Pamela, Author at Pamela Salzman

Year of the rabbit

Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. Many of our children are learning about different celebrations from around the world in school and I love reinforcing these traditions at home. My son is always excited to share details about the Chinese New Year parade at his school and any special foods he ate. I usually make a simple Chinese-themed meal at home to get everyone in the spirit. Two recipes I posted recently are Vegetable Fried Rice and Asian Noodle Salad. But to fully understand the significance of Chinese New Year, I turned to my sister-in-law, Andrea Hutter, a student of Traditional Chinese Medicine and a licensed acupuncturist in Los Angeles.

Andrea:

February 3, 2011 marks this year’s Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival. Chinese New Year has been celebrated for nearly 5,000 years and is the most significant holiday in China. It can be likened to our Christmas and New Year’s celebrations combined into one. This is the year of the Metal Rabbit.

Metal represents this year’s five elements energetic phase (the five elements include metal, water, wood, fire and earth), which predicts the global trends that affect us on a personal level. Metal types are brave, disciplined, trained, organized, authoritative, honorable, determinative, routine, firm, resolute and have an urge to win. They are sensitive in grief and sadness.

The Rabbit represents the zodiac animal year, or ben ming nian. The Rabbit person is diplomatic, and has grace, culture and beautiful manners. Although rabbit people get on well with everyone, at heart they are basically reserved creatures, and are only really happy when they are engrossed in some sort of scholarly or intellectual activity. The Rabbit year brings an inward focus, which includes taking better care of our health and well being.

In keeping with the Rabbit’s inward focus, there are many ways that we can take better care of ourselves using another 5 thousand year old tradition, Chinese Medicine, which encompasses acupuncture, tui na, qi gong and Chinese herbal medicine. Chinese medicine is based on the precept that you can prevent illness from occurring in the first place, through acupuncture treatment, meditation, or qi gong, and by eating healing foods and taking herbs that possess healing properties. Many people are surprised to find out that foods commonly found in the Western kitchen are actually also deeply effective Chinese “herbs.” Some examples of these herbs are spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, which warm the digestion and help dispel dampness in the body that is brought on by eating fatty, fried and processed foods. Rice is commonly added to Chinese herb formulas to lessen the harsh properties of some stronger herb combinations, and honey is used to help the body rid itself of phlegm and calm coughs.

In keeping with Chinese Medicine, elements and zodiac years, the feast of Chinese New Year is paramount to the whole holiday celebration. The dishes served during Lunar New Year are symbolic of things positive and hopeful. Since we all love an excuse to celebrate, why not break out your favorite red clothing, commonly donned by Chinese people for good fortune, and cook up some delicious Citrus Chicken, a symbolic Chinese New Year dish. In China, the orange or tangerine symbolizes gold, which in turn represents good fortune and wealth in the coming year. I would serve this with rice and some stir-fried green vegetables.

This recipe uses several common foods that are also Chinese herbs. Examples are orange zest, or chen pi, which removes stagnation in the body, including the GI tract; ginger root, also known as sheng jiang is anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory, and effectively aids in curing the common cold, or wind cold invasions, while its warming actions calm stomach upset; green onions or scallions, known as cong bai, release exterior pathogens and induce sweating in the early stages of the common cold, aid in abdominal pain and nasal congestion and/or can be applied topically for dispersing masses – abscesses, sores, etc. The healing properties of this recipe will make your celebratory meal both delicious and healthful.

Happy New Year, or Xīnnián kuàilè!

Andrea Hutter, aCHIeve acupuncture

424.234.9974

[email protected]

www.achieveacupuncture.com

andrea’s citrus chicken

sauce:

1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons shoyu (naturally fermented soy sauce)
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder or non-GMO cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Pour 1 1/2 cups water, orange juice, lemon juice, rice vinegar, and shoyu into a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir in the orange zest, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, chopped onion, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool 10 to 15 minutes.
Place the chicken pieces into a resealable plastic bag. When contents of saucepan have cooled, pour 1 cup of sauce into bag. Reserve the remaining sauce. Seal the bag, and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
In another resealable plastic bag, mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Add the marinated chicken pieces, seal the bag, and shake to coat.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken into the skillet, and brown on both sides. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels, and cover with aluminum foil.
Wipe out the skillet, and add the sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix together the arrowroot and 2 tablespoons water; stir into the sauce. Reduce heat to medium low, add the chicken pieces, and simmer, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Vegetable fried rice recipe

