Instant Pot Fall Harvest Minestone Soup

While we were on vacation, we made this Minestrone recipe, originally from Ina Garten. It was super satisfying, especially because the weather was cold up north! The day we arrived back at home, we harvested all of the remaining veggies from our own yard—snow was on the way. Our crop this year included over 20 winter squash, and a giant pile of swiss chard. With Ina’s recipe fresh on my mind, I knew one way to put those veggies to work. After a few adaptions, we had a pot full of perfectly fall minestrone. Cozy, but also chock-full of veggies, which is just want I look for right after vacation.

Instant Pot Fall Harvest Minestone Soup

Published October 17, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 ounces diced pancetta or diced thick-cut bacon (optional)

1 tablespoon coconut oil or other cooking oil

1 yellow onion, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

2 large carrots, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine

2 cups diced butternut squash (peeled and seeds removed)

1 16-ounce can cannellini beans, strained and rinsed

1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes

5 cups chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 dried bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

3-4 swiss chard leaves

1/2 cup basil (optional)

Salt to taste

Optional: 2 cups cooked small-sized pasta, such as ditalini, orecchiette, or gnocchetti (Use chickpea pasta for gluten-free)

For serving: grated Parmesan

Directions:

1. Turn Instant Pot to Sauté setting. If using pancetta, place in pot and cook for a few minutes, browning on each side.
2. If pot is dry, add coconut oil. This can be skipped if there is a good amount of oil in the pot from the pancetta. Place onion, celery, carrots, and garlic in pot, and stir to combine. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent.
3. Using a knife, remove the stems from the swiss chard leaves. Place the green parts aside (reserve for later) and dice the stems. Add the stems to the pot.
4. Pour wine into pot. Using a wooden spatula, scrape the bottom of the pot, releasing any brown bits as the wine simmers (this adds flavor to the soup).
5. Add butternut squash, beans, diced tomatoes, broth, pepper, bay leaf, and thyme to pot. Stir. Place lid on Instant Pot and set to “Bean/Chili” setting. Set timer to 1 minute with vent in the sealed position.
6. When timer goes off, release the pressure and open the pot.
7. Chop the reserved swiss chard leaves into bite-sized pieces, and roughly chop the basil. Stir both into the soup. Taste, and season with salt to your preferences (note: store bought broth will likely already have salt in it, so you may not need much. Homemade broth usually doesn’t already have salt, so more will need to be added).
8. Divide pasta among serving bowls. Ladle soup into bowls, and stir to incorporate pasta. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. Serve hot. Great with a side of garlic bread or crostini!
9. Note: We stir the pasta into each serving bowl, rather than the whole pot, because if you put all of the pasta into the soup, it will absorb much of the broth, and the next day, you’ll find your leftovers are not very soup-like.

Swiss Chard Frittata

Once I learned to flip, there was no going back. Life was truly never the same, as gymnastics suddenly became the grounding element in my life. And then one day, sometime in college, it all came to halt. I stopped coaching (I got a different job), and with that I also stopped having a reason to be a gym rat daily (this gave way to me trying many other sports, some of which I still love, but none as much as gymnastics).

Two weeks ago I went to my old gym for an adult gymnastics class, something that never fails to make me feel old and weak and also young and nostalgic at the same time. We did bars (which was always my least favorite event) but sure enough my muscle memory held on: glide, toes to the bar— Kip. Switch kip. Free hip, cut kip. I found myself in the air again, older sure— but the muscle memory was there. In a way nothing had changed and in others everything had. 

About 15 minutes in, I spun around the bar and felt a familiar and unpleasant sensation: a rip. My palm cut open (like a popped blister, but almost and inch across). Damn does that sting! At 15 years old, a rip was nothing: a causality at most. You got back up and kept going. Man I was strong then. And that’s how it goes: a mixture of rediscovering why I loved the sport in the first place — reinforcing what I always have known, which is that I simply love gymnastics, all of it - and learning how I have changed. 

Gymnastics was the first sport that I loved — before that I just wasn’t into most of what we did in gym class - and it taught me to care. To care about results and to try hard, sure, but also to care about my body and what I ate. I love gymnastics so much that anything that might help me be a better gymnast was worth doing.

Somewhere along this road I moved from breakfast-skipper to breakfast lover. More specifically, high protein breakfast lover. Eggs! I love eggs, and they’re a great way to get some protein in your body, which you need in order to rebuild (or just build) between work outs. This swiss chard parmesan frittata is a quick one — sauté the greens in an oven-safe skillet, add the adds, pop it in the oven under the broiler, and boom! High protein breakfast (with veggies) (and cheese!) is ready. Eat up!

