Fast food doesn't have to be purchased nor does it have to be accompanied by French fries.
How about a quick salad that can be tossed together in about five minutes. That's quicker than the average fast food establishment can put your order into a paper bag! 
Garbanzo beans, grape tomatoes, feta cheese, herb of your choice (I just happen to LOVE basil in this), olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper ... and lunch is served.
Wasn't that quick and simple?
Bon Appétit!
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If it's an easy side dish you want to pair with a roasted or grilled meat or even a quick, light dinner on its own accompanied by a salad, this is the dish for you. This takes "ease" to a whole new level ... grape tomatoes cut in half, garlic, onion, herbs, fresh parmesan cheese ...
Cook the onion first, then add the parsley (and basil, my case!) and garlic, cooking it till it just get fragrant. Then add the tomatoes. Leave it on the heat just it gets warm and juicy. 
Toss it with angel hair pasta which takes about 2 minutes to get to al dente, top it with freshly grated parmesan cheese, and serve it up warm. The tomatoes produce less of a "sauce" and more of a "flavor" for the pasta. Either way ... it's totally worth the few minutes it takes to make!
Wini, pardon the pun, but this is a winner!
Download Angel Hair Pasta with Fresh Grape Tomato Sauce
Bon Appetit!
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As I read through Wini's book, I wanted to make everything in it ... and maybe some day, I will! I make many of the same "saute-deglaze-serve" meals as she does, so for my first "Wini-foray", I chose the Roast Chicken Breasts with Goat Cheese and Trois Oignons recipe from the "braise, stew, roast" section. Who can say "no" to soft-ripened goat cheese, leeks, shallots, garlic, and herbs of choice paired up with chicken?
It's important to not use a fresh goat cheese (the ones typically sold in "logs") because it has a less complex flavor and doesn't melt quite as well. Look for a Boucherondin (the cheese counter at my local grocery store spells it "Bucherondin"). It has a rind and is often sold with an edible flower pressed into it.
Two of my favorite aromatics, leeks and shallots, are sauteed about five minutes until they are tender ... 
... then the garlic and herbs are stirred in. The fines herbes suggested are chervil, parsley, chives, and tarragon, but being the rebel that I am, I used what I had on hand. I like to think the French home cook would've done the same. I used parsley and basil. Finally, the goat cheese is added to the onion mixture after the heat is turned off. It melts and coats the trois oignons beautifully.
Wini's recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves and she is so smart to suggest simply cutting a pocket into each chicken breast to put the cheese mixture in. I had skinless, boneless chicken breasts, so I cut two of them in half horizontally, then rolled the mixture into it and secured it with toothpicks. I worried that the cheese would ooze out too much, but it didn't. In retrospect, I could've cut a pocket into skinless, boneless breasts, too ...
After baking for about 40 minutes, we had a lovely meal worthy of dinner guests!
Wini suggested a salad with a lemony-dressing to accompany with chicken, but since the temperatures were just a bit chilly, I took her winter suggestion of serving it with Angel Hair Pasta with Fresh Grape Tomato Sauce. What a hit!
Find the recipe for the pasta HERE! And buy Wini's new cookbook HERE.
Download Roast Chicken Breasts with Goat Cheese and Trois Oignons
Bon Appetit.
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I'm not a fan of the honey mustard pairing and in fact, honey-mustard salad dressing is my least favorite. I will always choose an alternative. I think what made this recipe work for me is the creation of a compound butter using the mustard, garlic, and thyme ... 
... and the fact that a miniscule amount of honey is used. Only 2 teaspoons to the 2 Tablespoons of mustard. The end result was neither very mustardy or nor sweet. 
The chicken is rubbed with the compound butter, seared on the stove, then finished in the oven.
And while the chicken is in the oven, you'll have plenty of time to cook the green beans!
The original recipe called for bone-in split chicken breasts, but I had skinless, boneless on hand and felt that it would be quicker on a weeknight anyway. You could also roast a whole chicken with this compound butter rub, I think. And if you didn't want to use butter, you could substitute a more healthful olive oil.
It is tasty enough for company, but quick enough to enjoy as a family on a weeknight, too.
What about you? How do you feel about honey-mustard?
Download Honey Dijon Roasted Chicken with Green Beans
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Just when you think it should start warming up for Spring, you get blasted with a snow and ice storm! We went to Ben's baseball games this weekend dressed as if we were going skiing: heavy jackets, mittens, boots, blankets ... It was very cold! But we were warm and toasty with these fabulous twice baked potatoes I made on St. Patrick's Day. I saw the idea on Cooking Fresh and you can watch her video if you'd like. It's a bit of a riff on traditional Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage mixed in). Her recipe calls for four large russets, but I used three large baking potatoes. Click on the "Cooking Fresh" hyperlink for her recipe ... I'm also including a copy of the way I interpreted it at the end of the post.
