Recipe - Mushroom Barley Soup, Lentil Loaf and Mashes Potatoes

Hello internets! Is everyone getting ready for Oprah's final show today? I plan to cry for one hour straight - well, not during the commercials, that might be overkill. My mother-in-law is visiting us so I also get to watch the "American Idol" finale with her tonight! It will be a nice change of pace from my usual watching partner - Johnny humors me, but the hour is usually punctuated by glares, frustrated yelps, and strings of profanity. :-) The top two this year are definitely not my favorites (miss you Haley and James!), but I've come this far and I'm not stopping now!

I wanted to share this scrumptious meal with you guys that I whipped up last week. There is a serious lack of green stuff on this plate, but I wanted some comfort food and that's what I got! The recipe for the Mushroom Barley Soup follows, I served it as a side, but it can easily be made a main dish by pairing it with a salad or wrap. It might be getting a bit hot for soup now, but it's good for a rainy day and sadly NYC has had lots of those lately.

I got the recipe for the "lentil loaf" from Christina Pirello's site - she calls it Not Your Mama's Meatloaf. Wowie zowie is this stuff good! I tried a lentil loaf once in the past with bad results (I didn't cook the lentils long enough and it was crunchy) but this one was another story! The oats and Daiya mozzarella really bind everything and it comes out so yummy. I ate mine with a bit of ketchup and some dijon mustard the way I ate real meatloaf when I was a kid. I'm sure it'd also be tasty with a homemade mushroom gravy.

I also made some decidedly not low-fat mashed potatoes, but hot damn were they good! I boiled 6 whole Yukon Gold potatoes until tender (about 30 minutes), then I mashed them, skin and all, with some Earth Balance, unsweetened soy milk, and salt and pepper. Johnny ate a serving the size of his head!

I certainly wouldn't recommend eating this way everyday, but if you're craving something filling, warm, and delish then this is where it's at! (I got two turntables and a microphoooooooone...) 

Mushroom Barley Soup

Serves 6

1.5 tbsp olive oil

1 medium red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 10 oz. package of white button mushrooms, rinsed and sliced

splash of dry red wine

4 cups veggie broth

2 cups filtered water

3/4 cup pearled barley

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 7 minutes, until they've released their water and cooked down. Add the splash of red wine and cook for a few minutes more until the wine is absorbed. Stir in the veggie broth and water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pearled barley and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the barley is tender.

Nutritional info per serving: Calories 163; Total Fat 4.1g; Saturated Fat 0.5g; Trans Fat 0g; Sodium 99mg; Carbohydrate 26.8g; Dietary Fiber 6.8g; Sugars 3.9g; Protein 4.4g; Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 5%; Calcium 3%; Iron 8%

Recipe - Greek Quinoa Salad

I always try to set aside Sundays to be my day of grocery shopping and pre-cooking a few things to use throughout the week. It just makes the rest of the week that much easier for me. After I got home from Whole Foods last Sunday, I set out to make a big salad that I could munch on all week. I knew I needed to revisit that package of quinoa in the back of my cupboard. I love eating quinoa but hadn't had much success cooking it before. I just didn't know what to do with it and it tasted bitter when I prepared it. Yuck!

This time, I rinsed the ever-loving crap out of it, and it made a HUGE difference. No bitterness this time! (You will need a mesh strainer to do this properly, or you can rinse it in a pot and awkwardly position your hand against the rim, trying to pour out the water while not letting the microscopic quinoa escape... like I do!) Then I combined it with some veggies and a delectable Greek dressing inspired by the one posted here. It gave the perfect tang to the salad due to the magic ingredient: red wine vinegar! I'd always thought it was lemon that gave Greek dressing its zip, but alas I was wrong - not one drop of lemon juice in this dish.

I was super happy with the result and ate this salad for lunch over some fresh spinach and avocado slices or alone as a snack. I did include one nightshade veggie (red bell pepper) because I couldn't handle the idea of not having something red in my salad and it holds up way better than tomato. Feel free to omit it and you'll have a truly Superhero dish. Or, if you're not following the Superhero plan, add in all the tomatoes and peppers you'd like!

Johnny was surprisingly a big fan of this salad, he actually ate TWO BOWLS of it throughout the week! This is an accomplishment as he doesn't usually eat leftovers at all. Score one for quinoa!

Doesn't it just scream SPRING?!

