Moo Shu Style Veggies

Maybe it isn't really Moo Shu without the pancakes, but it sure is yummy! This is a combination of textures, the harder vegetables like the carrot and turnip sliced into thin sticks, the savoy cabbage sliced into thin strips, mushrooms in sticks, tofu in strips, and the combination of salty and sweet from the Tamari and the Mirin.  Easy, one pot stir fry. We ate it with Lundberg's Black Japonica Rice. a gluten free whole grain with an almost fruity overtone and, according to the package, "containing the anthocyanin antioxidants like those found in blueberries and blackberries." The idea is to combine chewy, crisp, and soft, use what you have and like!

Moo Shu Veggies (serves 4 hungry -6 with pancakes and side dishes)

6 leaves Savoy cabbage
1 medium carrot
1 small turnip
6-8 Cremini mushrooms
1 large onion
2/3 of a block of firm tofu
3/4 cup pea shoots

1. Chop all the vegetables into strips.
2. Put about 3/4 cup water in a wok or large saute pan, adding carrots, turnip, onion, mushrooms, tofu and cabbage. Add Tamari and Mirin, and cook for 10 minutes covered, stirring and mixing the sauce into the veggies.
3. Taste for doneness and flavor of the sauce. Add tofu, stir and add the last 1/4 cup of water with another splash of Tamari or Mirin, covering for another 5 minutes and serve.

Moo Shu Veggies Nutrition Facts for 4 servings Serving Size: 1 Serving (278g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 137 7% Total Fat 4g 6% Saturated Fat 1g 3% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 773mg 32% Total Carbohydrate 19g 6% Dietary Fiber 4g 17% Sugars 8g 0% Protein 11g 22% Vitamin A 12% • Vitamin C 40% Calcium 32% • Iron 11% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Nutrition Facts for Black Japonica Rice

Serving Size: 1 Serving (45g)  based on 1/4 cup uncooked

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	150	8%
Total Fat	2g	2%
Saturated Fat		0%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium		0%
Total Carbohydrate	33g	11%
Dietary Fiber	3g	12%
Sugars		0%
Protein	4g	8%

Vitamin A	0%	•	Vitamin C	0%
Calcium	0%	•	Iron	4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using data provided by Lundberg's Rice.

Fast Cannellini Farro Soup

Changeable weather has brought a deep hankering for comforting soups, whether as an addition to dinner or a centerpiece at lunch.  A friend introduced me to a delicious cannellini bean soup with sage that she made from soaking the dried beans and making a stock with leek stems.  Frankly, I just haven't  had the combination of ingredients and time to try it for myself.  So today I took a shortcut using what I had in the house.  It's another argument for having a range of ingredients sitting around.


Cannellini Farro Bean Soup - Fast Version

large can (at least 2 cups worth) of unsalted cannellini beans
large onion (at least 2 cups chopped)
1/3 cup farro or barley
6-10 cloves garlic
3-8 sprigs fresh parsley
1.5 Tblsp dried sage
2-3 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
4 cups water (you'll need 1 cup of this for cooking farro)

1. Cook the chopped onion and garlic with the herbs in about 2 cups water in a stock pot.
2. Cook the farro in a separate small pot, at least 1 cup water.
3. Pour the beans and another cup of water into the soup stock when the onions soften, simmering for another 15 minutes. Puree this.

4. Add the cooked farro and any leftover cooking liquid from that. If you want it thinner, add a little water, if not, leave it viscous. The farro will be little chewy morsels in a luscious creamy broth -- good source of protein and fiber among other things!  Serves 6 filling bowls!

Cannellini Farro Soup Serves 4 Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (425g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 204 10% Total Fat 1g 2% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 651mg 27% Total Carbohydrate 39g 13% Dietary Fiber 9g 34% Sugars 4g 0% Protein 10g 20% Vitamin A 3% • Vitamin C 39% Calcium 14% • Iron 23% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Eggplant Pizzas

Eggplant Pizzas

1 Eggplant (1.25 lb)
2 Tomatoes
1 sweet red pepper
1/2 cup mushroom slices
1 medium sweet onion
2 tsps oregano +/- basil
2 tsps fresh parsley
2 Tblsp tamari with a bit of added water (or use miso soup)

Medium thick slices of eggplant, thin slices of everything else (anything else). Put on parchment paper in a flat pan or cookie sheet. Drizzle the watered tamari onto each one and sprinkle the herbes (your choice). You could put garlic bits too, olives or anything else you like. Oven at 400F for not even 15 minutes... but do check on it. Peel off the paper carefully with a spatula and serve!