When parents struggle with “what to make for dinner,” one tip I like to offer is to find a dish that everyone likes to eat when you go out, and try to make it at home. Fried rice, however, is a food that I thought I could never make at home. I don’t know why it seemed to be out of my cooking league and only something the family could enjoy on the three annual birthday trips to Benihana. But the last time we were there for Mr. Picky’s birthday, I watched in amazement at what it took for our chef to make fried rice — not a lot! I could make this at home! I took mental notes of what was used on the griddle — cold rice, beaten eggs, a few vegetables, soy sauce and a curious creamy spread our chef told me was “garlic butter.” Hmmm…..

Before I gave this a go at home, I needed to check around a bit to see if there was anything else I needed to know. It seems that fried rice is actually pretty straightforward provided you do one very important thing — use cold, cooked rice. Warnings abounded wherever I turned — one can never, ever, possibly even consider making fried rice with fresh rice otherwise you will have a mushy, disastrous mess. One thing you need to know about me is that I am a naysayer. Oh, really? Well I need to see it to believe it. And I that’s how I learned….never to use fresh rice when making fried rice because I’m here to tell you that you will indeed have a mushy, disastrous mess.

Fried rice is something that was invented in order to use up leftover rice and whatever bits of vegetables and meat you have from the night before. It is eaten as a snack in China, never as a meal. Don’t tell my kids, because they’re getting it as an entree. When you add scrambled eggs, peas, shiitake mushrooms and broccoli to long-grain brown rice, you have yourself plenty of protein. I often pack this the next day in a stainless thermos for the kids’ lunch and I have enjoyed it for breakfast as well. It is actually the perfect little meal with protein, good carbs, and some fat for stable blood sugar and long-lasting energy.

Stir-frying anything requires all your chopping to be done in advance since things move so quickly. You can get this out of the way as early as the night before, if you want. If you have leftover rice and all your vegetables are prepped ahead, fried rice can be cooked in minutes. Traditionally in China, the eggs are added with the rice so that the egg coats each grain of rice. I do it a little differently since Mr. Picky doesn’t enjoy eggs yet. I cook the beaten eggs in ghee (a clarified butter great for higher heat cooking) first and then remove them, chop them up and add them in at the end. That way Mr. Picky can pick out all the egg easily.

You can really add whatever vegetables you have on hand and you certainly don’t need to use as many as I do. (The vegetables above were used in fried rice I made for a class where the recipe was doubled.) The key is to dice everything pretty small, about the size of peas, although the broccoli can be slightly larger. That way you can stir-fry them in the wok or pan and you don’t need to blanche them in a separate saucepan. I like washing dishes as much as Mr. Picky likes eggs. If your picky eater won’t go for brown rice, he’ll never know it here. The shoyu is going to change the color of the rice to brown anyway. To make this gluten-free, substitute wheat-free tamari and you’re all set. Vegans can drop the egg, use all sesame oil and still enjoy a high-protein dish. Don’t forget — Chinese New Year begins on February 3rd!

Vegetable Fried Rice

Pamela

5 from 1 vote

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Servings as a side dish, 4 as a main

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons ghee divided
2 large eggs beaten
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil plus more for drizzling if desired
1 teaspoon grated or minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves minced
4 scallions sliced thinly on the diagonal
Vegetables:
1 carrot diced
1 onion diced
½ cup frozen peas defrosted
Handful of shiitake mushrooms stems removed; caps wiped clean and diced
1 head broccoli cut into very small florets and stems diced, about 2 cups
4 cups COLD COOKED brown rice, preferably long-grain
2 Tablespoons shoyu or more to taste I tend to go more
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish optional

Instructions

Heat a wok or large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon ghee. Scramble the eggs in the pan until cooked through. Transfer the eggs to a cutting board and set aside.
Add 1 Tablespoon sesame oil and 1 Tablespoon ghee to the wok. Saute the ginger, garlic and scallions until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the vegetables and sauté until softened. Add the rice and shoyu and toss everything around in the wok until heated through. Chop up the cooked eggs and stir into the rice. Taste for seasoning and add additional shoyu or sesame oil, if desired. Sprinkle with sesame seeds for fun!

