Some Metabolic Balance clients have Shiitake or Pleurotis or Oyster Mushrooms on their plans and especially in Phase 2 it is for most a kind of challenge to make a decent meal with it! Shiitake and Pleurotis are a great source of vegetarian protein and are actually very versatile and easy to use, especially if you make a soup of it!
The soup is meant as a means of transportation for the mushrooms and the vegetables!
Shiitake Mushrooms with Vegetable Soup
Ingredients for 1 Portion:
130g Shiitake Mushrooms (dried 10%)
135g vegetablese like chinese cabbage, paksoi
spring onion
1 tsp organic vegetable stock (like Morga or Naturata)
250 ml water
1 cm fresh ginger
red chili
Preparation:
Make the soup, take a big pan, put water and vegetable stock powder and the cleaned ginger in it and cook for 5 minutes. Cut your vegetables in stripes and the mushrooms in stripes too. Give everyting in the soup and cook for another 2 minutes . In Phase 3 you can add some Tamaris Soy sauce (gluten free) to it, some spring onions cut in rings and a bit of chili flakes or red chili (towards the end). Cook it in sesame or coconut oil in phase 3 is super too!
This very nutritious dish takes less than 10 minutes to prepare! To make the Asian experience complete use an Asian spoon.
Variation nr. 2: Make it with tofu instead of with mushrooms!
Kale is an absolute staple in Winter in Dutch kitchens. We typically eat it with a fatty sausage on top and we make a little hole in the mash and add some gravy in it! I love kale but not with all the added calories, i think it is a great dish if you want to eat something balanced and alkaline, the potatoes bind the acids nicely and kale is full of vitamins and minerals aswell. I have added some minced meat that i season quite heavily and i personally like to add some sambal oelek to this dish so it is nice and spicy!
Kale-Potato Mash
(serves 4)
Ingredients
1 kg potatoes (the mehlig kochend – or floury – kind)
700g kale (cut up with a chopper or blender)
500g minced meat (beef or half-half with minced pork or minced lamb)
25g butter
1 tbsp. vinegar
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
You’ll also need a potato masher (hand-held kitchen tool).
Preparation
Bring a pot of water to the boil.
In the meantime, peel, wash and dice the potatoes.
Add a dash of salt and the potatoes to the water, and boil until done (ca. 20 minutes).
Add the kale, cover with a lid, and cook for another 10 minutes. The kale will shrink!
In a separate pan, cook the minced meat in olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Once the potatoes and kale are cooked, discard the cooking liquid, reserving 1 cup.
In the now-empty pot, mash the potatoes and kale by hand. Add the cooking liquid as needed, until you get the consistency you like.
Add the minced meat and mix well.
Just before serving, add a pat of butter, a dash of salt or pepper if needed, and the vinegar, and you’re done!
Note: This dish can also be eaten with sausage or some vegan wienerli (sausage replacements) or soy meat.
I love minestrone soup, it is so easy to make and the flavours are just lovely. It also fills you up on a cold day or when you just come from the office, it is so easy to quickly heat up and have a full fledges meal in no time. Just takes a little bit of planning ahead that’s all!
Italian Minestrone soup
(serves 4)
Ingredients
2 cans white beans, rinsed
150g celery, sliced (using the green, top section of the stalk, leaves reserved)
200g potatoes, diced (to bind)
200g carrots, diced
200g leek, sliced into rings
200g kohlrabi, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tbsp. olive oil
1.3L organic vegetable stock
2 tomatoes
salt & pepper to taste
Preparation
Cut the celery stalk, reserving the leaves, into small cubes.
Heat the olive oil in a pan, and add all the vegetables, stirring well.
Add the chopped onion and minced garlic. Cook 5 minutes on medium-high heat.
Add the vegetable stock, and for 15 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and white beans, and cook on medium heat for another 15 minutes.
Chop the celery leaves finely.
Before serving, season to taste, sprinkling chopped celery leaves over each bowl.
For my clients (and for me too) this is my absolute favourite bean or lentil stew recipe. You can pop it in the oven and make sure you set the oven’s alarm at 40 minutes to check if lentils or beans are properly cooked, they should still have a bit of a bite.
Excellent dish in the afternoon (to heat up) to keep your cravings at bay and your energy levels high and your tummy full! Enjoy.
I am really curious what you think of this dish, will you let me know in the comment`s?
Bean/Lentil Stew with vegetables
(serves 4)
Ingredients
500g vegetables (divided into 4 equal portions of 125g each):
Zucchini, celery stalks or celeriac, shallots, tomatoes
300g dried beans (NOT canned)
3 tbsp. rosemary
2 garlic cloves
8,5 dl (850ml) vegetable stock
salt & pepper to taste
balsamic vinegar (just before serving)
Preparation
Preheat the oven on 160°C.
Wash the beans, and clean and cut the vegetables into bite-size pieces.
Heat an oven-safe pot or pan and cook the garlic, rosemary, and vegetables together in a splash of olive oil.
Add the washed beans, cook for 5 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock, cover the pan, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Place the covered pan in the pre-heated oven. Bake for 60 minutes or slightly longer, as needed (keep the beans ’al dente’, though!).
