Low-Carb Recipe: Crockpot Mushroom Soup

This tasty low-carb recipe will cook in your crockpot while you're busy with other things, and it takes hardly any prep time. Makes a great side dish or quick lunch. For more protein, add 2 cups cooked diced chicken or beef (works great with beef stew cubes - just lightly brown them and add with rest of ingredients) - then set and forget!

Crockpot Mushroom Soup
(Serves 2-4.)

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp light oil
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced or grated
2 cups chicken broth or stock
1/2 cup half-and-half
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese optional

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, add the mushrooms and cook until soft and slightly browned.
2. Add the onion, cooking until transparent.
3. Add the garlic, cooking for 1 more minute. Scrape this mixture from the skillet into your crockpot.
4. Add the chicken broth, stir.
5. Cover crockpot, set heat on LOW, and cook for 5 to 6 hours.
6. Turn heat off, remove cover, stir, and add half-and-half, stir. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.
7. Let sit for 5 minutes, then serve in soup mugs.
8. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

Healthy Breakfast Recipe: Mini Muffin Quiches

As we discussed on Monday, starting your day with a healthy breakfast is important for reaching your weight loss goals. Breaking your fast with some good protein, healthy fats, and veggies will give your body the nutrition it needs for a healthy kick-start to the day - no coffee required!

Healthy Bites Mini Muffin Quiches
(Makes 1 dozen mini quiches.)

 (Photo credit: smcgee)

Ingredients:

8 oz. all-natural (preferably organic) turkey breakfast sausage, removed from casing & crumbled or chopped small
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 eggs
1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (with rack in center of oven.) Spray or oil a mini-muffin tin (12 cups).
2. Put a large skillet on stovetop burner on medium-high heat; add sausage and cook stirring until golden brown; remove sausage to a bowl and set aside.
3. Add the olive oil to the skillet on medium-high heat, and add mushrooms, cooking and stirring until mushrooms have softened and are slightly browned; remove mushrooms to the same bowl with the sausage and let cool slightly.
4. Add the green onions, Swiss cheese, and black pepper, and mix well.
5. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and milk and whisk together.
6. Pour even amounts of this egg mixture to the muffin cups.
7. Add a heaping tablespoon of the sausage mixture into each cup on top of the egg mixture.
8. Put muffin tin in oven and bake until the tops are beginning to get golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. 
9. Remove from oven and cool in the tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes. 
10. Flip muffins out by placing another cooling rack on top of the cooled muffins in the tins, then flipping it upside down and urging the muffins out. Turn the muffins over so they're standing up and let them cool to room temperature.

Serve as a snack, breakfast, brunch, lunch, or even a light dinner.  You can tweak this to your specific diet by replacing the whole eggs with egg whites, trying different types of cheese, or increasing or decreasing the amount of turkey sausage versus vegetables, or using other vegetables entirely.

Recipe - Stuffed Acorn Squash with Couscous & Mushrooms

Here is a new one I came up with last night to use up some of my CSA veggies. I might make a couple of tweaks next time, but they turned out really good, and once the squash is baked, they don't take long to throw together. (This makes extra filling, so you may want to add another squash or two into the recipe. Or you can just eat the leftover filling by itself, or in pita-pockets - it's yummy!)

Of course you could substitute ground beef for the venison (I just had ground venison on hand, and I like it better anyway), and other types of mushrooms. I think it would probably also be good with quinoa instead of the couscous. Feel free to experiment on your own of course!

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Couscous & Mushrooms (Serves 4)

Ingredients:
4 medium to large acorn squash, washed, cut in half lengthwise, with seeds removed
2TB extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb ground venison (or lean grass-fed ground beef)
6-8 medium to large shitake mushrooms, washed, stems removed
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup whole wheat couscous
Sour cream & cilantro (for garnish, if desired)

Directions: 
1. Bake squash at 350-degrees (F) about 45 minutes, or until fork-tender.

2. In the meantime, prepare veggies, and cook onion in 1 TB olive oil in large skillet over medium heat about 5 minutes. Add ground meat, breaking up well with a wooden spoon until crumbly. Cook and stir occasionally until browned.

 3. Meanwhile, clean and dice mushrooms.

4. Add garlic to meat, and stir, about 1-2 minutes. Add cumin, chili powder, oregano, thyme, and 1/2 tsp salt. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Remove meat from pan.

5. Add remaining TB olive oil to skillet. Add mushrooms and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, until soft. Season with ground pepper and 1/2 tsp salt.

6. Meanwhile, heat 1 cup water to boiling in small sauce pan. Remove from heat and stir in couscous. Cover and let sit at least 5 minutes.

7. When squash is done, remove from oven, turn cut sides up, and let sit a few minutes.

8. Add meat to mushrooms, and stir well, over low heat, until hot. Turn off heat, and stir in couscous. Mix everything together well.

