Roasted Mushrooms
I love the flavor of mushrooms but am often disappointed that much of it disappears when I saute them. But I recently discovered an easy way to cook mushrooms so that they retain their flavor. I simply roast them in a hot oven (400 – 450) for 15 – 20 minutes. In the past I have roasted button mushrooms whole by adding them to a pan of roasted vegetables the last 20 minutes. Recently I had a “tired” pound package of mushrooms that need cooking right away!I So I decided to roast them! I sliced them and placed them on a parchment-lined sheet pan. They cooked in the hot oven for 20 minutes. When I sampled them, they tasted great – lots of mushroom flavor! And much to my delight they retained their shape and some moisture.

I couldn’t resist adding a handful to my green salad. Delicious! The next evening I used them to make one of my 20 minute pizza suppers! Since then I’ve used the roasted mushrooms to make cream of mushroom soup, a mixed veggie stir-fry and a rice bowl supper. I now have mushrooms on my basic shopping list and eat them regularly.

Mushrooms are very healthy according to the popular documentary film, “Fantastic Fungi”. The film has gotten a lot of attention this year and most likely will get a nomination for best Oscar documentary. I enjoyed watching it and learning about how fungi function on our planet and how they have a multitude of important contributions to our health and welfare. After seeing the movie I was motivated to get the movie’s companion book “Fantastic Fungi – How mushrooms can heal, shift consciousness & save the planet” edited by Paul Stamets. It’s a beautiful “coffee table” style book with lots of photos and informative text.

20 Minute Roasted Mushroom Pizza
This is one recipe you should definitely try if you are a mushroom lover.

I had a container of roasted sliced mushrooms that needed to be used up. So I decided to create a special recipe to honor this new item in my refrigerator. I make pizzas in 20 minutes or less using flour tortillas as the base. Most of my original recipes are developed because I have stuff in the “fridge” that needs using up! This time I found leftover pesto, and roasted red peppers that needed to be eaten and this recipe is the final result.

Ingredients:
flour tortillas
olive oil
thick style spread: (pesto, tomato sauce, mayo, left-over gravy etc.)
1- 1.5 cups sliced and roasted mushrooms
½ – 1 cup grated cheese (your choice – I like cheddar or jack)
Other added toppings:
sliced ripe olives, roasted peppers, carmelized onions, leftover cooked
veggies – whatever your tastebuds are drawn to.

Steps:
l. Preheat oven to 450
2. Place tortilla on baking sheet
3. Coat the top of the tortilla with a thin layer of the spread of your choice.
4. You can add a base layer of chopped salad greens or spinach before adding other toppings. I find that one full handful is about right.
5. Top with mushrooms and/or any other toppings of your choice. I used up leftover roasted red peppers.
6. Drizzle with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and top with the cheese(s) of your choice.
7. Bake 8-10 minutes until the edges of the pizza are nicely browned.
8. Remove and let cool slightly.
9. Cut into 6 slices. I like to use my kitchen shears for this.
10. Enjoy!!!

I was eating the finished pizza about 25 minutes after I started heating up the oven!!!

Note: I make 20 minute pizzas regularly using up my leftovers. There’s something decadent about having a pizza for dinner. When I was a kid that was always a special treat. In the past creating the crust was as deterrent. Now that I’ve discovered flour tortillas, building a gourmet pizza is almost as easy as building a sandwich.

Cactus Bloom
It’s been hot out here this past weeks. Daily temperatures are usually over 100 degrees. But we’ve had a wonderful cactus bloom which brightens one’s spirit.

I’m back! And I’m eager to shared thoughts and ideas with you. Today I thought I’d start out with some helpful ideas about eating “in”. Living alone has posed interesting problems to solve, among them food preparation. I love to cook but cooking for one can be a challenge. Ed and I took turns cooking. We’d alternate weeks. It made meal planning and food preparation fun. The week that you were the chef, you shopped, cooked and cleaned up. That gave your spouse a chance to be a “guest” at home. For me, that made my weeks as chef fun – planning what to serve. And I loved my time as a guest. Not only did I get a break from the kitchen, I also enjoyed some yummy meals as Ed was a pretty good cook.