Notes

If you are using leftover cooked vegetables or meat, dice them up and add with the rice.

I shared this recipe with Healthy Child, Healthy World!

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Asian noodle salad recipe

I really don’t think anyone needs another way to get pasta into his or her diet, or peanut butter for that matter, but I can’t help myself here. I taught this Asian noodle salad in a class last year and I still haven’t tired of it. However, the pasta in this dish isn’t just your run-of-the-mill white flour spaghetti, which you certainly don’t need to eat any more of than you already do, but soba. Soba noodles are a Japanese pasta made with buckwheat. Most of the soba noodles I see in the markets are a wheat and buckwheat blend. But you can find ones made with 100% buckwheat, which is not a wheat at all, but a seed related to the rhubarb plant. Buckwheat also happens to be gluten-free, full of fiber and protein and contains a very cool compound called rutin which is helpful in lowering blood pressure.

If you are trying to limit your gluten, I would not only give you a pat on the back, but I would like to encourage you to try the all-buckwheat noodles. Let me just forewarn you of a few things. Be prepared for a much nuttier, more assertive flavor than a traditional noodle, almost earthy. I will say, it works perfectly with a peanut sauce. It is quite a bit more expensive, too, almost $8.00 for 8 ounces. But more importantly, it demands a bit of babysitting when you’re cooking it. There’s a gumminess that leaches into the cooking water that can foam up and overflow all over your stovetop in an instant. One minute you’re stirring your pot diligently but you turn to your daughter to say, “how was your test today?” and the next minute you have a volcanic eruption that puts out the gas flame on your stove. Not to discourage you or anything, I’m just saying this could happen to you if you’re not paying attention.

I love any recipe where I can work in a few more vegetables. Here I went the basic route with some Napa cabbage, a few shreds of purple cabbage and carrots because not much else is in season right now. But I have been know to add in raw red bell pepper strips and cucumber in the Summer and blanched asparagus and sliced raw sugar snap peas in the Spring (Mr. Picky’s favorite). If you’re like me and you don’t think cilantro tastes like soap, you can chop a few sprigs and add that, too. This makes a perfect dish to bring to a potluck since it can be made ahead of time and stays well at room temperature. Your lunchbox radar should be going off right now — perfect for school lunches provided your school allows peanut products. If you can’t eat peanuts, try this with sesame tahini or cashew butter instead. For a gluten-free version, again, look for 100% buckwheat noodles and wheat-free tamari instead of the shoyu.

Chinese New Year is coming up on February 3rd, so look out for a few more posts before then to get you in the spirit!

Asian Noodle Salad

Pamela

The perfect salad - noodles, peanut butter, and even some hidden vegetables!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 25

Cook Time 15

Total Time 40

Course Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Asian

Servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup unrefined cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 Tablespoons creamy natural peanut butter, preferably organic
1/4 cup shoyu or wheat-free tamari
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 Tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup or raw honey
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1-2 teaspoons red pepper flakes optional
8-10 ounce package soba noodles or noodle of your choice
5 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 large carrot julienned
Other add-ins according to the season: thinly sliced scallions, sweet bell pepper, julienned cucumber, sugar snap or snow peas, rehydrated arame (sea vegetable)

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, peanut butter, shoyu, sesame oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, fresh ginger and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
Place the shredded cabbage in a colander in the sink.
Cook the soba noodles according to the package instructions. Do not go check your email.
Drain the noodles into the colander with the cabbage, which will just wilt the cabbage so you don't have to blanch it in another pot and have an extra thing to wash. Rinse the noodles and cabbage with cold water and shake the colander to drain everything really well. This is important so the dressing adheres to the noodles.
Transfer the noodles and cabbage to a serving bowl. Add the carrots, dressing and any additional vegetables you like and toss well.

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cabbage carrots pasta

Harira recipe

Harira is a Moroccan stew that is traditionally served during Ramadan to break the daily fast. In my house it is a nourishing one-pot meal that is perfect for a chilly winter evening. I have seen many versions of recipes for Harira. Typical ingredients include lentils, chickpeas, rice or vermicelli pasta, tomatoes, onions, fresh herbs, spices and a small amount of meat, such as lamb or beef. I have come up with my own version that is heavier on the grains and legumes with a few handfuls of greens thrown in at the end. This is my kind of food!

