Strawberry-Rhubarb Salad with Mint, Walnuts & Arugula

Last week we were in Charleston, SC (ahhhh I love that place & I will share some pictures soon). Truth be told the majority of the food we ate was either fried or seafood - leaving little room left for anything green (unless you count fried green tomatoes).  Now that we’re back into the swing of a full week I’m doing my best to eat fresh - plus it’s spring (finally) so I always find myself wanting to eat more green things & just lighter in general.

I was flipping through the pages of Bon Appetite magazine & came across a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb salad. Being a forever fan of the pie version (my mom still makes the best strawberry rhubarb pie!). Coincidentally, my sister-in-law, Dulcie, asked me how else she could prepare rhubarb.  Clearly the universe was telling me that I needed to try out the salad.  It did not disappoint. It was every bit tangy & sweet that the pie is but in a healthy salady-bite. I did change it up a bit from the original recipe swapping out hazelnuts for walnuts & adding some arugla because it’s what I had on hand - & I just love arugula. (Check out this unexpected way to use arugula in your Cinco de Mayo cocktail that I stumbled upon at work & had to try out.)

PS: This recipe calls for mint. I could only find a small potted plant of the mint - wish me luck keeping her alive & green because my thumb is not.

PPS: Bon Appetit suggests not making this salad the night before in fear that the rhubarb will breakdown too much & become too soft. Make it as close to serving time as possible.

UPDATE: I ate all of the arugula out of the salad for dinner & had a lot of the strawberry-rhubarb mixture left so I refrigerated it overnight. I packed some arugula on top & some avocado & am currently enjoying it for lunch - maybe I didn't cut my rhubarb super thin but I have to say it's just as delicious on day 2.

Bang Bang Grilled Shrimp Salad

Hi! I'm back! Hope you've all had a wonderful Labor Day. Mine was chock full of a relaxing trip to the beach with family, vegging out, a little house keeping and eating of course!

I made this shrimp salad one night when Chris was out so I was just making dinner for one person, me!  I didn't want a big meal since I had pretty much been gorging myself all week (oops!). I also didn't want to spend too much time making dinner because I was just tired. 

There's this shrimp that Chris & I love to eat at Bonefish Grill called bang bang shrimp. I like to this of this grilled version as a little bit lighter but still packed with flavor. Plus I ate it with mixed greens - so that's automatically better, right?

Pretty Parsley Potatoes

Ok, yesterday I blogged about vegan chocolate chip banana oat muffins & last week I was shouting from the roof tops how great roasted cauliflower is especially as a potato substitute. Today, I’m back to the potato.  My mother, who studied nutrition at Cornell - so yes she’s a mom with a super duper degree - always taught be to eat balanced (read: alway have a protein, a veggie & a starch on my plate). I still try to cook & eat this way now. Potatoes are one of my favorite carbs & I don’t feel badly about eating them especially if they’re pretty with just the right amount of salt & butter.


These potatoes are so pretty that who ever you serve them to will have no idea how simple & (at least I think) fun to make! They would be a great side dish to serve for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner if you really want to impress your date at home.

Greek Earth Bowl

It’s that time of year again when the temperature rises & I automatically feel like I should be eating some sort of salad for ever meal, yes even breakfast! This earth bowl (a salad with some hearty grains) is one of those dishes that you could eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can eat it (just-cooked farro) hot, room temperature or cold from the fridge. It’s a heartier salad but doesn’t leave you feeling heavy. You can use the veggies & other add-ins I did or you can use what you have on hand.


PS: happy birthday (tomorrow!!! - doh!) to one of my favorite Greek goddesses - Stacy! Love you hot latte ;)

Tomato Sauce Poached Eggs with Basil & Kale

I don’t eat a ton of meat - so Chris doesn’t really either because we eat together. I do however always try to have some sort of protein in our meals. Eggs are a great protein & usually really quick to make for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Last week I boasted about my first successful poached egg experience. As I was going through my photos* & I found some of these tomato sauce poached eggs that I actually made a month or two ago - sorry I fibbed a bit on the poaching because I in fact had poached before! I feel like poaching eggs in tomato sauce is a bit more forgiving & might be the gateway poaching method you need to get your feet - err eggs (?) - wet.


*I photograph pretty much everything I make - sometimes these photos make the blog & sometimes they just collect on my hard drive.

