boneless chicken recipes: December 2008

Cabbage & White Bean Stew ♥ Recipe

Today's recipe: Cabbage, carrots and celery with white beans. Low carb. No added fat. Weight Watchers 1 point.

Oops. All December, the 'five-a-day' admonition has applied to Christmas cookies, not vegetables. For awhile, I even wondered if my vegetable moxie were lost, if chocolate and pecans would forever supplant cabbage and pumpkin. I was happy to eat vegetables, if someone put them in front of me. But cook them? No way.

Thankfully: NOT.

So man-oh-man, am I ever ready to get back to healthy recipes again. (Who can relate?) With this stew (or soup?) recipe, I'm dipping a baby toe back into vegetables, just in case. It's a great basic recipe, with easy pantry ingredients, a favorite from my vegetarian days.

A WARM WELCOME to new readers! During December, you continued to subscribe in droves. Clearly, many of us are looking for inspiration about how to increase our vegetable intake. Well, you've found the right place, since every single recipe at A Veggie Venture starts with a vegetable. Look for new recipes every few days during January.

CABBAGE & WHITE BEAN STEW

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes but better after resting 24 hours
Makes 8 cups

1 large onion, chopped
Splash of water
2 carrots, peeled and cut into pieces on the diagonal
1 rib celery, cut into pieces on the diagonal
1 teaspoon caraway seed
2 cups chopped green cabbage (from about 1/4 medium-size cabbage)
2 cups water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
15 ounce can diced tomatoes

15 ounce can white kidney beans (cannellini), rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/4 cup chopped parsley

In a large soup pot, cook the onion in the water for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and cook another 3 minutes. Add the caraway and cook another minute. Add cabbage, water and brown sugar and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add beans and vinegar, simmer 5 minutes or until beans are heated through. Stir in the parsley. Serve immediately or let rest for a day to allow flavors to meld. Reheats beautifully.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup: 94Cal; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 253mg Sodium; 20g Carb; 6g Fiber; 8g Sugar; 4g Protein; Weight Watchers 1 point

MORE DIET FRIENDLY RECIPES
~ Cape Breton Cabbage ~
~ Swedish Red Cabbage ~
~ Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup ~
~ Caraway Cabbage ~
from Kitchen Parade

~ more cabbage recipes ~
~ more soup recipes ~
~ more Weight Watchers recipes ~
~ more low-carb recipes ~

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Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2008

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Buckwheat with Mushrooms & Carrots ♥ Recipe

A warm nutty flavor from whole-grain buckwheat groats cooked with carrots and mushrooms

Today's recipe: A whole-grain side dish or vegan main dish made with buckwheat groats, fresh mushrooms and chopped carrots. High-protein. Low carb. Weight Watchers 2 points.

Curiosity guides many of my recipe choices but so do health, budget and taste. It's karma when all four collide! This fall I set off to explore whole grains, knowing that I, along with too many of us, know far too little about such an important group of foods. To narrow the field, I decided to stick with the healthiest whole grains -- barley, brown rice, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, rye, spelt and whole wheat. I recognized all of these whole grains -- but since my vegetarian days two states and two decades ago, haven't cooked five of them, barley, buckwheat, millet, rye and spelt. Would karma prevail?

First up: buckwheat, which is actually a grass not a a grain like other cereal plants such as wheat and oats and rice. There are two good ways to experiment with buckwheat.

Buckwheat Flour Buckwheat flour is a nutty-tasting flour and because it's gluten-free, a favorite among those who live with celiac disease. It's the favored flour for blini, the tiny Russian pancakes and in buckwheat crepes in northern France. For anyone new to buckwheat, this is a good place to start. You won't likely find buckwheat flour alongside the all-purpose flour, however. At least in my groceries, it's in a special section with other less common flours, or in the bulk aisle, or in the 'natural foods' aisle. (Ever wonder what a grocery store is doing with all that 'unnatural food' they sell? Yeah, me too.)

Buckwheat Groats Here, the hulls are removed, leaving the 'groats'. Buckwheat groats can be purchased raw or roasted. Again, check the bulk aisle, or a special section with products from Bob's Red Mills.

Kasha (or Kashi) These are names that buckwheat groats have acquired in the U.S., a confusion, however, since outside the U.S., the term kasha or kashi refers to a hot porridge made from any grain, wheat, oats, millet and others. So really, the term 'buckwheat kasha' is more accurate than just 'kasha'.

TASTING BUCKWHEAT GROATS My research led me to believe that buckwheat has a 'strong and distinctive flavor' -- which I took as code for "it might be an acquired taste" which implies, of course, we should be prepared to not like it. It's described as 'bold' and 'toasty' and 'earthy'. But -- my goodness, sure buckwheat groats taste a little nutty and earthy, but those are good things. I certainly didn't find anything to object to, not anything even particularly strong or distinctive. This is good stuff!

BUCKWHEAT with MUSHROOMS & CARROTS

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes
Makes 4 cups
Recipe adapted from Nami-Nami

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup (6 ounces) buckwheat groats, rinsed under running water
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, quartered lengthwise, then cut into small pieces crosswis
Salt & pepper to taste
2 cups boiling water

1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, caps broken into pieces and stems roughly chopped

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil til shimmery on MEDIUM HIGH. Add the buckwheat and stir to coat with fat, let cook for a minute or two. Add the onion and carrots as they are prepped, stir to coat with fat, let cook until onions begin to turn gold. Stir in salt and pepper. Stir in boiling water. Cover, reduce heat to MEDIUM and let simmer about 15 minutes until the buckwheat is soft and the liquid fully absorbed.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil til shimmery. Add the mushrooms and stir to coat with fat. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are cooked and the liquid they express has evaporated.

To serve, stir the cooked mushrooms into the cooked buckwheat. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold or at room temperature.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Half Cup: 127Cal; 4g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 26mg Sodium; 21g Carb; 4g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 4g Protein; Weight Watchers 2 points

MORE CARROT & MUSHROOM RECIPES
~ Carrot & Mushroom Ragout ~
~ Roasted Carrots & Mushrooms with Thyme ~

~ more vegetable & whole grain recipes ~
~ more vegetable with beans, lentils, other legumes ~
~ more vegetarian suppers ~