One thing I love about Harira is that it’s rich in health-supportive spices. In our country, we tend to shy away from spices like turmeric and ginger which is such a shame, because not only are they delicious, they are incredibly healing, too. These spices and the others used in this Harira are full of phytonutrients, as well as anti-inflammatory and cancer-preventative compounds. Turmeric, in particular, has been hailed as the rock-star spice of late. You may have eaten turmeric before if you’ve had curry. It is what gives curry powder its yellow color. Turmeric is a very powerful liver detoxifier, it improves circulation, is anti-bacterial and to repeat myself — one of the most potent anti-inflammatory substances out there.

I have heard from some parents that they are reluctant to try new flavors at the dinner table, for fear that their kids won’t like them. The best way I have found to introduce new spices is gradually, by adding a little here and there to foods that are already in their comfort zone, such as pasta sauce or stew. You will be giving your family such a gift by opening them up to a whole other world of flavors and healthful foods.

For the vegetarians and vegans out there, don’t pass this recipe by. Just use water or vegetable stock for the chicken stock and double the chickpeas. It’s already gluten-free, in case you were wondering. This recipe makes enough for the 5 of us for dinner, but I double it quite often to get a lunch for the girls the next day. Whatever doesn’t get eaten will freeze beautifully. That wedge of lemon is recommended per person to squeeze on top, and before you think it’s something you can do without, think again! The lemon really brightens the dish and adds the perfect complement to all the earthy flavors.

Harira

Pamela

Harira is a Moroccan stew that is traditionally served during Ramadan to break the daily fast. In my house it is a nourishing one-pot meal that is perfect for a chilly winter evening.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 1 45

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine Moroccan

Servings -6

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons unrefined coconut or olive oil I use coconut
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs (or a combination of both), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
4-5 grinds of black pepper
1 pound fresh tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped OR 1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes with the juice (I used 1/2 box of Pomi since I'm not a fan of canned tomatoes)
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup cooked chickpeas
3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock preferably homemade
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/4 cup long-grain brown rice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
A couple handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves optional, but leafy greens are your friend
1 lemon cut into wedges

Instructions

Season the chicken with sea salt and pepper as early as possible.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces in 2 batches and brown on both sides. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside.
Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook until softened. Add all the spices and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Add the tomatoes with their juice, chickpeas and 1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt. Cook until fragrant.
Return the chicken to the pot with any accumulated juices. Add the stock, lentils and brown rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 50 minutes.
Add cilantro and parsley and cook uncovered for 5 minutes or until the chickpeas are heated through. Stir in the spinach leaves, if using. Ladle into individual bowls and serve with a wedge of lemon.

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chicken chickpeas lentil rice

Boosting the immune system

Between the change in the weather, the stress of the holidays and giving into less-than-healthful party food, it’s no wonder so many people fall prey to viruses and bacteria at this time of year. It’s never too late to focus on boosting your immune system to beat the winter bugs going around.

Here are a few things you can do:

1. Expose yourself to sunlight. Vitamin D is essential to our immune system and the most significant source of it is sunlight. In fact, the winter flu very often is a result of Vitamin D deficiency from a lack of sun exposure. [1] Getting enough sun at this time of year can be a challenge for anyone living far from the equator. If you are unable to get even a little sun each day, consider a cod liver oil supplement as an alternative source of Vitamin D.

2. Get enough rest. Don’t fight nature. Winter is our time to rest and replenish our energy. Never underestimate the power of sleep and its restorative and healing benefits. Try your best to get in your 8 hours.

3. Eat heathfully with an emphasis on immune-boosting foods, such as:

Homemade chicken soup
Japanese mushrooms
Traditionally fermented foods (e.g. kefir, kimchee, miso)
Pumpkin seeds (loaded with Zinc)
Beta-carotene rich foods (e.g. carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash)
Vitamin C-rich foods (e.g. kale, broccoli, spinach)
Fresh garlic
Echinacea or astragalus tea

4. Avoid sugar. Sugar will suppress your immune system almost instantly. Be on the lookout for hidden sugars in your foods such as flavored yogurts, muffins, breakfast cereals, bottled salad dressings, as well as the obvious soda and sweetened beverages, desserts and candy. Eliminating this good-for-nothing substance is one of the best things you can do for your health, both in the short-term and long-term. And before you turn to artificial sweeteners, think again — these are even more acid-forming to the body and more toxic than cane sugar.