Rub the potatoes with oil, then bake them at 400F.
While they bake caramelize one large onion, deglaze the pan with Irish stout, then add kale and allow to cook until it gets done.
When the potatoes are done, allow them to cool just a bit, then cut them in half and scoop out the middles.
Mash the middles with butter, buttermilk, salt and pepper, then gently fold in the onion/kale mixture. Spoon this into the potato shells, top with cheddar cheese (Irish cheddar if you can find it!), and bake for about 20 minutes at 400F. 
We had it with Stout-Braised Chicken (something I made up on the fly because I wanted to save the calories that a traditional Irish sausage might have!). I didn't, however, end up eating the chicken ... By the time I got through about 3/4 of the potato, I was plenty full! I think a half potato with a green salad would be a perfect vegetarian meal.
Because of the initial baking time, this dish can take a little while to complete, but I don't mind because it's not consistent hands-on time. If you wanted, you could bake the potatoes in advance, and you can even go so far as to stuff the shells in advance. If you do so, just bake them a bit longer so that they warm through.
So good!
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When I want to make a hearty dinner without meat being the main course, I often look through bean soup recipes. I found this one recently in a search for recipes for food from Piedmont, Italy. I've made it twice and have officially declared it my favorite white bean soup.
It calls for a little pancetta (or bacon), onions, and garlic as the flavor base ...
Then simmers with a bay leaf and chicken stock. That's it. So simple. I like to use the small white beans rather than the large ones as I find them more palatable.
Just before serving, you can puree a bit of the beans and liquid, but I prefer to not do that. If you can find taleggio cheese, chop it and stir it into the soup. It really is a nice touch. But if you can't find it, grate some fresh Parmesan on top, then drizzle with a little olive oil.
Bon Appetit!
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Weekend before last, I got a Facebook message from Aly with the message "Please? In blue?" and an attached link to this blog post by Glorious Treats. Of course, I said, "Done" and knew that I would then have to make it happen for her birthday. Decorating cakes is something I first learned from my mother-in-law who is a pro, but I gotta tell ya ... it's not my favorite thing to do. What with all that sticky frosting and decorator bags and trying to mix the right color ... Blech. However, I've decorated many birthday cakes through the years for the kids' birthdays and I knew I would tackle this one, too.
Later I read the post in full and chose to use Glory's recipe for both the cake AND the buttercream. The recipe was for 16 vanilla cupcakes, but according to her hint, I tripled it and had plenty for five 8-inch layers that weren't too thin. The frosting was great, but next time I use it, I'll triple it from the beginning. When it was all said and done, I had made three separate batches with only a little left over! So if you want to duplicate this cake exactly, triple both the cake and buttercream recipes. (Glory only used 1.5 batches for 6-inch cake layers so I'm not sure I did things exactly right ... )
I baked the cake on Thursday so I would have time to let the layers freeze before frosting. My mother-in-law taught me that it's easier to scrape away most of the crumbs after it's frozen than to try to frost it fresh.
The layers are all graduating colors and stood six inches tall after a thin layer of buttercream between each layer and the coat on the outside. This first coat is as necessary as underwear. I jest not.
I didn't worry too much about any residual crumbs getting picked up by the first layer because I knew I would be covering it with another layer of "rosettes". And here's a tip for filling the decorator bags:
... I used to invert the bag over my hand and spoon the frosting in, but I learned from Chuck that a small glass works so well! Then, as I used each color, I would prop the bag up in the glasses in case I needed it for touch-ups. So the next tip is: be sure to have at least as many decorator bags as you have colors in the cake. It just makes life easier. Oh and the 12-inch bags are easiest to use, in my opinion, because you don't have to worry about frosting squirting out of the wrong end. (This post is starting to sound questionable!)
Glory said she used Tip #21. I thought I had one, but found that I either had a 32 or an 18. I opted to use the 18 only to find a 22 when I was half-way done. The 18 worked OK, but it was just a tad too small, frankly. The 22 would've made piping much easier and I might have had less "underwear" showing if I had used the larger one, but it wasn't really an issue.
Mixing the frosting colors can be dicey. I wanted to mix enough frosting in each color so that I wouldn't run out, but I didn't know how much it would take to go around the cake once. So I guessed and ended up short only on the top layer and that's because I also wanted to cover the top fully. I could've filled it in with the leftover darker color, but really didn't want to mess with that whole "ombre" thing. As it was, I left that small circle on top and it was perfect for 17 candles. :)
Here's the finished cake ...
The birthday girl is almost as tall as the cake ...
Once it was sliced, you could really see how it all came together.
What a beautiful candlelit birthday girl! Happy Birthday, Aly!
There you have it, my friends ... the Birthday Cake Saga.
