Where Soul Meets Body: Green Soup For What Ails You (v, gf)

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Hi! Long time no talk! Not sure how things have gone during your November, but mine has involved a nasty running fall, bronchitis, and various culinary and alcoholic over-indulgences. Okay, the last few are on me but I found myself in need of purification tonight (soul, mind, and body) and whipped up this tasty and heart-warming soup. I’m nursing myself back to health from the brink of my antibiotic haze and from the over-zealous discovery of my new favorite cocktail, the old-fashioned. Yowza.

ignore my creepy, crepey hand

ignore my creepy, crepey hand

Though the ingredient list below seems long, it’s a chop, boil, and puree kinda soup. The easy kind. The easy kind you can add your own favorite healing green veggies to. Enjoy!

GREEN SOUP FOR YOUR TARNISHED SOUL

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 bag spinach
  • 1 16-oz bag frozen broccoli
  • 3 stalks kale, deveined and chopped (or 3 cups chopped kale)
  • 1 medium yukon gold potato, chopped
  • 1 can garbanzo beans
  • handful roasted garlic cloves or 3 fresh garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • cracked black pepper
  • a few dashes cayenne pepper
  • 4 cups vegetable stock (or 4 cups water and 4 tsp vegetable base )
  • dollop of yogurt for serving, if you like (recipe is vegan if not)

Directions:

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped kale and the entire bag of spinach, stirring until the greens are completely wilted. Add the thyme, curry powder, and as much black pepper as you’d like, and cook until fragrant, about one minute more. Ready for the easy part?

Add everything but the yogurt to the pot. This mixture will look super hearty and amazing, because it is. Good for you for making this. Your body will thank you. I reserved a handful of broccoli florets to add back to my soup for texture- do so here but it’s completely optional. If you’re rushed or are fine with your broccoli in liquid form (it’s cool with me), bring all of the ingredients to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

When cooking time is up, blend the soup in batches. Taste for seasoning once it’s all whipped up. You may want to add salt depending on the saltiness of your broth and garbanzos. Ladle up a big bowl and turn your life around!

Opa! Greek Burgers! (gf option)

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Readers! It’s been far, far too long since I posted any tasty treats! I’ve gone back to school, and between work, schoolwork, and life, have neglected to post. I must say that I have deeply missed blogging. So, welcome back to all of us! Welcome! Welcome! Make yourself at home. Shake your neighbor’s hand.

Greek burger

I’m coming back with a bang (or an Opa?) with these Greek burgers, though. We summered-it-up yesterday by grilling out and these healthy, mouth-watering burgers were the headliner. Lean beef, aromatics, feta cheese, cucumbers- wait, cucumbers?! Yes, cucumbers, and they were delicious. Check it out.

OPA! GREEK BURGERS

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lb lean ground beef (as lean as you can find)
  • 1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley, minced
  • 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, minced
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 tsp dried, ground allspice
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • canola oil for brushing
  • 1 cucumber, sliced into thin rounds
  • reduced-fat Feta cheese
  • fat-free Greek yogurt for spreading
  • hamburger buns (recipe is gluten-free when you go bunless or use a gf bun)

Directions:

Grab a large glass mixing bowl and put the beef in it. Just throw it right in there. Season with salt and pepper, then add the minced parsley, mint, and garlic. the allspice, the Worcestershire sauce, and the beaten egg. Mix it very well with your hands, until all seasonings are evenly distributed. Patty into 5-6 burgers. I divide my beef evenly, roll into large meatballs, and patty them down from the center out on both sides with my hand- this helps keep them pretty uniform.

BURGERS

Don’t forget make the meal a global affair by whipping up Caiprinhas or mojitos with the remaining mint.

viva!

viva!

