Zero Point Asian Soup

Surprisingly, my lazy approach to trying to shed some points isn't working. How can this be? Cooking indulgently on the weekends along with ingesting Mimosas? Skipping a workout now and then? Say it isn't so!

I tried Weight Watchers for a short period of time years back. It's a sensible program, all about portion control and keeping track of what you eat on a point system. They also feature a group of recipes which are variations on vegetable soup, filled with "unlimited" point veggies, which you can eat when you just don't think you can make it between scanty meals. Unlimited veggies are most vegetables except starchy ones, like potatoes and corn. It's time to trudge those recipes out and give it a whirl to kick-start some serious reversal of excesses.

Mangia Light!

Weight Watchers Zero Point Asian Soup

SERVINGS 12 UNITS

2 cups bok choy, chopped

2 cups Chinese cabbage, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1⁄4 cup fresh ginger root, thinly sliced and julienned

4 small oyster mushrooms, chopped

2 cups scallions, chopped

1 cup water chestnut, sliced (8 oz can)

1⁄2 cup red pepper, thinly sliced

1⁄4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 cups vegetable broth

1 cup bean sprouts (optional)

2 cups snow peas, stringed

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1⁄2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS

Put bok choy, Chinese cabbage, garlic, ginger root, oyster mushrooms, scallions, water chestnuts, red bell pepper, red pepper flakes and vegetable broth into a large soup pot; stir to combine.

Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partly covered, for about 10 minutes.

Toss in bean sprouts, if using, and snow peas during the last 3 to 4 minutes of simmering.

Add soy sauce and cilantro. Serve.

Veggie and Salmon Tacos with Lime Cream

These are my latest undoing

 Oh Doctor! I discovered La Tortilla Factory's Green Chile and Yellow Corn tortillas last year in San Clemente. But at the store the other day, picking up some staples in the Hispanic food aisle, there was a shining tractor beam of energy pull known as La Tortilla Factory's flour tortilla. Soft, fluffy and wholesome. I can't resist fluffy. It's the difference between chain grocery store pita bread and good Arabic bread from the Mediterranean store. It was worthy of an untried purchase of 3 packages. Back to the endcap, Guerrero.

They have become my addiction. They are Just. So. Good. And if you store them next to homemade hummus in the fridge, they'll talk you out of carrot sticks every time. I finally put one package in the freezer just to resist temptation. And then bought 4 more packages the next time I was at the store.

But, if you put something healthy between them, and not just obsessively make loaded quesadillas, they can be part of a good diet. Good luck with that.

Veggie tacos are No Cook, so they're good for hot weekday nights. This batch was planned because I wanted to make the Lime Cream for them, but you could just go with yogurt and store bought salsas, which makes them almost Pure Pantry/Fridge, if you routinely keep peppers, green onions, limes and cabbage in your fridge, and tomatoes on the kitchen counter.

I had leftover salmon, so I added salmon to some and skipped the beans in those.

Mangia!

Veggie Tacos

Makes 12

12 heavenly fluffy flour tortillas or you could use corn, just make sure they're heavenly and you might want to double them up

1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 bunch scallions, chopped

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 cup each red and yellow cherry or grape tomatoes, chopped

1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 green bell pepper, sliced thinly

1/2 small green cabbage head, thinly sliced

Lime Cream

Pico de Gallo

Tomatillo salsa

Lime wedges

Set up the taco bar and tell all to stand and cram!

Lime Cream
Adapted from Anne Burrell

Juice of two limes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Mix all ingredients together.

Pico de Gallo

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups seeded, diced tomatoes

1/4 cup diced red onion

1 tablespoon diced jalapenos

1 tablespoon diced yellow chile pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Juice of 2 limes

2 tablespoons cilantro, plus extra for garnish

Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Courtesy Food Network

3/4 pound fresh tomatillos

3 fresh serrano chiles

2 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

1/2 large onion, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons coarse salt

PREPARATION

Preheat broiler or stove top grill pan.

Remove husks and rinse under warm water to remove stickiness. Broil chiles, garlic, and fresh tomatillos on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, or grill on stove, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes.

Peel garlic and pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender.

Grilled Lemon Oregano Shrimp with Chopped Greek Salad.

The shrimp from the farmer's market from the Thursday before Memorial Day was ready for its close up, Mr. DeMille.

