A salad with dinner is always a good idea.  This salad is one my friend, Isabel, made for a dinner party she threw when we were in our twenties - - a long time ago.  I’ve used it ever since.  I was so surprised by how simple it was.  Sometimes I use a homemade vinaigrette and sometimes I just embrace my lazy bones and use La Martinique French Vinaigrette in a bottle.  Isabel is very international and quite sophisticated.  If she’s using it, well, then it’s just fine.

Ingredients for Simple & Sophisticated Isabel Salad

• a head of butter lettuce - I like the kind that comes in a little container and still has its roots attached, like a little hydroponic garden
• La Martinique French Vinaigrette salad dressing or homemade vinaigrette
• 1 can mandarin oranges - drained
• 1 small red onion - sliced very thin
• a generous sprinkling of sunflower seeds

Preparation Instructions

1. Wash and dry your lettuce.
2. In a salad bowl, add the clean lettuce, the drained oranges, sliced red onions and a splash of salad dressing or homemade vinaigrette (not too much - less is more).
3. Toss to combine all and top with a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

So simple and tasty.

Chicken spaghetti comes in several versions.  In our family, it’s actually more like Tetrazzini.  It’s basically yummy sauteed chicken tenders and whole wheat spaghetti baked with a happy sherry cream sauce topped with parmesan cheese.  You wont find this recipe linked to the Superfoods website, let’s just tell it like it is.  But I’ve tried to clean it up a little.  What this recipe lacks in Superfood credibility, it more than makes up for in flavor and a gratifying effort.  Kids eat this.  All kinds, all ages.  I’ve never had any child turn their nose up to this.  Never.  It makes everyone happy, and my daughter requests it ALL the time.  I serve this with an Isabel salad and Sister Shubert rolls.  Like I said, it’s not necessarily good for you, but it sure is good!

Ingredients for Classic Chicken Spaghetti in a Creamy Wine Sauce

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
• boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins - I use between 10 and 15 tenderloins then freeze the rest
• 8 oz. package of sliced mushrooms
• 2 cups heavy cream
• splash of sherry
• splash of white wine (or another splash of sherry if you don’t want to open a bottle of wine)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp. hot paprika
• 1 generous Tbsp. flour
• 1 generous Tbsp. softened butter
• 6 oz. whole wheat spaghetti
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Cooking Instructions

1. First get the spaghetti water going.  Fill a stockpot with water and plenty of course salt or kosher salt and put it over high heat.

It’s pretty difficult to oversalt cooking water that will be drained.  Go ahead and get some salt in there.

2. Melt the 1/4 cup butter and add the olive oil over medium heat in a very large saute pan.

I use the large All-Clad buffet pan.

3. Saute the chicken tenderloins and the mushrooms together.  As you saute the chicken, cut each one into bite size pieces with your saute spoon or spatula.  Stir it around a bit until the chicken is just cooked through (no longer pink).

 Season with salt and pepper as you’re cooking.

4. Add the heavy cream and stir in.
5. Add the lemon juice, sherry and wine and stir in.
6. Add the hot paprika and stir in.
7. In a small bowl or ramekin, use a fork to make a paste with the flour and butter (1 generous Tbsp. each). Once you have your buerre manie paste add it to the sauce and stir or whisk it in well.

To thicken sauces, sometimes a buerre manie is used.  A buerre manie is a french term and I have no idea what it means.  I do know that it works, however.  A buerre manie is equal parts flour and softened butter. 

8. Allow the sauce to come to a slow bubble.

  It will thicken up a bit.

9. In the meantime, cook the spaghetti (according to instructions) in the boiling water you started earlier.
10. Once the spaghetti is ready, drain it and add it to the cream sauce.  Incorporate all together.
11. Dump all into a casserole dish and top it with some parmesan cheese.
12. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until bubbly

Serve and smile!

