Shirtless Chef – You’re going to eat your vegetables, and you’re going to like it!

Local fitness enthusiast Jason Murphy remakes favorite meals of his youth into healthy dishes. See the full list of his recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.

Remember the threat your parents would give you as a child anytime some horrible steamed pile of green mush showed up on your dinner plate? I can hear it now…You’re going to eat your vegetables, and you’re going to like it! That usually meant either wolfing down said steaming pile of yuck as fast as I could to minimize the suffering, or engaging in a test of wills to see how long I would sit at the table before caving in and eating it cold, gagging all the time. The only thing that type of approach usually achieves is a lifelong hatred of said vegetable, and that’s a tragedy. My mother would always say she didn’t like Brussels Sprouts, and as a result, she never cooked them. If she had made them, would I then have been able to make her stay at the table until she cleaned her plate? No, somehow I don’t think it would have played out that way. Any food can be made in a way that makes it unappetizing, and back in the late 1970’s and 80’s, that usually involved steaming some type of leafy green or cruciferous vegetable until it was reduced to baby food.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Instead of forcing your kids to eat vegetables they hate, make it where it tastes so good they don’t even ask if it is vegetables. Homemade soups are a good way to hide all kinds of healthy plant based foods. I make an Italian Chicken Meatball soup that is so good it made my wife use words that would make a sailor blush to describe how much she liked it. And when you tell your kids it’s Italian Meatball Soup, they won’t even ask about the vegetables in it. That’s a good thing, because if you told them it was cauliflower carrot garlic celery shiitake mushroom kale soup, they might run for the hills. Of course, if all they have been eating is processed junk food, it won’t be too hard to catch the little fellows as they will be winded after about 50 yards. Once they have polished off the entire pot, you can point out how tasty all the veggies were and how good it was for them, but it’s always better to wait until you have them hooked on it first.

Soups are great because they are easy to make, and you can make a lot so you can cut down on your kitchen time. Just be prepared for this one to disappear faster than you were expecting, and the only threats you will be making is telling the kids to save some for you.

Italian Chicken Meatball Veggie Soup:

2 lb ground chicken

1 24 oz package frozen cauliflower rice

1 bunch organic carrots

1 package organic celery

1 package organic shiitake mushrooms

1 yellow onion

1 bunch organic kale

4 cloves garlic minced

1 32 oz carton low sodium chicken bone broth

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 package grass fed cream cheese

1/2 tsp sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, dried thyme, dried basil, dried parsley for meatballs

1/2 tsp dried oregano, dried thyme, dried basil, dried parsley for broth

3 tbsp olive oil, divided

Grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Place the ground chicken in a large mixing bowl and combine all the spices, mixing well. I like to wear latex gloves rubbed with a bit of olive oil as ground chicken is very sticky. Roll into 5 oz meatballs and place on a sheet pan with some non-stick spray:

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn the meatballs over and bake for ten more minutes. Place in a bowl covered with foil to keep warm:

Wash and chop all your veggies, except the kale which will be used at the end:

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in your soup pot, and two tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan. Once the oil starts to shimmer, cook the veggies in the soup pot, and the frozen cauliflower in the pan:. You can hit both with a few grinds of fresh pepper:

Cook the cauliflower rice until it is soft and all the moisture has evaporated from the pan. Cook the other veggies in the soup pot until the carrots start to soften, then add the minced garlic and cook another minute ,stirring often. Add the broth and cauliflower to the soup pot, and add the remaining spices for the broth:

Melt the 1/2 box of cream cheese in the pan used for the cauliflower and add the meatballs to coat. Add the 1/4 cup white wine and stir until the cream cheese is smooth:

Once heated through, add the meatballs with cream cheese to the soup:

Bring to a simmer while washing the kale. Dry the kale and tear the leafy green from the stems and add the soup to wilt the leaves. Grate a helping of Parmesan cheese to taste and stir: