Instant Pot Zucchini And MushroomsLess Than 100 Calories Per Serving

A quick and easy zucchini recipe for your Instant Pot.

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And Here They Come!

The first zucchini of the season

Last year I grew way too many summer squash so I only planted 2 zucchini this year. I devoted most of the "squash real estate" to those that don't need to be eaten immediately. I planted delicata, kabocha, and butternut that have taken up a lot of space but at least I don't have the stress that zucchini brings of making sure they don't grow into baseball bats overnight or having to constantly place them into good homes.

My kabocha squash has taken up half the yard!

Yet, even with only 2 zucchini plants, I've already got a dozen in my refrigerator!

Zucchini and Instant Pots

Today's recipe uses an Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker but I have to warn you, zucchini cook very quickly so you have to pay careful attention to release pressure the moment it is done.

You can also make this recipe in a 5-quart Dutch oven, on top of the stove (recipe to follow.)

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Zucchini and Mushrooms

Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free

[6 to 8 servings]

Requirements

Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker

or 5-quart Dutch oven

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cup diced onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 to 12 ounces mushrooms, sliced or separated depending on type of mushroom

1 large sprig fresh basil, sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

4 medium zucchini, 1/2" slices (8 cups)

1 (15 ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes with juice

Directions for Instant Pot

Hit the Sauté button of the Instant Pot and heat the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions soften and the mushrooms begin to lose their moisture. 

Add the basil and stir in the salt and pepper.

Saute until mushrooms and onions soften, about 5 minutes.

Add zucchini to the pot and stir.

Pour tomatoes, with their juices, over the zucchini. Do not stir.

Leave tomatoes on top, do not stir

Hit the MANUAL button and set to LOW pressure for 1 minute.  When it is done, release the pressure immediately and remove the cover. If they are still a bit undercooked, just let the cover rest on the pot for another minute. They will soften quickly.

Serve as is or over a starch

Serve as is or over cooked rice, pasta, polenta, or baked potatoes. For a heartier meal, you can stir in a can of white beans.

Stove Top Directions

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven on medium heat and cook the onions until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic for a minute and then the mushrooms. Stirring frequently, cook the mushrooms until they release their moisture, about 5 minutes. Add the basil, salt, and pepper.

Stir in the zucchini and the tomatoes. Cover and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally,  until the zucchini are the desired texture, 5 to 10 minutes. Add a little water if needed.

Serve as above.

Nutrition

Per serving (6): 95 calories, 3 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 102 mg omega-3 and 398 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 5 g protein, 12 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber, and 222 mg sodium.

Finally, A Ravioli That's Vegan And Dairy-FreeMade by Kite Hill

Kite Hill hits the jackpot with dairy-free, vegan ravioli.

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Ravioli
Over the past few years there has been great progress in vegan cheese products. Miyoko's collection of artisan vegan cheeses are amazing. I serve them every time I entertain. And I absolutely love Go Veggie's Parmesan Style Topping on my pasta. But we are just beginning to see companies use their yummy vegan cheeses in products, like ravioli. You might find a high-calorie, sugar-ladened cheese cake, but not a lot of delicious and relatively healthy products that you feel good about serving for dinner. 

Happily, Kite Hill has come out with several ravioli products using her almond-based ricotta. Last night we enjoyed Mushroom and Ricotta ravioli with a simple tomato sauce that I canned from last summer's tomatoes. It was absolutely wonderful! I am allergic to dairy and haven't been able to eat ravioli in years so I can't tell you how excited I was to see this product on the shelves at my local Whole Foods market. She also makes a spinach and ricotta ravioli which I will be on the lookout for next. 

The filling contains a combination of portobello and shiitake mushrooms whipped together with almond milk ricotta and marsala wine. The pasta is made from durham wheat (sorry guys, it's not gluten free.) But for those of you who are avoiding soy and dairy, you will find no better ravioli. 