This one's so easy it seems wrong to describe it as a recipe.

Mangia!

Grilled Lemon Oregano Shrimp

1 pound 16-20 count shrimp (not huge but bigger than medium-sized)
Juice of two lemons
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano (I like Mexican oregano)
Salt and pepper

Peel and de-vein the shrimp if your hard-working butcher hasn't done that already. Combine the other ingredients and toss with the shrimp. Marinate for a few hours.

Heat grill or stove top grill pan to medium high heat. Add shrimp and grill on one side for about 2 minutes. Turn over and grill for another 2 minutes. You don't want them all dry and rubbery, so watch them carefully.

Greek Salad

The salad is lettuce-less. Cube a cucumber, a green pepper, a red pepper, a small red onion, add a good handful each of yellow and red cherry or grape tomatoes, a scant handful of sliced deli Greek pepperoncinis, and a good handful of Kalamata olives sliced in half. Toss in a handful of chopped Italian parsley, dress with red wine vinegar and good olive oil, S and P. If I'm making batches for work, I leave out the cheese, but for feasting at home, I toss in some nice chunks of non-low-fat feta.

Farmer's Market Day - Grilled Salmon with Pomegranate Watermelon Salsa and Lime Garlic Cream

Very late on posting. Hate it when the real job gets in the way....

To kick off the start of a lazy Memorial Day Weekend, I headed out to one of the local farmer's markets in town. Found some beautiful tomatoes, basil, lemons and limes, green onions and some pomegranates! Poms are not really in season yet so this was a happy surprise.

There was also a fishmonger, and that was no wonder....no Molly Malone right now!!! There was a fish stand, which is a little unusual, but this market was one of the more upscale in town. Picked up some Sockeye salmon and some nice looking shrimp.

I made a big batch of tabbouleh, with bulgur wheat, those lovely tomatoes and a bunch of Italian parsley, and then threw together a salsa with watermelon, pomegranate seeds, green onions, jalapeno and pine nuts.

I had planned to make up some Lime Cream, actually yogurt, which is a variation on an Anne Burrell recipe, for some veggie tacos that weekend. It seemed like it would be a good idea for the cream to do double-duty with the gorgeous salmon.

The salmon was simply grilled on a stove top grill pan, seasoned with salt and pepper.

Mangia!

Lime Cream
Adapted from Anne Burrell

Juice of two limes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Mix all ingredients together.

Tabbouleh
Courtesy Ina Garten

1 cup bulgur wheat

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)

1/4 cup good olive oil

3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)

1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (1 bunch)

1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (1 bunch)

1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced

2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half (I used yellow and red)

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the bulgur in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water, and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir, then allow to stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Add the scallions, mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper; mix well. Season, to taste, and serve or cover and refrigerate. The flavor will improve if the tabbouleh sits for a few hours.

Pomegranate Watermelon Salsa

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

3/4 cup chopped seedless watermelon

4 scallions, chopped

Juice of 2 limes

1 small jalapeno, minced

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together. 

Which Came First: The Meatloaf or the Meatloaf Sandwiches?

Just wanted to see if you were alert....

I think there are two kinds of people in the world: those who love meatloaf and... well, let's just pretend there's only one type of people in the world.

Mid-week, was craving something really meaty-meaty. And bread, good sourdough. Even better: meatloaf sandwiches!

I went with the Master for the recipe, Food God Mark Bittman. And no loaf pan baking. Here's the Master explaining:

Free-form meat loaf has several advantages over those cooked in loaf pans: It develops a lovely crust on three sides instead of just one, and the fat can run off, rather than become trapped between pan and meat. Plus it’s easy to shape by hand and always turns out in the shape you wanted. You can also shape this mixture into meatballs if you like; just bake them for about half the time.

One of the key steps to a good meatloaf is not to over-handle the meat mixture. It can toughen up. Mix gently and just until blended.

Now take a little care with your free-forming. You don't want things to end up looking like Sandra Lee's meatloaf. I really can't stand her. If you're of a similar mind, just look up her Kwanzaa Cake video. Yikes. Here's her meatloaf video. A good deal of blame should be directed toward her production manager. And please, I don't even want to know if she uses a food stylist. If she does.... egads. 

