Kitchen Prepared: Lessons Learned from the Stuffed Mushrooms that Never Were

I failed—plain and simple—no doubt about it. The taste-bud delighting recipe in my head turned out to be a tongue-repulsing creation on my plate. Yes, I’m serious. It was that bad. See, if all had gone according to plan, right now, I’d be writing about veggie-stuffed mushrooms that were so good they had my taste buds belting in joy, as if they were trying out to be the next Glee star. Instead, my taste buds recoiled in horror, as if they were Simon Cowell watching a tone deaf auditioner try out to be the next American Idol.

Lessons Learned

Although I can’t share a tantalizing stuffed mushroom recipe with you, I can share some rules to live by in the kitchen related to my fiasco.

* To avoid soggy stuffed mushrooms, bake, grill, or roast them before stuffing and baking.
* Follow recipes (even if you think you don’t need to). There’s a method to their madness.
* Taste your recipe before dishing it up to anyone.
* Test drive a recipe before serving it to large groups or for any special occasions. The last thing you want is a bunch of hungry party-goers staring at you, waiting for dinner, and all you have is soggy, texture-less, garlicky, over-onion-infused stuffed mushrooms.
* When using a food processor or Cuisinart®, don’t try to overstuff it with veggies. You’ll end up with soupy, mushy vegetables on the bottom, and large unchopped pieces on top. Stick with small veggie batches only.
* If your recipe fails, don’t give up! Get back in that kitchen and try again!
* Always have healthy staples in your kitchen—no ifs, ands, or buts. Your browser may not support display of this image.

The Biggest Lesson: Healthy Items Stocked at Home

The last point mentioned above is key. Not only can stocking your kitchen with healthy eats save you during dinner catastrophes, as I encountered, but in turn, will help keep your bod in top-notch shape. Simply because if healthy fare is what you have in your kitchen, that’s what you’ll have in your stomach. With today’s busy schedule, having easy-to-prepare healthful items ready to go is essential, as you’ll be less likely to dial your local Chinese food or pizza joint during that long work week when you had no time to hit the market. Plus, eating at home is almost always better for your waistline and ticker than eating out. Therefore, whether you’re a culinary genius or not, having lean protein and fiber-amped items on hand is your best bet.

Thus, the next time you hit your local market, grab some healthy eats that keep well, cook quick, and can be bought on a dime, such as brown rice, quinoa, frozen veggies, beans, and water-packed tuna. For example, I always have black beans, frozen broccoli, and quinoa on hand. So in times of need, I can quickly throw together a fiber- and protein-packed dinner that’s filled with healthifying nutrients, such as folic acid, antioxidants, and B vitamins. For those concerned about the beans’ sodium, simply rinse them for about 30-45 seconds to remove approximately 35% total sodium. I always do this. Too much sodium does not do a body good.

So please, learn from my mushroom mishap and adopt my healthy kitchen stocking philosiophy, if you haven’t already. And, if you are a mushroom-stuffing extraordinaire, I hope you share your secrets!

Happy Healthifying!

Corinne

About Corinne

Corinne Dobbas, MS, RD believes that optimal health starts with the activity that you do every day—eat. And that every person has the ability to reach their inner-health potential. You can find Corinne counseling and speaking at Bay Club Marin, as the Club Dietitian. You can also find her blogging about nutrition, health, and wellness at Green Grapes Blog. If you’re interested in working with Corinne, check out her services at Nutrition with Corinne. Corinne specializes in weight management, behavior change therapy, disease-preventive nutrition, disordered eating, sports nutrition, family wellness, and heart health.

You can follow Corinne on Twitter @RDCorinne

Become a fan of Nutrition with Corinne at http://www.facebook.com/NutritionWithCorinne

Indian by birth, I was raised in the Middle Eastern island nation of Bahrain, nurtured by my mother’s mostly traditional Indian cooking. When I moved to the U.S. nearly two decades ago, I instantly fell in love with the land’s playfulness with food.

My fun-loving American friends — many themselves immigrants from around the world — created new tastes by adding their own spices, herbs and traditions to typical American dishes. I felt a delightful sense of excitement and wonderment toward food and quickly became enamored of my friends’ philosophy of no arbitrary rules on how to cook. It was all about what tasted good.

The influence of those friends has greatly affected the way I cook. American food is an important part of my home cooking repertoire, but I always add a spicy twist: Cobb salad is drizzled with a lemon-cilantro dressing; meatloaf is scented with cloves and cinnamon; Hoppin’ John is cooked with basmati rice.

