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!

Tuna salad

The author of The Sprouted Kitchen calls this recipe "beach day tuna salad." I saw this in her cookbook and just had to make it. Even though it wasn't a beach day. It looked so good.

What threw me a little though was the fact that this recipe calls for raisins. It just sounded a little weird. But I have been on a bit of a raisin kick lately - think pumpkin pecan granola - so I went for it. And oh my. The raisins add this subtle sweetness that counteracts the tartness of the freshly squeezed lemon juice and the kick of the Dijon mustard. It was perfection. Spread on bread for a sandwich, or dip into with some sturdy crackers or bagel chips.

Tuna salad

As adapted from The Sprouted Kitchen - A Tastier Take on Whole Foods

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

4 (5-oz.) cans water-packed tuna

1/2 cup raisins

4 celery stalks, diced

2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

4 tablespoons whole-grain Dijon mustard

4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 tablespoons good-quality mayonnaise (or extra-virgin olive oil)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Whole grain bread or sturdy crackers or bagel chips, for dipping

Drain tuna and put into a mixing bowl. Soak raisins in warm water for 5 minutes to soften, then drain. Coarsely chop raisins and add them to tuna. Add celery, parsley, mustard, lemon juice, and mayonnaise or olive oil to the bowl and stir well to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve at once, or store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.

These. Are. Delicious with the tuna salad. (Yes, those extra periods are for emphasis.)

This tuna salad makes for great sandwiches for a light, healthy meal. And it's a great addition to a wholesome snack or light lunch spread. Raisins...who would have thought? Cheers.

Week Two: Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew, Pasta with Light Turkey Ragu, Tortilla Soup, Applesauce, and Pumpkin-Spice Rice Krispie Treats

We are cookin' over here! I don't really know how something as boring as "meal planning" could get me so excited about cooking. I don't know about you working folks out there, but sometimes making dinner isn't the first thing you really want to do after a long day at work. Let alone, making up lunches to take to work the next day after you do dishes from dinner, when you really just want to relax or maybe exercise or hangout with your husband.

Now, I've realized it's not the cooking that I dread doing after work. It's the stress of, "oh, shoot, I need to run to the store because I don't have that on hand" or "wow, I wish I would have realized that this recipe takes like 4 hours to make and we won't be eating until 9 o'clock tonight." That's the thing! If you set aside a little time over the weekend or on Monday to plan out the week and grocery shop, you save yourself so much stress. Plus, it gives you more opportunity to eat more healthily and less of an inclination to grab take-out for lunch. And the idea of being able to pull good menus to use that I have from the past sounds just great.

Lentil and Sweet-Potato Stew.

Alright. So, Lentil and Sweet-Potato Stew. This was really delicious. And again, a recipe I found on Whole Living, one of Martha Stewart's websites. I know, I know...I keep going back to it, but all the recipes are so good! And this stew was no exception. Mildly spicy, with a subtle curry flavor, and packed with vegetables including sweet potato (evidently), onion, carrot, celery, and green beans. I almost considered adding some sort of meat, but I figured that the sweet potato and lentils would make it hearty enough, and they did. This soup stands alone.

When it comes to my next recipe, I have a confession. I do not have a Pinterest account (yet), because if I did, I would spend way too much time browsing recipes, home decor, arts and crafts, and whatever else happened to strike my fancy. Therefore, I have resorted to browsing through recipes only and I am already addicted. Now you may find a wide range in terms of quality when it comes to recipes on Pinterest, but there are also many gems which I simply take a screen-shot of and save for later. He he.

Now that you all know about the values of Pinterest, we can talk about the Penne with Light Turkey Ragu. So simple, and very tasty. Ground turkey, leeks, oregano, basil, tomato...delicious. I love leek; such a great vegetable. The recipe calls for penne, but I just used the pasta I had on hand which happened to be a mix of whole-wheat and regular rotini.

Tortilla Soup with Black Beans.