Greek Quinoa Salad

Serves 8

1 cup dried quinoa

2 cups water

1 English cucumber, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

3 green onions, white and light green parts only, diced

1 large handful of basil, minced

1 15oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed

Dressing:

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 tbsp oregano

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

After you've thoroughly rinsed the quinoa, place it in a saucepan and cover with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce and cover. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The quinoa is done when it is fairly translucent, and it is light and fluffy. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Once cooled, transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and add the cucumber, red pepper, onions, and garbanzo beans. In a small container with a tight fitting lid (I use an old, cleaned out salsa jar), combine all the dressing ingredients and shake vigorously until well blended. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Just before serving, add in the basil and mix. (The basil will darken as it sits, so try to add it just prior to serving if you care about that sort of thing!)

Nutrition Info per serving: Calories 238; Total Fat 10.8; Saturated Fat 1.5g; Trans Fat 0g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 479mg; Carbohydrates 30.8g; Dietary Fiber 4.9g; Sugars 1.3g; Protein 6.5g; Vitamin A 18%; Vitamin C 69%; Calcium 4%; Iron 17%

Recipe - Charro Beans

Good morning! Hope everyone had a GREAT weekend. We are finally starting to get some warmer weather here in NYC and it felt so nice to walk around without a heavy winter coat and snow boots for the first time in 5 months! It really does wonders to improve your mood when the sun is shining and the birds are tweeting.

I wanted to share this recipe for Charro Beans with you because I think it is perfect for springtime and the upcoming Cinco de Mayo. I made these to go with the Potato Tacos I posted about last week, but as yummy as the tacos were, I think I might have loved these beans even more. They're just so nourishing and satisfying and best of all VERY healthy so you can eat as much as you want and not have to cry in the closet from shame afterwards. (Am I the only one who does that? Hmmm...)  

It's weird that didn't encounter this style of beans until I was well into my 20s. A lot of Mexican restaurants in Tucson serve Sonoran-style food and the beans are generally of the refried persuasion with lots of melted yellow cheese on top (the kind you can peel off the top with a fork... you know what I'm talking about!). I was finally introduced to my bean soulmate at one of my favorite Tucson restaurants, appropriately named... El Charro! I used to work in dangerously close proximity their downtown location and my friend Michelle and I would eat lunch there more often than was prudent. There was just something so very relaxing about sitting on their sunny porch, sharing a salad, a cheese crisp (pre-vegan days) and occassionally sneaking in a beer (shhhh!). But the Charro beans were always the best choice, all at once warm, filling, and healthy. It's nice to get back to basics sometimes!

I feel like I type the phrase "Johnny was skeptical" a lot, but it's true! He's a picky eater, what can I say? Anyway, he was very hesitant to try these (especially after devouring three potato tacos), but I made him take one bite just so I could share his opinion. He liked them so much that he continued eating, unprovoked by me! I think he was deliriously tired, but it seemed I could do no wrong in the kitchen that night by him. :-)

This dish takes a little planning as you have to soak your beans for at least 8 hours. This is definitely the recommended method of cooking them as it means a shorter cooking time (so you cook out less of the nutrients) and in soaking you get rid of some of the indigestible complex sugars that make you gassy. No one likes a Gassy Gus! I just toss the beans and water in a large bowl before work and stick it in the fridge and by the time I get home they're ready to go. You can also buy canned beans and reduce the cooking time to really nothing at all, but beware of the sodium content of canned beans - rinsing them first will help get rid of some salt. Hope you enjoy!  

A dramatic little picture for such a charming dish!

Charro Beans

Serves 6

1 1/2 cups dried pinto beans

Water

1 tbsp olive oil

2 spring onions or 1 small white or yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 12 oz bottle of Mexican beer

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

One handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Place the beans in a large bowl and fill with water. (Ensure there is plenty of water as the beans will plump up as they soak and you want to make sure they remain covered by the water.) Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight or at least for 8 hours.

When the beans are soaked, drain them of their soaking liquid and rinse well. Place into a large pot and fill with enough water to cover the beans by 1 inch. Place over high heat and bring to a rapid boil, then reduce the heat to medium and allow to cook until almost completely tender, about 45-50 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sautee until transluscent. Add the tomatoes and jalapeno and continue cooking for 5 minutes, until everything is tender. Pour in the beer and continue cooking for another 5 minutes until the beer has reduced by about half. 

Pour the contents of the pan into the pot with the beans. Stir in the salt and pepper and continue cooking until the beans are completely tender, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro. Serve with a wedge of lime.

Nutritional Info per serving: Calories 213; Total Fat 3.5g; Saturated Fat 0.5g; Trans Fat 0g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 22mg; Carbohydrate 32.8 g; Dietary Fiber 9.8; Sugars 0.5g; Protein 10.7g; Alcohol 2.3g; Vitamin A 11%; Vitamin C 18%; Calcium 6%; Iron 15%