The next time I made these, I used some miso soup instead of the tamari -- you could use watered down miso paste -- so it was moist and not as salty. Thin slices of fresh garlic made a huge impact too.  I also used tin foil so I could put it under the broiler and crisp it. Really good with 3/4 inch eggplant slices. Two slices made a lunch with soup and salad. And this one made a great leftover lunch melange.

Eggplant Pizzas Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (443g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 117 6% Total Fat 1g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 683mg 28% Total Carbohydrate 25g 8% Dietary Fiber 8g 32% Sugars 16g 0% Protein 5g 11% Vitamin A 8% • Vitamin C 126% Calcium 6% • Iron 9% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com with my data

Low Calorie Spaghetti Dinner: Squash it is!

Spaghetti squash is a delicious low calorie alternative to pasta that adds a crisp texture without  interfering with flavors of sauces or toppings. We first tried it with homemade torpedo onion sauce and brussels sprouts, and decided to try it again with garlicky broccoli raab and a store-bought organic tomato sauce.  Eating whole grains and vegetables does tend to make for a lot of cooking and I'm happy to find short cuts like a good jar of sauce. Today I tried Walnut Acres Organic Tomato & Basil because it is low sodium and fat free (yup, no oil!). It turned out to be a little sweet, and so I added a little salt and pepper on the plates. Preparation of the squash can be done ahead of time, since it does have to bake for an hour and is easily heated by pouring boiling water over it in a colander just before serving.  Use fresh herbs if you have them, but dried will do -- and season as you like best, taking into account the flavors in your tomato sauce.  You can definitely do without the tomato sauce if you want more green and less red.

And, I'm sure that garlicky chard would be just as terrific as the broccoli rabe, though go easier on the salt if you use chard. 680 calories for the whole thing and feeds 4-6 people! I've given separate nutrition facts for the main ingredients below, since you could use home made or different sauce, and spread this out for 8 people by having something besides a salad (like sesame zucchini or something) on the side.


Spaghetti Squash With Garlicky Broccoli Raab & Tomato Sauce 
A big bunch of broccoli raab
A good sized spaghetti squash
At least 3 cloves to a whole head of garlic
1 cup water
Jar of good tomato sauce
2 tsp salt
pepper
1.5 tsp oregano
1.5 tsp basil

1. You will need about an hour to bake the squash (prick it first a few times with a fork) at 375F.

2. In the 20 minutes or so of that, you can begin to water saute the garlic with herbs of your choice, wash and chop up the broccoli raab into 2-3 inch pieces to make it easier to eat in a normal mouthful. Toss the broccoli raab into the garlicky, salty, herby water and cover, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat your sauce by your preferred method.
4. Once the squash is soft to the touch (not mush though), you will pull it out of the oven and chop it in half long wise. With a fork, hook-lift-scoop out the seeds and then use the fork to scrape out the spaghetti like strands of squash flesh. You can definitely do all this ahead of time and then heat the squash just before serving by putting it in a colander and pouring boiling water over it.
5. Pile the squash spaghetti on a platter. You can cover this in sauce and then pile the garlicky broccoli raab on top, or pile the green on top and pour the sauce all around the base of the squash pile. Either way it looks beautiful -- and tastes great!

Here's the tomato sauce nutritional facts, according to their label 1/2 cup is a serving, but you might want more or less:

Walnut Acres Tomato & Basil Sauce Nutrition Facts (6 servings per jar) Serving Size: 1 1/2 cup Serving (125g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 40 2% Total Fat 0% Saturated Fat 0% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 20mg 1% Total Carbohydrate 9g 3% Dietary Fiber 1g 4% Sugars 7g 0% Protein 2g 4% Vitamin A 10% • Vitamin C 15% Calcium 2% • Iron 6% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.

Here's a big squash - 1760 g before taking the seeds out! Makes about 8 cups "spaghetti" and less than 2 cups will fill the plate!

Squash, winter, spaghetti, cooked, boiled, drained, or baked, without salt Nutrition Facts  Total Squash: 8 cups (1240g) (divide for servings) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 335 17% Total Fat 3g 5% Saturated Fat 1g 4% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 223mg 9% Total Carbohydrate 80g 27% Dietary Fiber 17g 69% Sugars 31g 0% Protein 8g 16% Vitamin A 5% • Vitamin C 72% Calcium 26% • Iron 23% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.

Here's about 480 g of broccoli raab, enough for 4 people as a main course:

Broccoli raab, raw Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 17 oz (482g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 106 5% Total Fat 2g 4% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 159mg 7% Total Carbohydrate 14g 5% Dietary Fiber 13g 52% Sugars 2g 0% Protein 15g 31% Vitamin A 42% • Vitamin C 162% Calcium 52% • Iron 57% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. according to cronometer.com