5. Keep your hands clean. When you touch people, surfaces and objects throughout the day, your hands pick up a lot of germs. These germs can then enter your body if you touch your mouth, eyes or nose. Although it’s not realistic to keep your hands germ-free, washing your hands frequently with regular soap and water can help cut down on the transfer of bacteria, viruses and other microbes. There is some concern about the potentially harmful effects of certain ingredients in antibacterial soap, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Medical Association.

5. Reduce stress and anxiety. I know, easier said than done. I have a teenager in the house, too. But allowing stress and negative emotions to make themselves at home in the body will create toxins which suppress the immune system. Happier people are shown to succumb to illness less frequently than unhappy people.

[1] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2007 Sep;86(3):714-7

Date-sweetened banana bread recipe

One of my pet peeves is when people label a dessert as “healthy,” and not because that is grammatically incorrect, but rather because desserts have sugar of some form and that will never be “good” for you no matter how much whole wheat flour you throw in there. Of course, you could say one dessert is more healthful than another or that it will lead to the demise of your health less quickly than its traditional counterpart. But to call a dessert healthful because we use yogurt instead of butter, but then add in 3 cups of sugar, is just plain delusional.

Would you call me a hypocrite if I told you I have a recipe for a healthful dessert? I don’t blame you, but stay with me here. I know of a sweet something that calls for no sugar of any kind — not even my favorite, maple syrup. Don’t be silly, I am not going artificial on you! It is a delicious banana bread sweetened only with ripe bananas and pureed dates. Dates grow locally in Southern California, so we have access to some fantastic varieties here, my favorite being the Medjool. If you are ever craving something sweet, but don’t want to give in to processed junk, take a pitted date or two and stick a pecan in the middle. Amazing. I digress. The dates do double duty as sweetener and add moistness so we cut back on some of the butter, too. The key, though, with any banana bread is using super ripe bananas, well-speckled with lots of black dots (the kind many people toss in the garbage — arrgh!).

Banana bread freezes beautifully and makes a terrific muffin, as well. I adapt this recipe according to the season, adding blueberries in the summer, fresh cranberries in the fall and walnuts or pecans in the winter. This banana bread is not as sweet as the ones you may be used to, so yes, you can add chocolate chips or a drop of maple syrup if you must. Just don’t call it healthy!

piece of date sweetened banana bread on a white plate by two forks

Date-Sweetened Banana Bread Recipe

Pamela Salzman

A delicious banana bread sweetened only with ripe bananas and pureed dates that calls for no sugar of any kind!

4.79 from 47 votes

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 20

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1 cup dried dates about 7 ounces, pitted
1/2 cup hot water
4 Tablespoons 1/2 stick unsalted butter or unrefined coconut oil, at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour spelt flour or sprouted spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup raw walnuts or pecans coarsely chopped (or fresh blueberries or cranberries)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan. (Can be lined with parchment if it is aluminum.)
Place the dates in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the hot water and allow the dates to soften for at least 10 minutes. (I usually get the rest of my ingredients ready while the dates are softening.)
Turn the mixer on low speed and blend until the water has incorporated with the dates. Turn the mixer to medium low speed and beat the dates until a smooth puree forms.
Add the butter or coconut oil and beat until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter-date mixture and mix until just combined.
Fold in the mashed bananas and walnuts.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes (I made it in many different ovens with this range of time), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out barely clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.

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bananas dates

Mushroom-barley soup with kale recipe

I was craving a hearty, meal-in-a-bowl soup for dinner last night. Something I could pull together before the kids returned home from school and that I could pack in their thermoses for lunch the next day. Mushroom-barley soup came to mind in an instant. I taught this soup in a class back in October and I still haven’t tired of it. It is filling, tasty and oh-so-good for you.

The recipe is an adaptation of my mother’s beef and barley soup, which was great, but these days we’re limiting our beef consumption and upping the veggies. To make up for the meat, I use lots of shiitake mushrooms and finish off the soup with a bit of shoyu, a naturally fermented soy sauce which is way better for you than chemically treated, flash-processed soy sauce. Of course you can use any mix of mushrooms you like, but I am crazy about shiitakes, not only because they have a lower water content and deeper flavor than button mushrooms, but also because they are tops in immune-boosting compounds. There’s no better time than flu season to boost your immunity!

