"Sausage" Casserole

      This started out as just a fridge clean-out meal and may become a comfort food favorite.

I used: 
1 med onion 
About 10 large shitake mushrooms, diced 
1 lb Gimme Lean "Sausage" 
1 cup steamed chopped kale or other dark leafy green 
1/2 lb steamed brussels sprouts 
3 med red potatoes, microwaved for 2 min then sliced (don't burn your fingers!) 
1/4 - 1/3 cup organic low sodium veggie broth 
Sprinkling of pepper, oregano, paprika, and chili power or BAM (by Emeril Legasse)

      First, I chopped the onions and let them sit for at least 5 minutes.  In the meantime, I diced up the shitakes (I found some at the farmer's market, bonus!), and started to fry up the sausage in a tbls or so of grapeseed oil.  Then I threw in about 3/4 of the chopped onion and all the diced shitake.
      
      While that sauteed, I put a layer of the sliced potatoes in the bottom of the casserole dish.  Once the "sausage" was heated through and the onions started to get transparent, I added the mixture on top of the potatoes. On top of that, I layered the last of the onion, the chopped kale (leftover from an earlier meal - any dark leafy green will work), and the brussels sprouts (which I cut in half).

      I then sprinkled the dish with the veggie broth and topped with another layer of potatoes.  Sprinkle on the seasonings, and bake uncovered at 375 until the potatoes start to crisp.  Makes an amazing comfort food  

      A note about "fake meats:"

      I have mentioned before that I am not a fan of “fake meat,” as you buy it from the grocery store.  To be sure, it is MUCH better than the inhumane, processed, chemical filled meat products from factory farms you find in the grocery store, but “fake meat” is still a processed food.

       But for all my ruminating and pronouncing on health and ethical eating, we still have our vices, and fake meat is one we’re not giving up just yet.  We eat some fake meat product probably once a week.  Most often, it’s “fake” breakfast “sausage,” like the Gimme Lean used in this recipe.

      I neither endorse nor indict fake meat products.  I use them, but I use them sparingly as they are a processed food.  Most of the time, if I need a “meat substitute,” or something to fill a meat-like role in a recipe, I try to do that with more whole foods like Tempah.  For a couple excellent uses of Tempah, please check out Sloppy Joes and Mexican Lasagna. 

Mama's Cold Remedy Soup

     Most - I think all - kid's cold remedies and expectorants have been  taken off the market. So when Flintstone came down with a cold I can only imagine he picked up from the Dr's office the other day, I found myself searching for a way to give him some relief.

     For pretty much everyone I know, the go to at home remedy for a cold  (besides a hot toddy - can't give Flintstone one of those!) Is chicken soup. WELL, we don't have any humane local chicken handy this week, and really the negative health effects of eating meat outweigh any minor positives in the
"remedy," so I started from scratch.

     This is a very flexible recipe. There are a few "essential"n ingredients, ones I'm labelling as such because they have healing or helping properties, and the rest is up to you!

     Onion - Essential - I always dice the onion first in any recipe and  let it sit for at least five minutes. This maximizes the nutritional benefits of the food since it gives time for the chemicals to mingle and  create super healthy compounds. For my purposes, I just chop the onion in first and throw it in the bottom of the pot (not over heat). I'm not into  dirtying a whole bunch of dishes to hole all the ingredients - one pot, one
knife, one cutting board, and the countertop compost container.

     Garlic - essential - I put a lot of garlic in this recipe. Garlic is  known for it's cold fighting properties, and, as such this is a very garlicy soup. Fresh is best, and the same chop (or crush) first and let sit health
rules apply. Use as much garlic as you can stand (or have!).

     Chili pepper - essential - This soup should be somewhat spicy. The  chili pepper is an excellent decongestant and improves circulation, which is very important when you're sick. We happened to have an unbelievable Crop of chilis in the garden this year, so I used fresh, but I also threw in  some red pepper flakes and chili powder for good measure.  I also added a generous sprinkling of regular ground pepper, but I put that in just about everything.


      Carrots and Celery - flavor essential - this iss just the sort of soup that calls for the flavors of carrots and celery.  I recommend organic celery because it is one of the "dirty dozen" typically the highest pesticide produce, and is pretty easy to find organic.  I used our last carrot (organic, of course) then had to resort to using the organic shredded carrot MacGyver keeps on hand for sandwiches.  Whatever works.

      Salt - essential - This is probably the only time you'll hear me recommend adding salt to anything.  I feel that the US American diet is already over inundated with sodium, and, as such I rarely cook with it.  But here (depending on how much sodium is in your broth - we buy the lowest sodium organic brand our store carries), salt is necessary for taste and to sooth a coughing throat.  You can use whatever kind of salt you prefer - sea salt, kosher, whatever.  But if  you're pregnant, I recommend using iodized salt.  Pregnant women often don't get enough iodine (a necessary nutrient) because it is generally left out of prenatal vitamins.

      Shitake Mushrooms - Essential - you CAN leave these out if you really really want to, or you can substitute other mushrooms, but I don't recommend it.  Shitake mushrooms are PACKED with disease fighting properties and vital nutrients.  They add a lot to this soup.

      Herbs - in this soup, fresh is always best.  Normally, I don't feel too guilty about using dried herbs if that's all we have on hand, but I think this soup benefits a lot from the oils in fresh herbs.  I used rosemary and oregano from our garden and a lot of tried Thyme since thyme is not one of the half dozen or so herbs we grow and Thyme has great antiseptic properties and tastes great in this soup.




      Veggie Broth - Essential - I ALWAYS have at least one box of it in the pantry.  I use it all the time.  We buy organic because it's easy to find and generally doesn't cost any more than regular veggie broth.  Seriously, veggie broth is awesome.  You should start using it to replace all animal broths immediately.

 

      From there, you add whatever other veggies you happen to have on hand.  Since I made this Saturday morning before we went to the Farmer's Market, we were out of almost everything.  I used broccoli,  peas, corn, and a few new potatoes (skin on!).  Just chop up the veggies (onion and plentiful garlic first) and throw them into the pot as you go.  Pour in the veggie broth, add the herbs, salt, and pepper, and simmer until you reach desired flavor/texture.  Throw in some whole wheat noodles for a kid pleasing touch.

      What foods to you serve when you or someone in your care is sick?  What are your comfort foods and home remedy recipes?

Curried Kale and Sweet Potatoes - Hands Down Family Favorite

Originally posted:

Jan 8, 2010 7:47 AM

We went fully vegetarian this week mostly to make up for our sins over the holidays, but also because Punky has started to exhibit increased sadness over the animals that die for us eat. We usually eat a lot of vegetarian foods, but we do have lean meats with dinner a few times a week. This week, though, we didn't. All veggies, and it went swimmingly (except for one cocktail party we had on Base - Marines don't do vegetarian options all that well).

Last night, I tried a new recipe, Curried Mustard Greens & Beans with Sweet Potatoes. It was awesome! MacGyver and Punky LOVED it. I only wish I would've thought to take a picture before we all ate most of it. In addition to being super nutritious and yummy, it was beautiful!  The picture was taken with my phone and doesn't nearly capture the vibrant colors in this dish!

The recipe is from a site I've mentioned before, World's Healthiest Foods.  I love WHFoods.  I get a weekly feed from them with the in-depth nutritional profile of various foods, and there are a bunch of super healthy, easy recipes that you can search according to what ingredients you want to include and what you'd like to exclude.

The recipe is below.  I substituted dark kidney beans for the garbanzos because MacGyver doesn't like garbanzo beans, and I added ground flax seeds (we add flax - or wheat germ, etc. to pretty much everything).

Enjoy!

Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced thin
• 3 medium cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 TBS + 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 bunch mustard greens, stems removed, chopped
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained
• 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• salt and white pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil in a steamer with a tight fitting lid. Peel and slice sweet potatoes in fairly thin slices so they will steam quickly (about 5-10 minutes).
2. While steaming potatoes, slice onion and garlic. Heat 1 TBS broth in 12 inch skillet. Healthy Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes stirring frequently, until translucent. Add 1/4 cup broth, garlic, curry powder, turmeric, and mustard greens. Stir occasionally until mustard greens are wilted, about 5 minutes. Add garbanzo beans, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Mash sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. If you need to thin potatoes more you can add a little broth. Serve mustard greens with mashed sweet potatoes.