My lemonade has a touch of saffron. Mac and cheese at our house is never prepared without a foundation of ground lamb. I combine peanut butter with spices as a marinade for chicken. Starbucks ice cream makes great Indian-style cold coffee. Brussels sprouts hold hands with curry leaves and spices in quick stir-fries; cookies always have anise or fennel; cardamom is in every cup of tea; deli-roasted chicken is served on cumin-scented basmati rice. And I never serve vanilla ice cream without freshly sliced Indian Alphonso mangoes.

My tendency to spice up every food in sight began to bump up against my American-born son Jai’s American tastes and sensibilities. I skimped on the truth about the eating habits of his on-screen buddies — Barney loved fenugreek in his spinach; Tweety Bird adored Indian cheese; Scooby Doo always finished his turmeric-spiced yellow rice; and the Wiggles would not ever pass up pancakes made (like mine) with beets in the batter. Jai did fine until the strawberry milk incident.

When Jai was younger, I used to make my favorite drink for him: a cold glass of milk mixed with Rooh Afza, a rose-pink syrup made with fruit and vegetable extracts. I hated drinking plain milk as a kid and would (secretly) pour it down behind my mother’s couch. (It took my parents a week to figure out where the awful smell was coming from, and earned me a month of punishment. But I digress.) So the only way I knew to drink milk was to mix it with this syrup, which turns the milk a sublime pink.

When I made it for Jai, he said, “Mama, strawberry milk?” And, well, I never bothered to correct him. For several years, he drank this as strawberry milk. Then school started. He came home one day and said, “Mama, the American strawberry milk in school tastes different. Do you know why that is?”

Ummm … perhaps it was the strawberry flavor?

—

Recipes –

Curried Chicken Salad With Mango And Almonds

This recipe uses toasted almonds. If you cannot find them at the store, it is very simple to do at home. I prefer to use blanched almonds for this recipe. To blanch your almonds, boil two cups of water and remove from the stove. Add the almonds to the boiling hot water. Let them steep in the water for 20 minutes. The skin should peel off the almonds easily. Discard the water and the skin. Use a napkin to dry the almonds. Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add the blanched almonds and dry roast until golden, about 6 minutes. Be sure to keep stirring so you don’t burn the nuts.

Makes 6 servings

For The Salad

3 cups pre-cooked chicken chunks

2 large mangoes, peeled, seeded and diced

1 small ripe papaya, peeled, seeded and diced

1/4 small red onion, peeled and diced

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons minced cilantro leaves

1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced

For The Dressing

3 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup pineapple juice

3 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Salt and pepper

For Serving

1 head Boston or Bibb lettuce, separated, washed and dried

1 cup toasted almonds (whole or slivered)

Combine all the ingredients for the salad in a large bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together the honey, ginger, lemon juice, pineapple juice, olive oil, cayenne and curry powder. Taste and adjust for sweetness.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and toss again.

Refrigerate, covered, for about 30 minutes. This allows the flavors to meld.

Just before serving, divide the lettuce among six individual plates. Top with the salad and garnish with toasted almonds.

1 cup toasted almonds (whole or slivered)

Combine all the ingredients for the salad in a large bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together the honey, ginger, lemon juice, pineapple juice, olive oil, cayenne and curry powder. Taste and adjust for sweetness.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and toss again.

Refrigerate, covered, for about 30 minutes. This allows the flavors to meld.

Just before serving, divide the lettuce among six individual plates. Top with the salad and garnish with toasted almonds.

Lasagna With Curried Beef And Spinach

This simple recipe uses no-boil noodles to save time. You can also use the regular lasagna noodles; just be sure to prepare them according to the directions before using in this recipe. Also, you can substitute turkey for the ground beef.

Makes 8 to 10 servings

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 small red onion, peeled and minced

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (95 percent lean)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons ground coriander

One 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

3 cups prepared tomato pasta/spaghetti sauce

One 15-ounce container ricotta cheese

2 large eggs

9 uncooked, oven-ready lasagna noodles, each about 7-by-3-1/2 inches

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onion is caramel brown and the moisture has dried up.

Add the ground beef and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, using a wooden spoon to break up any clumps, until the beef is no longer pink.

Remove the skillet from the heat and pour off any excess fat.

Return the skillet to the heat and add 3/4 teaspoon of salt, pepper, turmeric, cayenne, coriander and spinach. Mix well and cook for another 3 minutes.

