[Food Series] Bok Choy and Shiitake Mushroom Soup

Last month we took the baby to Underwood Family Farms and came back with a bounty of bok choy, so I went online in search of a new recipe and stumbled upon a 10 minute soup recipe that is bursting with flavor and loaded with nutrition! I took some creative cooking liberties by adding fresh cilantro and cutting down on the stock by half. I have to say that it is now one of my top 5 favorite soups of all time!! Enjoy!

2 cups of sodium free chicken stock

2 cups of beef stock

4 cups of water

6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms (about 10 large), stemmed, caps sliced

2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

1/3 cup of fresh cilantro (de-stemmed)

3 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon chili oil

3 cups roughly chopped bok choy

4 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 chopped green onions

In a large pot, bring broth, water, mushrooms and ginger to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.

Add fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and chili oil and simmer 2 minutes.

Add bok choy and simmer until bok choy is tender, about 3 minutes.

Stir in rice vinegar.

Ladle soup into bowls.

Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro and devour!

[Food Series] Easy & Healthy Homemade Chicken & Mushroom Calzones

I am always trying to come up with quick, easy and healthy ideas for a toddler on the go! One that can be thrown in the bag and eaten on the trail. As I was perusing the Trader Joe's refrigerated section a few weeks ago, I came across their homemade whole wheat pizza dough and it hit me! I could make calzones stuffed with anything! Freeze them and pop them in the oven whenever I didn't feel like cooking! Of course, you could make your own pizza dough, if you're good at that kind of thing, but I don't have the patience for it. Ha! Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped Onions

1/2 cup steamed Lentils

1/2 cup roasted Chicken

1/2 cup steamed Broccoli

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 ready-made Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Take the whole wheat pizza dough and roll it out, then cut it into evenly-shaped rectangles. In a pan, saute the onions, lentils, chicken, mushrooms and broccoli in the olive oil. Place about 2 tablespoons of the mixture in the center of each rectangle. Fold the dough over and sealed the edges with a fork. To freeze them, place the calzones on a plate, making sure they don't touch, and put them in the freezer. Once they are frozen solid, you can transfer them to a freezer-safe container or ziploc bag! Then, whenever you feel the desire, pull one out and place in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes! Quick. Easy. Healthy Food. Enjoy!