Butterflied Mushroom Cacciatore: Best for Busy Nights
Too busy to cook a healthy meal for dinner but still craving something nutritious and delicious? Quick & Effortless Butterflied Mushroom Cacciatore is the perfect solution for those hectic days.
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What’s in This Issue?
The Recipe
The recipe is Quick & Effortless Butterflied Mushroom Cacciatore, this recipe was initially posted on PlantBasedProof.com and you can view detailed instructions there.
This simple one-pot, dump-dinner (I don’t like that term) is extremely easy to make and can be as easy as throwing everything in the pot and coming back in 10-15 minutes.
6 Food Hacks for Health
These are 6 food hacks that are backed by science to make your food more nutritious, bioavailable, or just healthier in general.
Some Powders for Popcorn or Potato Chips/Crisps
Here are 9 wfpb powders (3 are dessert style) that you can use to add to popcorn or other homemade snacks, like chips, since last week’s oil-free stovetop popcorn recipe might get boring by itself.
This is the start of a new series of dump dinners, or toss-and-go recipes (if you think of a name that you like for the series then please let me know becauise I don’t really like dump dinners.)
I wanted this to be almost effortless—I want it so you can throw stuff in a pot, stir it, and come back 10 or so minutes later to a complete and ready-to-eat meal.
This was the first one that I experimented with, so it’s a bit more involved than the others will be, overall, that is if you want the mushrooms to stay connected and come up plump and juicy.
All that being said it’s no more difficult than having to first sautee the mushrooms for 60 seconds before cutting them, then sauteeing for 2 minutes, and then finally dumping everything else in.
🔪 The Recipe: Quick & Effortless Butterflied Mushroom Cacciatore: Best for Busy Nights
⏲️ Estimated Time: About 15-25 minutes.
🍽️ Servings: For around 2-3 people
💵 Cost to make: Around $5.01 USD / $7.00 CAD
🕹️ Difficulty: Quick & Easy
Nutrition Facts
Serving size 1/2 of the recipe
🔥 341.5 Calories (17.1% DV, based on 2,000 calories)
🧈 4.0g Fat (6.1% DV of 65g)
– 🥓 Saturated Fat: 0.7g
– 🚫 Trans Fat: 0.0g
– 🌰 Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.1g
– 🥑 Monounsaturated Fat: 1.1g
🥚 Cholesterol: 0.0mg (0.0% DV of 200mg)
🧂 186.5mg Sodium (8.1% DV of 2,300mg)
🌾 77.3g Carbs (2.9% DV of 400g)
🥬 10.5g Fiber (37.3% DV of 28g)
– 🍬 Sugars: 12.6g (25.2% DV of 50g)
💪 11.7g Protein (23.4% DV of 50g)
🍌 1251.9mg Potassium (26.6% DV of 4,700mg)
🦴 99.3mg Calcium (7.6% DV of 1,300mg)
🔩 5.5mg Iron (30.6% DV of 18)
🌤️ 0.1mcg Vitamin D (0.2% DV of 50mcg/2000IU) use the first hack to make this > 100%!
Butterflied Mushroom Cacciatore - Dump & Go
6 (Arbitrarily Numbered) Food Hacks for Health
I’m not going to go over the usual ones that everyone probably knows like soaking or sprouting seeds for more nutrients, or cooking tomatoes, or using tomato paste, to increase lycopene availability (this study said lycopene decreased pancreatic cancer by 31%, and many others say similar for other cancers and diseases). Hopefully, most of these are new to you.
Suntan Your Mushrooms for 100% DV of Vitamin D: This one I go over in more detail on the blog post on PlantBasedProof.com so be sure to check that out there.
Mustard + Broccoli for 4x Sulforaphane: This randomized control trial found that when “powdered brown mustard is added to cooked broccoli, the bioavailability of sulforaphane is over four times greater than that from cooked broccoli ingested alone.” Check out my ingredient-vs-disease section on broccoli and sulforaphane for more on how they fight diseases like cancer, heart disease, and even diabetes.
Use Cast Iron and Acidic Foods: Cooking tomatoes or deglazing with acids can help more iron leach into the food you eat. This might sound bad, but it’s actually an easy way to up your iron content. Darky leafy greens like kale, spinach, even broccoli, and beans; legumes/pulses are also great sources of plant-based iron.
Use Left-over Starches to Avoid GI Spikes: I’ve mentioned this one in other places like the homemade pierogies recipe, for the potatoes, but this same principle also applies to (even white!) rice according to this randomized controlled trial, and pasta in the cross-over trial and this RCT! I’ve started to apply this to most starches I eat since it also encourages me to do more meal prep such as cooking sweet potatoes, etc. on the weekends for the week ahead.