My third dinner recipe this week was Tortilla Soup with Black Beans, another Whole Living find. This is so easy, but definitely more than satisfactory. I added some ground beef, which I had been saving in the freezer for a time like this, and I'm glad I did. My mind must have been elsewhere when I was making this, however, because I neglected to add spices until towards the end of cooking, and then I forgot to squeeze fresh lime over the soup before serving. Oh well. I think my version will be better tomorrow after marinating in the refrigerator all night, and we still have limes. Ha ha. But even so, it was really delicious and a great go-to weeknight soup. We crushed our tortilla chips over our individual bowls right before serving, so as to prevent tomorrow's leftovers from being full of soggy chips.

To top it all off, Tim and Amy visited us last weekend, and were so kind as to bring us a big bucket of farm-fresh (I believe, Jonathan...?) apples and a watermelon. They even brought us pumpkins they had grown, which was so cool because we were considering getting pumpkins the day before but didn't. So, what to do with a bucket of apples? First thing we thought of was applesauce. My mom makes some great applesauce. Actually, she made an amazing batch with some Gravenstein apples that Tim gave us last year. So I thought she would be the best person to seek applesauce-making advice from.

She uses an adapted version of Julia Child's recipe from The Way to Cook. Basically, wash, peel, and quarter apples (you can leave on peels or reserve some peels to put in the pot, then sieve out later (Julia says they give flavor and body to the sauce)). Place apples in a heavy-bottomed pot with fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, and a little cinnamon. Cover and set over low heat (this is key); the apples will slowly soften, rendering juices. Stir and mash frequently until tender, about 30-45 minutes. At this point, if using apple peel, you can push the sauce through a sieve, return to pot, and add some sugar and vanilla extract, cooking a little longer.

I, being an amateur, just kind of threw some peels in with my peeled apples, thinking I would just pull them out later. But they kind of got mashed up too. Oh well. We skipped the sieving and ended up with some delicious, chunky applesauce. The apples were not quite as tender as I would have liked (I think we man-handled the apples a little too much with aggressive mashing), but Zack thought it was perfect and our friends enjoyed it too. Oh, and we used brown sugar instead of granulated sugar.

And lastly, our dessert of the week was Pumpkin-Spice Rice Krispie Treats, another Pinterest find. We made these to take over to our friends' house on the evening of Halloween. So festive, so tasty. It's amazing what a little pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg will do for a traditional treat.

Pumpkin-Spice Rice Krispie Treats.

Well, that's all for Week Two. Cheers.

Week One: Split Pea Soup with Cilantro, Chicken with Snap Peas, Greek-Style Halibut, and Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies

This week: Split Pea Soup with Cilantro (you may recognize this from a February 2012 blog post), chicken with snap peas, Greek-style halibut, and iced oatmeal-applesauce cookies. One grocery list, four recipes, three dinners with lunch leftovers for the next day, cookies for dessert, and even extra split pea soup to freeze for later.

First of all, the split pea soup comes from Nordstrom Flavors, a cookbook which continues to impress me and was gifted to me from my mom. And again, see my past blog post (link above) for more information about the recipe. It's a really great spin off of your traditional split pea soup; think, finely diced vegetables like potato, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, and jalapeño. And then add the great flavors of coriander, dry mustard, Tamari soy sauce, and cilantro.

Secondly, Chicken with Snap Peas. I found this recipe through Whole Living; I have this website in my Pulse News favorites on my phone. This is a great weeknight recipe...one pan, 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Heat safflower oil (or vegetable oil as the recipe calls for) over high in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and fresh ground black pepper. I just used skinless, boneless chicken breasts, but you could use whatever chicken you have on hand. Cook chicken on one side (skin side down if not using skinless), until deep golden, about 8-10 minutes. Flip chicken and remove skillet from heat. Remove any fat with a spoon, then return skillet to heat. Add garlic, vinegar, a little bit of sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then transfer skillet to oven. Bake for 17 minutes, then add snap peas and some fresh basil, baking for 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and sprinkle with more basil.

This dish has really great flavor, which was maybe even better the next day. I also made some quinoa cooked in chicken stock with diced carrots as a side dish.

