Michelle Heaton’s healthy mushroom meal ideas
October is the month for mushrooms! Mushrooms are an ideal ingredient to include as part of a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Below are some delicious recipes created by Michelle Heaton, based on her favourite family meals featuring mushrooms – plus her top time-saving cooking tips.
Mushroom and chicken stir-fry
Mushroom Stir Fry
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 300g closed cup mushrooms, halved
- 500g chicken breast, cut into thin strips
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 300g broccoli, cut into small florets
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 2tbsp sunflower oil*
- 2tsp sesame oil
- 200ml teriyaki sauce
- 50ml water
To serve
- Rice noodles
- 2tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Method
- Marinade the chicken in teriyaki sauce for 20 minutes. Drain the chicken but keep the marinade
- Add 1tbsp of the sunflower oil to a wok/frying pan and stir fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes until sealed. Set aside
- Add the remaining oils and fry the onion, mushrooms, broccoli and red pepper for 2 minutes. Return the chicken and marinade to the wok, add a little water. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
- Serve with rice noodles and toasted sesame seeds
*You can use any other oil of your choice such as coconut oil to reduce fat content further
Warm Mushroom and Feta salad
Mushroom Feta Salad
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 300g closed cup mushrooms, halved
- 3tbsp olive oil
- 1 large garlic clove, crushed
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 large heart of romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
- ½ cucumber, de-seeded and chopped
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 200g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 packet of feta cheese, crumbled
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes stirring every so often. Add the garlic, lemon juice and season with a little salt and milled pepper and leave to cool.
- Meanwhile place the washed and chopped lettuce into a serving bowl and top with the remaining salad ingredients. Pour over the mushrooms with all the juices and toss well.
- Just before serving crumble over the feta cheese and serve. Try with a few pitted and sliced black olives if the kids are feeling adventurous!
Baked Portabello and eggy stuffed mushrooms
Baked Mushrooms
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 large Portobello mushrooms
- 4 medium eggs
- 100g grated cheddar cheese
- 1tsp chopped fresh thyme
- Salt and milled pepper
To serve
- Roasted baby tomatoes
- Fresh rocket leaves
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°c gas 4.
- Place the mushrooms onto a baking tray and using a teaspoon scoop out the inside of the mushroom leaving just the shell.
- Sprinkle the mushrooms with a little salt and milled pepper and add the chopped thyme.
- Crack an egg into each of the mushrooms and pop into the oven for about 10-12 minutes. The yolks should be soft and remove from the oven.
- Sprinkle over the cheddar cheese and a little more fresh thyme and pop back into the oven for 3 minutes just to melt the cheese. Serve straight away with roasted baby tomatoes and fresh rocket.
Michelle’s time saving cooking tips
- Save a bit of time chopping loads of mushrooms by using an egg slicer to cut through whole mushrooms in seconds
- Making an egg white omelette? Don’t mess around with separating the yolk and white by hand, an empty plastic bottle can be used to cleanly suck up the yolk and transfer to another dish
- Stir fry is one of the quickest family meals you can make, just make sure you do all your chopping first before heating up the wok and you can go from hob to table in less than five minutes
- Don’t be afraid to cheat occasionally with microwave rice or ready cooked noodles as part of a meal. As long as you’re adding them to fresh vegetables, fish or meat the nutrition content should stay roughly the same, and you could save yourself over 30 minutes cooking time
- Never peel your mushrooms! It wastes loads of time and is totally unnecessary – as well as significantly reducing the health benefits packed in to these little gems. Just give them a brush or quick wipe over with damp kitchen towel and you’re ready to go
Mushroom health facts
1. Mushrooms are low in fat and calories. Substituting mushrooms for a higher calorie food like meat occasionally can be the perfect way to keep your calorie intake at the recommended daily levels, without sacrificing flavour
2. Mushrooms can be an aid to pregnant women. One of the B vitamins contained in mushrooms, folate, is an aid to pregnant women as folate contributes to maternal tissue growth during pregnancy
3. Mushrooms can help to reduce tiredness. Mushrooms are a natural source of vitamins B2, B3 and B5, which help reduce tiredness and fatigue
4. Mushrooms count towards your 5 a day. Although they are technically a fungi, eating around 4 medium sized mushrooms (approx 80g) counts as one portion of your recommended 5 a day.
5. Mushrooms help maintain body functions. Riboflavin (Vit B2) in mushrooms helps maintain systems in our body for normal energy release, as well as helping to maintain normal functioning of our blood and nervous system, and skin and vision.
For more information and lots of tasty recipe ideas visit www.justaddmushrooms.com.
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