Stuffed mushrooms are one of those easy to prepare, tasty and nutritious meals that can please everybody. Generally speaking, stuffed food recipes are versatile, because most of the taste resides in the stuffing. One can choose the stuffing according to personal preferences or to the seasonality of various foods. Spices are another great way of creating unique, personalized healthy recipes with amazing taste and flavors.

Here’s one of my favorite stuffed mushrooms recipes, healthy, cheap and doable in no more than 25 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 8 big Portobello mushrooms
• 1/4 of a small celery root, finely grated (don’t use more than 1/4 root, because otherwise the stuffing will have a dry, crumbling texture which is not very nice)
• 1 egg (the egg plays the role of binding the stuffing mixture elements together, but you can skip it or use only the white if you want a low-fat dish)
• 1 cup coarsely grated cottage cheese
• 8 slices of Emmentaler cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes (depending on the mushrooms' size)

Serving: 2-3 people

Method:

Clean the mushrooms thoroughly, detaching their stems. Cut the stems into small pieces, then put them in a bowl and mix them with the egg, the grated cottage cheese, the minced garlic, the grated celery root, the thyme and a pinch of salt. Optionally, you can add other herbs or spices such as red hot chili peppers powder, coriander, cumin or dried basil. Oil a baking dish and put the mushrooms inside, making sure they fit well. If they don’t, take a bigger dish. It is important that the mushrooms stay flat on the bottom of the dish, otherwise the stuffing will drip into the dish. Spoon the egg mixture into each mushroom carefully until you finish it. Bake the mushrooms at medium heat for 10-15 minutes, without covering the dish.

After the 15 minutes, take the dish out of the oven, put on top of each mushroom a slice of Emmentaler cheese, then cook them for another five minutes or until the cheese starts melting. Serve hot, with freshly ground pepper sprinkled on top. I prefer a mix of red, white and black pepper. For a delicious variation, you can serve the stuffed mushrooms with a sour cream topping or with hot salsa.

For some of us, going vegetarian is not an option, despite the current trends which try to prove more and more that vegetables and fruits are the healthiest way to stay one’s hunger. If you long for healthy recipes that include some meat and are easy to prepare, your grill and some chicken breast are your best friends. The healthiest option when buying meat is to go for free range, cereal-fed chicken, because it contains less chemicals and less stress hormones than the meat coming from birds that were raised in batteries.

This is a simple recipe that goes well for either lunch or dinner, healthy, tasty and budget-friendly.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast, skinless, boneless, sliced in 6 (slices don’t have to be even, just make sure each of them is thick enough to go through the procedure I’m going to describe below)
• 1 pound button mushrooms (preferably fresh, but canned are also OK)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled, cut in quarters
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 1 big onion, chopped small
• Salt, pepper to taste

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 2

Method:

Beat the chicken breast slices carefully, then sprinkle them with salt and thyme on both sides. Oil and preheat a stove top grill. Grill the meat 4-5 minutes on each side, then put it in a covered dish. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan, then add the chopped onion and about two tablespoons of water. Cook the onion for 5-6 minutes, then add the button mushrooms. In case you use fresh mushrooms, make sure to wash them thoroughly, to remove all dirt, but don’t detach the stems. Although they need a longer cooking time, whole mushrooms are better than sliced ones, because they preserve their taste better. After you added the mushrooms, mix them well with the onions, add the garlic, add some salt and pepper, then cover the pan and continue cooking for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Arrange the grilled chicken pieces on the plate, add mushrooms and pour some mushroom sauce with onion bits, then sprinkle some raw grated carrot all over the food. There’s no need for side dish, but if you’re keen on having one, a beetroot salad could make a good companion for this grilled chicken breast with mushrooms recipe.

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Cauliflower is not only the prettier cousin of cabbage, but also a healthy vegetable and a complete food. Cauliflower is a natural source of vitamin C (good for strengthening the immune system) and folate (important for pregnant women in the prevention of spina bifida and other neural tube malformations in newborns). Cauliflower is rich in dietary fiber, excellent for digestion and for the prevention of colon cancer. Recent research has shown that one of the compounds in cauliflower, the indole-3-carbinol, may have positive effects in preventing or slowing down the development of breast and prostate tumors. Apart from its healthy side, cauliflower also has a tasty side, as it makes delicious meals, be it raw, steamed, stir-fried or roasted.

This cauliflower curry recipe is one of my favorites. Easy to prepare, it’s one of the healthy eating recipes which can make a great idea for a light dinner meal, even at late hours.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 2-3 people

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized cauliflower
• 6-8 medium sized mushrooms (champignons or any other sort of your choice)
• 4-5 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 bell pepper (red, green or yellow, whatever you have available), chopped
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup diced tomatoes in sauce (canned)
• 1 small carrot, grated or Julienne cut
• 1 tablespoon curry powder (either bought or homemade, depending on how much time you’ve got and whether you’re in the cooking mood or just need to feed some hungry mouths)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Break the cauliflower apart into medium to small florets, discarding the leaves and the core. Put the florets in a pot with salty boiling water and let them boil for 2-3 minutes, then let them drain. Wash and cut the mushrooms into 1/4 inch thick slices. Heat the olive oil in a wok. Stir fry the onions for 3-4 minutes, adding about 2 tablespoons of water, so the oil doesn’t get too hot. Add the mushrooms, the garlic the curry powder and some salt and cook everything for about 5-6 minutes. If you aren’t sure when the mushrooms are done, you can always taste one. Just remember to use a fork and not your fingers to grab the mushroom from the pan.

When mushrooms become soft, add the diced tomatoes, the tomato sauce and the bell pepper and cook everything at medium temperature for 5 more minutes, making sure to keep the wok covered and to stir from time to time. Add the carrot and the boiled cauliflower florets (remember not to overdo the boiling, you don’t want the cauliflower completely cooked, but just a bit softened, when you add it to the vegetable mix). Cook it for 4-5 minutes, stirring gently for a couple of times, in order to make sure that you cover all the florets with the nice, flavored yellow sauce that’s already formed on the wok bottom.

Serve hot with sour cream and freshly ground black pepper on top. If you want a vegetarian meal, you can replace the sour cream with salsa or with a few drops of Worcestershire sauce.

Vegetable lasagna is the meatless variant of the well-known Italian dish based on sheets-shaped pasta. Curiously enough, the word “lasagna” doesn’t come from Latin or Italian, but from Greek language. Its initial meaning was “chamber pot”. Later on, the word was imported in the Latin language, with the meaning of “cooking pot”. Today, lasagna refers to the food itself rather than the dish used for cooking it. The plural, lasagne, is also used by many Italian people.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 50-60 minutes
Serving: 4 very hungry people or 6 normal ones
 

This is a tasty little snack, good for brunch, lunch or afternoon tea. Try to use free range ham if you can, and choose your favorite mushrooms, we use a combination but flat mushrooms are really good, also known as portobello mushrooms, because they tend to be tastier.