I can't find the comment any longer, but when I first saw this many years ago, someone commented that the long slow zoom in to the finished project was as solemn as if the camera was filming the corpse at the service:

Don't forget to wash your hands! 

When the meatloaf is finished, you can of course dive right in with some good mashed taters on the side. But one of the best things I think there is to do with meatloaf is make a sandwich out of it. I like good bakery sourdough, nice big slices, with some lettuce, just mayo and a big fat pickle.

This recipe makes three medium-sized loaves. I usually freeze one of them.

Quick, take the picture, they're slipping!

Meat Loaf

Adapted from Mark Bittman, How To Cook Everything

Makes: 6 to 8 servings

Time: About 1 hour, largely unattended

1 /2 cup bread crumbs, preferably fresh

1 /2 cup milk

2 pounds mixed ground meats: beef, veal, lamb, and/or pork (I went with 1/3 each beef, pork and veal)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 /2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 /4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

1 /2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 small onion, minced

1 small carrot, minced (I skip this, just not that into carrots in meatloaf)

1 teaspoon minced fresh sage leaves or 1 pinch dried sage leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

(I add 1 couple of good healthy dashes of Worcestershire sauce to the mixture and brush the meatloaf with a mixture of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce before baking)

Heat the oven to 350°F. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk until the milk is absorbed, about 5 minutes.

Mix together all the ingredients except the bacon. Shape the meat into a loaf in a baking pan; top with the bacon if you like. (Brush with the sauce if you like. Also, I like a lot of brown crust so I make smaller loaves and reduce the cooking time a bit)

Ready for the oven!

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, basting occasionally with the rendered pan juices. When done, the meat loaf will be browned lightly and firm and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center will read 160°F. 

MInestrone, Bello

Cool and drizzly weather continues so time for more heart-warming stuff I won't want to make in two months. Minestrone is one of those soups that make great leftovers, becoming tastier and thicker as it keeps. You'll want to thin it out a bit with water when you re-heat it because those beans really take it over. This is very nutritious, jam-packed with good veggies and fiber.

Here's what this recipe's source has to say:

Minestrone soup from The Blue Zones Solution

Jake Whitman / TODAY

This bountiful dish is eaten for lunch every day by the world's longest-lived family, the Melises. Traditionally, it is made with whatever is growing in the garden, but it always includes beans and fregula, a toasted pebble-size semolina pasta that is popular in Sardinia. Fregula can be purchased at Italian markets or online. If you can't find fregula, any tiny pasta, such as Israeli couscous or acini di pepe, will do. My version also takes a little time to cook. As Gianni Pes points out, a longer cooking time melds the flavors and enhances the bioavail­ability of more nutrients, such as the lycopene in tomatoes and carotenoids and other antioxidants. A shorter cooking time will make a tasty dish as well, but nutritionally inferior. Traditionally, the minestrone is accompanied with slices of pane carasau, or Sardinian flat bread.

Who are these Melises? A family with the highest combined age of any nine living siblings on earth — today more than 825 years. Holy moly!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/world/europe/celebrating-the-elderly-with-a-nervous-eye-on-the-future.html?_r=0


Mangia!

Minestrone soup from The Blue Zones Solution

1/2 cup dried peeled fava beans

½ cup dried cranberry beans

1⁄3 cup dried chickpeas

7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped (about 1 cup)

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped (about 2⁄3 cup)

2 medium celery stalks, chopped (about ½ cup)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (about 3½ cups)

2 tablespoons tomato paste (see note below)
3 medium yellow potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1½ cups)

1½ cups chopped fennel

¼ cup loosely packed fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

2⁄3 cup of Sardinian fregula, Israeli couscous, or acini di pepe pasta

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup finely grated pecorino Romano (about 2 ounces) 

Preparation

1. Soak the fava beans, cranberry beans, and chickpeas in a large bowl of water for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours (that is, overnight). Drain in a colander set in the sink. Rinse well.

2. Warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery; cook, stirring often, until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 20 seconds.

3. Stir in the tomatoes, potatoes, fennel, parsley, and basil, as well as the drained beans and chickpeas. Add enough water (6 to 8 cups) so that everything is submerged by 1 inch.

4. Raise the heat to high and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer slowly, uncovered, until the beans are tender, adding more water as necessary if the mixture gets too thick, about 1½ hours.

