Fresh & Simple Tomato Salad

I love tomatoes. I know we are lucky enough to be them year round now but nothing beats a fresh summer juicy Jersey tomato. The best part is that they do pretty much all the work themselves because they just taste that good.

My mom always made tomato salad growing up. I think I had forgotten about it until just recently & then I became obsessed. (When I say obsessed I mean it - we ate tomato salad for a week straight & I still want more.) I loved it then & I love it now & I think you will too. Plus the recipe is so completely easy you’ll have to try it at least once. If you love it as much as I do I have some surprises for you this week on how you can serve & eat it so check back!

Zucchini Butter

Zucchini is a veggie (or is it a fruit?) that I always have in my shopping basket & during the summer I grab as much zucchini as I can. It’s a great grilling veggie but it’s also great when you slow cook it into this yummy zucchini butter. While it’s ‘slow-cooked’ it’s also really easy to make. You can cook it ahead & store it in a jar & then toss it with pasta, farro or smear some on toasted bread.   I tossed ours with some linguini, a little bit of pasta water & topped it with some grated cheese. It was tasty!

Simple Vinaigrette

It’s unofficially summer - it’s just getting hotter & I love it! Every time the temps rise I want to eat cooling simple meals - mainly salads.  I rarely buy salad dressing at the super market with the exception of blue cheese dressing to compliment Chris’s love for anything buffalo sauced & that little packet of raspberry vinaigrette that comes in that delicious spinach salad mix from Trader Joe’s.  Other than those two exceptions I usually throw lemon juice or vinegar & some olive oil on my salads & call it a day.  Sometimes I like to make my own (like here & here).  This simple vinaigrette is great because it’s made from stuff you most likely shop for on a weekly basis & even if you don’t you can find them at the most basic grocery stores - no specialty stores necessary.  It’s a great dressing that turns plain mixed greens into a salad with no other toppings. We ate mixed greens tossed with this dressing with some pizza for dinner. The salad was so good I made two giant serving bowls of it & not a leaf was left!

If you’ve never made your own dressing, give it a try. It really is easy & usually tastes better than anything on the shelf. Oh & with this recipe you’ll be able to identify all the ingredients.

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 :)

Crunchy Spring Salad

Most Saturday mornings I make breakfast (this past week I made these five ingredient pancakes again) & then I get sucked into the Food Network vortex. It starts with just one show & then before I know it it’s noon & The Kitchen is on - a show I’m still deciding if I like but since I watch it every weekend I guess I do. Geoffrey Zakarian is one of the hosts of the show. He intimidates me. He has iron chef status & I’m pretty sure if we met in real life he’d have a difficult time taking me seriously. But this is why he lives in my TV & I can live vicariously via his cooking tips he dishes out on Saturday mornings & then blog about them here. This weekend he made this salad that just screamed spring to me. It had cucumber, green apples, mint & lemon.  So I had to make it given Saturday was the first day we’ve had where there was a break in this polar vortex & the sun shined through & the temps peaked in the high 50s!

This time of year always makes me want to eat a little cleaner & feel a little lighter in the process so salads are always on the menu. What’s your go-to spring food?

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.

Simple Herb-Roasted Tilapia

Summer nights call for light but satisfying dinners.  I like to try to cook  and eat as much fish as I can, especially in the summer. Maybe it's a mental thing but it doesn't leave me feeling sleepy or overly stuffed after I eat it - but completely satisfied.  You can make this recipe on the grill or bake it in your oven. You can prepare it early and cook (and eat) it later.

Grilled Peach, Brie & Basil Pizza

Happy belated 4th of July! Apologies for the radio silence from last week. I am back this week with tons of summer foods you're going to want to bring to your table, starting with this sweet & salty pizza that I will be making again and again and again.

I saw this recipe in Rachel Ray Everyday, but when it came time to make it I misplaced the magazine so I ad-libbed what I remembered the recipe to be.  Rachel Ray's recipe adds bacon - so if bacon's for you - go ahead, cook some up & sprinkle it on at the end.  Or you can skip the bacon & make it like me!

Zucchini Pasta e Fagioli

I've always been a fan of pasta e fagioli (often butchered by Italian-Americans like myself as something that sounds like pasta fazool).  In plain English it's pasta with beans. My mom used to make it with tomatoes, garlic & those short cut noodles or tiny elbow macaroni.

When I have a fridge full of produce I try to use it so I don't lose it. We had some zucchini in the fridge which lead me to this new (to me) take on pasta e fagioli, I call it zucchini pasta e fagioli. I left the dried pasta in it's box & shaved my zucchini into wide noodles instead (similar to here) - making it gluten-free pasta my friends (& Auntie Pat).  It's a very rustic dish which is code for it's not super pretty but it tastes really good, so serve it just after sunset when the light is that cool blue color & you're too hungry to care about how it looks.

Zucchini Noodles with Tomato, Garlic & Parmesan

I have this veggie peeler that makes me look like I have chef-like knife skills. It can be used like a regular vegetable peeler & in minutes you have finely julienned (fancy world for thinly sliced) vegetables. I use it to make zucchini noodles (read: thin strips of zucchini that look like spaghetti noodles). If you don't have this particular peeler you can use a regular peeler & call make wide noodles or call them fettuccine or pappardelle if you like - it will still make for a delicious dish.