Stir in the pasta sauce. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Spread 1 cup of the spinach-meat sauce over the bottom of an 11-3/4-by-7-1/2-inch glass baking dish. Top with three of the noodles.

Spread a layer of half the ricotta mixture, then a layer of 1-1/2 cups sauce, then sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella.

Repeat layering three noodles, the remaining ricotta, another 1-1/2 cups sauce and 1/2 cup mozzarella.

Top with the last three noodles and the remaining meat sauce. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 50 minutes or until noodles are tender and the sauce is bubbly.

Remove the foil. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and bake uncovered for about 5 minutes, until the cheese melts.

Let stand about 15 minutes before serving.

Monica Bhide is the author of several cookbooks and a food and travel writer. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Prevention, Health, SELF, Town & Country, Food & WIne, AARP-THe magazine and more. More information on her books and her blog is available here – www.monicabhide.com

{Red, White & Blue Mixed Berry Parfait}

A Love Affair:

I have always loved the taste of sweet but it does not love me as much. My body is super sensitive to refined sugars & starches. I did not understand that until a few years ago. Put something sweet in front of me and I gobble it all up. I am not a taster, I like my treats in abundance. The problem is, abundance does not love us back especially when it comes to refined sweets. My goal was to learn how to enjoy treats without over indulging. I want each and every bite to taste great & count towards daily nutritional goals. Deprivation-no way. Daily high energy allowances-bring it!

Team Body & Mind:

Ever notice how your tummy might be telling you one thing and your brain another? Tummy says: “Feed me something really yummy, I want a huge slice of Carrot Cake and throw in a few chocolate chip cookies on the side.” Your mind knows better and responds: ” Sure, that would be really tasty but you are gonna feel really icky when you are done.”

Ahhh, the battle of body and mind. How about we assist them to get on the same team? We can if we implement some basics.

{No bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies}

Lessons Learned:

It became very apparent to me after I had my kids that I had no time to have energy crashes from poor food choices. I was working hard at the gym, but I was not seeing the results I desired. Things needed to change and I was determined to make that change. As soon as I get a bit hungry, it turns to extremely hungry, shaky, nervous and agitated. My mind looses focus and the urge to pig out rears it’s ugly head. I get hypoglycemic ridiculously fast. What’s the worst thing to do when this happens? Grab refined, processed sweets and convenience foods. It just sets us up for a worse crash later. For my family and myself those foods are not an option.

The Plan:

I have developed many recipes that are fruit sweetened and I sometimes use pure maple syrup, honey and agave. My go-to sweetener is stevia. A little stevia goes a long way and it always satisfies the sweet cravings in our home. I never buy pre-sweetened yogurt, cereals, breads, drinks, etc. I add a touch of sweet with stevia. From cookies to shakes to pancakes, a little sweetness from fruit and stevia go a long way. I have felt and seen no adverse impact on my body and mind when I eat this way. Different brands of stevia taste very different from one another. You need to experiment and find the one that best suits your taste buds.

{Gluten Free Maple Peanut Butter Cookies}

Keep it Real:

They say everything in moderation, right? Simple concept, not such an easy thing to practice. Food should taste great and we should never feel deprived. Deprivation leads to disaster. Mindless eating leads to bad habits and poor health. Not only does food nourish us, it fuels desire & temptation. We will not deprive, we will replace the bad with the good choices.

Mindful Eating:

Even though we prepare our breakfasts, desserts and treats with whole grains and natural sugars we still need to be mindful of portion control. Too many calories in and not enough burned will cause excess body fat no matter what. What works best for us day to day is to prepare our sweets and treats at home and eat them with regard to portion control. Since we want to enjoy & experience life to it’s fullest, we enjoy traditional baked goods and sweets from time to time. When we do, it is preferably not on an empty stomach so the sugar rush and crash is not as harsh.

All photos & food styling by Marla Meridith

All recipes are original creations by Marla.

About Marla: Marla Meridith believes in a combination of healthy eating and daily exercise to stay mentally sharp and physically fit. She loves whole foods that are full of flavor, and embraces letting organic, natural ingredients speak for themselves. Her goal is to motivate families to get in the kitchen to create meals filled with flavor. This mom of two small kids has been compared to the “Energizer Bunny” and labeled as a high energy healthy lifestyle cheerleader. Her blog is called Family Fresh Cooking. She can also be found updating tweets (@MarlaMeridith) and Facebook regularly.