5. Stir in the pasta, salt, and pepper. Add up to 2 cups water if the soup seems too dry. Continue simmering, uncovered, until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.

6. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into each of four serving bowls. Divide the soup among them and top each with 1 tablespoon of the grated cheese.

Tip: You can vary the beans in the minestrone: pinto beans make a good substitute for cranberry beans; great northern or cannellini beans, for the favas.

Tip: Use the stalks and fronds that come off a fennel bulb for the most intense flavor. No feathery fronds on the bulb? Add a teaspoon of fennel seeds to the aromatic vegetables you sauté to begin the dish.

Tip: Add other fresh vegetables from the garden or market, such as zucchini, cabbage, green beans, and cauliflower or broccoli florets.

Tip: Want a stronger tomato taste? Stir in a tablespoon or two of tomato paste. You get the idea!

Pan-seared Ham Steak with Potato Gratin and Roasted Apples and Red Onions

It's been fairly cool and rainy lately, so it felt good to consider an oven-based dinner before summer starts to kick in and the oven is banned for the next few months in the interest of self-preservation and pre-menopause. I had a large and lovely bone-in ham steak left over from the weekend. Potato Gratin sounded very nice.

I checked out Food God Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything and found a recipe. While flipping to it, I came across his master recipe for roasting veggies or fruit and apples caught my eye. I found an Epicurious recipe for Roasted Apples and Onions that uses some thyme and that will make for more efficient ingredient shopping.

This is not marrow.

I pan-seared the ham steak. And ate the marrow out of the bone over the stove like a possessed Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. OK, I waited until after taking photo.

Mangia!

Potato and Onion Gratin
Adapted from Mark Bittman

Ingredients

2 to 3 cups heavy cream, half-and-half, milk, or a combination

1 1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (I don't bother peeling them)

1 cup grated Gruyère or Swiss cheese (I used a combination of Jarlsberg and Gruyère)
1/2 cup red onion, sliced thinly

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

Procedures

Heat the oven to 375°F. Put the cream in a pot and heat until it's hot.

Layer the potatoes and cheese reserving onion for the top (be sure to end with cheese on top of onions) in a large gratin or similar ovenproof dish; sprinkle every potato layer with a bit of salt, pepper, and thyme. Pour in enough hot cream to come about three-quarters of the way up the potato layers.

Put in the oven and cook, undisturbed, until the potatoes are tender (a thin-bladed knife will pierce them with little or no resistance) and the top is nicely browned, 45 to 50 minutes. Serve immediately or keep warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes.

Roasted Apples and Red Onions

Courtesy: Epicurious

Ingredients

2 cups apple cider

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp coarse kosher salt plus additional for sprinkling

3 7-to 8-ounce red onions, halved through root end, each half cut into 6 wedges

2 1/2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh thyme, divided

3 Braeburn apples (about 1 ½ pounds total), peeled, halved, cored, each half cut into 4 wedges (I can never find Braeburns. I used Fuji apples, and I don't peel them)

Preparation

Boil cider in large saucepan until reduced to 2/3 cup, about 28 minutes. Whisk in butter. Season glaze with 1 teaspoon coarse salt. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm; whisk before using.

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Butter 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Toss onions in large bowl with 1 tablespoon thyme and 3 tablespoons glaze. Arrange in single layer on 1 sheet. Toss apples in same bowl with 1 tablespoon thyme and 3 tablespoons glaze. Arrange in single layer on second sheet. Sprinkle onions and apples with coarse salt and pepper.

Roast onions on upper oven rack 10 minutes. Place apples on bottom rack. Roast onions and apples 20 minutes. Remove both sheets from oven. Drizzle remaining glaze evenly over onions and apples. Reverse position of sheets. Roast 20 minutes longer.

Increase oven temperature to 475°F. Roast onions and apples until tender and slightly caramelized, watching closely to prevent burning, about 10 minutes longer. Transfer onions and apples to large bowl. Season with coarse salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons thyme.

Pan-seared Ham Steak

1 1-pound ham steak

Heat a skillet until very hot over medium high heat. Add ham steak and cook about 4 to 5 minutes a side, turning once until nicely browned.