Grilled Steak with Arugula, Parsley-Parmesan Salad

From time-to-time I cook steak for Chris. It’s true. I do. I found this recipe in Bon Appetit magazine & thought that it was a good marriage between the steak Chris likes to eat & the greens I’d like him to eat. I also think it’s a lighter option for steak eaters than a heavy creamed spinach side dish for steak - while yes it has greens it also has a ton of cream amongst other heavy ingredients. I amped up the original salad in this recipe with some arugula.  This salad is also great on top of chicken (how I ate it).

PS: We also had these potatoes, because if you have steak & you really should have potatoes!
PPS: Happy birthday to my beautiful friend Ashley!!! I love you :)

Roasted Cajun Potato Wedges

I've always been a potato lover. My mom says it comes from her Waspy heritage while my grandmother (my father's Italian mother) says it's because her father loved them.  I have an Irish last name now - so really you be the judge.  I've never really met a potato I didn't like.

I had a bunch of yukon gold potatoes left from what I didn't put into these mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving so I roasted them with some spices for a tasty side dish to crab cakes & shaved asparagus dinner.

Shoes for Dinner

photo from: http://shootandfly.tumblr.com/

There's a reason city gals use their ovens as extra closet space.  It's not because they can't cook. It's not because they don't cook.  It's because the effort it takes to get to the actual cooking is exhausting.

The past couple of weeks have been challenging.  Albeit we are blessed to have this roof over our head, heat, electricity & running water.  I've lived in Hoboken with Chris for a couple years.  Hoboken is a mere three miles from NYC but there are some differences like grocery shopping that makes you feel like you're in the suburbs, except it's not.

Being away from home (& my kitchen) makes me realize how when you live in NYC it's far easier to use your oven for accessories (no I never did this but I think I could get there) & head to the many eateries in New York or simply to order take-out. 

For all of those who have never lived in NYC or have never lived in an place without a car I'm going to explain why the fact that I cook almost every night (in Hoboken) is a phenomenon to my girlfriends who still live on the island (aka: Manhattan).  The day starts like this: you scamper off to work chugging down a coffee in transit; get through the work day which ends probably around 7pm (or later) & then head home, hungry.  On your subway commute home you think of what you want to eat for dinner.  You have condiments in your fridge (& maybe shoes in your oven).  You promised yourself you'd eat healthfully this week to make up for the hurricane partying you did last week with booze & take-out.  Hungry & tired you drag yourself to the grocery store down the street. You opt for the shopping basket, not the cart because you're going to be carrying this home (& they won't let you take the cart with you.) You mill around the fish & poultry section, kind of grossed out wondering how long those fillets have been there(??) & where did all the organic chicken go(???). The second lap around the store (basket still empty) you grab some "all natural" chicken sausage, a bag of spinach and a roll of cookie dough (obviously).  Twenty-five minutes later (if checkout actually went smoothly), you're back on the sidewalk trekking home carrying a purse way too big for any human plus your new found grocery items.  You make a creative dinner with the findings at the grocery store & what was left in the cabinets & before you know it, it's 8:30pm & it's time to make those cookies. 

The next day around 7pm, you're wondering what you should get at the grocery store & start the process all over, or you just order pizza or grab dinner out with friends.

The moral of this babble is: city living is tough. You can't really stock up at the grocery store because you have no car but what you can do is order groceries from fresh direct, ahh & then I remember that's how my sister does it ;) Or you can eat at some of the yummiest places on earth. Ok so it's not so bad ;)

What's for dinner tonight at your house?

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Quinoa

Ask anyone at my office where I'm going for lunch & they'll usually say one of three places. The first would most likely be Pret A Manger.  I love Pret because they offer fresh food that's satisfying but doesn't make me feel stuffed to the brim after I eat it.  They also offer a lot of organic ingredients which is important to me.  One of my favorite go-to Pret items (besides coffee) is the quinoa pot they have available during breakfast. I could eat it at any time of day - I think it would make a great breakfast, lunch or dinner.  On that note I recreated it for brunch this past weekend.

What's your favorite versatile meal that works for breakfast, lunch or dinner?

Omegas for Dinner

Everyone is trying to eat healthfully & clean for the start of the new year. I try to find the balance between whole foods & yumminess (like here). I will now introduce exhibit a: omegas for dinner: zesty salmon served with cranberry, walnut, basil & spinach quinoa. This dinner is not only full of color & flavors but omegas too. So we can all rest easy knowing we did our part after eating a healthy dinner. Oh & did I mention it's a pretty quick fix too? Well it is, read on for the full recipe.

If you're vegetarian or just don't 'do' fish, make the quinoa it's tasty all on it's own & makes a great lunch or simple supper.