Black Pepper & Turmeric: This one might be well known, if it is let me know and I’ll come up with a replacement! Mixing black pepper with turmeric is said to enhance the availability of curcumin—which is too deep of a topic to go into here, if you want to know more about curcumin/turmeric then let me know and I’ll put together a mini article on it. That all being said, be careful with this as it can be hard on the liver and other organs and even interfere with some medications. Talk with a trusted health professional if you are uncertain or on any medications.
Pre-chop The Garlic: Chop, grate, or otherwise rough up your garlic before you cook with it and let it sit for 10 minutes. This can enhance the allicin content and make it more powerful at fighting diseases like breast cancer and more according to the same study. If using dehydrated garlic then simply rehydrate it with water (about an equal amount) before using it and use it as normal. Onions also have allicin so it might be beneficial to treat them the same way.
If you enjoyed these tips let me know and I’ll see if I can dig up some more. If I’ve made any mistakes or anything doesn’t make sense then please let me know :)
Some Powders for Popcorn or Potato Chips/Crisps
I did an article on oil-free stovetop popcorn last week. Popcorn without anything on it can get a bit boring over time so here are some easy powders to make, even just by mixing by hand—although blending or grinding will get you a finer powder.
The powders work best if added to the popcorn as soon as it’s finished popping, with the lid still on when there’s still steam trapped or escaping from the pot, so it will stick from the moisture, or use my vinegar pro tip.
PRO TIP: I have a food-safe spray bottle that I add vinegars to (and some water to my taste) to spray on the popcorn—or chips.
This is great on all the chips/popcorn with the right ratio of water to the proper kind of vinegar or mix of vinegars, but white vinegar is great for flavors like ketchup, buffalo, and anything cheesy or salty; apple cider for anything savory or cheesy like sour cream and onion, ranch, etc.; red wine vinegar for anything sweet and fruity; etc. if you want the exact ratios I use please let me know.Also fresh squeezed lemon, or lime works well with flavors like taco or ranch.
Ketchup Chip With a Kick
Yes, I’m Canadian and you’ve probably never heard of this national flavor, but it’s actually really addictive. I highly suggest using the white vinegar pro tip, below, with this one, or you can actually buy dried vinegar powders even.
1 tbsp tomato powder (if you have it, it’s hard to find and can omit)
1 tsp paprika (not smoked)
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp coriander seed, ground (can omit if using vinegar)
Grind or mix all well. Great with white vinegar
Sour Cream & Onion
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp chives, ground or pulsed
¼ tsp dill
½ tsp nutritional yeast, optional, recommended
½ tsp garlic powder, optional, recommended
Cheezy Pop
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (unfortified is best I find for this flavor)
¼ tsp onion powder
⅛ tsp garlic powder
¹/16 tsp mustard seeds, yellow ground
¹/32 tsp chili powder, ground
Buffalo Wing
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp coriander seeds, ground
⅛ tsp garlic powder
¹/16 tsp cayenne powder
Peppercorn Ranch
1 tbsp onion powder
½ tsp dill
tsp garlic powder
½ tsp nutritional yeast, optional, recommended
¼ tsp coriander seed, ground (can omit if using vinegar, or a squeeze of lemon)
¹/16 tsp black pepper, ground finely
Taco
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin, ground
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp oregano, ground
Apple Pie
1 tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp nutmeg, ground
⅛ tsp ginger, ground
Consider adding some diced apple directly to your bowl, or check out the caramel sauce for added drizzle. Also, try some raisins mixed in since the added fiber and the low GI and spikes I’ve mentioned previously in recipes like raisin butter tarts
Best with apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.
(Peanut) Butter Cups
These can be made with seed butters, or nut butters, and whole or ground seeds or nuts.
2 tbsp wfpb chocolate powder (you can use raisins instead of dates)
1 tbsp seed or nut powder, can be ground in a grinder or blender, optional
⅛ vanilla powder, optional
2 tbsp seed or nut butter warmed, optional
Drizzle seed or nut butter over the popcorn then toss with the powder.
Banana Split Bubble Gum
1 tbsp banana chips, ground
⅛ tsp vanilla powder, optional
⅛ tsp cocoa powder
⅛ tsp strawberries, dried, ground, optional
⅛ tsp cinnamon
Check out the sweet sauces, jams and powders for other sweet things to toss on or with your popcorn or other healthy snacks. Also, just raisins or other dried fruit plus things like cocoa powder and cinnamon can really elevate your snacks, especially with seed or nut butter, making them something more.
If you want more like this let me know and for what things, popcorn, chips, or something else? I’d love to know what you want to see or eat!
Or feel free to leave comments, questions, or suggestions
The Science-Backed Research Links
Ingredients that Fight Disease - latest addition: Lentils
The Research on Diet and Disease- latest update: Genetics / Epigenetics
Substack Exclusive Mini Health Posts
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That’s all for today.
Have a wonderful day and stay healthy and nourished!
-Chef Robert Leigh
plantbasedproof.com
contact@plantbasedproof.com
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