Place those gorgeous burgers on a plate and brush both side of each burger very lightly with canola oil. Preheat your grill and cook 4-5 minutes per side for medium- the burgers I made were pretty thick and this timeframe was just right. Slice your cucumbers while the burgers cook.

cukes

When the burgers are done, prep the toppings while they rest: grab a bun and spread both sides with Greek yogurt, place about a tablespoon of Feta on the bottom half of your bun, then fan out cucumber slices on top of the Feta. Top with a burger and the other yogurt-spread bun half.

burger toppings

These burgers are incredibly juicy and burst with flavor. I had one today for lunch, and it was even better than last night. Enjoy! Opa!

cooked burgers

Trader Joe’s Upgrade: Channa Masala with Chicken & Peas (gf, v option)

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The second best thing to cooking meals from scratch is doctoring ready-to-go options, don’t you think? I think this is called “faking it” in the real world, but hey- you do what you gotta do when you’re low on time and need to eat. This week, I fell in love with a frozen meal that will become a staple in our household: Trader Joe’s Channa Masala. It’s a Punjabi Indian chickpea dish with a tomato base and coriander, cilantro, mango powder, onion, and garlic. It’s incredibly, incredibly aromatic, it’s low calorie, and vegan. And cooks in four minutes.

channa masala chicken and bread

Trader Joe’s was giving out samples the last time I was there, and I followed the intoxicating aroma across the store like  a cartoon character floating by its nose. I grabbed two out of the freezer before I had swallowed my first bite. It’s that good. And $2.99. Cheap and delicious- two of my favorite adjectives!

Lauren goes to Trader Joe's

Lauren goes to Trader Joe’s

It’s snowing in St. Louis today, and Dave ventured out to the International grocery store before the weather got too bad. He came back with a surprise- freshly made Afghan bread. Two large circles of light, bubbly, pita-like bread, meant to be torn  in chunks and used to scoop up saucy foods… Saucy foods like channa masala. Aaaand the post comes full circle. Here’s how we prepared today’s channa masala and Afghan bread for lunch:

CHANNA MASALA WITH CHICKEN & PEAS

Ingredients:

  • 2 packages Trader Joe’s Channa Masala
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 2 chicken breasts, optional- I listed this as vegan because the chicken can be left out
  • Afghan bread, pitas, or naan, or brown rice for gf (Trader Joe’s sells frozen naan next to the channa masala, but if you have a local international grocery store, you’ll be able to find an interesting middle eastern, Indian, or African bread there.)

Directions:

THIS IS SO EASY. Boil two chicken breasts in salted water for about ten minutes or until cooked and chop, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Heat the channa masala trays one at a time, for three minutes each. Add the chopped chicken back into the saucepan you cooked it in (water drained, of course), add the contents of both channa masala trays.

tjs channa masala

Add the reserved cooking water and the frozen peas. Cook for about five minutes, uncovered, until the mixture is well combined and the peas are hot. Serve with Afghan bread and enjoy the fun and sensual experience of eating with your hands. We enjoyed the scooping and the messiness- it seems natural! What are some of your favorite ready-made foods to doctor up??

Afghan bread

BIG Summer Steak Salad with Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette (gf)

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It’s HOT in Saint Louis. Close to 100 degrees hot, and actually entering triple-digits tomorrow. The heat has forced us outside (ironically), to grill quick meals and then run inside and eat them like hungry vampires in the safety of our cool, dark home.

yowza

I had a simple but phenomenal steak salad at Over/Under on Wash Ave last week, and began craving steak salad as soon as I’d polished off the last bite. We had a pretty active and busy weekend, and making a grilled steak salad at home seemed to fit the healthy, fast, craving-satisfaction bill. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’m one to eat and repeat (and repeat, and repeat) when I stumble across a meal that particularly hits the spot.

you look beautiful when you’re undressed

BIG SUMMER STEAK SALAD

For the salad. Ingredients:

  • 1 container Organic Girl Supergreens! or other bagged salad greens
  • 1- 1 1/2 lbs skirt steak
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • sprinkling of sugar
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 container NatureSweet Cherubs grape tomatoes- you can leave these whole
  • 1 cucumber, cut into chunks or slices (I like chunks)
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • a handful of cilantro, washed and roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat your grill to a medium-high setting. At room temperature, combine the canola oil, sugar, and soy, and spread over both sides of the flank steak. Let this sit and marinate while the grill heats up. Once hot, grill to desired doneness- I find that cheaper cuts like flank steak do well when cooked rare-to- medium rare, and always cut on the bias. Anyway, grill to your desired doneness (turning once) and let rest while you assemble the salad and dressing.