I tossed mine with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil & parmesan cheese but they're great with pesto or even just a light drizzle of olive oil with salt & pepper. What's even better about zucchini noodles is you don't have to cook them. Nope, no cooking. 

Pasta with Sautéed Broccoli & Garlic

Pasta with sautéed broccoli & garlic I hands down one of my favorite things to eat. I eat it at home & order it at restaurants. It's my go to comfort food. We probably eat it about 4 times a month, so much so that I cannot believe that I haven't posted my perfected recipe yet.

After making this dish a bunch of times I've found a way to use less oil than I originally thought that this needed to have to be considered tasty and to not brown the garlic but to add it at the end of cooking instead. I add just enough cheese that melts in & seems to disappear so that sister-in-laws who hate cheese have no idea what's really in there (teee heee) but they don't care because it tastes that good.

No worries, the day has come, I'm going to share all those secret tips with you.  Get my fool proof recipe after the jump.

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.

White Bean Mash

Chris & I had this delicious white bean mash at Tre Voci.  I couldn't stop thinking about it so I googled it & in seconds I was on my way to recreating Nigella Lawson's recipe.  It's really tasty & is a great alternative to mashed potatoes.
Read on for the full recipe & photos.

(Leftover Mashed) Potato Croquettes

I love mashed potatoes.  Who doesn't? Chris made some tasty mashed taters the other night with leftovers to boot.  Using the cold left over mashed potatoes I reinvented them into crispy crusted croquettes!  Find out how after the jump!

What's your favorite way to reinvent leftovers?

PS: Birthdays continue! Happy Birthday to my godmother, Aunt Lynnie! & my sweet nephew, Derek! Love you both!

Happy Friday everyone!

Cherry & Goat Cheese Chicken

Sometimes chicken can get so boring, yet we eat it all the time.  Last night I whipped up this chicken that was different from the usual boring grilled version.  In fact, Chris said he'd order it again. 

Get the recipe after the jump!

PS: Thanks for doing the dishes, Chris ;)

Sprouted Kitchen's Tomato & Burrata Salad

I'm currently obsessing over this blog, I love the recipes & the photography & the messages.  It's a good blog written by a good person. You really don't need more than that.  I was inspired by some end of summer tomatoes & Sprouted Kitchen's Simple Tomato & Burrata Salad, so I mad it in my own kitchen. You can find the recipe here.

Burrata, by the way, is a basically a purse of mozzarella with a creamy center. If you've never had it you really just need to know that it's delicious & that's all.

Fusion Roasted Chicken & Kale

Since my post was, well, lack there of yesterday I'm dishing out an extra special one with a tasty dinner you can make at home!  I call this dish fusion roasted chicken & kale, mostly because I think it makes it sound more chi-chi but really it's more comfort food than anything.  Using some tasty hawaiian salt, garlic, honey, soy sauce & olive oil (read: a sauce that I stole from my sister-in-law, Dulcie) this speaks fusion-eese to me. 

Read on for my pics & the full recipe!

Disclaimer: Dulcie, I hope I didn't butcher what I remember to be in your sauce recipe too much :) xo

Garlic & Lime Grilled Shrimp

When it's as hot as it's been the only way to cook is on the grill & then run back inside to the air conditioning to eat.  Shrimp is so quick to make I feel I could make it every day, Chris wouldn't mind, believe me.  I served up this shrimp along side a tomato panzanella salad for a fresh summer dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb shrimp  (peeled, deveined, with tails on)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic (minced)
• salt & pepper
• 3 limes (cut into wedges)

Make it!

1. Add shrimp, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper to an air tight container (use a plastic food storage bag or container) & chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (over night will work too & it will definitely keep the vampires away when all of the garlic flavor is absorbed).
2. Skewer shrimp & lime wedges.  I used metal skewers but if you have the wooden ones just be sure to soak them in some water for at least 15-20 minutes so they'll burn less.
3. Grill over medium-high heat, for about 7-10 minutes.  Be sure to flip the skewers with tongs at least half way through so they cook evenly on both sides.
4. Shrimp are cooked when they turn opaque (white) & slightly pink.
5. Remove from grill & skewers. Squeeze the grilled limes over the shrimp & enjoy.

 

Fresh Herb & Fruit Chicken Salad

 

Chicken can get kind of monotonous so I'm always looking for new ways to make it.  I had some leftover grilled chicken in the fridge, so on a whim I chopped it up & added a bunch of fresh ingredients for a fresh & simple dinner.  How do you make your chicken without getting bored of it? Please share!

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups grilled chicken (cut into cubes)
• 1/2 english cucumber (cut into cubes)
• 1 carrot (shred with a box grater or make curls with a veggie peeler)
• 1 clove garlic (mince)
• 1 mango (cut into cubes)
• 5 mint leaves (chiffonade) 
• 5 basil leaves (chiffonade)
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 cups baby arugula

Dressing Ingredients:

• juice of 2 limes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

Make it:

1. Toss all salad ingredient together in a bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl or measuring cup mix all dressing ingredients together.
3. Toss salad with dressing & serve immediately.

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!