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When I was "back home" visiting my grandmother and family, I learned for the first time in my cognizant brain that her family came from Vernante, Italy ... in the Piemonte region. Of course, I was curious about the food produced there and then I found out that our distant family members have a winery in the region. I was curious and started poking around the internet. I learned that the Pelissero Family did indeed have a winery and that I was certainly interested in many of the regional recipes.
I then decided that since our Valentine's dinner is always "in" rather than "out" with all the over-expectant couples ... (I would self-combust if I had to eat out on Valentines' day!!) ... that our menu would be Piemontese. I started doing research and found that my local market carried the "family" wine! They (the Pelisseros) have no clue who I am ... nor do they care. However, I decided that our Valentine's dinner would be Piemontese in style, accompanied by wine from the Pelissero Winery.
One of the recipes I found was for Piemontese Peppers. Let me tell you ... the rest of the meal was wonderful, but this was my favorite course!
Peppers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, anchovies ... how could you go wrong?
If you try this, be sure to leave the stems as whole as possible because it creates such a nice presentation. Just trim the membrane and cut carefully around the stem so as to keep it intact.
I coated the outsides of each pepper half with olive oil, and layered small garlic pieces, anchovies (just a little ... they are salty!), and fresh basil inside the cavities of each pepper half. 
I saw recipes recommending red peppers, but I thought next to the tomatoes that the yellow ones would be beautiful ... and they were. Always think about presentation on the plate. We eat first with our eyes, then with our mouth.
Drizzle each with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes, then drizzle again with olive oil, if necessary.
Bake another 20 minutes, or until the pepper is tender.
Serve on a single plate with a bit of basil and the juices from the pan. As each pepper half is cut into, the juices will flood the plate and leave plenty of yummy juices to soak up with a lovely bread.
This is a fabulous first course warm salad ... but it is so satisfying that it can do double duty as a lunch on a weekday. I think it would also be darling (as well as tasty!) as an appetizer using the small "snacking" peppers, don't you?!
Bon Appetit!
You don't really need a recipe, right? I'm sure you don't, but I'll post one in the next 24 hours. I'm posting this in advance and I'm sure you'll understand that I'm going to snuggle with my husband rather than type out a recipe. Back soon! :)
OK ... here ya go ... a full-on recipe!
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Once a month, I join up with a few other moms of junior students at our school and host a lunch with a moms' prayer time after. I didn't start doing this until December, but we've done a holiday dinner, a chili/taco lunch, and today was a Soup-A-Palooza.
The tables were decorated with miniature roses surrounded by Hershey's kisses and a small bowl of conversation hearts. I made Roasted Tomato-Basil Soup. Others contributed Clam Chowder, Garden Vegetable, Chicken and Rice, and Pasta Fagioli. They were all so tasty. We also had a variety of breads and corn muffins as well as an ice cream sundae bar. Of course, it was a total hit and we had not one lick of soup left!
Each girl left with our prayers for her and a tulip to commemorate Valentine's Day.
It is such a blessing to serve girls who have the foresight to say thank you ... and then give a standing ovation in appreciation of a simple soup lunch. Who would've expected a note like this to have been left?
We didn't, but we totally rejoiced over it ... I think we all took photos. The choice of conversation hearts is the best! I love it! Maybe we're planting seeds in these young girls' hearts so that they'll do similar things for their children.
There is hope in our next generation! Let's do all we can to nurture it and to cheer these kids on to responsible adulthood. Are you with me?
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Was one of your New Year's resolutions to eat more healthfully and maybe even lose a few pounds? If so, I'm sure you've considered the idea of eating fish. We eat salmon often enough, but I usually make more chicken, pork, and lean beef than fish. However, now that the biggest meat-and-potatoes guy (literally AND figuratively) has moved out, we are opting for more fish. 
Fish can be expensive for budgeting families, but I've found cod to be reasonably priced and I've usually bought it on sale for right around $6.99/pound. I highly recommend buying it as fresh as possible because the texture changes after it's been frozen.
I found the recipe for Orange Roughy (or cod, or sole, or flounder ... any nice white fish) in Scallion and Ginger Sauce in the South Beach Diet book and really enjoyed it ... dry sherry (or cognac, if you're out of sherry like I was!), soy sauce, sesame oil, chopped green onion, grated ginger, chopped garlic ... all mixed and poured over the fish. Ten to fifteen minutes in the oven gives me enough time to sauteed some fresh green beans or zucchini to go with it and toss some butter lettuce with vinaigrette. Et voila, dinner in less than 30 minutes.
The sherry and soy sauce caramelize just a bit lending a very nice flavor to the mild fish. Be careful to only cook the fish until it barely flakes so that it retains the very tender and flaky qualities that make it such a joy to eat.
Do you like fish? How often does it show up on your menu plan?
Bon Appétit! (PS--I think this sauce would even be great on salmon, but that just might be the Northwest in me talking?)
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