You guys, I found pasta that's GASP....HEALTHY!

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  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    pinuplove wrote: »
    I've tried to like kale, I really have. I just don't. Not in salads, not in soups, not baked into chips (I've never tried it in a smoothie because I don't like to drink my calories). I figure as long as I'm eating enough other nutritious foods, there's no reason to punish myself with kale :wink:

    This is me. I just can't do it.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,898 Member
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    I grow kale for smoothies and it is what I use in Thai beef salad. I like to let it marinate for an hour or two, which is also what I do when I make coleslaw.

    I've bought kale off-season and found the stuff pre-chopped in big bags inedible. Sometimes the bunches are not great quality either, but they've always been fine for soup. Baby kale is more tender.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,166 Member
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    pinuplove wrote: »
    I've tried to like kale, I really have. I just don't. Not in salads, not in soups, not baked into chips (I've never tried it in a smoothie because I don't like to drink my calories). I figure as long as I'm eating enough other nutritious foods, there's no reason to punish myself with kale :wink:
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I've tried to like kale, I really have. I just don't. Not in salads, not in soups, not baked into chips (I've never tried it in a smoothie because I don't like to drink my calories). I figure as long as I'm eating enough other nutritious foods, there's no reason to punish myself with kale :wink:

    This is me. I just can't do it.

    That seems fine, to me.

    Leaves more for the rest of us, who really like it.

    One of you can have my share of the bacon (well, all the meat & fish, really), lima beans, and seaweed salad. Also tapioca, in the "texture like fish eyes" form.

    It's good to share. ;)
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I've tried to like kale, I really have. I just don't. Not in salads, not in soups, not baked into chips (I've never tried it in a smoothie because I don't like to drink my calories). I figure as long as I'm eating enough other nutritious foods, there's no reason to punish myself with kale :wink:
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I've tried to like kale, I really have. I just don't. Not in salads, not in soups, not baked into chips (I've never tried it in a smoothie because I don't like to drink my calories). I figure as long as I'm eating enough other nutritious foods, there's no reason to punish myself with kale :wink:

    This is me. I just can't do it.

    That seems fine, to me.

    Leaves more for the rest of us, who really like it.

    One of you can have my share of the bacon (well, all the meat & fish, really), lima beans, and seaweed salad. Also tapioca, in the "texture like fish eyes" form.

    It's good to share. ;)

    Dibs on the bacon! I'll take other meats as well. Fish is hit and miss for me. It's not something I can eat regularly. Lima beans and seaweed can go to @pinuplove.

    You can have all my kale and olives (I'm okay with olive oil).
  • ShinyFuture
    ShinyFuture Posts: 314 Member
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    @aokoye - Would you be willing to share that goulash recipe?

    @AnnPT77 - That dried mushroom/lentil sauce sounds really good - I'm hopeless without at a least an approx. recipe - can you share the amounts you used?

    I'll take the kale, but not the olives or the fish-eye pudding or, while we're here - the cottage cheese.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited January 2020
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    I'll take the olives and cottage cheese (two of my favorites) and give away grapefruit (which everyone else seems to love) and canned tuna (and caraway seeds, ugh).

    (I also would love the goulash recipe. Is it ATK?)
  • Momepro
    Momepro Posts: 1,509 Member
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    Dang it! I can't eat soy :'( Otherwise that would be a good alternative for my low carb, pasta loving, husband and gluten sensitive Mom.
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    .... [some indication that perhaps nutmegoreo is not too fond of kale]

    Ha ha. I'm not fond of mature kale either, a tiny bit chopped very fine goes a very long way.

    But baby kale is great. I discovered it in a very tasty blend of spinach, baby kale, chard, and mizuna sold as pricey Power Greens under various labels and house brands. The baby kale is small flat leaves, doesn't look at all like the monster from the black lagoon of mature kale and tastes just right to me. I've bought straight baby kale sometimes and use it just like any other tasty green.


  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    jwoolman5 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    .... [some indication that perhaps nutmegoreo is not too fond of kale]

    Ha ha. I'm not fond of mature kale either, a tiny bit chopped very fine goes a very long way.

    But baby kale is great. I discovered it in a very tasty blend of spinach, baby kale, chard, and mizuna sold as pricey Power Greens under various labels and house brands. The baby kale is small flat leaves, doesn't look at all like the monster from the black lagoon of mature kale and tastes just right to me. I've bought straight baby kale sometimes and use it just like any other tasty green.


    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I can't believe my secret is out. :bigsmile:
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    I'll take the olives and cottage cheese (two of my favorites) and give away grapefruit (which everyone else seems to love) and canned tuna (and caraway seeds, ugh).

    (I also would love the goulash recipe. Is it ATK?)