Vegetables Make for Wonderful Vessels

A Mandoline to make Ratatouille

A few months ago I picked up a great gadget at our local Marshall’s discount store: a mandoline. I originally put one of these on our wedding registry, but couldn’t wait another year to receive it, and couldn’t pass by the amazing price tag of $9.99! Mandolines cut veggies into perfectly thin and even rounds, matchsticks, slices and discs. And they’re a huge time saver too! It usually takes me forever to thinly slice carrots and potatoes, especially with my dull set of knives, but with the mandoline I’m done in seconds.

I really wanted to give my mandoline a run for its money and set out to make this stunning looking ratatouille recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen with some eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash I had just picked up from a local farm stand.

Ratatouille adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 onion, finely sliced using mandoline
1 cup tomato puree (such as Pomi)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small eggplant
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 red bell pepper
Few sprigs fresh thyme or dried thyme
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato puree into bottom of a square baking dish, approximately 10 inches across the long way. Drop the sliced onion into the sauce, stir in one tablespoon of the olive oil and season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.

Trim the ends off the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. Trim the ends off the red pepper and remove the core, leaving the edges intact, like a tube.

On a mandoline, cut the eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and red pepper into very thin slices, approximately 1/16-inch thick. My mandoline came with a setting called “very thin.”

On top of the tomato sauce, arrange slices of prepared vegetables concentrically from the outer edge to the inside of the baking dish, overlapping and alternating vegetables. I had enough slices for a few layers of vegetables, and seasoned with salt and pepper on a few layers as I kept adding more.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with salt and pepper. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs with your fingertips, running them down the stem. Sprinkle the fresh (or dried) thyme over the dish.

Cover dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit inside.

Bake for approximately 45 to 55 minutes, until vegetables have released their liquid and are clearly cooked, but with some structure left so they are not totally limp. They should not be brown at the edges, and you should see that the tomato sauce is bubbling up around them.

We enjoyed our ratatouille over a plate of brown rice and couldn’t stop commenting about how tasty this dish was, how perfectly the vegetables were cooked, and how well the flavors from fresh vegetables and simple seasonings came together. Thanks to my new mandoline and this great recipe from Smitten Kitchen, I now know I can make a perfect plate of ratatouille every time.

—–

Janel Ovrut is a Boston-based Registered Dietitian who enjoys helping others make healthy changes, one bite at a time. You can follow Janel’s blog, Eat Well with Janel here, become an Eat Well with Janel fan, and follow her food and nutrition tweets on Twitter.

Dearest readers,

It’s time for my annual trip abroad, and this year I am off to the splendor and exoticism of Turkey, the blue crystal waters of Greece and the old world charm and seaside resorts of Bulgaria. On my trip, I will be tweeting all my food experiences (@robynwebb) and look forward to that first bite of fresh yogurt and a shot of raki! Not necessarily together though!

In my absence, Olga and I bring you the best of the food and nutrition world as guest bloggers during Aug 16-Sept 9. Luminaries such as the amazing food writer and author of the incredible cookbook Modern Spice, Monica Bhide will share her spicy secrets with you. Monica is a regular contributor to the Washington Post’s food blog and serves as contributing editor to the fine magazine, AARP. She has written hundreds of food articles for major publications and teaches a phenomenal course of how to break into the food writing business.

Family meal planner exraordinaire and cookbook author of the wonderful cookbook series: The Six O’Clock Scramble, Aviva Goldfarb will get you organized in the kitchen like nobody’s business. Aviva’s work has been lauded by major publications including regular appearances in the Washington Post Food section. She is a spokesperson for major food companies including Success Rice and Dole.

Join nutrition guru, Elisa Zied, RD, author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips and contributor to MSNBC.com for a journey into the nutrition world far beyond what you already know. Elisa is one of the country’s foremost experts in nutrition and serves as a past spokesperson of the ADA.

Elisa is joined by equally fabulous trio of Janel Ovrut, RD, Corinne Dobbas, RD and Andy Bellatti (RD to be extremely soon!).  As today’s strong voices in nutrition, Janel, Corinne and Andy provide spot-on accurate and insightful information and will transform the way you look at food. They are some of the best in the business; I would listen to their advice if I were you!

From Tauton Publications, publishes of Fine Cooking Magazine, I am honored to have Evan Barbour, a fascinating food writer with great insights about the way we eat today. Her writings are intriguing as her recipes are delicious.

The Family Fresh Cooking blog from the indomitable Marla Meridith will get you and your family thinking about health and food combined in one delicious package. Marla knows what it’s like to manage with young children, and her light, humorous take on juggling it all with tasty results is something you will look forward to reading.