Stir the beans a few times, making sure that they’ve absorbed the vegetable stock.
Before serving, add 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
Heat it up, serve it cold, or freeze it! The prep for this meal is very easy, you just need to factor in your oven time.
Our first Indian Cooking Course was a big hit, together with Namratha Sethi, my neighbour and great cook and caterer at Taste of India, we organised the course, 5 people joined just enough to all stand around the kitchen table and see all the raw ingredients turn into absolute delicacies! We’ll do it again next year. This was one of the wonderful recipes we made.
Indian Chicken Curry
(serves 4 – 6)
Ingredients
1kg chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces, washed and patted dry
4-5 tbsp. oil
1 bay leaf
4 cloves*
2 black cardamoms
4-5 tomatoes (500gr) chopped
5 medium size onions (600gr) chopped
3 cm ginger, peeled and freshly grated
10-12 flakes garlic, very finely chopped
½ tsp salt or to taste
½ tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp. coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric
Preparation
ln a heavy pan, heat the oil. Add the bay leaf, cloves and cardamom.
Fry for few seconds.
Add the ginger and garlic, frying for 1 minute until slightly golden.
Add onions, fry on medium heat until they turn golden brown and translucent.
Add chicken; cook for 5-7 minutes on medium-high until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through.
Add salt, red chilli, turmeric, coriander powder and garam masala.
Add tomatoes. Cook for about 8-10 minutes until the tomatoes blend well with onions.
Stir every few minutes.
Add 2 cups of water and boil. Cover and cook on low heat until the chicken becomes tender and you get a nice masala gravy.
Do you fancy cabbage, kale, root- and warm vegetables, rather than a cold salad this winter? Then read on! And guess what? They also happen to be the healthiest winter vegetables (in Europe). Some veggies are a bit difficult to get, but it’s certainly worth going to the trouble, because they’re packed with goodness!
The topinambour contains lots of vitamins, minerals, and fibre, and very few calories! Make it your best friend, as it stimulates calcium absorption in the body, protecting your bones from osteoporosis! I have to admit, though, I had never tried this root vegetable before – shame on me as a nutritionist! But to be honest, they do look a little scary, don’t they? But this week, I tried them and was pleasantly surprised by how yummy they actually are! What a lovely, subtle nutty flavour – and they’re so crisp if you eat them raw and thinly-sliced. What an absolutely great discovery! I ate it raw with some roasted hazelnut oil by the way – and it was delicious. It really doesn’t need much dressing up at all!
Cauliflower
Packed with vitamin C and calcium, cauliflower’s polyphenols – which, in fact, give it its particular flavour – are what we call ‘bio-active substances’ that may reduce the risk of cancer – as is typical of all plant substances in the same family.
Kale
Kale is – with its Vitamin C and E, beta carotene, iron and calcium content – the absolute healthiest winter vegetable! It’s above all also full of fibres. Use it in the place of spinach in your everyday recipes, or try them in chip form – it couldn’t be easier: Tear big pieces of kale off the centre stem, put them in a bowl, add a few tablespoons of olive oil, a sprinkling of sea salt, and they’re ready to go! Just put them in the oven at 160C for about 15 minutes, and they’ll get completely crisp. The kids love them!
Kohlrabi
Part of the cabbage family, kohlrabi is rich in calcium, beta carotene, vitamin C and potassium. It’s also poor in calories. Kohlrabi can be eaten raw as well as cooked; try it thinly sliced in salads, or cut up and roasted in the oven. Try Googling ‟kohlrabi recipes” and you’ll see that there are lots of options!
Sweet in taste, parsnips are full of iron, potassium, copper, manganese, phosphorous, calcium, essential oils, folic acid and vitamins E, C and B. Parsnip essential oil can bring relief to stomach and intestinal complaints, and is also used to treat a number of health complaints such as kidney disorders, heart problems, blood pressure, obesity, anaemia and asthma – to name but a few!
Leek
In the allium family, leeks contain a unique combination of flavonoids. Rich in vitamins A, B1 and B2, C and E, it is also full of potassium, phosphorous, and manganese. Rich in sulphur, they are known to inhibit infection and are especially useful in preventing kidney stones from developing.
Red cabbage
The anthocyans (purple colour) in red cabbage have inflammation-inhibiting qualities and an anti-oxidant effect. Eat red cabbage raw to benefit from the most vitamins, as the vitamin content diminishes when it is cook. It is rich in iron, as well, making it an especially useful friend for us women!
Black salsify contains potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and copper. This vegetable has a relaxing effect, improves your night’s rest, and nurtures your hair from the inside out!
Brussels Sprouts
I can safely say that Brussels sprouts must be every single Dutch child’s least favourite vegetable (at least for me! But hey, they are packed with health benefits, so our parents were right to force us to eat them! Brussels sprouts contain twice as much vitamin C as an orange, and are rich in the B-vitamins, as well as minerals. Try them oven-roasted with balsamic vinegar and sea salt – they’re divine!
Light beige in colour, parsley root is a variety of the parsley family, reminiscent taste-wise of parsnips and celeriac. The root is rich in carotene, vitamins B2 and C, and strengthens the immune system, boosting your vitamin C absorption. Usually eaten cooked, it can also be eaten raw.
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