While the meat is resting, assemble the (prewashed!) greens in a pretty bowl. Slice the red onion, cut the cucumber, slice the avocado, and assemble all of those, along with the tomatoes, on top of your greens. Lovely!! If you’re a vegetarian, eat now!

delicious sans-steak

Meat eater or not, it’s time to make the dressing:

EASY BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

For the dressing. Ingredients:

  • 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp coarse ground mustard
  • large pinch salt
  • generous grinding of black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried parsley

Mix all ingredients except olive oil together in a small mixing bowl. Let sit for five minutes. Go feed the cat or pour yourself a glass of wine while this is sitting. When your wine has been poured, whisk in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, emulsifying it into the dressing. This is a delicious salad topper, and can be kept for days at room temperature. Yay! You’ve saved yourself a step for tomorrow’s dinner!

whisk it good

Slice the rested flank steak across the grain, at a bias, the best you can. You’ll need a sharp knife for this, and a serrated knife may pull at the delicate graining of the meat. The point of cutting this way is to tenderize the steak- cutting on the bias, against the grain actually makes sliced meat more tender and palatable. Message!

Now- grab your favorite BIG Salad Bowl, assemble greens, top with veggies, then with avocado and steak. Serve!! Enjoy your summery meal!!

dinner is served

Quick Marinara Sauce For A Crowd, or “What To Do With Four Pints of Grape Tomatoes” (v, gf)

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We had a party* this weekend!!!!!! First we’ve had in, oh, about three years, so I bought way too many groceries to make the food I had on the menu. What was on the menu? Burgers, brats, BBQ chicken, all of the necessary burger fixins, chips, dips, potato salad with cabbage and sesame oil, avocado and corn tomato salad, baked beans and 534845321564 cookies and cupcakes (none of which I baked).

It was a delicious and overindulgent day, and I wound up with four pints of leftover grape tomatoes from the avocado salad…. What in the heck do you make for a two-person household using that many tomatoes? A friend suggested I make a marinara sauce (my first instinct was tomato soup), so I did, thinking I’ll freeze some later. This recipe begins with the usual disclaimer that I was short on time, so I had to improvise my way through the slow-cooking I would have preferred for the sauce. Cue the food processor…..

the innumerable tomatoes mock me

QUICK MARINARA SAUCE FOR A CROWD

Ingredients:

  • 4 pints of grape or cherry tomatoes, preferably sitting on your counter ripening for two days, challenging you to a “you can’t cook me” face-off
  • 3-4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 very large onions, chopped
  • 5+ cloves garlic, or 3 tsp garlic paste
  • 1 1/2 tbsp  dried Italian seasoning (small palmful)
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 2-3 tsp kosher salt (you may prefer more, I try to limit salt)
  • 1 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 cup water or pasta water, if you’re simultaneously cooking pasta and you like a thinner sauce

Directions:

Heat a heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the hot pot, and swirl to coat. Add onion, garlic, and spices, and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add the washed tomatoes and water, if using, cooking for about ten minutes, or until the tomatoes start to break down from the heat and salt. Add balsamic at this point, and stir. Cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes more, or however long you have.

Remove from heat and uncover, letting the sauce cool for about ten minutes before processing in batches. The benefit of quick-cooking a sauce like this is that it’s light and fresh at the end, which is nice in the spring and versatile. I plan to freeze it in muffin cups and use the fairly neutral sauce in future pastas and soups. I also thought that a quickly browned pound of ground beef or turkey could easily turn into a spaghetti dinner with two or three servings of the sauce, tossed in at the end of cooking time to melt and meld, then be served over pasta.  This sauce is also a great way to use sale tomatoes!

If I’d had more time (Always. Always “if I’d had more time…”), I would have roasted the tomatoes and onions together in a large roasting dish with olive oil before transferring to a stock pot to simmer, and then puree. The flavor would have been richer, but that will be a delicious way to try this sauce in the fall. Enjoy!

Sauteed with cooked ground beef- this was the next day’s lunch. YUM

Some more ideas:

  1. omit balsamic, stir in creme fraiche, or chunks of neufchatel
  2. stir in ribbons of fresh basil after pureeing
  3. stir in Kalamata olives and feta cheese before pureeing, serve over fish
  4. add zucchini or spinach for a nutritional boost
  5. use a head of roasted garlic in place of fresh cloves (DEFINITELY trying this!)