Well, it’s a long story and somewhat unrelated to our common blog topic.  Long story, short - - I stumbled into a part-time job and we’ve had a few family dramas.  I’m back, though, I’m back.

And while I was preoccupied, I prepared a lot of family heart-meals.  These are the meals I know by heart, the meals I can whip up with ease and speed, the meals my family requests, the meals that feel familiar and warm and friendly to all of us around the Hudson Family Table.  For the next few entries, I am going to share these meals.  They are our classics.  What a great way for us to start the new year together, don’t you think?

When I think of perfect family meals, this is one of them.  First and foremost, it is delicious.  My entire family loves this dinner, especially my daughter.  Second, this meal is just plain healthy - it hits a number of superfood groups and that makes this family cook smile.  I feel really good every time I serve this meal, which makes it a staple in our home.

The recipes for the steamed salmon and wild mushroom brown rice are on the site, but a recipe is not needed for the edamame.  Just pick up some frozen edamame and prepare it according to the instructions.  I like the Central Market brand which can be steamed in the microwave right in the bag.  So easy!

Salmon is a superfood, full of Omega-3 fatty acids.  Look for wild salmon, however.  It has more of the Omega-3’s that we need.  Also, keep the skin on while you cook it.  Since the fatty acids are located between the skin and the flesh, if you remove the skin before cooking, the fatty acids will escape.  However, you certainly do not want to eat the skin, so be sure remove it before you serve the salmon.

Cooking en papillote requires some parchment paper or foil.  I like to use parchment, but others prefer the ease of foil.  All you are doing is creating an envelope in which to cook your salmon.  I’ve used this method countless times and it is always a winner, it’s simple and impressive!

Ingredients for Steamed Salmon en Papillote

• 2 lbs. wild salmon fillet - bones removed but skin on
• 1 bunch fresh chives - finely chopped
• 1 bunch fresh tarragon - finely chopped
• 1 bunch fresh parsley - finely chopped
• 2 lemons - washed and sliced
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions

1. Cut four or five pieces of parchment so that when you fold the piece of paper in half it will form a square.
2. Spread the parchment pieces out on the counter and smear each piece with a bit of olive oil.
3. Cut the salmon into four or five pieces of equal size and place each piece on it’s own piece of parchment

Make sure you cut with the grain - your fishmonger can do this for you too.

4. Place the salmon on half of the parchment so you can fold the other side over and fold it to seal.
5. Sprinkle each piece of salmon with salt and pepper.
6. Sprinkle each piece of salmon with a bit of chives, tarragon and parsley.
7. Place several slices of lemon over the salmon pieces.
8. Fold the other half over loosely and fold.

There is a proper folding technique, but you don’t have to use it.  Any fold will do, just as long as it seals the fish inside and creates “an envelope”.

9. Place the envelopes on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, get your sauce going - -

Ingredients for Zesty Herb Sauce

• 1/2 cup fish broth - I buy frozen fish broth
• 1/2 cup white wine or sherry
• 1 shallot - chopped
• remaining chives, tarragon and parsley from above
• a splash of heavy cream

Cooking Instructions

1. In a small pot, bring broth and wine/sherry to a boil with the shallots.
2. Allow the liquid to reduce by about two-thirds.
3. Once reduced, remove from heat and add a sprinkling of the herbs and whisk in the cream.
4. Drizzle the sauce over the salmon.

Fabulous!

Thought you weren’t a fan of brown rice?  Try this.  You’ll like it, and so will your kids.

Ingredients for Tasty Wild Mushroom Brown Rice

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• olive oil
• 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
• 3 green onions - chopped
• salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions

1. Combine the rice and broth in a lidded pot and bring to a boil uncovered.
2. Then lower the heat to a low simmer and cover the pot for 40 minutes.
3. In the meantime, saute the green onions and mushrooms with a generous drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. When brown rice is done, drain it and turn it out into the saute pan with the green onions and mushrooms.
6. Combine all and turn into a pretty serving dish.

