INSALATA MISTA

Having just re-watched the movie "Julie & Julia", I feel inspired to dig thru my cookbooks and make something really tasty. But no worries, I am not going to attempt "Beef Borgonion" like Julia did. 



With Springtime coming (and thus diet season approaching,) I am in search of a main dish salad.


I pulled out my copy of  The Silver Spoon cookbook. I would describe The Silver Spoon as an Italian version of Joy of Cooking. This cookbook is HUGE, with only a few photos, but over 1200 pages of really worthwhile, authentic Italian recipes!

I settled on making "Insalata Mista Al Tonno", a mixed tuna salad. 
Here is the recipe:  (makes four servings)

9 ounces of canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 
1 bunch of arugula, rinsed
1 radicchio, trimmed
1 red bell pepper, halved seeded and cut into strips
1 celery stalk, cut into thin batons
1 round fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges (or use grape tomatoes)
9 oz canned tuna in oil, drained and flaked
1/2 cup pitted black olives
4 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of dried Oregano
Salt & Pepper

Put the beans, arugula, radicchio, bell pepper, celery, fennel, and tomatoes in a salad bowl. Add tuna and olives. Whisk together olive oil, oregano, and pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl. Pour dressing over the salad, toss and serve. Some crusty Italian bread and chilled Pigno Grigio would complete the meal nicely if so desired. (Or, just a large glass of water with lemon is perfect if you are trying to trim down for Spring!)

This main dish salad is a real winner! It's delicious, healthy, colorful, high protein, low carb, and super tasty! You can make it earlier in the day and then refrigerate until you are ready to serve it. Then, get ready for the thundering applause...another midweek-meal success story! Woo hoo!

 

The Best Darn Guacamole

Many years ago when we brought our first baby home from the hospital, I remember feeling like a total zombie. I was sore, sleep deprived, and somewhat overwhelmed with this "new chapter" in my life...called Motherhood.

Recently, my sister in law Darlene had a new baby. When we went to visit, I thoroughly expected to find her feeling the same way I did as a new mom. Boy, was I surprised.....

She not only looked and felt fabulous, but her house was immaculately clean. Plus, she was able to dish out the most magnificent guacamole I have ever tasted!! She has kindly shared her recipe with me.

Best Darn Guacamole

Ingredients:
3 avocados – peeled and pitted
3 limes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tomatoes, diced (preferably Roma)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced jalapeno
1 teaspoon fresh salsa
Pepper to taste

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, and jalapeno. Stir in salsa. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4-5.

     She made two batches for us, and we INHALED it all. It tastes great on burgers too, by the way!

 I was also enamored with the super cool Molcajete she served it in. It's made from volcanic rock! You don't need a Molcajete to make this delicious guacamole, Darlene just used a regular bowl and spoon. It does however, make for a very authentic presentation, and it serves as very fuctional kitchen tool as well. I have seen them for sale on the Williams-Sonoma website.

Warning: Make sure you have lots of tortilla chips on hand when you try this recipe! 

This is Miley. Miley agrees that yes, this is indeed the best darn guacamole.

Tortilla Pizzas- Yeah Baby!

I love pizza. No seriously, I mean I really, really love pizza. I think it might be my favorite food of all. Well, maybe that's too much of a commitment...but I do love it very much.

I recently discovered a way to make "homemade" pizza in a flash, with a thin "crust", and sooo taste-o-licious! Instead of going through all the work of making and rolling out dough, I bought some large tortillas. The Brown Rice kind at Trader Joe's caught my eye, and I also bought some regular flour tortillas as well. Once you have the tortillas, you can pretty much use any toppings your heart desires! Here is what I did.

For the flour tortillas, I topped them with a small amount of tomato sauce, a shredded mixture of four cheeses, and some pepperoni slices.

For the Brown Rice tortillas, I topped them with a small amount of Basil pesto, a shredded mixture of four cheeses, then put a few cleaned and cooked shrimp, sliced kalamata olives, a few slices of fresh tomato, parsley flakes, and then drizzled a little bit of garlic olive oil over the top. I put baking parchment on cookie sheets, placed the pizzas on them in the oven at 420 degrees, and watched them carefully. They cooked for about 15-20 minutes, until the cheese was bubbly and a little bit golden brown. The edges of the tortillas were slightly brown as well. Then I removed them from the oven, and let them cool for a minute or so before slicing. Done deal!

Everyone loved them both. We enjoyed them with a glass of wine and a simple tossed salad. Yeah Baby!!! Good stuff. So easy, you can make them tonight!!

Spaghetti and Meatballs MAKEOVER

Up until last May/June, I was doing wonderfully well with a healthy eating lifestyle, inspired by Jorge Cruise and his Belly Fat Cure. If you are interested, go ahead and check it out on his site: http://jorgecruise.com/

But then, my summer became very..... hectic. So needless to say, my way of coping was to go ahead and eat anything that wasn't "nailed down", so to speak. (Note to self: not a good idea.)

Well, I've recently decided to get back on track, and this DEE-luscious recipe fits right in with Jorge Cruise's "Belly Fat Cure"! What's nice about it is that it's a tasty and filling meal for anyone, not just for those watching their waistline. (Surprising since it includes so many veggies, but I won't tell them if you don't!) My daughter even made this for our dinner one night, to help me out. It almost tasted too good to be healthy!

Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs

1 Spaghetti squash (about 3 lbs) halved lengthwise

Extra virgin olive oil (to taste

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves minced

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs

16 oz lean ground turkey

2.5 cups chicken stock

6 cups baby spinach, washed

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season sides of squash with salt and bake, cut sides down on a baking sheet for about 1 hour. Let stand until cool enough to handle, then scrape into strands using a fork. let drain (covered to keep warm.)

Heat two tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until soft, 8-10 minutes. Add oregano, and divide mixture into two bowls.

Stir 2 tablespoons cheese into 1 bowl of onion-garlic mixture. Mix in breadcrumbs, turkey, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper using your hands. Form mixture into balls.

Heat 2 tsp oil in large skillet over medium heat. Brown meatballs, turning, for about 6 minutes, transfer to plate.

Add remaining bowl of onion garlic mixture, meatballs, and chicken stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, then add spinach and cook for just a minute or two.

Toss spaghetti squash with a few drops of olive oil onto serving platter, then top with everything from the spinach meatball skillet. Put out a shaker of Parmesan cheese for shaking over each serving as desired. Enjoy!

As usual, we love hearing your comments and suggestions!