*

White Bean Chicken Chili with Spoonbread

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Dave made a request recently for chili. Since it’s, you know, May (and hot outside), traditional beef and bean red chili seemed way, way too heavy. Thinking of an alternative that would still have protein, be filling, fast, and relatively low-carb, BAM! It hit me! White chicken chili! I’d never eaten it, let alone made it, but I figured that if I stuck with tex-mex flavors, I’d be fine. And it turned out really well! In our house, if you top hot, spicy food with avocado, it will be well-received, so I tried my best with a recipe and threw a bunch of the creamy, green stuff on top. Instant hit.

chicken chili nom-noms

And because it was so healthy, I had to counteract at least some of the nutritional benefits with a side of my fast spoonbread- essentially Jiffy corn muffin mix with canned and creamed corn (recipe below).  It is tasty! And goes well with so much, especially soups and chilis. Here goes:

WHITE BEAN CHICKEN CHILI

Ingredients:

  • 1 package ground white meat chicken
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 cans white beans, rinsed and drained*
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 jalepeño pepper, seeded and finely diced
  • 1 bunch cilantro- leaves minced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced, or one tsp garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp chicken base
  • 1-2 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tbsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 cups water
  • diced avocado, sour cream, hot sauce to serve

Directions:

Heat a large stock pot over medium heat. When hot, add your olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, peppers (all three kinds), and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the chicken and all spices.

peppers, onion, and garlic cooking away

Cook, stirring, until the chicken is broken up well and is no longer pink. This will take another 5-7 minutes. Add the canned beans- and here’s the thing about canned beans- *you can either drain and rinse them to cut salt content or just dump them in. I drained mine but then added a tablespoon of chicken base, so was I really cutting salt? Probably not by much. I do prefer the flavor of the chicken base to the boring, super salty-msg-like flavor of canned beans. But this is up to you. Are you a drainer or a dumper? That sounds kind of weird, doesn’t it?

all done!

Anyway, add water, and you can add by the half cup, depending on how soupy you like your chili. Add the chicken base or bouillon here, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer about ten minutes. You’re all done! Stir in the cilantro and serve, with avocado, sour cream, hot sauce, and….

FAST SPOONBREAD

Ingredients:

  • 2 packages Jiffy corn muffin mix
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cups milk
  • 1 can sweet corn, drained
  • 1 can creamed corn

Directions:

SO EASY! Love recipes that start with those words! Mix everything well (the batter will be lumpy, which is okay). Let rise for a few minutes as you preheat the oven to 400. Grease a baking dish- an 8×8 pyrex should be the right size (I like using a white Corning Ware casserole dish for presentation points). Bake for about 45 minutes. You want this to be a very moist bread- not uncooked but very soft. The sweetness and moisture of the corn and creamed corn really make this a delicious bread, and it’s forgiving- another 10-15 minutes in the oven wouldn’t hurt it at all. Serve.

*This post has been categorized as gluten-free; Jiffy mix isn’t 100% gf, so homemade cornbread would be the best bet if you need to be a stickler.

The Perfect Cup of (Decaf) Afternoon Tea

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This tea, with a splash of soy milk. And since it contains no caffeine, you can drink cup after cup and still feel great about it. It certainly is calming, and lemon-jasmine? Yes, please. And thank you. And nice hat.

You should try it. That is all.

Breakfast Smoothie & Detoxifying “Green Drank” (v, gf)

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Recently, a reader asked why I have posted only one true breakfast recipe. The answer is, I usually blend a protein smoothie for myself and throw it in a blender bottle in the morning- it’s a fast, portable meal that keeps me full for hours, and the protein is timed well after morning workouts. Posting variations of the same smoothie would be boring, but I thought I’d share the basics.

My favorite combo is:

PB & CHOCOLATE BANANA SMOOTHIE

  • 2-3 scoops chocolate protein powder (your choice- whey, soy, both, other)
  • 1 banana, cut into chunks
  • 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
  • water (1 1/2- 2 cups)

Directions: blend all ingredients well, for about 2 minutes in a food processor. Pour and serve.

But this morning, I made:

VANILLA-BLUEBERRY FLAX SMOOTHIE

  • 2 scoops vanilla protein powder (whey or vegan)
  • 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
  • 2 cups water Read More