Our Favorite Spaghetti and Meatballs - No, It's Not My Family's Ragu With Cheddar Cheese

The collective editorial minds at Epicurious scoured their library of Spaghetti and Meatball recipes for the All Time Greatest So You Don't Have To! The recipe they settled on is very good, even better in my humble opinion than Cook's Illustrated version of Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs for a Crowd. In that version, the biggest difference is the meatball recipe, which includes buttermilk and proscuitto, but no veal. In this version, the Grand Trinity of meatloaf mixtures is used: beef, pork and veal.

Not autentico.

Growing up, in a single-earner, blue collar family, meals were economical out of necessity. We occasionally got spaghetti, but back then it was with jarred sauce. There weren't a lot of options in the 60s and 70s. Ragu had been around since the late 30s, and Prego hit the market in the 70s, but the family Go To was established by then as Ragu. Dad would brown a pound of ground round, throw the sauce on top, and top it with cheddar or Colby cheese. Autentico? Not so much.

Ya shove in all your sausage and your meatballs.

The recipe makes a lot of sauce, much more than necessary for one pound of pasta. I froze half the sauce and meatballs without the pasta. Colonel Mustard did the honors with the browning of the meatballs. We served this with some Chianti (hold the liver and fava beans) and a green salad. And watched The Godfather.

Clemenza: Mikey, why don't you tell that nice girl you love her? I love you with all-a my heart, if I don't see-a you again soon, I'm-a gonna die.

Mangia!

RECIPE: OUR FAVORITE SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

Adapted from Epicurious

Abbondanza!

INGREDIENTS

For the tomato sauce:

½ cup olive oil

12 garlic cloves, peeled

4 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes
1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 dried bay leaves

2 tsp kosher salt

1 ½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

2/3 cup (packed) basil leaves

For the meatballs:

1 cup roughly torn day-old Italian bread

1 cup whole milk

8 ounces ground beef

8 ounces ground pork

8 ounces ground veal

3 large eggs, beaten to blend

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 ¼ cups grated Parmesan, divided

¾ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley, divided

1 tsp kosher salt, plus more

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground fennel seeds

1 tsp red pepper flakes

¼ cup olive oil

1 pound spaghetti

PREPARATION

Make the tomato sauce:

Heat a large, wide pot over medium-low and add oil and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is golden brown on all sides (if it starts to burn, reduce heat), 8–10 minutes. While garlic cooks, break up tomatoes into smaller pieces with a paring knife or kitchen shears. When garlic is almost ready, add red pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until toasted and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, oregano, and pepper and stir, breaking up tomatoes with a wooden spoon, until well combined.

Increase heat slightly and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened and flavors have concentrated, at least 2 hours and up to 3 hours.

Meanwhile, make the meatballs:

Place bread in a medium bowl, add milk, and let rest until moistened, about 5 minutes. Squeeze bread with your hands to remove excess milk, discarding milk. Tear bread into smaller, pea-size pieces and return to the medium bowl.

Combine beef, pork, veal, eggs, garlic, 1 cup Parmesan, ½ cup parsley, 1 tsp. salt, oregano, pepper, fennel, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Using your hands, gently mix in bread until ingredients are evenly distributed (do not overmix).

Fill a small bowl with cool water. Moisten your hands and roll meat mixture between palms into golf-ball-sized balls, occasionally moistening hands as needed. Place meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet-you should have about 24-and chill until sauce is ready.

Finish the sauce and cook the meatballs and pasta:

After 2–3 hours of simmering, pluck out bay leaves and add basil. Using an immersion blender (or transfer sauce to a food processor or blender, working in batches, if necessary), purée until slightly chunky but not smooth. Reserve 1 ½ cups sauce; keep remaining sauce in pot warm over very low heat.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high and add oil. Once hot, add meatballs to skillet (without crowding) and work in batches to brown on all sides, turning frequently, about 5 minutes per batch. Return meatballs to baking sheet as you brown them.

Once all meatballs are browned, add them to pot with tomato sauce. If your pot is not large enough, divide sauce and meatballs between 2 pots. Increase heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, 10–15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid, and return pasta to pot over medium-low heat. Spoon reserved 1 ½ cups sauce over pasta and toss to coat. Add pasta cooking liquid, ¼ cup at a time, as needed to loosen sauce and coat pasta.

Divide pasta among plates and top with meatballs and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup Parmesan and ¼ cup parsley