Now I have a new appreciation for the way we dealt with family meals. Now it’s all me – breakfast, lunch and dinner. So I’ve been exploring ways of preparing simple and healthy meals that provide variety but don’t take lots of time. If there is food in the refrigerator that is easy to serve up, I’ll go to it first. But it’s really easy to slack off and binge eat stuff that is not nearly as healthy.

Salads are a mainstay of my diet but they haven’t always been so. They take time and planning. I now try to keep a variety of veggies in the refrigerator at all times. My basics are lettuce mixes, zucchini, celery, onions and cabbage. I almost always have these available. And then depending on what’s in the market, I’ll add radishes, daikon, peppers, fennel, tomatoes. These vary from week to week. Other salad supplies include olive oil, a variety of salad dressings, olives, and pickles.

Every few days I’ll mix up a bowl of greens using my basic salad mix. I’ll dress them with olive oil and store them in the refrigerator. They are my salad base. I have salad for dinner almost every night. I’ll serve up a bowl of these greens and then add some extras from the weekly shop. I finish off the salad with a bottled dressing and most of the time, dinner is ready in less than 10 minutes.

I’ve shared this idea of prepping a salad base with friend, and like me, they are surprised to discover that the base will keep well for three days in the refrigerator. The lettuces don’t wilt because the oil keeps the moisture in the leaf as long as there is no salt on the leaves.

My favorite dressings include:
Trader Joe’s Feta
Trader Joes Goddess – with Tahini as the base
Trader Joes –
Viniagrette
My own simple mustard viniagrette

These dressings also make wonderful sauces for roasted veggies, meats and fish. I use them regularly to amp up the flavor bland foods.

Sometimes I overdo it and have leftover salad. Rather than tossing it out, I use it the next day as a sandwich or burrito filling.

My husband and I have traveled twice to Kyoto and both times mealtime provided us with some of the most enjoyable memories of our journeys there. I especially liked the pace of dining in Kyoto coupled with the delightful parade of tasty morsels that were brought to the table.

Recently we were talking about food and I recalled how much I enjoyed eating that way. When we got back to Tucson we never got into Japanese cuisine. That was partly because the only Japanese food available here is found in sushi restaurants. My husband is a recovering Catholic who is not a lover of fish and that’s the first thing he thinks of when he sees a sushi sign. So I’ve never seriously tried my hand at preparing Japanese food.

But, last week, it occurred to me that maybe I could modify the Japanese style of presenting food and apply it to the foods we eat at home. I went to Cost Plus and purchased a variety of small plates and bowls to use in presenting bento-like meals. After surfing the interenet for information on Japanese cuisine, and ordering several books from Amazon, I was armed with a basic understanding so I could play more extensively with this approach to our meals.

My first adventure was an experiment in serving sandwiches. Instead of assembling and presenting a freshly made sandwich on a plate, I arranged small plates of sandwich ingredients on trays and we each assembled our own sandwiches as part of the mealtime experience. The plates were very appealing, and we both enjoyed building our sandwiches and savoring the experience.

I must say it has been great fun. And consuming the food – even more fun! Here are some of my first kaiseki-Tucson-style meals.

My first attempt included steamed sausage, caponata, miso soup, cauliflower with a vinaigrette drizzle and tomato with ranch dressing, rice.

The next tray consisted of fried rice, soy dipping sauce, grilled portobello mushroom, butternut squash seasoned with spicy salt, steamed sausage and onion pancakes.

A sandwich meal included sliced tomato, pickles, mayonaise, tuna salad, cold curried soup, whole wheat bread and apple wedges.

I don’t expect to prepare this type of dinner every night of the week. But I do hope to serve bento-style meals at least two or three nights each time it’s my turn to cook.

Note: In 1993 when we began retirement, we also began a take-turn cooking arrangement. It goes like this; you are on your own for breakfast and lunch meals. Dinner is provided by the “cook for the week” who also shops and cleans up. So, for the week you don’t cook, you are a guest in your own home!

This has worked well for us, tho I must admit that my husband would respond to you with a slightly different point of view!!!!