There are moments that life creates for you that are tender, special and sit apart from the usual.  That is when moments become memories, and the video of everyday is slowed.  This past Sunday my husband, daughter and I had one of these moments just at a time when it was needed most.  We were in East Texas at our little hunting and fishing cabin for the weekend.  We heard that there were some huckleberries at the side of the road on the way to Shelton Lake.

Let’s go!

Here they are!  Let’s pick some for a much needed treat.

We’ll need about 3 to 4 cups for a comforting cobbler.  There are tons!  We’ll have plenty.

How beautiful they are.

I got choked up knowing that my daughter would always remember this, as would my husband and I.  After a difficult week for all of us, there was comfort found in picking fresh huckleberries that would go into a warm, homemade cobbler for us all to share.

Ever the loyal and vigilant dog, Shiner stood guard at the base of the huckleberry tree.  He took it upon himself to keep the squirrels at bay.  Good dog.

The last huckleberry.  We’ll leave it for another time, another much needed cobbler.

…..SuperFoods Rx by Steven Pratt, MD and Kathy Matthews, and Fat Flush Plan by Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD.  I don’t consider myself to be wacky about healthy eating, nor do I consider myself to be a dieter.  I know how to eat well to stay slim and healthy, but I also know how to eat in order to cure a raging hangover or comfort a broken heart.  And, let’s face it, it’s not a road trip until you’ve had a large DQ dipped cone.  So let’s just say I’m well-rounded.

This week bears the burden of the one year marker from when my husband became suddenly ill with severe, acute pancreatitis.  In a matter of just three hours, he went from normal, functioning man driving his family home from a weekend in San Antonio, to very sick man curled up in a ball in the back of our Suburban, whimpering in pain as my daughter kept telling me to drive faster.  One year later, I feel like I am starting to show some cracks.  We all are.  I don’t know if you would call it post traumatic stress disorder or what.  All I know is that all of us now have the luxury of collapsing - with my husband nearly better and the normalcy of life resumed - we appear to be doing just that.

I don’t want to write about the details of my husband’s illness - the pain he suffered, the complications he endured, the numerous times he nearly died, the disturbing pictures my daughter drew that indicated panic and confusion, the guilt and grief and inadequacy I felt.  None of it.  I list those things only to set a stage for my choice in books.  I mean, who reads multiple nutrition books at the same time?  Well, I do.  At least, now I do.

My husband’s pancreatitis was caused by a gallstone - a small bead of cholesterol that couldn’t quite fit through his bile duct.  That’s it.  Simple enough.  Who knew that just one little gallstone could manifest into a deadly condition that would take up to a year in treatment and recovery?

Now that we’re out of the woods and back to normal, I have found myself asking questions about gallstones and the gallbladder and the pancreas.  In the age of the Internet, a question is answered in seconds, and that is where I began.  I back-tracked from the pancreatitis to the gallstone to the gallbladder, then finally to the liver.  The pancreatitis was caused by a gallstone.  The gallstone was probably caused by a condition known as fatty liver disease.  Fatty liver disease is reversible through diet changes.  Hmmm.

Four years ago one of our dear friends died of liver cancer, of all things.  His death was horrible, and he left behind a devastated wife and three young boys, the youngest of whom was also seriously ill.  His terrible death spurred my husband and me to get life insurance.  We each had the requisite physicals, but my husband kept flunking his liver function blood tests.  At the time, we were both hypersensitive about the liver in particular since our friend Stephen had just died of liver cancer.  I remember making a fuss about it and demanding that the doctor do more tests, etc.  My husband was a little more lackadaisical and followed his doctor’s advice of simply avoiding any consumption of alcohol and/or Tylenol for six weeks and repeating the test.  One repeated test turned to two, turned to three, turned to four.  Finally, we got a test that put his liver function within the normal range and, hurrah!, he got life insurance.  Those liver function tests always bothered me.  My husband was not a huge drinker at that time.  He enjoyed a cocktail in the evening after work, but just one, if that even.  Why were his liver enzymes elevated?  After much nagging, I was finally informed by my dear husband that I was apparently the only one worrying about it.  My husband and his doctor checked it off their lists and it was never mentioned again.  It tugged at me, though.  I wish I had acted on that more assertively.