Swiss Chard Frittata

Published August 21, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

6 eggs 

1 shallot, sliced thin

4 swiss chard leaves 

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/4 cup milk of choice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2-3/4 cup parmesan

Directions:

1. In a 10-inch skillet, heat coconut oil over medium-high heat.
2. When oil glistens, sauté shallots until translucent.
3. Cut the swiss chard: cut out the stems, and chop them. Add stems to the pan. Then, roughly chop the leafy green parts. Add the leafy green parts to the skillet once the stems begin to soften. Place lid on skill, and allow greens to cook until dark green.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Once yellow and frothy, pour egg mixture into skillet. You may want to use a fork or spoon to move the swiss chard into an even layer if it is in clumps. Sprinkle parmesan on top.
5. Turn oven to a high broil. Place skillet on top rack in oven, and cook for 5-10 minutes, until eggs are puffed, golden on top, and set through. Remove from oven, and allow to cool 3-5 minutes.
6. Slice and serve.

Salmon, Shiitakes & Chard in Parchment with Sriracha Aioli (Paleo)

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When life hands you a bag full of organic locally-grown shiitake mushrooms, you don't just throw them into any old dish. Oh no. 

First, you brainstorm all of the ways you could use the mushrooms. Surely you've filed  away something with potential in that brain of yours. 

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When the brainstorming slows down, you whip out your tablet or computer (whichever is closer) and you search all of your previous pins for the words "shiitake," and "mushroom". You open every potential recipe in a separate tab to read later. Then you expand your search: you browse everyone else's pins for the words "shiitake," and "mushroom". You open more tabs. 

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Once you've exhausted Pinterest, you make your way around the web. Foodgawker. Tastespotting. Stalkerville. Google image searches. The word Shiitake can now be found in the last 500 pages of your browser history. That's when you start pinning like a lunatic. All of your followers probably know now that your fridge is full of shiitake mushrooms. 

It's okay. They understand, because that's how everyone does it, right? ;) 

At some point, something just feels good. All of that pinning and you've got one shot. Finally you get to cook. 

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This recipe is part of the Real Food Fat Tuesday round up. Find more real food recipes on the Real Food Forager's round up post! 

Salmon, Shiitakes & Chard in Parchment with Sriracha Aioli

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the Salmon, Shiitakes & Chard:
• 1 pound organic shiitake mushrooms
• 1/4 white onion
• 2 tablespoon avocado oil
• 2 tablespoon organic wheat-free tamari, traditional fermented soy sauce, or coconut aminos
• 1 bunch swiss chard (or about 5 large leaves)
• 2 pound wild caught Alaskan salmon filet
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 3 small thai or vietnamese chili peppers, minced (NOTE: use less or completely eliminate this ingredient if you are spice-sensative, use more if you are a spice lover)
• Salt
• Cilantro, minced, for garnish
• Parchment paper
For the Sriracha Aioli:
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce (You caught me: Sriracha is not paleo).
• Pinch salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash and slice the mushrooms and onion. Cut the stems off of the chard leaves, setting the leaves aside for later use. Chop the stems into 1/2-inch pieces. Toss the mushrooms, onion, and chard stems in a bowl with the avocado oil and tamari, mixing until all of the vegetables are coated. Chop the chard leaves into thin ribbons, and set them aside as well.
2. Then cut your salmon filet into 8 equally sized portions. Then, prepare the parchment: cut out 8 circles with a 1-foot diameter each. Rub each piece of paper with avocado oil. A thin layer is fine, but be thorough--spread the oil all the way to the edges.
3. Working with one parchment circle at a time, place a handful of the chopped chard leaves on the paper. (TIP: You want to place the food just off from the center--not in the center. Think of the paper as the crust of a calazone. One half of it will fold over top of the food.). Add a handful of the mushroom mixture over the chard, and place one salmon filet over that, and sprinkle with salt. Top with a pinch of garlic, ginger, and a few pieces of chili pepper. Fold the parchment over the salmon. The two opposite edges of your parchment paper should now touch. Working from one side, fold the edge of the parchment paper over, creating a seem that closes the salmon into a parchment pocket. Work around the circle, folding a small amount of the edge over, until you have reached the other side of the pocket. Place on a baking pan. Repeat with the 7 other parchment circles and salmon filets.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes (15 for very thin filets of fish, 20 for thicker filets). While the fish bakes, prepare the aioli. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and turn it on. The mixture should become thick, opaque, and a light pinkish color. Add more hot sauce if you like things spicier (we do).
5. When the salmon is done baking, place each parchment packet on a plate to serve. Cut open the center of the paper pocket, revealing the salmon. Top each filet with a dollop of mayo, and sprinkle with cilantro.