Those of you that know me, know that my interests are all over the place!  I seem to “doodle-bug” here, there and everywhere!

I read on Facebook about the health value of honey and cinnamon.  In checking it out, I learned that there are a number of studies that confirm their medicinal and health contributions.  So I decided to find ways to get more honey and cinnamon into my daily diet. I realized that it would be very easy to use honey and cinnamon on my toast instead of butter.  Another good toast topper is coconut oil with cinnamon sprinkled on top.  I wondered how the honey would work as a sweetener in other things.

That very day I had some strawberries that needed to be used.  So I created a smoothie using about 1 cup sliced strawberries, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and about a 1/3 cup of fruit juice.  What a yummy drink it is!   That blast of cinnamon makes it quite perky.  Since strawberries have been plentiful recently, I’ve made it a number of times since, and each time it tasted terrific.  

Speaking of smoothies, I’ve had a lot of fun making them with various fluids such as almond milk, coconut milk, coconut water, Trader Joe’s mango lemonade (delish!!!) and their Lemon Ginger Echinacea drink. I also have discovered acai juice which has a wonderful taste.  Since you only need a half cup or less in the smoothie, a $7 quart of juice can last through the week.

Another recent smoothie concoction included 1 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup spinach, 1/2 avocado, 1 cup yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 cup acai juice.  It is about the best smoothie I ever made or tasted.  But it makes a lot,  You can adjust the recipe  downward and it would taste just fine. I think honey and cinnamon would be great in this drink.

If you want your smoothie to be extra creamy add half an avacado or a whole one if you want.  It changes the texture from beverage to creamy delight!  Sometimes it’s so thick I have to eat it with a spoon!

I like experimenting with a variety of fruit, juices and veggies in my smoothies.  A big handful of raw spinach goes a long way in pumping up the nutritive value.  I don’t have a juicer but if I did, you can be sure I’d add carrots, beets and other colorful and nutritious ingredients.  Sometimes I’ll add protein powders for extra value.  I like the ones available at Trader Joe’s – especially the chocolate one.

I’d be interesting in learning your favorite smoothie recipes and discoveries.  I make them several times a week for breakfast or lunch and am always interested in finding a new yummy one to add to my growing collection.

Some tasty food ideas for you….

In our home on Thanksgiving some form of orange always appears on the table or during the meal.  Usually there is a centerpiece made of yellow, orange and rust colored chrysanthemums.  And almost always there’s either a casserole or dessert made with some form of orange vegetable:  rutabaga, sweet potato, yam, butternut squash, carrot or pumpkin!

Rutabaga
My dad had a fondness for mashed and buttered rutabaga and he loved Mom’s pumpkin pie.  She always used the recipe on the Libby’s canned pumpkin label.  I like that recipe too, but I add more spice and bake it in a casserole dish instead of a pie shell.

Butternut Squash
I’ve always had a special  place in my heart for butternut squash.  I love it plain, or in soups.  One of my favorite salads is a combination of cooked butternut cubes marinated in a flavorful vinaigrette and tossed with fresh sliced strawberries just before serving!

Ruby Yams
In recent years I have discovered the ruby yam.  A quick and delicious way to fix it, is to peel and slice it lengthwise into 8 long wedges.  Toss it in a bowl with some good olive oil and sea salt.  Place on a foil-lined sheet and roast at 425 for 20-30 minutes or until it is cooked and slightly browned.  Let them cool and serve as an appetizer with a dipping sauce.  I like to use ranch dressing when I don’t have time to whip up a sauce.

This year our Thanksgiving meal included a yummy casserole made with mashed ruby yams and a pecan streusel topping.  You can serve it with the meal (use less sugar) or as a dessert or pie filling.Here’s the recipe.

Mix together and place in a casserole dish or pie shell:
3 cups mashed yams
1 cup brown sugar (use 1/2 cup if a main dish)
2 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix together and sprinkle over the top:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans. (for more flavor, roast the pecans in the oven before)
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until hot and browned.

I think you could substitute pumpkin, sweet potato or butternut squash for the yams in this casserole

Let me know of your success with any of these recipes.  Or if you have a special yellow veggie dish, send me the recipe.  I’d love to try it.