Next, Greek-Style Halibut (which you may have seen coming if you've read previously about the frozen wild salmon and halibut fillets Zack and I have been getting from Costco). This is a "tear-out" recipe I've been saving for awhile and it comes from the January 2011 issue of Sunset magazine.

It's another easy one with awesome flavor and good next day quality. And this was also my first time cooking with fennel bulb, which I guess is like an onion with some grassy stuff growing out of it...? Uh, yeah. It has almost a licorice-like quality though, which really adds to the halibut.

Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Rub halibut fillets with salt and fresh ground black pepper before browning in the pan on one side. Transfer to a plate. Add a little more olive oil to pan, along with fennel (trimmed and cut into wedges/slices). The recipe calls for adding a little ouzo at this point, but I just used white wine. Cook, stirring frequently, until golden and tender. Add finely chopped garlic. Add diced tomatoes with juice (low-sodium preferred), a little water, chickpeas (drained and rinsed), and fresh oregano. Reduce heat and simmer, lay halibut fillets (browned sides up) in sauce and simmer until fish is cooked through, 5-10 minutes.

And lastly, these amazing cookies. I'm telling you, you can't go wrong with Martha Stewart when it comes to cookies. Zack and I were thinking we wanted to make some sort of iced oatmeal cookie, and when I found these, with applesauce, we were sold. And they were not disappointing. Find the recipe here: Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies. These are the perfect fall cookie.

Well, that's all for week one of my meal planning, and believe me, week two is turning out to be quite lovely. Stay tuned.

Root Vegetable Soup

Confessions...this recipe is actually called "winter vegetable soup," but it's not winter, is it. Technically it's spring, but let's be honest, a winter soup sounds great right about now. The sun is trying to come out in Seattle lately, but it's still a little chilly.

What drew me to this soup was the green cabbage and tamari soy sauce, in addition to the corn (obviously (for those of you just tuning in, I am kind of in love with corn)). It also reminded me of a pureed soup my mom made when I was growing up; she called it "root soup." All I know is that she would be chopping for what seemed like forever...all sorts of weird looking root vegetables. And then the strange, diced creatures would find themselves being pureed in batches. In the good ol' blender.

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, saute diced leeks (white and light green parts only) in olive oil and tamari (and whatever other spices...a bit of curry or cayenne is what we like) until tender. Add diced potato, carrots, green cabbage, celery, salt, and fresh ground black pepper. Stir to combine and add enough vegetable stock to come 1/2-inch below top of vegetables. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Remove from heat and puree using a handheld blender. Add frozen corn, adjust with salt and pepper, and serve.

Oh, and we added a little sliced green onion for garnish. I mean, let's be honest. I didn't want to post something that looked like baby food on my blog. So now it's baby food with garnish. A little better? Well, it doesn't even matter, because this soup is amazing. Such good flavor and texture. And the corn adds to it. Of course. :)

Split Pea Soup with Cilantro

When I think of split pea, I think of the classic American soup: green pea soup with ham. When I saw this recipe, I was intrigued by its unique twist. A pretty darn good twist too.

This split pea soup has great flavor, and finely diced vegetables along with some cilantro and soy sauce add something special. The texture really was perfect and it just tasted so light and delicious. Surprisingly, I didn't miss the ham at all. Which is unusual for me...

This recipe actually comes from Nordstrom Flavors: An Artful Celebration of Food, which is the same cookbook that my Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos came from. I don't think I would have ever picked up this cookbook had it not been given to me. Nordstrom's? As in the department store Nordstrom's? They have a restaurant and a cookbook? This can't be true. But it is! And I can't even begin to tell you how incredible those tacos were, so I had to try another recipe from it.

Combine dried split peas with quite a bit of water, bringing to a boil in a large saucepan. Take care that they do not boil over. Reduce heat to medium-low, simmering until most of liquid is absorbed (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat, letting stand for 1 hour.