Savory & Spicy French Toast

Around 5:30/6:00pm everyday I am reminded that I'm now an adult.  This revelation comes from the fact that I (not my mom) have to answer the question, "what's for dinner?" Last night I perused the web for an idea of what to make. I like to try new things as much as make things I've made a million times. This recipe for savory french toast seemed like a good mix of the two.

Chris loves breakfast for dinner so I thought I'd give it a try.  Note to self: when making french toast of any sort, make sure you have bread in the house. I'd like to give a special thanks to Chris for running out to get said bread last night to make this post possible. Thanks Chris!

I used the recipe I found on Food52.com (worth checking out if you haven't yet) as inspiration while improvising with the things I had on hand.  I served it with a salad for dinner. I think this is definitely a brunch worthy dish for the weekend as well so you have Saturday & Sunday coming at you why not give it a try? Check out my recipe after the jump.

Kitchen Cavatelli

I make dinner based on whatever I can find in the fridge plus pasta.  No carb dieting in our house that's for sure.

I don't eat a ton of meat and there's only so much chicken we can eat so I like to go veggie more nights than not.

When in doubt: onions + (lots of) garlic + a fresh veggie + (fresh or dry) herbs + cheese + olive oil + salt + pepper. 

Keep it simple and your wallet and taste buds will thank you later.

This kitchen cavatelli can be made with just a handful of ingredients that you can stock up and leave in your fridge.

Learn how you can make my kitchen cavatelli after the jump!

Olive Oil Bundt Cake

We decided last night at Easter dinner that I will make the desserts for all family dinners at my grandma's house (with the addition of the 7 fishes on Christmas Eve where Chris will make his crab stuffed mushrooms & I'll make the honey balls). So desserts are my thing since my grandmother & aunt have the dinner down to feed a few small country instead of pint-sized family members. 

This Easter I made some new desserts which is always a risk but I think they went well.  The first of the two desserts I made was an olive oil cake. I've had olive oil cake at La Columbe & it was delish so I searched the internet for a recipe that spoke to me. I found Gina DePalma's recipe for an almond olive oil cake by way of Lottie + Doof's blog.

I know what you're probably thinking - olive oil cake - that's a little weird. And no this is not an April Fools joke (although, happy april fools!).  But honestly if you like pound cake, almonds & a buttery glaze - there is really nothing you won't love about this cake. It's pretty easy to make. Sure there's a few steps but it's not all that bad. Plus if you're making it for a holiday party that you don't have to cook an entire dinner for your family why not spend that time baking up this cake. I used our bundt pan because it gives the cake in interesting shape but you can definitely use a spring form pan or just a regular cake pan too, it'll still be delish.

Savory Dutch Baby: Broccoli Rabe, Garlic & Pecorino Romano Cheese

Tuesday was National Pancake Day. To honor said day I wanted to make some kind of pancake for dinner but I didn’t want a sweet one, I wanted something more ‘dinner-like’, savory. After perusing the web for savory pancakes I found a bunch of savory dutch baby recipes so I made on a whim I made a savory dutch baby with the familiar flavors (to our house) of broccoli rabe, garlic & Pecorino Romano cheese.

It turned out to be somewhere between a pancake & a quiche if that’s possible. The pancake puffs up & gets crispy almost like the crust of a quiche but takes 1/4 of the time to prepare & bake.

I liked it. Chris liked it. I’ll definitely be making this again.

What do you put on or in your pancakes when you eat them for dinner?

Roasted Veggies & Goat Cheese Pizza

If you read this blog on the regular you might be noticing a pattern with pizza.  I'm really into making pizza dough to have on hand for dinner. The possibilities are endless & plus, who doesn't like pizza? 

Chris brought back one of the largest butternut squashes I've ever seen from the farmer's market so I felt the need to incorporate that into a dinner & in this case a pizza.  I'm not going to lie, you have to put some work in to get what you want out of a butternut squash. It's pretty hard so zap it in the microwaved before you attempt to cook it. Since mine was on the larger side I microwaved it for about 5 minutes. Then you can cut it in half length ways.  It has some seeds in it that you'll need to scoop out. There is also a pretty tough shell on this veggie so you'll need to peel that off.  Now you're ready to chop. Do your best to make even sized pieces. The smaller the pieces the quicker they will cook. I only used half of the squash for this recipe but I chopped up the rest of it & sealed it in a food storage bag for use later in the week - which mean less prep time for round two.