You can e-mail me at:

maybelle@wildsagepress.com

Thanksgiving Flowers
Rosemary and Mums

Healthy, quick and a bit unconventional!!!

I’ve never been a breakfast lover.  As a kid I didn’t like cereal, eggs or pancakes.  My favorite was a liverwurst sandwich which was not my Mom’s idea of a good morning start.  I like a breakfast that is simple to make and easy to clean up.  That way I have more time in the morning to get ready for the day.

For most of my adult life, I would rely on a cheese sandwich for my morning meal.  It was quick to make and very portable.  I could eat it in the car as I was driving to work.

About 20 years ago I discovered fruit-based breakfasts.  Ed and I were at Esalen in Big Sur, California.  Every morning their breakfast table would include a sumptuous array of fresh seasonal fruits.  I would load up my plate with three or four fruits and add a hard-cooked egg for protein.  It was simple and very satisfying.

When I got back home, I began to have fruit plates for breakfast, but substituted a handful of nuts (almonds or walnuts) for the egg.  It was portable, nutritious, tasty and quick!

To keep myself from getting into a breakfast “rut” I sometimes cook rice, oat groats or steel cut oats in broth.  I season them in a savory fashion with onion, garlic and soy sauce as I do not care for most breakfast sweets (other than fruit).  They can also be cooked in coconut or almond milk or fruit juice and sweetened with honey or agave. Fresh or dried fruits and nuts make for a delicious concoction.

Several years ago I discovered “congee”, a savory rice gruel.  It has become a favorite breakfast food.  I cook half a cup of brown rice in about 5 cups of water (or broth).  I add a chopped onion and a generous amount of garlic and cook it for 1.5 – 2 hours until the rice has broken down and the fluid has a creamy texture.  Often I’ll add chopped spinach, grated carrot, bits of leftover chicken and grated ginger.  I use salt, soy sauce and sesame oil to enhance the flavor.  I store the congee in the refrigerator.  A serving takes a microwave minute to warm up.  When I have leftovers (even soggy salad) I will add them.  Just writing this up makes my mouth water!!

This week I am breakfasting on cold steel cut oats cooked for about 35 minutes with onion and garlic and stored in the refrigerator.  I could cover it with milk or broth and microwave it.  But I discovered that I love eating it as cold “paste”.  So that’s another very fast breakfast with very little clean-up.  I cook oat groats in a similar fashion, but they take up to two hours to become soft and chewy.  A friend with cholesterol issues found that she had lowered her numbers by eating oat groats every day.

I also love smoothies for breakfast but they take more prep and clean-up time.  Yes, I am lazy in the morning!!!!  I make smoothies with my blender.  I always use banana, apple and some fluid such as fruit juice, almond milk or cocoanut milk.  Favorite additions to that base are watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries and spinach.  Any or all work.  For extra protein, I add yogurt or protein powder, and I always use a few ice cubes to create a nice chilled drink.

Using these approaches my breakfast has been transformed into an enjoyable morning event!!

When we retired twenty years ago, I made it clear that I did not want the full-time responsibility of meal planning and preparation.  My husband and I have worked out a wonderful way of sharing meal preparation.   We each are responsible for getting our own breakfast and lunch, but we take turns cooking the evening meal for a whole week at a time.

The week that we cook we are responsible for everything – shopping, cooking and clean-up.  This approach has so many benefits – the week you don’t cook you are a guest in your own home.  We both agreed at the onset that the “cook” was not obligated to prepare “gourmet fare”.  On a busy day one could rely on “take-out”, “eat-out” or pantry foods such as scrambled eggs, tuna sandwiches or even a TV dinner or cereal!!

I find that the week I cook, it becomes a lot more fun because it feels like I am starting a fresh page for the week’s meals.  The week that I am in charge, I “own” the kitchen including the pantry and refrigerator, left-overs etc.

With this approach I really enjoy cooking because I know I don’t have to do it all the time. I’ve become much more adventuresome in trying out new recipes because I am more willing to invest extra time in meal planning and shopping.