Heat extra-virgin olive oil in a soup pot (I used my new Dutch oven of course...thank you, Zack) over medium-high heat. Add finely diced carrot, yellow onion, celery, red bell pepper, and jalapeno (again, all finely diced). Cook, stirring constantly until vegetables soften. Add ground coriander, dry mustard (I just used Chinese mustard because that's what I had on hand), salt, and pepper. Stir in chicken broth, bring to a boil, then stir in peas. Return to a boil, adding diced potato and a bay leaf. Simmer until potatoes and peas are tender (about 1 hour).

Remove bay leaf, then add a little whole milk, soy sauce, and chopped fresh cilantro, heating until hot. Ladle into bowls and garnish with diagonally-cut green onions. And serve with a yummy, crusty (as I call it) bread; we love to pick up something fresh from Trader Joe's.

Tell me this does not sound wonderful...? I love the not-so-American influences in this recipe. It just adds a much needed kick to an otherwise basic soup. And if you're not a big "pea" fan, this just might make one out of you. It's really more like a vegetable soup. A really good vegetable soup. Cheers.

*Remember, I'm happy to share actual recipes with measurements and the sort. Just comment on my post or get a hold of me otherwise, and I'll get it to you.*

Ground Turkey and Vegetable Soup with Split Peas and Barley

There's nothing like a hot bowl of soup during fall and winter; hence, we've been eating a lot of it. And sharing some too. So I decided to double the recipe this time and wowzers. We've got enough soup to last us a lifetime. But it's okay. Because this is good.

This soup is a variation of a recipe from Wholesome Kitchen, as is the Moroccan Harira that I have previously blogged about. Both have been huge hits and I'm excited to try more "delicious recipes with beans, lentils, grains, and other natural foods" from this cookbook.

This recipe calls for basically throwing all ingredients (dried split yellow peas, onion, celery, carrot, potato, pearl barley, ground turkey, fresh flat-leaf parsley, chicken or vegetable stock, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper) into a pot, bringing to a boil, and reducing the heat to a simmer, cooking for 2 hours. However, for soups, I've realized that I really like to sweat the onions in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and butter before adding the stock and remaining ingredients. Also, since I was using ground turkey as a meat substitution, I browned that in the same pot before adding the stock as well.

 
This soup is hearty and jam-packed with wholesome goodness. The barley and split peas add great texture. I tried extremely hard to keep the soup at a low simmer (didn't want it to bubble too much and fall apart), so it kept shape this time. The chunks of vegetables were cooked to perfection and the ground turkey dominated the flavor.

When making soup, I've found that I kind of have to amplify the flavor with additional spices like curry or ground cayenne red pepper, in addition to bay leaf among others. This necessity may mean one of a few things: it's time for homemade stock. I think this may be in our future. We'll see. Cheers. 

Wild and Brown Rice Salad

Well, I definitely have some blog writing catch-up to do. I guess we've been busy. But still cooking never the less!

This last week, Zack and I set a goal: eat no restaurant food for one week. I usually meet Zack for lunch and we've sort of grown accustomed to getting food nearby his work. We try to be healthy (Subway, Asian food, etc.). But lately, I've gotten weirdly into personal finance and budgeting since I'm starting to work again. I'm all about saving money. And eating out does not equal "saving money."

It really is amazing how much less money buying a few lunch items from the grocery store is compared to eating out. I know this is all kind of obvious, but hey, I guess I got lazy about packing lunches and sort of forgot.

So, the rice salad. It's a great healthy alternative to pasta salad, and goes great with a turkey and ham sandwich on seedy, multigrain bread. This recipe has brown and wild rice in it, along with yellow bell pepper, celery, cucumber, tomatoes and cilantro. The dressing is a combination of extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, stoneground mustard, salt, and freshly ground pepper. This rice salad just tastes so healthy and the crunch of the fresh vegetables provides for great texture. Plus, it saved really well in the refrigerator for a few days.

I guess this last week taught me that there is no substitute for fresh, homemade food. You feel better, you look better, and you save money! Perfect timing for this revelation considering the holidays are coming up. Wouldn't you agree?