Featured Recipes by Tiffany Hobson Tiffany Hobson - Tiffany is the executive assistant to the McDougall’s. She heads operations for all McDougall Programs and is the tour director for McDougall Adventures. Tiffany has a BA in Rhetoric from University of California, Berkeley and is nationally certified as a Pharmacy Technician. She has the pleasure of assisting Dr. McDougall when seeing patients. Most recently, Tiffany has started helping Mary with recipe development.

Peasant Soup

Preparation Time: 10-20 minutes
Cooking Time: 50-55 minutes
Servings: 6-8

8 cups No-Chicken Broth, Veggie Broth or water
1 large white onion, diced
1 head of garlic, minced
7 purple potatoes, chopped
7-10 carrots, chopped
2 bunches of lacinato kale, stripped and chopped
3 teaspoons powdered thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram
Several twists of freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste

Place ½ cup of No-Chicken Broth in a large soup pot. Add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, on medium heat, for 4-5 minutes until the onions appear translucent. Add the thyme, marjoram and several twists of freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. Add the remaining broth, purple potatoes and carrots. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40-45 minutes, until the potatoes may be pierced with a knife easily. Add the kale and mix well. Continue cooking on low heat for an additional 10 minutes. Serve hot. Before serving, season with a bit of sea salt, if desired.


Fabulous Stir Fry

Preparation Time: 20-30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6-8

1 ¼ - 1 ½ cups No Chicken Broth or Veggie Broth
2 bunches of scallions, white parts chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups pea pods, whole
1 large red bell pepper (or 2 small ones), chopped
1 large zucchini (or 2 small ones), chopped
4 to 6 carrots, chopped
2 cups bean sprouts
½ - ¾ cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons – ¼ cup mirin
3 to 6 dashes of Hot Pepper Sesame Oil or 1-3 teaspoons of crushed red peppers (optional items, I just like my food hot and spicy)
10 ounces Tofu, cubed
1 tablespoon cornstarch and enough water to cover it
12 ounces Japanese Udon Noodles or Chinese Chow Mein Noodles (see Hint)

Place a ¼ cup of No Chicken Broth in a large pot. Add the scallions and garlic. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes. Add dashes of hot pepper sesame oil or crushed red peppers, along with ½ cup of soy sauce and 3 tablespoons of mirin. Mix well. Add another ½ cup of broth with the red bell pepper, zucchini, carrots and tofu. Mix well. Cover and let cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want to make sure you do not over cook the vegetables; it is what gives the dish such a beautiful flavor! When the vegetables have cooked, but are still crispy and fresh, add the pea pods and bean sprouts and mix well. You may add more soy sauce and mirin at this point if you feel it needs more, just make sure you add it in small amounts (you do not want these flavors to over power your dish). In a small bowl, add the cornstarch and enough water to cover it. Using your fingers (yes, your fingers) mix the cornstarch with the water until completely dissolved. Add this mixture to your stir fry. This will give your stir fry a nice glaze. You want to make sure you do not have more liquid than you need, the vegetables will sweat out a lot of water. Add broth only if needed at this point. In another pan over medium heat, cook noodles per package instructions. Once they are done, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop any excess cooking. Add the noodles to the stir fry. Serve hot.

Hint: The noodles I typically use are from the company O’Hana House. They have a variety of noodles to choose from, are fully cooked and can be found in the refrigerated section of many stores. If using these with this recipe, I would add these noodles with the vegetables in the beginning to the bottom of the pan.


Fettuccine Alfredo with Asparagus, Chanterelle and Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Preparation Time: 1 -1 ½ hours
Cooking Time: 1-1 ½ hours
Servings: 6-8

A decadant treat for any festive occasion to share with family and friends. There are many parts to this recipe, the following break down is the easiest way I have found to help me prepare everything without overwhelming myself!


Roasted Garlic

3 – 5 heads of garlic, excess paper removed and the tops cut off
¾ - 1 cup No Chicken Broth or Veggie Broth

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the broth in a small bowl. With the exposed side of the garlic tops, soak them in the broth for a few minutes. When finished, place them in a small baking pan and pour the remaining broth over the tops. Cover with aluminum foil, using parchment paper in between the garlic and foil, and bake for 1 hour. The garlic should look “burnt.”


Cashew Cream

3 cups raw cashews
3 cups water

Blend 1 cup of cashews and water at a time in a blender or Vitamix. If using a blender, you will need to sift out the fine pieces of cashews through a strainer. You want your consistency to be very smooth; there should be no grit in your fingers when you test to see if you need to continue blending. When finished, set the cream aside until needed for the Alfredo sauce.


Asparagus

1 bunch of asparagus

Wash the asparagus and snap off the ends. This is done by holding the asparagus and snapping it as if it were a wish-bone. This takes the guess work out of which part of the stalk is not bitter. Steam the asparagus, drain and cut into small pieces. Set aside until needed for the Alfredo sauce.