Each 1-cup serving is 230 calories (there are 2.5 servings in container) so if you and a guest knock off the whole container (which is about the right amount to eat), you'll be eating about 288 calories. Not bad with a simple tomato sauce topping. Each serving also contains 6 grams of total fat, no saturated fat or cholesterol, 7 grams of protein, 34 grams of carbs, 2 grams of dietary fiber and 490 mg per serving. 

I can't wait to try the spinach and ricotta!

Kite Hill products are available at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. Here's a store locator.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Miso Soup With Mushrooms And KaleLess Than 150 CaloriesMiso - A Good Source Of Microbes

You can add microbe-rich miso to any brothy soup.

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Today is our Anniversary 
Twenty six years ago today my wonderful husband and I went on our first date and 25 years ago today we were married! I am the luckiest woman in the world to find a man who has provided love and kindness to me and the children, gave me endless encouragement in my many ambitious endeavors, and shared my obsession for living a healthy lifestyle. We worked well together as engineers in Silicon Valley and now we work just as well together as organic farmers, bloggers, and wine makers. 

Today is our 25th Wedding Anniversary

So yesterday when I felt like my allergies were getting the best of me and were possibly turning into a cold, it was time to make a pot of soup despite the warm temperature outside. We have big plans for our anniversary dinner and I want to feel my best. 

Goals for this Soup
This soup will hopefully accomplish three important goals.
#1 - Help me feel better for my anniversary.
#2 - Give me a source of more microbes from the fermented, unpasteurized miso.
#3 - Help me use up the zucchini in my garden!

Romanesco zucchini are taking over my yard!

Powerful and Delicious Ingredients
Whenever I feel like a cold is coming on, I rely on garlic, onions, ginger, mushrooms and fermented foods to build up my immune system. This soup has it all. But to get the most out of these ingredients remember two things:
#1 - Let the garlic sit for 10 minutes after mincing it to enhance its health-promoting properties.
#2 - Don't boil the miso or it will kill the live beneficial bacteria. Once it's added to the soup, warm it gently over a low flame.

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Zucchini Miso Soup with Mushrooms and Kale
Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free
[makes 4 first-course servings or 2 meal-size servings]

Ingredients
2 or 3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
8 ounces brown clamshell or other mushrooms
1 1/2 pounds small to medium-size zucchini, halved and thinly sliced
4 cups low sodium veggie broth
1 packed cup thinly sliced kale
2 tablespoons (or more) unpasteurized white miso 
Black pepper to taste

For my veggie broth, I like to use a large low sodium vegetable bouillon cube with 4 cups of boiling water. 

Directions
Finely mince the garlic and set aside while you are preparing the remaining ingredients. Let the garlic rest for at least 10 minutes so that it develops its health-promoting properties.

Heat the olive oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven. Cook the onion for 5 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and ginger, stirring until fragrant, about one minute. 

Separate the clamshell mushrooms. If you are using shiitake mushrooms, remove their stems and slice. Add the mushrooms to the pot. Cook, stirring frequently, until they release their liquid, about 3 minutes.

Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, until it cooks down a bit and gets a little starchy, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer, cover, and cook until the soup thickens and the zucchini begins to soften. 

Throw in the kale and cook another 5 or so minutes until all the veggies are cooked. I like the zucchini soft in a soup like this but you may prefer them to be a bit firmer.  

Remove a cup of broth from the pot and place in a small bowl. Stir in the miso paste until all the lumps are gone. 

Stir the miso broth mixture back into the pot. Simmer for a few minutes but DO NOT BOIL as excessive heat will kill the beneficial microbes. 

Add freshly ground black pepper to taste and serve immediately.

This soup is less than 150 calories per serving

Nutrition
Per serving (4): 148 calories, 5 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 105 mg omega-3 and 661 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 8 g protein, 21 carbohydrates, 5 g dietary fiber, and 394 mg sodium. 

Cranberry (Borlotti) Beans, Kale, And MushroomsMade In An Instant Pot Electric Pressure CookerEasy Vegan And Gluten-Free Meal

Cranberry beans are a great source of protein and fiber.

