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A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a representative from Lucini Italia products asking if I wanted to try their Tuscan Chickpea Frittata mix. I love trying new products, so I of course said yes. Imagine my surprise when I came home from the Healthworks picnic last Tuesday and found a HUGE box full of items from Lucini. I kept digging through the packing materials and finding more and more, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soups, sauces, salad dressing, and of course the chickpea frittata.

I couldn’t wait to get back to NJ and into my kitchen to get started with the delicious-looking gifts I received. Last night was our first night home in ages, so I made a quick and tasty dinner featuring Lucini products.

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Lucini Italia Products

For the salad portion of dinner, I made one of my favorite simple combinations, romaine, red onion, and local heirloom tomato topped with Lucini’s Fig & Walnut Savory Balsamic.

salad

salad

heirloom tomatoes

I love that I found local heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joe’s as I missed the farmers’ market on Friday. I love my heirlooms!

The main course was Tuscan fiery chili frittata with Tuscan marinara with roasted garlic. This was super easy to make, just add water and olive oil, mix, and pour into a baking dish. Next time I would use a larger baking dish; I spilled the mixture on the VERY hot oven and had to turn everything off for the cleanup as you do need to preheat it to 500.

Once the frittata was cooked and set, I topped it with the marinara and some grated parmesan cheese.

chickpea frittata

Soft, hot, comforting, and spicy, I loved the frittata. I had never had this before, and it reminded me a little bit of polenta. I loved how savory and satisfying it was. And I can’t wait to have a slice on top of salad for lunch today.

chickpea frittata

In other news, I bought a juicer over the tax free weekend, and I can’t wait to start drinking fresh juice a few times a week in addition to my veggie smoothies. Last night I made one with carrots, bok choy, apples, and lime. Delicious!

With fall coming, I love that feeling of renewal, and part of that is definitely getting back into a better workout routine and really nourishing myself, all while still savoring summer, of course. Getting ready for fall makes me think all about new beginnings, new clothes, and this year a new class, my wine class at the Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center at BU.

It’s also a great time to do some shopping for the home, new kitchen appliances, bedding, and maybe even dining room furniture. To help one of my lucky readers with that, CSN Stores is offering a $50 gift card to one lucky reader. They have SO much great stuff; I would love to win this giveaway!

To enter: Leave a comment responding to the question below. If you have Facebook or Twitter, link back to this post there as well as on your blog if you have one. The giveaway will end on Saturday, August 21. Good luck!

Even if you are, like me, no longer in school, do you still feel that new-ness when fall starts approaching? What do you to to welcome it?

Tags: Food, frittata, giveaway, Italian food, salad

Mid-summer farmers’ market ingredients make cooking delicious meals easy. Last Sunday I took advantage of all of my great market buys to put together a very quick, healthy Italian style dinner.

I started with my basil walnut pesto which, in my humble opinion, is some of the best pesto I have ever had. I can’t even be around it because I want to eat the entire bowl, all by itself. I like using walnuts because they seem richer and more buttery to me and also because they are a lot cheaper than pine nuts.

basil and parmesan

This pesto included:

2 cups basil, torn into pieces

around 1/4 cup Parmigiano cheese

2 handfuls chopped walnuts

3 large cloves garlic

olive oil, enough to make the pesto into a nice smooth paste

I started by adding the walnuts, garlic, and cheese to the food processer. I whirled those items around until they were completely blended together. Then I slowly added basil and oil, a handful of basil, a drizzle of oil, process, and repeat until all of the basil has been used and all of the ingredients are combined. It should look like this.

basil walnut pesto  

If you prefer thinner pesto, stream in more oil as you are processing the mixture.

basil walnut pesto

While I was making the pesto, I was boiling several cups of chopped red potatoes until fully cooked. In the last 2 minutes of cooking, I added in chunks of summer squash so they cooked but were not mushy.

I then tossed the hot potatoes and squash with about 1/4 cup of pesto until everything was coated. I left this salad to cool down to room temperature while I prepped the main course.

pesto potato salad

For my cod with tomatoes, I chopped two large tomatoes and sprinkled the pieces over two fresh cod fillets. To that I added salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and a few spoons of olive oil and let them cook through. These fillets cooked quickly which was nice because the tomatoes stayed intact and didn’t get too liquid-y.

cod and tomatoes

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The potato and squash salad was a perfect compliment to the light fish. I paired this dinner with a summery Belle Vallee Pinot Gris and ate it out on the deck to enjoy a hot summer evening.

Italian inspired feast

While it is a beautiful summer weekend, I have definitely noticed it getting darker earlier and am seeing lots of back to school stuff. I am going to try to make the most of the rest of the summer and to enjoy every minute. Here are some of my “Savor Summer” plans:

  • A bachelorette party on a boat. . . today!
  • Our 4th wedding anniversary dinner at Craigie on Main Wednesday
  • Newport Winefest next weekend
  • An after work run with one of my oldest friends
  • A North End blogger event
  • The Copley Farmers’ Market every Tuesday and Friday
  • Sitting out on my deck as often as possible
  • Tax free weekend wine tasting at The Urban Grape
  • Walks around Castle Island
  • Kayaking on the Charles

What are your “Savor Summer” plans?

Tags: cod, Food, food and wine pairing, Italian recipe, pesto, potato salad, recipe, tomatoes

As long as there is a farmers’ market to photograph, I will be blogging farmers’ market photos. I hope that’s okay with all of you. I never get bored of looking at beautiful food, and it really doesn’t get more beautiful.

This past Friday, as usual, I hit up my normal Copley haunts, Siena Farms and Atlas Farms, in addition to some others for my weekend produce. Since my husband was working all weekend, I wanted to make a little special vegetarian something for myself, and that I did. There are lot’s of photos, but I promise there is a recipe at the end 😉

But first, the market. Siena Farms had this beautiful fennel, perfect for soups and salads.

fennel

Beautiful yellow tomatoes

gold tomatoes

Some of my favorite greens

collards and kale

Garlic, one of those ingredients I can’t live without

garlic

wildflowers

An Epicurious.com cooking demo (that I missed) by Chef Benjamin Knack from Hell’s Kitchen

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Strawberry, peach, and blackberry tarts that were to die for

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Little heirloom tomatoes

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And now a recipe for Zucchini Pancakes with Spiced Yogurt

Zucchini Pancakes

1 large zucchini, grated

2 eggs

1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

pinch salt and pepper

The pancakes are simple. Mix all of the ingredients together. In a frying pan, add a tiny bit of olive oil just to thinly coat the pan. Using a spoon add several scoops of the zuucchini mix to the pan, and use the back of the spoon to pat them down into flatter cakes. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes, 3-4 depending the thickness of the cake. Then flip over to the other side. Keep flipping until each side has a little golden color.

grated zucchini

Top the finished pancakes with spiced yogurt (and hot sauce, if you want to eat them like I did!)

Spiced Yogurt

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 TSP each curry powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper

3 TSP olive oil

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The pancakes were so light and fluffy, and the cool spiced yogurt was a perfect accompaniment. I only wish the oil didn’t make it look so ugly. . . really it was delicious!

I enjoyed a nice quiet evening at home with dinner at a book on the deck. I missed my husband, but alone time can definitely be nice!

What is your favorite way to spend your alone time?

Tags: dinner, pancakes, recipe, spices, Vegetarian, yogurt, zucchini

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