Now I find myself thinking about that a lot.  If we had been made aware of this condition called fatty liver disease, could we have changed his diet then to stem off the gallstone that caused the pancreatitis that nearly killed him?  Maybe.  Probably.

Fast forward to my recommended books.  Fat Flush Plan is a diet that stems from liver health.  If your liver is not healthy, your body cannot and will not burn fat normally.  Cleansing your liver - interesting.  I’ll take that.  SuperFoods Rx is an all-around list of foods that are good for you in countless ways and address nearly every nutritional need.  No weird rules.  No extremes.  No weird foods.  I’ll take that as well.  Simple changes made now can alter your future.  This, I know now.

As I said earlier, I don’t want to get goofy about things.  I’m a moderation girl.  Now, though, I am an aging moderation girl that has seen the slippery slope that runs between life and death.  As I have read these books, I have redefined “moderation” in several areas, most notably with my alcohol consumption.  My husband may not have been a drunk but I sure was!  Both my books are very clear on the definition of moderate drinking.  One or two supersized glasses of wine most evenings, you say?  Uhhhh, no.  One to three small glasses of wine per week for women, actually, if at all.  Yikes!  As our good friend Oprah often says, “Once you know better, you must do better.”

Buy SuperFoods Rx and Fat Flush Plan and give them a glance.  You have nothing to lose …except liver fat.  I’ll be referencing each of them in some of the recipes I post.  Empower yourself and protect those you love.

As I’ve written previously, I’ve been on a Super Foods kick lately.  I’ve also been reading a lot about the liver and the many advantages to keeping your liver as healthy as possible.  This tea combines black tea, a super food, and unsweetened cranberry juice, a liver cleaner.  Why not keep a pitcher in your fridge to sip on throughout the day?

Ingredients for Semi-Sweet Tea

• 2 qts. water
• 8 tea bags - I like PG Tips
• 3 Tbsp. sugar - I use turbinado sugar
• 1 Tbsp. whole cloves
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. lemon or orange zest - preferably organic
• 2 cups unsweetened cranberry juice - I use RW Knudsen brand

Instructions

1. In a 4 qt. stock pot, pour the water, sugar and add the tea bags.
2. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick (break it into pieces) and citrus zest to a diffuser and drop in the stock pot.
3. Bring the water to a bubble then turn off heat.
4. Allow tea to cool a bit then pour in into a pretty pitcher.  Add the cranberry juice, stir to combine then chill in the refrigerator.

Looking for a healthy, easy snack?

This recipe is one I made up to incorporate several “Super Foods“.  I’ve been on a super food kick lately.  I will be writing more about my kick in the days to come and posting recipes that highlight these foods, which have multiple benefits.  In this hummus there are chickpeas, roasted red peppers and walnut oil.  Each of these is a super food in its own right, and combining them not only makes a tasty dish, but makes you a little bit healthier than you were before.  At least that’s what they say.  It’s better for you than French onion dip, for sure!

You’ll need a food processor for this recipe.  I use Cuisinart.

Ingredients for HFT Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

• 19 oz. canned chickpeas (I like Cento brand) - drained and rinsed
• 6 oz. roasted red peppers (I like Cento brand for these too)
• 3 cloves garlic - peeled
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 Tbsp. walnut oil or flaxseed oil
• 1/4 tsp. hot paprika

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a food processor, fit with the steel blade
2. Add all ingredients together in food processor and whirl until they are well processed and combined.
3. Serve with whole wheat pita chips, raw sugar snap peas, raw broccoli, raw cauliflower and/or whole wheat crackers.

So easy!  So tasty!  So healthy!