Beef and Mushroom Casserole

I like to read Clean Eating magazine, and recently purchased their magazine "Classic Comfort Foods". One recipe jumped out at me called "creamy mushroom casserole" because it had beef and mushrooms, my two favorites. It is like a clean beef stroganoff. With no disrespect to Clean Eating, often their recipes are far from what I would call "clean". I think I am much more selective than they are, especially when some of their dishes have well over 40 grams of carbs in them.


I decided to make their casserole, but modified it big time. Theirs has milk and rice in it, and lots of cheese. I left out the rice and milk and drastically reduced the cheese, it's not needed. The porcini soaking water replaced the milk and is important for a rich taste.


2 1/2 pounds flank steak run through the tenderizer once, then cut into 1 inch thick slices
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cups mixed sliced mushrooms (brown, oyster, shitake)
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup hot water then strained and rinsed, reserve water for dish
3 tbsps whole wheat flour
pepper, salt
2 slices Lacey Swiss cheese (in the deli section, it is 5x5 inch block of low calorie Swiss, or any low cal Swiss will do)
1 tsp Umami Taste #5 paste (optional)


I love mushrooms, especially porcini. First soak the porcini in one cup of hot water until soft, then strain and save the water. Chop the porcini. If you will not be using porcini you can use beef broth instead of the porcini water.


Heat a skillet over medium high heat and quickly saute the beef slices until browned, 3 to 5 minutes, set aside.

Wipe out the skillet, heat it on medium high and add 2 tsps olive oil, onion, all the mushrooms and garlic and saute, stirring occasionally about 10 minutes until onions are translucent. 

Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms, stir. Slowly add the porcini water (or beef broth) and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add beef back into the mushroom mixture, add pepper and crumble and toss in the 2 slices of cheese, stir to melt and combine.

Taste for seasoning.

I add a squirt of Taste #5, it makes everything taste better! You can get it on Amazon and in any fancy cooking shop.

It is rich and creamy with no milk, and a fraction of the cheese that was called for.

I had it over broccoli florets. It was great!

Seafood Soup

I can eat soup almost everyday. There was a time in my life where I only wanted thick, creamy soups. Now, I cannot even digest that and certainly don't dream about eating it. I like clear broths, with homemade stock and lots of vegetables.

Scallops, shrimp, asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini, wild rice and homemade chicken stock.

Mmmmm

I actually made this at the spur of the moment due to a timing error with the family's meal. So, I had to throw together something at the very last minute. I had made chicken stock so I knew that would be the base.  I searched in the freezer and found a bag that had three very small scallops in it and one that had 5 plump uncooked jumbo shrimp. Bingo!

Into a small pot I placed the chicken stock, and all the vegetables cut into bite sized pieces. They were already cooked, it was Sunday and I had cooked a bunch of vegetables for lunches. Asparagus, mushrooms and zucchini. They warmed in the broth as I cooked the seafood.  I added one ounce of cooked wild rice for some texture.

I ran the shrimps and scallops under cold water and they quickly thawed, then I sprinkled the shrimp with chile powder. I heated my skillet and added a very small amount of coconut oil and then quickly seared the scallops and shrimps.

The scallops cooked first, I pulled them out and placed them in the serving bowl.

The shrimps still had the shells on and took longer, I added a splash of water to keep them from drying out and sticking as they finished cooking.

When they were done, I pulled them off, took the shells off and cut them into smaller pieces. I added them to the bowl with the scallops, then poured the broth and vegetables over.  A couple squirts of sriracha sauce and it was ready to enjoy!


Soup is so easy to make, just use your imagination! If you can make your own stocks it's a bonus as you don't have to worry about sodium and what may or may not be in it, and the flavor is phenomenal. 

Tomatillo Salsa

I treat my body as royalty, I deserve the best! I am talking about my food.....So many people buy the cheapest thing they can get, I shake my head with wonder as I listen to people talk about how cheap their tilapia is or their frozen vegetables are. I think they don't even realize that the more alive your food is, the more nutrients and taste it has!

I get a CSA delivery of vegetables and fruit at my office every Tuesday, I get what I get, it's what is in season and I love it! It comes from J.P. Organics, but that doesn't last long so I also go to the Campbell Farmers Market every Sunday too.  

I fell in love with these purple tomatillos from Catalan Family Farm. The taste is sweeter than green tomatillos. Last week I made salsa with avocado for the boys, this week I made some a little different without the avocado, I wanted to control the fats a bit more. I decided to use the sweet tomatillos, shiny chilaka chiles (use pasilla if you cannot find these) and cilantro. 

First I shucked the tomatillos and pan roasted them until they were blistered and starting to bubble inside, some bursting slightly.

I then blistered the chiles on a cast iron pan, I wanted a slightly charred taste to go with the sweetness of the tomatillos. 

I roughly chopped the chiles, then put the chiles, tomatillos, cilantro and a splash of water into a blender and whisked it up. I added some salt and pepper then the juice of half a lime.

It was stunning. It was a party in my mouth! The sweet and tangy tomatillos, the earthy chiles and just a hint of lime.

For lunch I topped my bowl with some, I had 4 ounces sauteed ground turkey breast, cauliflower, 3 ounces rice and green beans. And my party salsa.


This is great because it is packed with flavor, no fat, minimal carbs (and it's not starches anyway, its mainly sugars just like a tomato). A little goes a long way, so adding just a bit adds pizazz to my meal.

For dinner I had Knee Deep Cattle Company vitellone. This is not veal, it is free range,  grass fed young beef. I buy it from Prather Ranch at the farmers market. I cooked it rare (you can see I think) topped it with a couple tablespoons of salsa and had green beans and my favorite, mushrooms.


Try the salsa, it is amazing!