the meatball batch, which is what I did, and Zack and I have gotten 4 meals (each) out of this recipe! Talk about good use of your time; it's so easy. Plus, these meatballs are pretty darn delicious. 

I love that they are packed with vegetables, but the meaty flavor is great. They hold well, and they have great texture. Plus, you can get a really good kick by drizzling with sriracha. This is a great recipe that I will definitely make again. They're wonderfully satisfying as a main, but they would be awesome appetizers as well. Well, I guess this is one not meatless Monday, but I'm so okay with it. Cheers!

A potential paleo confession + the soup that heals

You may have seen it coming. I mean, I'm very passionate about healthy and wholesome cooking. It started with strange produce from our former fruit and vegetable delivery. Then it was whole-wheat this, quinoa that. Barley, lentils, beans. Now, I don't know what to think. All I know is that I can't get "paleo" and "wheat belly" off my mind.

Don't freak out - I'm not a convert yet. But Zack and I are headed in that direction; at least for now. You may be seeing a lot of low carb, low sugar recipes coming your way. And to my surprise, Zack is very on board...could this be because there will be more meat involved, I wonder? I'm no expert when it comes down to the nitty-gritty eat this, not that, but we'll see where this goes.

For now, I bring you "the soup that heals." Man. If you need a way to awaken your senses and cleanse your soul, this is the soup for you. The wholesomeness, the spice - it just feels good. It dinner doesn't get much healthier than a homemade broth overflowing with fresh veggies.

A magic healing soup

As adapted from The First Mess.

Serves 2.

Note: whatever vegetables you decide to use, be sure they are sliced or peeled rather finely. The cooking/tenderizing of the vegetables is dependent upon the hot broth alone, so you don't want your veggies to be too chunky. Also, the ingredient portions listed here will serve 2; I doubled the recipe when I made it, saving the broth and fresh-cut veggies in separate containers, re-heated the broth the next day and submerged the veggies in it.

Ingredients for broth:

1 whole lemon, halved

2 celery stalks, cut up into a few pieces

1 onion, quartered

5 shiitake mushroom stems (reserve caps for soup)

1 red chili pepper, halved

1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger

1 clove of garlic, smashed

5 twigs of fresh thyme

Handful of fresh cilantro stems (reserve cilantro leaves for soup)

Heaping 1/4 cup tamari soy sauce

5 cups water

To serve:

1.5 cups finely sliced vegetables per serving (I used carrots, snow peas, shiitake mushroom caps, and whole leaves of baby spinach)

Garnish:

Fresh cilantro leaves

Sliced green onions

Sprouts (I used micro-greens from Trader Joe's)

Sesame oil

Sriracha

Lime wedges

Make the broth: combine all broth ingredients in a medium-large saucepan over medium heat. Pour 5 cups of water over the top and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cooking for 30-45 minutes (longer if you want a more concentrated broth). Strain the broth and return to pot, keeping hot.

You can slice up vegetables and garnishes while broth is simmering. Arrange vegetables in serving bowls, then ladle/pour hot broth over top. Stir around a bit so vegetables are completely submerged to tenderize. Garnish as desired and serve.

This soup was very delicious. It is light on the appetite though, so we supplemented with a little beef and asparagus Japanese take-out. And it was spicy. We love heat over here, but be sure to not overdue it with the chili pepper if heat is not your thing (don't throw in all the seeds as I did, perhaps). Furthermore, may test taste at 30 minutes; I let it simmer for a good 45 minutes, so it was concentrated. Come to think of it, if you're not into heat, this may not be the soup for you. I think it might be too simple without it. This is a great recipe though.

Well, here's to all the healthy and belly-friendly dishes coming your way. Stay tuned!

Hearty spinach and chickpea soup with turkey

Since I had "mushroom success" with my winter greens and mushroom pasta, I decided to give mushrooms another go. I had tried this recipe before, omitting the mushrooms and adding ground turkey as a protein instead. The soup was wonderful the first time. I find that some good ground turkey adds amazing flavor to soups. Anyways, I decided to make this again with both the turkey and mushrooms.

For some reason, this soup has sort of an Asian feel to me, but that is somewhat strange because it also has dried rosemary and calls for grated parmesan as garnish. Whatever feel you get from this soup, it is a really solid recipe and one that I know I will be going back to again and again. And Zack loves it too.  And it's a nice detour from my usual, go-to tomato-based chilies. 

Plus, you can be assured that this soup is good for you. According to Power Foods, mushrooms are "bursting with compounds that can reduce cholesterol and improve immunity." I didn't realize, but apparently they have not only nutritional benefits, but curative abilities also. I know, it sounds a little hokey-pokey, but they've been shown to have antioxidant and cancer-fighting properties. Guess I'll be cooking with mushrooms more often. And we all know spinach is wonderful - vitamin K, anyone? Lastly, brown rice offers up the antioxidant vitamin E, B vitamins, and plenty of fiber. There's your nutritional overview.

Hearty spinach and chickpea soup with turkey

As adapted from Power Foods - 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup short-grain brown rice

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4-1 pound ground turkey

8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps cleaned and thinly sliced (4 cups)

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken stock

1/2-3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

8-10 ounces baby spinach

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces (1/2 cup) grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Bring the water to boil in a saucepan. Sir in brown rice, return to boil, and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook until rice is tender and has absorbed all liquid, 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat oil over medium. Cook onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Push onion and garlic to edges of pot, add additional olive oil if necessary, and add ground turkey to middle of pot. Break up turkey into chunks with a spoon, then add dried rosemary, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, mixing to combine. Cook turkey until it is browned and just about cooked through, mixing in the cooked onion and garlic. Add mushrooms, gently stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Stir in rice and chickpeas; return to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and continue cooking 5 minutes more to allow flavors to blend. Stir spinach into hot soup immediately before serving and sprinkle with parmesan, if using. 

This soup was actually a little exploratory for me because I had to shift around the original instructions a bit to incorporate the ground turkey and mushrooms. I also added the crushed red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, and chose to add the spices sooner (since I wanted them to really penetrate and flavor the ground turkey). I also "eye-balled" my rosemary and red pepper flake measurements, adding a bit more than called for, to compensate for the added turkey. What can I say, maybe I'm starting to make some of my own judgement calls and am becoming some sort of cook. (Ha ha.)

This is a great, wholesome soup with wonderful flavor. Try it and enjoy! We did.

Brown Rice with Shiitake Mushrooms and Spinach

Power Foods. Brown rice with mushrooms and spinach. Fact of the matter was this. I originally wanted to serve this rice dish with pork tenderloin, but Zack and I ended up just wanting a quick meal after our long days of work. So we just grilled up a couple chicken breasts; nothing fancy.

Stir together short-grain brown rice, water, finely chopped fresh ginger, minced garlic, and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook until rice is tender and all liquid is absorbed (45-50 minutes). Stir in baby spinach, cover, and let steam for 3 minutes. Stir in sauteed shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped scallions (white and pale green parts only), chopped cilantro, tamari soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.  

This rice was really delicious (even though it doesn't photograph that amazingly), but apparently, Zack and I need to learn how to saute mushrooms. Because ours were mediocre. Like so mediocre we pulled them out the next day when we were eating leftovers. More on that later I suppose, because I'm sure I'll be cooking with mushrooms again. Other than that, this rice was real comforting and had great chunky texture. And I am totally digging my experiments with Asian-influenced sauces lately.