Archive for July, 2009
Portobello Mushrooms with White Wine
July 15th, 2009 | 
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Portobello mushrooms are very popular and readily available in most local grocery stores and supermarkets. They are high in niacin, potassium and selenium. This is a delicious recipe that you can make very quickly and easily. It is cooked with white wine. You can make a non-alcoholic version simply by substituting the juice from 1/2 lime plus about 1 tablespoon of water instead of the white wine. The wine I used in this particular recipe was very inexpensive (Charles Shaw – also known as "Two Buck Chuck").
This is a good side dish and goes well with fish or meat as the main dish. They will make an excellent meal when served with steak, lamb or fish along with a tossed green salad or sliced tomatoes.
Ingredients:
- 4 Portobello mushrooms
- 1 lg onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt
Cut Portobello mushrooms into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch cubes. Chop the onion. Chop garlic cloves and place in frying pan. Sauté over a medium heat until garlic begins to look toasty. Add olive oil and turn heat down. Continue to sauté until garlic is soft and light brown in color, then add chopped vegetables to the pan. Salt to taste, then add white wine. Vegetables will be done when soft and brown.
Alternately: Use juice from 1/2 lime plus about 1 tbsp of water in place of the white wine.
Shown below is a photo of the ingredients: One large yellow onion, four portobello mushrooms and six cloves of garlic.
First, chop the garlic … not too fine and definitely not minced.
Slice each mushroom into 3/4 inch slices.
Cutting crosswise, make additional 3/4 inch slices to make 3/4 inch cubes.
Then chop the onions.
Add the chopped garlic to the pan and sauté the garlic over a medium flame.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil and continue to sauté the garlic until it is soft and light brown in color.
Next, add the cubed mushrooms.
Then add the chopped onions, followed by the white wine.
Continue cooking for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Continue cooking until all the vegetables are soft and brown.
Serve immediately.
Homemade Refried Beans
This is my recipe for homemade refried beans. There are numerous recipes for refried beans. The traditional fat used has been lard. Finding a good source for healthy lard is not easy. You need to know a butcher that can get it for you. Refried beans are excellent for healthy eating or for losing weight.
First you will need to cook the pinto beans. You should soak the beans in water overnight, then on the following day it takes about 3-4 hours to cook them. This recipe uses some chili powder, oregano and other seasonings to add spice. You will sauté some chopped onions in a little lard, butter or coconut oil, then add crushed or minced garlic, then add seasonings to gradually infuse more and more flavor. At the end of the cooking you will add some fresh squeezed lime juice. You add it at the end to keep from cooking away the flavor.
Fat Free Refried Beans
Ingredients:
- 4 1/2 cups cooked beans
- 1 cup chopped onions (about 1/2 large onion)
- 1 tbsp minced or crushed garlic
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 juice from fresh squeezed lime (juice from 1/2 lime)
Mash the beans in a bowl with a masher and set aside for now. Add chopped onions to a heavy skillet and cook until soft and beginning to brown a little. Add 1 tbsp of water at a time to keep skillet moist and to keep from burning the onions. Then add garlic and continue cooking until the onions are a light brown color. Add mashed beans to skillet and mix thoroughly, then stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano and salt. Continue to cook the beans in the skillet and stir with a spatula until it is a thick paste. At that time, add the lime juice and thoroughly mix it into the cooked beans. Turn off the heat once the lime juice is mixed in to avoid cooking away the lime flavor.
Shown below is a photo of all the ingredients. Starting in the upper right corner and moving counter-clockwise: crushed garlic, ground cumin, oregano, chili powder, onion, lime and dried pinto beans.
Start by cooking the pinto beans. Please see this post for complete instructions. After cooking the beans, use a masher to mash them while in the pot.
Chop the onions …
Place the chopped onions in a large skillet.
Measure out portions of the other ingredients and set them aside in dishes. Shown below (left to right): all the dry ingredients in the dish on the left (ground cumin, oregano, chili powder and salt), then crushed garlic in the middle dish followed by fresh squeezed lime juice in the last dish.
Sauté the chopped onions in water, gradually adding more water as necessary – about a tablespoon at a time – to keep the onions from sticking to the skillet or burning. After cooking for about 8 minutes, add the crushed garlic.