    Maybe we need to set up a food swap thread? I like cottage cheese as well, but we can share. I don't mind grapefruit, but it's not something I would run out to buy. I'll take your canned tuna.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    I really like lacinato kale, aka “the flat kind.” Especially baked into kale chips.

    @Momepro Has your mom tried mung bean pasta? Nutritional profile is similar, no soy.
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
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    psychod787 wrote: »

    Kale is rough tasting, but just add bacon. Bacon makes everything better. Opps i might have "triggered" a vegan...😳

    Nope. Nowadays vegans have a huge catalog of vegan bacons to eat instead of dead pig.... It's all in the spices, not in the oink! Can't trigger a vegan by mentioning bacon any more.

    Long ago I ran into a bacovegetarian who just couldn't give up the stuff.... Bet she can now.

    Louisville Vegan makes wonderful soy-based soft jerkies, my favorite is their Maple Bacon but they are all good. They can be also used in sandwiches, casseroles, salads etc. because they are very easy to cut up.

    Outstanding Foods uses mushrooms to make incredibly tasty PigOut pigless bacon chips.

    There are other vegan bacon chips based on other non-animal foods also, such as coconut. Also loads of more standard looking vegan bacons to try. I wonder how Morningstar Farms will reformulate their vegetarian bacon (loaded with egg whites at the moment, allergenic for me) now that they are veganizing their entire line. They say they will be done within about a year or so, and already have veganized all their chik'n products and corn dogs. They emphasize "plant-based protein" on the package.

    And Betty Crocker's soy-based Bacos are accidentally vegan. Likewise for the McCormick's equivalent. Those are much cheaper than the more complex ones marketed to vegetarians and vegans (oops, the plant-based crowd), but tasty and useful.



  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I've tried to like kale, I really have. I just don't. Not in salads, not in soups, not baked into chips (I've never tried it in a smoothie because I don't like to drink my calories). I figure as long as I'm eating enough other nutritious foods, there's no reason to punish myself with kale :wink:
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I've tried to like kale, I really have. I just don't. Not in salads, not in soups, not baked into chips (I've never tried it in a smoothie because I don't like to drink my calories). I figure as long as I'm eating enough other nutritious foods, there's no reason to punish myself with kale :wink:

    This is me. I just can't do it.

    That seems fine, to me.

    Leaves more for the rest of us, who really like it.

    One of you can have my share of the bacon (well, all the meat & fish, really), lima beans, and seaweed salad. Also tapioca, in the "texture like fish eyes" form.

    It's good to share. ;)

    Dibs on the bacon! I'll take other meats as well. Fish is hit and miss for me. It's not something I can eat regularly. Lima beans and seaweed can go to @pinuplove.

    You can have all my kale and olives (I'm okay with olive oil).
    No fair, I was grocery shopping (not buying kale)! I'll take tapioca, I guess, and lima beans are ok with ham and cornbread. Seaweed is gross.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
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    @aokoye - Would you be willing to share that goulash recipe?

    @AnnPT77 - That dried mushroom/lentil sauce sounds really good - I'm hopeless without at a least an approx. recipe - can you share the amounts you used?

    I'll take the kale, but not the olives or the fish-eye pudding or, while we're here - the cottage cheese.

    Here's the goulash recipe - https://www.lilvienna.com/authentic-austrian-beef-goulash/

    As for kale, I'd much rather have collard greens.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,166 Member
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    @aokoye - Would you be willing to share that goulash recipe?

    @AnnPT77 - That dried mushroom/lentil sauce sounds really good - I'm hopeless without at a least an approx. recipe - can you share the amounts you used?

    I'll take the kale, but not the olives or the fish-eye pudding or, while we're here - the cottage cheese.

    In for the cottage cheese (prefer lowfat but not nonfat).

    I encourage you to throw caution to the winds and "just cook". In most cases, the only things that matter are what I call "structural ingredients" in a food: The things that make it hold together and be itself, like flour in bread, or the proportion of egg yolks to oil in hollandaise or something. Baked goods have lots of structural ingredients, including some subtle ones like salt and sugar. Tomato-type pasta sauce has no structural ingredients to speak of; it's just whatever tastes good.

    Experimenting and tossing things together is very freeing and educational: What's the worst that can happen, after all? :)

    The last time I made the sauce, this is what's in my diary (which would've been one serving for me):

    Garlic, raw, 21 g
    Dried Portabella Mushrooms, 9 g
    Dried porcini mushrooms , 14 gram
    Onions, raw, 88 g
    Canned Diced Tomatoes, 104 gram
    Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, with salt, 174 g

    The numbers are random, because I just pull/spoon out what looks like enough, and use the weight I see on the scale. Whatevs, y'know? I took out the brand names, because it doesn't matter.

    Any kind of dried mushrooms would work, AFAIK. (It'd be a waste of something like morels at their price, though - but would still taste good).