Chanterelle and Black Trumpet Mushrooms

2 cups Chanterelle mushrooms
2 cups Black Trumpet mushrooms
¼ - ¾ cup No Chicken Broth or Veggie Broth
3-4 shallots, diced

Take a pairing knife and scrape off all the dirt from the Chanterelle mushrooms. Cut the Chanterelle’s vertically. Place the Black Trumpet mushrooms in a small bowl of water and shake them to release dirt. Drain them through a strainer and check to make sure there is no sand left. Depending on how dirty the mushrooms are, you may do this a few times. Do this as quickly as possible; you do not want the mushrooms sitting in water for too long. In a non-stick pan, add ¼ cup of veggie broth and the shallots. Sauté together on medium heat for a few minutes and add in the Chanterelle and Black Trumpet mushrooms. You want to make sure you do not put in too much broth at one time. The mushrooms should be sautéed lightly in broth; the pan should not look like it has too much liquid in it. Continually stir the mushrooms and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside until needed for the Alfredo sauce.


Fettuccini

1 package of dried or fresh fettuccini noodles
4 to 8 quarts water

Bring water to a boil. Read the package directions for how long you should cook the pasta. If using dried pasta, it usually takes about 8-14 minutes to get it to an al dente consistency. If using fresh pasta, cooking time is usually 5-10 minutes. Drain pasta in a colander and rinse with cold water. This will stop the pasta from cooking. Set aside until needed for the Alfredo sauce.


Alfredo Sauce

3 – 4 cups Cashew Cream, from above
4 ½ cups No Chicken Broth or Veggie Broth
3-5 heads of Roasted Garlic (depending on how much garlic you like)
12 tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast Flakes
1 ½ pounds of cooked Fettuccine (see Hint)
Steamed Asparagus, from above
Sautéed Chanterelle and Black Trumpet Mushrooms, from above
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

Place the roasted garlic in a big pan and heat over medium heat with about ¼ cup of broth. With the back of a wooden spoon, mash up the roasted garlic. The garlic should look like a paste. As the garlic starts to perfume, add in another ½ cup of stock to 2 cups of cashew cream and 8 tablespoons of nutritional yeast flakes. Stirring constantly, you want to taste the sauce after a few minutes of cooking. You want to have about a 1:4 ratio of stock to cashew cream. As you add in more nutritional yeast flakes, you will also add more cashew cream and use the broth as a flavor enhancer. Continue cooking until the sauce becomes thicker. When you have your desired flavor, add the Fettuccine, asparagus, Chanterelle and Black Trumpet Mushrooms and mix well. Serve hot with sea salt and several twists of freshly ground black pepper.

Hint: When I decided to try and make this recipe, I had my most wonderful friends Dylan and Tobe Sheldon over to taste test! They told me of an easy recipe they use to make homemade pasta. Take a few cups of flour and open a bottle of red wine. Use a little wine at a time and mix in with the flour. Eventually, with much kneading, you get a beautiful consistency with the dough. This can be stretched and cut for an easy homemade pasta, cooking it al dente in about 5-10 minutes. They also use this same recipe for their thin crust pizza dough. Instead of making a pizza with this thin crust, you may try it with a favorite topping or spread.


Elegant Berries

Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: None
Servings: 6-8

2 cups each of fresh Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries
1-3 teaspoons Chambord
Several fresh mint leaves

Wash the berries well and lightly pat dry the excess water with a paper towel. Mix the berries in a bowl. Place the berries in a small serving dish (a Martini glass works well). Drizzle enough Chambord over them where the berries are lightly coated. Add 2 to 3 mint leaves along the side. Serve immediately or chill in a refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes.

Hint: This is also paired beautifully with an assortment of sorbets. My favorites for this dish are raspberry, strawberry or lemon. Use one small scoop of sorbet at the bottom and follow the recipe above.


Chocolate Delights

Be careful you do not eat these in one sitting! This is a lovely side accompaniment to the Elegant Berries recipe above.

Preparation Time: 20-30 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 6-8

2 packages Medjool dates
1 large package of raw almonds
1 package of dark chocolate chips
¼ -1 cup of water, Port, Madeira or Late Harvest Riesling
Sea salt

Place parchment paper on a large cooking sheet. Pit the Medjool dates. Add 1 to 3 raw almonds in the pitted dates, depending on their size. You do not want the almonds jammed in together on top of each other; they should lie next to each other nicely. On the stove top, make a double boiler and add in the chocolate chips over medium to medium high heat. Constantly stir the chocolate chips. As the chips are melting, you may notice that the chocolate consistency is a bit clumpy; you want it to be easily pourable without the clumps. Slowly add in a very small amount of water at a time. This will help the chocolate turn into the pourable consistency you need. If you would like to have a little more richness to this, instead of adding water use Port, Madeira or a Late Harvest Riesling. Pour and cover the dates with the melted chocolate. Place the cooking sheet in a freezer for 30-60 minutes to harden the chocolate. This may be served chilled, or at room temperature. You may also add a pinch of sea salt on the top, if desired.

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