Tag Archives: true food kitchen cookbook

Immunity Soup and a New Household Addition

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‘Tis the season…to get a cold.

Just when I thought I was out of the woods, I got knocked down with a stuffy head, sore throat, and a really attractive cough.  Fortunately this cold sinus infection hit before Thanksgiving, so I’m hoping to be over the worst of it by then.

Whenever I’m sick, I immediately crave warm comfort foods such as soup.  When I lived in LA, I used to get the Chicken Matzo Ball soup from Canter’s Deli, and was convinced that their soup had magic healing properties.

Since I wasn’t in the mood to make the hour drive up to LA just for soup, I decided to flip through my trusty True Food Kitchen cookbook for soup inspiration.  And low and behold, there was an immunity soup.

We didn’t have all the ingredients on hand to make the soup (if anyone can tell me where to find astragalus root that would be awesome), but the soup came out delicious and had a nice strong ginger flavor to it.  Perfect for soothing the throat and clearing the sinuses.

Once again, another awesome recipe from this cookbook.

Immunity Soup (adapted from the True Food Kitchen cookbook)

Ingredients:

1.5 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 large onions, sliced

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp ginger

4 oz shiitake mushrooms (stemmed and sliced)

2 large carrots thinly sliced on the bias

10 cups vegetable broth (the recipe calls for homemade mushroom stock, but the broth worked fine)

Pinch of salt

2 cups broccoli florets

1/2 cup chopped scallions

1 cup brown rice noodles.

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add your onions, garlic and ginger and saute until soft.  Add the shiitake mushrooms, carrots and vegetable broth and bring to a low boil.  Reduce your heat and let simmer for 40-45 minutes.

2. In a separate pot, boil your brown rice noodles and drain.

3. Add salt and broccoli florets and cook until the broccoli is tender (roughly 2 minutes).  Add in the brown rice noodles.

4. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with scallions.

This recipe will make about 6 servings worth of soup, so plenty of leftovers!  I especially liked adding the noodles into the soup for additional texture.

Oh, and meet the newest addition to our household:

Our spunky grey and white kitten named Pip!  We adopted him from a kitten rescue group and are totally smitten.

 

 

Carrot-Banana Muffins

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The Englishman and I often find ourselves with way too many bananas on our hands.

The thing is, we are both incredibly particular when it comes to eating bananas.  Neither of us like them super ripe or mushy, and often times prefer them slightly green.  When the bananas start to get slightly mushy or overripe they end up abandoned in our fruit basket and we buy a “fresh” bunch to enjoy.  And since I have to have my daily banana with breakfast (either with oats or on toast with almond butter), we often find ourselves with more bananas than we can eat.

Ever since I got the True Food Kitchen cookbook, I’ve been itching to try a recipe out of there.  And wouldn’t you know it, the cookbook had a recipe for Carrot-Banana muffins.  Perfect.

I followed this recipe for the most part but made a few modifications (used almonds instead of walnuts because I’m allergic, maple syrup instead of honey because we were out) and the end result was delicious.

Carrot-Banana Muffins (adapted from the True Food Kitchen Cookbook)

*Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

3 mashed bananas

1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 medium shredded carrots

3/4 cup slivered almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.  Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan or fill with muffin liners.

2. In a large bowl mix your dry ingredients – almond flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  In a smaller bowl, mash your banana, then add your eggs, butter and maple syrup.  Whisk well and fold into your dry ingredients.  Add your carrots and almonds and continue to mix until everything is blended together.

3. Pour your mixture into the muffin tins and bake for 40 minutes (or until golden brown).  Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, and then slide muffins onto a cooling rack or plate.

I know I’ve said this already, but you really need to get this cookbook.  Add it to your holiday wish list this year.