    Any tomato sauce or peeled ripe tomatoes (cooked/heated) or jarred simple marinara would be fine. Tomato paste (can/jar) would work, but might need thinning a bit with broth or water or tomato juice - eyeball it, realizing that the dried mushrooms will take up some moisture. (You can mix them in first and decide about thinning after it's all mixed together.)

    I don't remember whether the lentils were just cooked, some I previously cooked/froze, drained lentils from a can, or the kind of red lentils that cook quickly from dry; and other than the speed for cooking the red ones, it doesn't matter if they're black, green, red, french or whatever lentils. Other beans would work, but might be more sauce-like if mashed or chopped a bit.

    I'm betting I would've put in some kind of dried aromatic herbs towards the end, like basil or oregano, maybe plus just a small amount (1/4tsp?) of smashed-to-powder fennel seeds. Y'know, the usual Italian-esque stuff. (I don't always log herbs.) If you like a bit of heat, some dried red pepper flakes would be good, too, or some fresh-ground black pepper. If you used jarred/canned marinara for the tomato bit, you might not need the herbs. Taste and decide.

    Basic process: Little oil in the frying pan (spray, or <5g olive oil works in my smallish cast iron pan), heat a bit, chop onions, put them in warmed pan on medium-ish heat, let them brown or caramelize a bit (stir when you think of it, more often if higher heat or later in cooking). When they're soft and rich/sweet, add the minced-up garlic (dry is fine, but I usually have fresh, since it keeps great - clearly, you'd use less if dried). The garlic burns faster, so just get it warm through and a little soft, smelling good.

    Pulverize the dried mushrooms to powder in a blender or food processor. If it's humid and they're too soft to really powder, put some of the tomatoes in with them and liquefy. Bet you could use fresh mushrooms and puree them, if you wanted to.

    Combine with all the other stuff, cook until hot and flavors mingled (only a few minutes, unless you want to go longer on low), adding dried herbs in the last minutes (long enough to rehydrate). Thin with water or broth if needed. Taste. Salt, whatever, maybe some red wine or (adequate but inexpensive) balsamic vinegar if it needs a little more richness/acid, or a little dry red wine if you have a bit around. Sometimes I add dark miso (or even unsweetened cocoa powder) to tomato sauce, but with the powdered mushrooms and lentils it probably won't need it.

    You could put in any other veggies or meat that you want, of course, some of which might need a bit of pre-saute (could go in with the onions at some stage, if so).

    On the day I looked at to get those numbers, I put it on baked spaghetti squash, and had a side of roasted cabbage with mustard vinaigrette. Any pasta you like works, of course.

    Non-recipes take more words than recipes. ;)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,995 Member
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    ooh, morphing into a photos thread s0221.gif

    am cooking spaghetti bolognaise for tea tomorrow - will post photo too. :)
  • ShinyFuture
    ShinyFuture Posts: 314 Member
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    Thanks for the recipe and the non-recipe recipe!
  • ShinyFuture
    ShinyFuture Posts: 314 Member
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    Experimenting and tossing things together is very freeing and educational: What's the worst that can happen, after all? :)


    Oh, trust me, my family has several "hilarious" stories about just how badly things can go. I'm good with soup, but everything else needs a recipe. And sometimes even that doesn't help. One of the stories that gets trotted out on holidays is the lasagna that even the dog didn't want.

  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,088 Member
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    jwoolman5 wrote: »
    psychod787 wrote: »

    Kale is rough tasting, but just add bacon. Bacon makes everything better. Opps i might have "triggered" a vegan...😳

    Nope. Nowadays vegans have a huge catalog of vegan bacons to eat instead of dead pig.... It's all in the spices, not in the oink! Can't trigger a vegan by mentioning bacon any more.

    Long ago I ran into a bacovegetarian who just couldn't give up the stuff.... Bet she can now.

    Louisville Vegan makes wonderful soy-based soft jerkies, my favorite is their Maple Bacon but they are all good. They can be also used in sandwiches, casseroles, salads etc. because they are very easy to cut up.

    Outstanding Foods uses mushrooms to make incredibly tasty PigOut pigless bacon chips.

    There are other vegan bacon chips based on other non-animal foods also, such as coconut. Also loads of more standard looking vegan bacons to try. I wonder how Morningstar Farms will reformulate their vegetarian bacon (loaded with egg whites at the moment, allergenic for me) now that they are veganizing their entire line. They say they will be done within about a year or so, and already have veganized all their chik'n products and corn dogs. They emphasize "plant-based protein" on the package.

    And Betty Crocker's soy-based Bacos are accidentally vegan. Likewise for the McCormick's equivalent. Those are much cheaper than the more complex ones marketed to vegetarians and vegans (oops, the plant-based crowd), but tasty and useful.



    Vegan bacon? Sorry, i dont practice black magic....🤨