Continue to cook the vegetables for about 2 minutes more. Just infuse the flavors into the vegetables.
When the onions and garlic are cooked, add the mashed beans.
Use the masher or wooden spoon and continue to cook the vegetables and mashed beans together. After a minute or two, add the dry seasonings (ground cumin, oregano, chili powder and salt).
Continue to cook and stir the mashed beans with a masher or wooden spoon for another minute or two, then add the fresh squeezed lime juice.
Using the masher, thoroughly mix the fresh squeezed lime juice throughout the mashed beans. When everything is all mixed together, the refried beans will be done.
Posted in Cooking to Lose Weight, Core Foods, Healthy Eating, Healthy Meals, Heart Healthy Recipes, Mexican Food | 
Tags: Refried Beans | 
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How To Cook Pinto Beans
Pinto beans are among the most common staple foods in many cultures. They are very healthy and inexpensive. Pinto beans are the most highly consumed dried bean in the U.S.A. and the are very easy to cook. Pinto beans are an excellent source of protein – especially when combined with rice. Proteins are composed of amino acids. The body can produce all but 10 amino acids. These 10 amino acids are called “essential amino acids”. Foods containing all of these essential amino acids are called “complete proteins” and foods lacking in certain essential amino acids are called “incomplete proteins”. Some vegetables lack certain essential amino acids but when combined in the same meal with other vegetables containing the missing amino acids, a complete protein will result. Thus, certain combinations of vegetables with incomplete proteins balance each other out to form complete proteins. Beans and rice is one such combination.
In a recent Oprah Winfrey show, Dr. Mehmet Oz and freelance writer Dan Buettner discussed the “blue zones” – areas of the planet where people often live to be 100. Dan Buettner emphasizes what he calls the “Mesoamerican trifecta” — the predominant diet in much of Central America for the last 3,500 years. Mr Buettner states that “The diet consists of lightly salted corn tortillas, beans and squash” … which is “arguably the best longevity food ever invented.” Pinto beans are good for heart health, they are very high in fiber and help to stabilize blood sugar levels, thereby keeping you from getting hungry.
Fat Free Pinto Beans
- 3 1/2 cups pinto beans
Sort through the beans and pull out any stones or shriveled beans. Add beans to a pot with a lid. Add water to cover beans with 1 to 2 inches of water. You can’t add too much water because you’re going to rinse them the next day, anyway. Let soak overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, rinse the beans. This is an important step because the overnight soaking will pull out an enzyme that causes gas and that enzyme will now be in the water. So you rinse away all of that water along with the enzyme that causes gas so you get rid of it. Now add new water to the pot of beans as needed to just cover them. Heat over medium flame until water starts to boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Check water level after about 20 minutes, then every 30 minutes afterwards, adding water as needed to keep water level just to the top of the beans. Do not allow the water to boil away and burn the beans. Stir with wooden spoon occasionally. Cook until beans are soft and the cooking liquid is of good consistency. Never add salt until beans are fully cooked.
Fat Free Pinto Beans
Start with a medium sized cooking pot with lid. I like to cook 3 1/2 cups of dried beans at a time. Measure out the beans and spread them out on a clean, flat surface, then sort through them and discard any stones or shriveled beans.
Cover the beans with 1 to 2 inches of water. Add as much water as you want. You can’t add too much water at this step. Place the lid on the pot and set the beans in the refrigerator and allow to soak overnight.
The next day, rinse away all of the soaking water and add new water. This step will get rid of all the enzyme that causes gas because the soaking water will contain the enzyme. Add enough new water to just cover the beans.
Place the pot over a flame and bring water to a boil, then reduce to a very low flame. Allow to cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Shown below is a photo taken just after water begins to boil and just before reducing the flame. Stir occasionally, checking the water level periodically and adding more water as necessary to just cover the beans during cooking. It has been my experience that water needs to be added around the first 20 minutes after boiling.
During the last 30 to 45 minutes, there may be a tendency for the beans to stick to the pan, so be careful around this time. Stir the beans and make sure the flame is very low and that the water level covers the beans.
The beans should be fully cooked in no more than 3 hours. Once you have cooked the pinto beans, you can make them into refried beans, or you can allow to cool and place in a covered container in the refrigerator. You can also freeze some of them if you like, then place in the refrigerator after thawing.
