Love Me Some Bellas

I love to cook with mushrooms, especially portabellas. They offer an interesting texture to any dish and are jam-packed with fiber and protein.

Here are pan-fried portabellas on a bed of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and shallots. Seasoned with oregano, parsley, salt and pepper. Fried in red wine vinegar and grapeseed oil. Yum!

What are some of your favorite mushroom recipes?

Eggplant Curry

In my quest to eat vegetarian, I have aspired to cook excellent Indian style cuisine.

Eggplant curry

I like to make Eggplant Curry from scratch. This particular curry turned out a little sweet because the yogurt I used was flavored with banana.

Curry contents:

• onions, garlic, ginger (staples of curry)
• tomatoes
• eggplant
• cumin, coriander, black and red pepper, tumeric
• green cardamom and mustard seeds (both optional)
• olive oil, a cinnamon stick, dried coconut
• plain yogurt

...and that's it! In my opinion, the contents decrease the curry recipe intimidation factor by a power of 10 (on a 10 point scale).

Instructions:
Bake eggplant in 425 degree oven for 20 minutes or until eggplant becomes squishy (but not TOO squishy). Take out and let cool. Meanwhile, put olive oil, garlic, ginger in pan and fry on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add spices. Cook until onions have cooked down and are transparent. Add one large or two medium chopped tomatoes. Add around 1/8 cup of water to help cook the tomatoes. Cover pan and cook for 5-7 minutes. Skin and chop cooled eggplant. Add to pan and mash with tomatoes and onions to help blend the dish together. Cook covered for 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup yogurt (your choice of fat content). Cook uncovered on medium low for 5 minutes and, my friend, you have just made an excellent eggplant curry. Congrats! Discard cinnamon stick and cardamom (if used) and please enjoy!

There's nothing like a good tasting curry complete with some cucumber raita. I'll share that recipe in a later post. Stay tuned!

Unique Ingredients in my Kitchen

I LOVE to cook with fresh ingredients. Some of the unique ingredients in my kitchen:

• yucca root - a bit gritty in texture, cook like a baked potato
• jicama - sweet and crispy, eat raw in salads
• daikon - radish, eat raw in salads
• mushrooms - great when marinated
• eggplant - great with tomato(ish) sauces

Why eat out when you can eat at home? There are so many great recipes on the internet. All you need is to take a short drive to the grocery store and inspiration to make the tastiest of treats!

The following are ways I like to use the ingredients listed above.


Red leaf lettuce, spinach, jicama, tomatoes, avocado, balsamic vinegarette
Dill pickles
Lavender fennel herbal tea




Yucca root, chives, garlicsalt, splash of skim milk, butter, lemon
Pan-fried rainbow chard, tomatoes, onions, garlic, spiced with tumeric, cumin, coriander





Pan-fried marinated mushrooms, spinach, garlic




I'll post a picture and my recipe of Eggplant Curry in a later post focusing on some of my Indian style cooking.

 Happy eating everyone!