Look for the posts twice a week during my absence from these fine foodies. Not only are they incredible foodies and writers, they are counted on as my friends too.

And while my trip might sound like all fun and games, don’t worry dear readers, I will be “cooking” up some ideas to share with you inspired by visits to these fabulous lands.

Have a great rest of the summer and do please continue to read Fabulous Food Finds with my roster of guest stars you will just love!

Best,

Robyn

Wherever I may be taking a break from DC, I always hunt around a kitchen shop for this blog and for my own self satisfaction. While in Cape May for the weekend last week, I stumbled upon a darling shop called Love the Cook, so with a name like that, who could resist peeking inside? I think my find, Snapi, a shell shape nautical looking single handed server was inspired by the shore atmosphere. For scooping up one serving portions in well fell swoop, I found a product that could combine health and function together.

Just use one hand to scoop up approximately 1 cup of salad, pasta, veggies or more. Use the Snapi to first toss and then serve just the right amount of food needed. Comes in happy colors, just like the beach is.

www.kitchenhappy.com

SUMMER GRILLED CHICKEN SALAD WITH PECANS AND DRIED FRUIT
makes 4 servings

CHICKEN:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

VINAIGRETTE:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp minced fresh herbs (basil, tarragon, parsley, oregano)
1 cup olive oil

SALAD:

1 pound mixed greens
2 cups red seedless grapes, halved
½ cup dried apricots
½ cup dried cherries
½ cup diced dates
½ cup pecans, toasted

1. Prepare the grill. Rub the chicken with the oil and salt and pepper. Cook the chicken on a hot grill for about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.

Note from Olga: I did not have a grill, so used a cast iron skillet while cooking and photographing this recipe. Use your meat thermometer to make sure that chicken is cooked through. Mine took a few extra minutes of cooking time.

2. To prepare the dressing, whisk together all the ingredients, except the oil. In a thin stream, whisking constantly, add the oil until incorporated. Set aside.

3. Slice the chicken into thin strips. Toss together all the salad ingredients. Place the chicken on top. Drizzle with dressing and top with pecans. You may have dressing leftover.
Use the Snapi to portion it all out!

All photographs and recipe testing courtesy of Olga Berman from Mango & Tomato.

Sure you could use some crumpled up foil to ring around a pie plate, but why not protect your flaky dough with just a bit more coverage? While vacationing a week ago on the lovely shores of Cape May, New Jersey, I stopped by a cute shop, Love The Cook, and found these fabulous Pie Crust Shields. From the Terrell Products company, these nifty covers really protect your hard earned labor of love. The shields fit conventional pies, deep dish pies and quiches. For use in traditional and conventional ovens, think of it as a teensy investment to prevent the acrid smell of burnt flour.

www.piecrustshields.com

APPLE CRUMB PIE

Basic Pie Crust:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp vegetable shortening
2 ounces low fat cream cheese
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
4-5 Tbsp ice water

Crumb topping:

3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Apple Filling

6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ cup sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp quick cooking tapioca
½ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves

1. Make the pie crust: In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening and cream cheese with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2. In a cup combine the lemon juice and 2 Tbsp of the ice water. Sprinkle over the crumbs and mix until the crumbs are moistened. Mix in the remaining ice water, about 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture can be formed into a firm ball. Gather into a ball and press into a thick disk. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Use the Pie Crust Shields according to directions: Place each shield on the rim of an empty 9 inch pie plate, press in around outer edge of shields to match the shape of the pie dish. Remove.

4. Roll the dough out into a 12 inch circle. Gently lay the dough into a non stick 9 inch pie plate. Firmly press the dough against the bottom and sides of the pan. Fold the edges under and crimp to form a rim. Set aside.

5. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Make the crumb topping: Place the flour in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add in the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix until well blended. Set aside.

6. Make the apple filling: In a large bowl, combine the apples and lemon juice, set aside. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, tapioca, cinnamon and cloves. Sprinkle over the apples and gently toss to coat.

7. Spoon the apples into the prepared crust. Sprinkle with the topping. Place the Pie Crust Shields on the edge on the pie crust and overlap end of each shield until entire crust is covered. To prevent end of shields from lifting up, gently press in sides of overlapped shield.

8. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown (Note from Olga: depending on how cooked through you want your apples to be, you might have to bake the pie additional 10-20 minutes). Remove the shields in the last 15 minutes of baking.

All photographs and recipe testing courtesy of Olga Berman from Mango & Tomato.