With just a few more weeks to go before beach body season, we thought we’d share exclusive recipes from Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest cookbook “It’s All Good” — specifically ones from the Body Building Menu. Because if this meal plan is what helped 40-year-old Gwyneth get a “22-year-old stripper’s butt,” maybe it’ll do the same for us. And have you seen “Iron Man 3”? She looks amazing, even when the girl is literally on fire.
RECIPE: Leftover quinoa with egg, kale and scallion
Cooked quinoa is a great, useful staple to have on hand at all times, especially in the morning.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely minced
2 large leaves of kale (stems discarded), finely shredded
½ cup cooked quinoa
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A poached egg or olive oil fried egg
1 scallion, white and light green parts only, very finely sliced
Directions
Heat the oil and garlic over medium heat in a small skillet until the garlic begins to soften, just 1 minute. Add the shredded kale and cook, stirring now and then, until the kale is wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the quinoa and cook, stirring until warmed through, another 2 minutes. Season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Place the mixture in a shallow bowl or on a plate, top with the egg, and sprinkle with the scallions. Add a final grind of black pepper if you like.
Serves 1.
RECIPE: Body Builder Smoothie
Packed with vitamins and minerals from the green powder, made sweet with a date and creamy with almond milk and banana, this high-protein shake will set you up for your day or workout, and is also a great recovery beverage.
Ingredients
1 serving whey protein powder
1 serving greens powder
1½ cups cold unsweetened vanilla-flavored almond milk
1 date, pitted
1/3 banana
Directions
Blend everything in a powerful blender and drink immediately.
Serves 1.
RECIPE: Spicy sweet potato soup with chipotle and coriander
My gosh, this is the perfect soup. With the southwestern flavors and its creamy, rich texture without the dairy, you’ll really feel as if you’re having a treat. For a bit of extra texture, pan-fry a few pieces of sweet potato in a bit of olive oil with toasted ground cumin or coriander and slide them onto the finished soup before serving.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large red onion, finely diced (about 1 ½ cups)
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 sprigs of cilantro, leaves reserved for garnish, stems tied together with a piece of kitchen string.
¾ teaspoon cumin
Coarse sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons chipotle in adobo (or more if you like)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (about 6 cups)
6 cups vegetable stock
Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, cilantro sprigs, cumin and a heavy pinch of salt and cook, stirring now and then, until softened, but not browned, 10 minutes.
Add the chipotle and the sweet potatoes and stir to combine. Add the vegetable stock to the stock and turn up the heat. Once the soup comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are very soft, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard the cilantro. Carefully puree the soup in a powerful blender. If you want a really refined, smooth texture, you can pass the pureed soup through a fine-mesh strainer. Garnish each bowl with a few of the reserved cilantro leaves.
Serves 4.
RECIPE: Turkey Meatballs
No food makes me feel more comforted than spaghetti and meatballs, and that’s always been the way. I have moved from pork and veal to the turkey variety in an ongoing effort to clean up my diet, but my meatballs still have dairy (cheese), gluten (bread crumbs) and egg. One afternoon, we devised this incredibly easy, incredibly god “friendly” version that still does the trick.
Ingredients
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
8 fresh sage leaves
8 large fresh basil leaves
Leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
Leaves from a 5-inch sprig of rosemary
¼ cup Italian parsley
1 large handful of arugula roughly chopped
1 pound ground turkey
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups tomato sauce
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Combine the onion, garlic, herbs, and arugula in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl along with the turkey, salt, and pepper. Use your hands to thoroughly combine all the ingredients, then roll the mixture into golf ball-sized meatballs.
Place the tomato sauce in a large pot set over low heat and let it get warm.
While the sauce is warming, heat the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the meatballs, in batches if necessary, until they’re browned all over, 2-3 minutes on a side. Transfer the browned meatballs to the simmering tomato sauce and partially cover the pot. Let the meatballs cook gently for ½ hour, carefully stirring every now and then to make sure they’re cooking evenly. Serve hot with your favorite gluten-free pasta, a pot of polenta or even on their own alongside some broccoli rabe.
Serves 4: (makes 2 dozen golf ball-sized meatballs)
Expert advice: Eat your way to health
We asked osteopathic physician Dr. Habib Sadeghi, who wrote the foreword for “It’s All Good,” to tell us his top fivefoods for optimum health:
1. Organic green vegetable juice: “You can’t find a more potent, highly packed nutritious food, full of minerals and antioxidants that are immediately assimilated by the body. Avoid store juices. They’re loaded with added sugars and pasteurized, which destroys the enzymes and damages the vitamins.”
2. Lacto-fermented foods: “Yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kim chi and beet kvass supply large populations of “good” bacteria to your intestinal track. These probiotics boost your immune system.”
3. Dairy: “Raw, unpasteurized dairy provides valuable nutrients for healing and maintenance. Switching from cow to goat’s milk can make a big difference because the protein molecules in goat’s milk are much smaller and easier for humans to absorb.”
4. Berries of any kind: “They’re packed with antioxidants. Unfortunately, berries are some of the most heavily sprayed crops, particularly strawberries, so only buy organic.”
5. Wild-caught sockeye salmon and grass-fed beef: “Fish oils from wild caught salmon with no risk of heavy metals are extremely important for brain function and anti-aging. Small amounts of beef are important for B vitamins and iron.”