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Beans and Greens
"Beans and greens" is one of my absolute favorite and versatile meals. We always have tons of kale in the garden and a pantry-full of various dried beans. Spinach, chard, escarole, collards, mustard and turnip greens are also excellent "greens" to make with this dish (cooking times will vary depending on the selection of beans and greens). I usually make a big pot for dinner and serve left-overs for lunch. Beans and greens can be eaten over a cooked grain, pasta or as is. And now with my Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker, it's easier than ever to make this healthy and delicious dish.

The Mind Diet, a diet used in a study to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's, recommends eating six or more servings of greens and three servings of beans per week. 

Cranberry (Borlotti) Beans
This year I became addicted to Rancho Gordo beans. My son sent me a huge assortment of them for Christmas and I've been working my way through them in various recipes. The Cranberry Bean has become one of my favorites. Their creamy texture and short cooking time make them perfect for many dishes such as "beans and greens" or my other personal favorite, "pasta e fagioli", or as they say back in Brooklyn, "pasta fazool."

Cranberry beans are an excellent source of vegetarian protein, providing 16.5 grams of "complete" protein per cup, meaning they contain every essential amino acid. They also provide a whopping 17.7 grams of dietary fiber. One cup also provides 92% of the daily requirement of folate, an especially critical nutrient during pregnancy.

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Cranberry Beans, Kale, and Mushrooms
Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free
[makes 6 servings]
Requires an Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dry cranberry beans
4 inch piece kombu (optional)
4 slices of onion
Salt and pepper to taste
8 cups destemmed, thinly sliced kale
4 ounces fresh maitake or shiitake mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Sort through the beans, removing rocks and debris. Rinse well.

Place in the Instant Pot and cover with 2 or more inches of cold water. Let sit over night.

You have two choices after this:
* Rancho Gordo suggests cooking the beans in their soaking water. This provides for a slightly richer broth. Or:
* You can rinse the beans before cooking them. Soaking and rinsing the beans helps eliminate the indigestible sugars that cause gas and reduces the phytates that bind with important minerals making them unavailable. You still get a rich, delicious broth.

Whether you cook the beans in their soaking water or rinse them after soaking, make sure there is at least an inch or two of water covering the beans. I like to make my beans saucy.

Add the sliced onions over the beans and snip the piece of kombu into thin slices and add to the pot. You may also leave the kombu whole and remove it before eating. Some people reuse it.

Kombu is a sea vegetable.
It improves digestibility of beans and reduces issue with gas.
Kombu is a source of iodine, missing in many diets.
Look for it at your health food store or Whole Foods.

Beans, water, kombu and onions in the Instant Pot.
Ready to start cooking!

Make sure the top vent of the Instant Pot is closed. Secure the lid, hit the manual button and set to cook at high pressure for 8 minutes.

After the pot cooks at high pressure for 8 minutes, hit the off button and let the pressure come down naturally. Carefully remove the lid, tilting it so that the steam escapes in the back. Test the beans to see if they are done. Salt and pepper to taste and place the cooked beans and broth in a large pot or casserole dish. Set aside. No need to wash the instant pot. You'll be using it again.

Cranberry beans after cooking.

I selected maitake mushrooms for this dish today but I've also made it with others. Shiitake mushrooms are particularly good to use. If you are using maitake, break them apart into small pieces. If you are using shiitakes, remove the stem and thinly slice.

Maitake mushroom.

Place the kale, mushrooms, garlic powder, olive oil, salt and pepper into the Instant Pot. Add 3/4 cups of the bean broth to the kale mixture. Stir to combine.

Secure the lid and hit the manual button. Set to cook at high pressure for 3 to 4 minutes. When complete, hit the off button and do a quick release of the pressure. Open the lid carefully. Mix the kale and the beans together. 

Serve over rice, quinoa, millet, or other whole grain. Or, mix together with cooked pasta.

Nutrition
Per serving: 228 calories, 2 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 285 mg omega-3 and 355 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 15 g protein, 41 g carbohydrates, and 15 g dietary fiber.