Spaghetti Bolognese with Mushrooms

In keeping with resolutions to live well, we bring you an easy-to-make dish to fuel your workout sessions. Pasta, in general, is a favorite of runners to “carb-load” in preparation for races, and this bolognese with mushroom sauce is a delicious way to get your fix. Bolognese is a meat-based sauce originally from Italy, and typically contains beef, but here I have substituted lean ground turkey for beef. For vegetarian version, you can use a plant-based protein substitute, such as MorningStar Farms Grillers Crumbles (though these aren’t necessarily “healthier”), paneer, or baked tofu. Also, because I love mushrooms and would eat them with almost any meal if I could, I always put sliced fresh mushrooms in this sauce. For noodles, I used a mix of angel-hair pasta and whole wheat thin spaghetti, but the great thing about a sauce like this is that you can serve it over pretty much any type of noodle you like - even use it for a lasagna!

 

Ingredients: (serves 6-8)

1-1.5 lbs ground turkey (or beef)

1 15oz can no-salt-added petite diced tomatoes

8oz can no-salt-added tomato sauce

4oz can tomato paste

8oz mushrooms, sliced

~¼ cup minced onions

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

~1tsp oregano (I used dried, but fresh would be even better)

~1tsp ground thyme

~1tsp ground sage

~1tsp ground marjoram

Salt, pepper to taste


Brown the meat in a pan over med-hi heat (no oil necessary - there will be enough fat from the meat). Add the mushrooms and onions and cook until they are soft and most of the released liquid has cooked off. Season with garlic, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, salt, pepper, adjusting quantities to taste. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. Turn heat to med-lo and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve over noodles and top with grated or shredded Parmesan cheese. Pairs well with a glass of Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon - not recommended before a work-out :-)

 

~ Karla

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Spinach Walnut Pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite condiments - the aromatic sweetness of basil contrasting with the kick from the raw garlic is perfect to jazz up many savory dishes. It’s a wonderful spread for toasts and sandwiches, can be used as salad dressing, or as a sauce for pasta. The possibilities are endless! However, it is fairly high in calories owing to the cheese, oil and nuts that are typically used to make pesto sauce. I wanted to cut down on some of those ingredient quantities and also add some healthier greens. This spinach walnut pesto is a modification of the delicious basil pesto recipe. Check notes at the bottom for recipes using pesto sauce.

Ingredients:

1½ cups packed fresh baby spinach

¼ - ½ cup fresh basil leaves

2-3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

¼ cup walnuts

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and ground black pepper for seasoning

Pulse the spinach, basil, garlic, walnuts and cheese in a food processor until a coarsely ground mixture is formed. With the food processor running, add oil and process until combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Use in your favorite recipe, or make a delicious healthy snack with pesto as a dipping sauce for carrots and sweet peppers.

Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

~Gayatri

Notes:

Some delicious recipes you could make with the spinach walnut pesto:

Christmas tree shaped pastry

Pesto cavatappi

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Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Sunday, December 20, 2015

Basic Basil Pesto

Pesto is one of those wonderfully versatile sauces that can add flavor to a variety of foods such as pasta, sandwiches, soups, pizza, etc. It’s super easy to make and is really nice to have on-hand for snacking or throwing together a last-minute meal. Plus, you can personalize everything about pesto from the taste to the texture, and use a multitude of variations such as adding spinach, broccoli or sun-dried tomatoes, or substituting different nuts - you really can’t go wrong!

Ingredients: (makes about 1 cup)

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

⅓ cup pine nuts

3 garlic cloves, minced

salt, pepper to taste

*Note: all ingredients may be adjusted to taste and texture preference

Put basil leaves, pine nuts, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse until the cheese is fully mixed in. You might have to occasionally scrape down the sides with a spatula. With the food processor running, slowly add the oil until the mixture is smooth and the desired consistency is achieved. If you add too much oil and the pesto is too runny, add a bit more cheese to thicken it up again. I added a bit more oil and processed a little longer to achieve a creamier consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve as an appetizer with pita wedges, toasted bread or crackers, or toss with pasta for an easy, flavorful sauce.

~Karla


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Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Portabella Caps with Spinach, Egg, and Wild Mushroom Sauce (or: Portabella kind-of-Benedict)

A Cooks of Cake and Kindness Culinary Experience Part I: It had been WAY too long since Gayatri and I had gotten together to cook one of our fabulous meals, so we decided it was high time we did. We drew up a menu for a tantalizing 3-course meal (recipes for the other two courses to come!) and threw a small dinner party to show off our mad skills. The first course was inspired by this dish, and, of course, we made some modifications of our own. It has a Parmesan-mushroom sauce that turned out to be a big hit, and when our guests left with some leftovers, they came up with creative ways to repurpose the sauce themselves!

 

 

Ingredients

8 large Portabella mushrooms (with stems)
8 eggs
2 ounces dried mushrooms (ours was a wild mushroom mix)

½ onion finely chopped (we used about ¼ to ½ cup dried chopped onion)

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup milk (we used whole milk)

½ tsp thyme

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 lb fresh spinach

salt and pepper to taste

Canola oil for cooking

Preheat oven to 400F.

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot (but not boiling) water (about ¾-1 cup) for about 20 minutes.

 

Rinse and de-stem the Portabella mushrooms, setting aside the stems for later use. Bake the mushroom caps with the gill side up for about 20 minutes (time will vary depending on thickness of the mushrooms), until they are tender. Set them aside to cool. Water from the mushrooms will have collected in the baking pan; set this aside for later use.

 

 

While the mushrooms are baking, either steam or blanch the spinach. We didn't have a steamer handy, so we blanched: bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, then add spinach to the boiling water and let it cook for only about 20-30 seconds before removing from the water.

 

Chop the Portabella mushroom stems, as well as the re-hydrated dried mushrooms, reserving the water they were soaking in.

In a large saucepan, heat canola oil. Sauté the chopped mushrooms, onion, garlic, and thyme, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add the reserved water from the dried mushrooms and the baked Portabellas and simmer at medium-high heat until the liquid has reduced by about half. Add the milk and Parmesan cheese and simmer until the mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes.

In a separate pan, heat oil for cooking the eggs. Individually fry each egg (this is what makes it kind-of-Benedict, which layers a poached, rather than fried, egg, on a base). Egg rings come in really handy for this so you can make more than one egg at once! We made ours to order, and everyone wanted over-easy, but sunny-side-up could be another popular option.

 

 

To assemble, top a Portabella mushroom with spinach, then layer on a fried egg, then top with the mushroom sauce. Take a moment to admire before devouring!

 

 

All the components of this dish are pretty simple to make, but combined they add a nice complexity to the finished dish. Each bite has distinct layers of taste and texture that blend really nicely - and the slightly runny egg yolks (if you're a fan) make the sauce even more delicious!

 

~Karla