My favorite part of this pizza is smearing the warm goat cheese all over it when it comes out of the oven. The tang from the goat cheese & the sweetness of the roasted veggies is dinner worthy!

Fancy (& Easy) Shaved Asparagus

I know it probably seems like I run a restaurant when it comes to dinner time at our house since I post so often about different recipes.  I do love to try new things & I really do enjoy changing it up but to be honest most of the time we have the same things on rotation. 

Asparagus is usually one the veggies we always have.  In hopes to change it up this week I changed the shape of the asparagus by shaving them with a vegetable peeler - other than that the flavors of olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper are usual suspects at our dinner table. The best part is this recipe/method (I'm not sure you can even call it a recipe) is simple & cooks really quickly all the while making your dinner table look fancy without trying hard at all.

How do you jazz up your regular dishes?

Tips From a Culinary Agent: Alice

Every single person in my life inspires me in some way. Alice sits high on the list of my inspirational friends.  She knows a thing or two (million) about hospitality & yummy eats.  A couple weeks back when a bunch of us girls gathered at her apt for dinner I couldn't help but snap photos of literally every little  detail that Alice had put into the evening.  Definitely start your dinner party like Alice did (in the photo above) with briny olives, nutty cheeses, fruity olive oils & fresh bread.

Get more tips a la Alice for serving up some snacks for a tasty kickoff to a dinner party after the jump!

Broccoli Rabe & Cheese Quiche

The first quiche I made was for my french class in 7th grade. I’m shocked I even knew what quiche was at that moment in time. I remember my mom not being too keen about my choice - one because it was time consumptive & two because the ingredients I chose were on the expensive side. I don’ remember exactly what I put in it but I think there was bacon & lots of butter & eggs. I don’t even remember what it tasted like but I remember making it.

The second time I made a quiche was this past September when I made it for my sister-in-law & brother-in-law who just had their second sweet baby. Knowing they wouldn’t have a lot of time to prepare meals let alone heat them up I made them a quiche since it can be eaten at any temperature - warm, cold or room temp. Plus it has protein & veggies in it. And we can’t forget about the crust - the rich buttery delicious crust. It’s equal parts crispy, creamy & delicious.

This past Sunday I made one for dinner with broccoli rabe & peccorino romano cheese & I will make it again. The crust is the most time consumptive part since you have to cook it twice but it’s worth it. If you’re hosting a brunch or dinner or want to bring new parents something hearty to each this is it. You can make it ahead of time & let’s face it - it’s pretty impressive being that it’s of French origin & all. I served ours with a like mixed green salad with chopped cherry tomatoes.

PS: Mom this one is much easier to make & less expensive but tastes every bit expensive - you should make it for Dad!

Heirloom Tomato Quinoa Salad

Warm spring/summer nights make me want to eat healthfully. For dinner last night I served up this salmon with this quick filling quinoa salad.  Quinoa is so versatile you can literally add anything to it & it tastes good & will fill you up (read: Chris wasn't reaching for snacks after dinner). Last night I took advantage of some tasty heirloom tomatoes & other fresh spring veggies to jazz up my quinoa.

Click through for more pics & my quick recipe!

Spring Salmon with Almonds, Avocado & Strawberries

'Tis the season for sweet strawberries & ripe avocado.  Since we've been eating salmon once a week in our house I try to change up the way we eat it. I use this no-fail-perfect-salmon recipe every time.  Last night I topped our salmon with some fresh sliced avocado, strawberries & almond slivers. To finish I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil on top & seasoned each portion with a pinch of salt & pepper. Et voila dinner a pretty spring salmon dinner.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 (1 pound) salmon fillet, (if it doesn't fit in your skillet, cut it so it does)
• 1 avocado
• 6 strawberries
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Make it!

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Meanwhile, place a large (12-inch) cast-iron pan over high heat for 5 minutes.
3. Brush the salmon all over with olive oil, season with salt & pepper, & place in the the pan skin side up.
4. Cook fish for 3 to 4 minutes without moving them until browned.
5. Turn the salmon skin side down, I used tongs to gently pull & flip each piece or you can use a spatula.
6. Transfer the pan to the oven for 8 minutes.
7. The salmon will not be completely cooked through yet. Remove the salmon from the oven & cover with foil for about 5 minutes, this will complete the cooking without drying out the salmon.
8. Slice the avocado (use this trick!) & the strawberries. 
9. Just before serving, plate each dish with the half the salmon.
10. Position the half the sliced avocado & strawberries neatly on top of each piece.
11. Sprinkle with almonds.
12. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over each piece & season with salt & pepper.