Cooking with Judy: When the resolution is to eat more plants, the recipes can help with success

We’ve all made them, but have we kept them? This year is going to be different, we resolve.

I’m finally going to … you fill in the blank. Stop smoking? Lose weight? Get in shape?

This year my first resolution is to look back on what I resolved last year and see how close I came. And because I write this column, my words are out there for all the world to see.

“This year instead of focusing on diet and weight, I’m opting for good health,” I wrote last year. Then I warbled on about the benefits of a plant-based diet.

Incorporating vegetables in my diet has never been a problem, but that old trinity of animal protein, veggies and carb on the dinner plate is engrained since childhood. Did I give up animal protein for a completely plant-based dinner even once this past year? I don’t think so.

For inspiration, I dig out my well-worn copy of “Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook” (Workman, $21.95) by Myra Goodman, cofounder of Earthbound Farm, the world’s largest grower and purveyor of organic produce. (Food writer Linda Holland and chef Pamela McKinstry co-author.)

Ironically, Goodman was raised on what her mother deemed “good American food,” like Lucky Charms and TV dinners.

“Her idea of a home-cooked meal was minute steak with Accent,” Goodman told me. “The extent of my cooking was toasting Wonder white bread with ketchup and American cheese out of the plastic in the toaster oven. For me, living on the farm was where I really learned to cook.”

This city girl became a farmer by accident when she and her husband, Drew, tended a small raspberry patch in Carmel to raise money for graduate school.

“We fell in love with living off the land and growing food,” she said. Organic was a natural choice from the very beginning.

“The former tenant showed us how to use the chemical pesticides,” she recalled, “but we had an instinctive aversion. When you grow up in New York, you get food from the supermarket. You can’t see, smell or taste the chemicals. But it’s different when you’re the one holding them and needing gloves and a mask to use what’s growing in your backyard to sell to people at your roadside stand.”

Portobello mushrooms are so meaty and hefty – maybe just the thing to coax me into giving up animal protein for a night.

“My family loves meat, but I make it a point regularly to tempt them with tasty vegetarian meals,” Goodman writes. “Portobello mushrooms are nearly as satisfying as a tender beef fillet, especially when the mushrooms are stuffed with spinach, cheese, fennel, and fresh tarragon and parsley.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS STUFFED WITH SPINACH, PARMESAN, AND FENNEL

From “Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook;” Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 large portobello mushroom caps (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for oiling baking dish

• 1/2 cup finely minced shallots (3 medium-size shallots)

• 1 1/2 cups finely minced fennel (2 small bulbs)

• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced

• 6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps minced (about 1 cup)

• 12 ounces baby spinach, cut into ribbons (about 8 cups)

• 1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 3 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon

• 1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Wipe portobello mushroom caps clean with damp paper towel. Using a small paring knife or teaspoon, remove gills to create shallow depression for stuffing. Place portobellos on lightly oiled baking dish.

2. Position rack in center of oven; preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-low heat. Add shallots and fennel; cook until soft, 8 to 10 minutes.

4. Add garlic and shiitake mushrooms; cook until moisture evaporates, about 10 minutes. Stir in spinach; cook until wilted, about 5 minutes, working in batches, if necessary.

5. Stir in parsley, tarragon, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Cook until cheese melts, about 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Spoon filling into portobellos, mounding slightly. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of remaining Parmesan cheese over each mushroom. Bake mushrooms until tender but not soggy and cheese on top has browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve immediately.