9. Fill each squash half with the meat mixture, pressing down well, and mounding it up in the middle.
10. Place tray back in oven, at 350-degrees, and cook about 10 minutes.
11. Serve hot, garnished with sour cream and cilantro, if desired.

Recipe-Linguini Carbonara with Organic Bacon & Mushrooms

I came up with this recipe this week when I was in the mood for pasta. I had just gotten some naturally raised pork bacon in my CSA share, and also had loads of yummy fresh organic veggies on hand from my Winter Veggie CSA, so I wanted to come up with a fairly quick dinner. The results were great, though I wished I'd had  more Parmesan cheese (I've included the amount I wished I had, in the recipe below).

Linguini Carbonara - Finished

Linguini Carbonara with Bacon & Mushrooms: (Serves: 4-6; Difficulty: Intermediate)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb shitake (or other) mushrooms
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 strips natural cured bacon
2 c. whole milk (preferably non-homogenized, or at least organic; may also use half-and-half, or lower fat milk cut with cream)
2 TB flour
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
8-oz dry linguini or other pasta (I like mixing whole wheat with some regular, for texture and variety of taste)
1 bag (approx. 12-oz to 1-lb) fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped
Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste


Directions:
1. Bring large pot of water to boil for the pasta.
2. Fry bacon in large skillet over medium heat, flipping occasionally, until slices are crispy. Then remove and drain on paper towels. Pour off some of the bacon grease into a dish (save this in case you need a little later), and reserve about 1 TB in the skillet.
3. Meanwhile, prepare onions and garlic,  wash mushrooms and remove stems. Discard stems, and slice shitake caps into strips.
4. Add onions and mushrooms to bacon fat in skillet, reduce heat to medium-low and saute about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, 'til tender and onions are golden brown. (You may cover the skillet for part of this time, if you want them to cook a little faster.) Add a bit more bacon grease if needed.
5. Add minced garlic, fresh ground pepper, and salt, and cook and stir for about 1-2 minutes more.
6. Add pasta to boiling water in pot, stir well, lower heat to medium, and cover. Stir occasionally.
6. Sprinkle flour into the skillet over vegetables, and stir well to coat. Increase heat to medium.
7. Begin adding milk gradually, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly. Keep stirring until sauce is smooth and the consistency of thick cream. Do NOT let it boil. If sauce still seems to thick, add a bit more milk, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
8. Remove skillet from heat.
9. Add spinach into pasta pot and cover.
10. Dice bacon finely, add to sauce in skillet, and stir well.
11. Stir pasta, test for doneness, and if done, drain pasta and spinach in colander.
12. Put pasta and spinach in large bowl, and pour sauce over. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and mix well.
13. Serve hot, with a fresh green salad.

As always, experiment, and have fun! Some possible substitutions: different types of mushrooms, diced green or red bell peppers, Romano or other similar cheeses instead of Parmesan, also, try adding shrimp - it would probably be great in this dish - I just didn't have any on hand. If you add shrimp, add it with the garlic, and then cook and extra minute or two until it is pink, before you add the milk/cream.

Enjoy! And feel free to share your thoughts or ideas below!

Recipe - Shitake Mushroom & Arugula Omelet

Here is a great CSA breakfast (or lunch, or dinner)!  (I made this this morning, using eggs, mushrooms, and greens from my CSA share.)

Shitake & Arugula Omelet

Delicious and filling, this is chock full of healthy goodness! (For the most health benefits, use all fresh organic ingredients, and make sure the eggs are from  pasture-raised chickens.)  Use more or less to expand the recipe easily - as listed below, will feed one to two people.



CSA Omelet with Shitake Mushrooms & Arugula (Serves 1-2)

Ingredients:
4-5 small to medium shitake mushrooms
Handful of young, tender arugula ("rocket") greens
2 TB real butter (preferably organic)
2-4 eggs (organic, from pasture-fed hens), beaten well
1/4 cup shredded cheese (Cheddar, Colby, Swiss, etc.)
Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Slice shitake mushrooms into thin strips.
2. Melt 1 TB butter in large skillet until it foams. Add shitakes and saute, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes (you may wish to cover the pan for part of this time, but remove cover to let any liquid evaporate for last couple of minutes).
3. Meanwhile, wash arugula and shake dry. Remove stems, and tear leaves into pieces.
4. Add arugula to mushrooms, stir well, cover, and cook 1-2 minutes longer.
5. Add remaining 1 TB of butter and stir to melt, making sure bottom of pan is coated. Spread mushrooms & greens evenly in bottom of skillet.
6. Pour eggs gently over vegetables to cover. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover pan tightly.
7. Let cook 2-3 minutes, then rotate pan, turn off heat, and let sit 3 minutes more, or until eggs are firm and cheese is melted.
8. Slide onto a plate and season with salt & fresh ground pepper (we like Himalayan Pink Salt especially well, both for its taste and health benefits)

(For more on CSAs, as well as cooking from scratch and other related topics, visit www.newholisticliving.com. )