This soup is a breeze to put together and easily adaptable to different intolerances. For the gluten-free folks, I substitute Lundberg’s wild rice blend for the barley and wheat-free tamari for the shoyu. It’s obviously a different soup, but just as tasty. Vegetarians and vegans can use vegetable stock or water in place of the chicken or turkey stock. If you are making your own vegetable stock, add a bunch of mushrooms to it to give the soup more depth.

This soup is a hit every time, even with Mr. Picky who last night did what he does best — pick out the stuff he doesn’t want. This time it was only the mushrooms. We’re making progress!

Mushroom-Barley Soup with Kale

Pamela

A hearty, meal-in-a-bowl soup - great for dinner and leftovers!

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 25

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Servings

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon unrefined cold pressed olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
1 large garlic clove finely chopped
3/4 pound shiitake mushrooms stems removed and caps wiped clean with a damp paper towel and slice thinly
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup barley or wild rice blend -- I use Bob's Red Mill Barley. It says "Pearled," but it's really only semi-pearled.
8 cups 2 quarts chicken, turkey or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups stemmed chopped kale
3 Tablespoons shoyu or wheat-free tamari

Instructions

Melt butter and olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery to pot and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
Place mushrooms in the pot and saute until softened, about 8 minutes.
Add thyme and barley. Stir to coat. Add stock and salt and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes until the barley is tender (if you're using the wild rice blend, you will need to simmer it for 50 minutes.)
Add the kale and shoyu and cook until the kale is wilted, but still bright green, about 8 minutes. Pull out the thyme stems and taste for salt and pepper.

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barley kale mushrooms soup

Lemon-thyme chicken recipe

Once upon a time, I used to enjoy spending lots of time experimenting in the kitchen. I had fabulous cookbooks in which I found interesting and challenging recipes to make for dinner. On a weekday. And then it was over. My kids started playing team sports. Do you know this new life? Are you driving to some field at exactly the same time you should be soaking and sauteeing or poaching and shredding? And then back an hour later to pick-up, unless of course there’s a GAME. Then you’re sitting on bleachers for two hours trying to figure out how dinner will be ready the second you walk in the door with starving children.

“Baked Lemon Chicken” from The Union Square Cafe Cookbook was one of my favorite chicken entrees before sports. Bone-in chicken pieces baked with lots of sauteed onions, lemon and thyme. It was even good enough to serve to company. But there would be no more basting every 15 minutes for me on a Tuesday at 5:00. So what’s a girl to do? Adjust the recipe to cutlets, of course!

Even though I generally prefer bone-in chicken to boneless, this dish is not lacking for flavor or moistness. The onions get soft and saucy with lemon and infused with fresh thyme and the chicken takes it all in. The best part about this is that it’s super easy and can be done in stages, if necessary. You can flour and saute the chicken and then take the kids to practice. Come back and saute the onions, add the thyme, lemon and stock. Pick up the kids from practice and when you get home add the chicken to the onions and let everything cook together while you saute some spinach with garlic. Hopefully you made a vinaigrette and washed some lettuce a few days ago, so assembling a salad will take you no time at all. Can you say, “Home run!”

Lemon-Thyme Chicken

Pamela

The perfect recipe for those busy weeknights - this recipe is quick and easy, and you can even prep ahead!

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken cutlets I show a photo of how I cut a boneless, skinless breast half into cutlets, but you can ask your butcher to do this
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flour for dredging whole wheat pastry flour or brown rice flour (gluten-free are the two I use)
Unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion halved and sliced thinly (I use a candle when I am cutting onions to prevent crying -- it works!)
4 cloves garlic sliced thinly
½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup chicken stock
a few sprigs of fresh thyme

Instructions

Season the chicken cutlets on both sides with sea salt and black pepper. Dredge them with flour and shake off the excess.
Warm about ¼ cup olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the chicken cutlets and sauté on both sides until golden brown. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
Add the onions and garlic to the skillet and season with sea salt and pepper. Sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Pour the lemon juice into the pan and scrape any brown bits on the bottom. Add the chicken stock and thyme sprigs and bring to a simmer. Transfer the chicken back to the pan with any accumulated juices. Simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Remove thyme sprigs and serve immediately.

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