Roasted Mushroom Broth

The idea of making mushroom broth came up while I was looking for great, and nutritious, vegetable broth recipes. Vegetable broth was one of the things allowed on my cleanse and boxed is bland and gross. While I was looking I found a ton of mushroom broth recommendations. After during my research, I decided to make my own mushroom broth instead of vegetable broth and I am so glad I did.

Why mushrooms?

Well, because they’re delicious, and they are a great meat alternative. They relatively high in protein, by weight and contain a ton of vitamins and minerals! As a result, mushroom broth is a great alternative for healing your gut, boosting your immune system and remineralizing your body. It was an easy choice for me for adding to the cleanse I was doing gearing for doing all of those things!

Even when not on a cleanse, mushroom broth is a rich, hearty option for soups and grains, and any dish that you would use regular broths/stocks. I decided to roast my mushrooms to kick up the natural flavors just a bit since I would be drinking it as is. Also, using a variety of mushrooms (shiitake, reishi, cremini, etc) will provide a more complex flavor, but I am a fan of using what you have on hand or is easily accessible for making broths. For me that meant, mostly cremini mushrooms plus some ginger, oregano, and turmeric that are staples in my kitchen.

Roasted Mushroom Broth
ingredients

• 1.5 pound mixed mushrooms, 
• 1 yellow onion, skin on and halved crosswise 
• 3 cloves garlic smashed 
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp oregano
• 3 quarts cold water 
• 2-inch piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped 
• 1 tbsp sea salt, plus more to taste

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. While oven is coming to temperature chop mushrooms into 1/2 inch pieces and half the onion.
2. Arrange the mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place the onion halves into the mushrooms, sprinkle the smashed garlic over, and drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Roast for 15-20 minutes. 
3. Add the remaining olive oil to a heavy stockpot and heat until shimmering. Add the grated carrot, turmeric, oregano and ginger. 
4. Remove the sheet from the oven and drop the roasted mushrooms and onions into the pot with the carrot and seasonings mixture.
5. Pour in the broth and bring it all to a simmer over medium-high heat. Continue simmering, covered, for about 30 minutes.
6. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve, add additional salt, if needed. Then use a wide-mouthed funnel to pour it into two 1-quart jars, sealing the lids tightly. 

From here you can cook with the broth right away, or store it. It will last about 5 days in the fridge and approximately 6 months in the freezer. Just make sure to leave head room in a glass jar prior to freezing. 

Avocado Cauliflower Rice

One of the meals we really like is at home Chipotle style burritos. It is quick, fairly simple meal but I started to notice that the flour tortilla paired with a sizable helping of rice started leaving me a little bloated. Back in October 2014, I made the switch to an Anti-Inflammatory Diet (you can read more here), in which I try to avoid eating foods that cause an inflammatory response in my body and bloating is a sign of inflammation.

Since moving away to our rural mountain town, staying on track has been a little harder. When one of our favorite meals starts triggering the things we are trying to avoid, I immediately went on the hunt for an alternative to keep this quick meal option in the regular rotation. This is when I started entertaining the idea of cauliflower rice!

Today I wanted to share the recipe for the rice we use in our Chipotle style burritos. I love using cauliflower rice with avocado and lime, especially on nights we choose to go vegetarian with our burritos. Not only does it add more veggies as a whole, it adds avocado which is a huge plus for this former California girl. The avocado in turn add texture and another layer of flavor! It takes our burritos to a whole new level!

Not only is the avocado lime rice great mixed in, it is also delicious by itself and Tiny Krueger thoroughly approved. The first time I made this recipe, Berkeley was on a work trip and I had a serving leftover. The next day I piled the rice onto some corn tortilla chips and it was amazing! Just as a side note, depending on the color of your avocado, the color of the rice can vary from really green like the rice in my burrito above to more yellowish like the photo below.

Avocado Lime Cauliflower Rice
ingredients

• 2 - 3 cups cauliflower rice 
• 1 medium onion, diced 
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 medium ripe avocados 
• 2 Tbsp lime juice 
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin (or more) 
• 1 small clove garlic, minced 
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil slightly smokes, add the onions, and stir to coat. Continue to cook onion until they are golden brown at the edges and have softened, about 8 minutes. 
2. Add the cauliflower and stir. Add salt and pepper, and continue to cook until the cauliflower has softened about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
3. Mash avocados in a large mixing bowl (I leave mine a little chunkier). Stir in lime juice, cumin and garlic, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in warm cooked rice and serve.

Slow Cooker Curried Lentils and Chicken

For some reason, pregnancy has left me completely apathetic to cooking and food. I have little desire to spend any time thinking about what I want for dinner, let alone actually being in kitchen. I haven't even really had cravings! It is pretty sad, really. Every now and then, I get a small wisp of something that could be craving and I find the easiest way to satiate the need. That is how I whipped up these curried lentils.

As a side note, I used ingredients that were more in line with my dietary restrictions and what I had at home. Culturally, coconut milk is used in curry dishes, instead I used almond milk as I am allergic to coconut. I also cut out the white potatoes I would normally used and subbed in carrots and kale which I had on hand. Lastly, Berkeley and I like spice so we use a lot of curry powder.

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups green lentils
• 1 lbs carrots, washed and sliced into pieces 
• 3 stalks kale, roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped 
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped 
• 1 Tbsp yellow curry powder plus more
• 1 tsp ginger 
• kosher salt and black pepper 
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 
• 2 cups almond milk
• Approx. 1 3/4 lbs chicken (I used breasts and thighs)
• sour cream or plain yogurt

directions:

1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the lentils, carrots, kale, onion, garlic, curry powder, ginger, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add the broth and almond milk. 
2. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and curry powder. Add to slow cooker. Cover and cook until the lentils and vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours. 
3. Fifteen minutes before serving, shred the meat; return it to the slow cooker.  Stir to combine, adding more water if necessary to reach the desired consistency. Serve topped with the sour cream or yogurt.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet | At The Start

The last month or so I have alluded to this vague diet change I have embarked on. At our 12 week appointment one of our midwives suggested that I start following an Anti-inflammatory diet. The suggestion came as a way to help keep my blood pressure and blood sugars at a good level to allow for birthing at their birth center. The word "diet" was followed by no dairy, no flour, no etc. My eyes kinda glazed over. To be honest, I freaked out a little but with Berkeley's help, I jumped right in to this change that very day.

The next week, I got lost down the internet rabbit hole trying to research this new diet and only getting contradicting advice. What I found out that is that there is no specific diet. There is a general guideline that you cut out any foods that cause inflammation with the standard of starting with cutting gluten and excess sugars, and adding a ton of veggies. This "standard", with some input from others, was the basis for my diet change. I am currently five weeks in and my current guidelines for my diet are: as little gluten as possible, no excess sugars, whole grains, whole fat natural dairy products, using unsweetened almond milk instead of cow's milk, hormone free grass fed meats, and adding high quality vegetables with every meal. I have been diligently reading labels as well to make sure nothing I consume has High Fructose Corn Syrup. The most important things for my success have been cutting out cow milk, all the excess sugars, and low quality, unhealthy fats.

On the surface, this makes it look as easy as swapping this for that. To be honest, if this were just to get me to lose weight, not aiding in a healthy pregnancy, I probably would have quit after the first few days. It is hard to make the switch. Detoxing from the crap and chemicals left me feeling horrible. We were traveling at the time and I spent a good 6 hours in our hotel room with a migraine. It sucked but it has been worth it. Once I cleared out a lot of the things I couldn't have at home, things were a lot smoother.

I am in no way a dietician or nutritionist and these are just the things that have worked well for me, but this has definitely been really beneficial. I will also say that being pregnant has its own difficulties and sometimes I really just need some frozen yogurt or a small glass of chocolate milk. Another thing that had added to my success with keeping up with this diet change so far is allowing myself the occasional cheat. the difference is I don't put ten million toppings on my yogurt and I only drink a 4oz glass of chocolate almond milk instead of the 12oz glass and those things don't happen in the same day or even the same week.

Like I said, this is only five weeks in with very many more weeks to come. I hope to continue to follow this diet as well as I have these first few weeks for the remaining 25 weeks of the pregnancy and even further. I think the next challenge will be sticking with it during the holidays and up at Snowbowl once our season starts. Also, I hope to share more of the "recipes" of what we have been eating on this new "diet".