tomatoes

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of working from home, a rare and beloved occasion where I am quadruply as productive as I am in the office. I start early, there’s no commute or getting ready, and no distractions.

I started the day with a new product, Trader Joe’s Very Green powder.

Trader Joe's Very Green Powder

I have long been a fan of their Super Red Drink Powder, and I wanted to see how this green supplement would stack up. I mixed a couple scoops of this with Pom juice, banana, frozen pineapple, spinach, and a bit of almond milk. You couldn’t tell the green powder was in there at all, and the smoothie was delicious. I later tried a teaspoon of the Very Green powder in a glass of water with a shot of Pom juice, and it was just as easy to drink on its own. The powder is made up of all sorts of good greens like barley grass juice, alfalfa, spirulina, broccoli powder and other healthy stuff. It’s easy to drink and will likely last me awhile. Good deal.

Working from home also means a good lunch.

 

Dr. Praeger's burger with peach salsa and green beans

I whipped up a quick Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger and topped it with cheese and onion, then Trader Joe’s peach salsa and a bit of Greek yogurt with a side of green beans left over from the night before.

I should start doing before and after shots of my food. After I take a pretty picture of something like this, I usually smother it in hot sauce and more salsa. Messy 🙂

As the day turned into evening and I wrapped up my Marketing Communications real life job, I felt like making some homemade salsa for topping salads and eating with chips. Salsa, if you didn’t already know, is one of my favorite foods and would definitely be part of my last meal on earth.

This salsa started out with some frozen TJ’s pineapple and roasted peppers.

pineapple and roasted peppers

I gave them a good chop in the food processor, then added a can of Trader Joe’s fire roasted tomatoes and fire roasted green chiles.

roasted tomatoes and chiles

The spicier the better!

pineapple salsa

You can see that I also added in crushed red pepper flakes. 🙂 The sweetness of the pineapple balanced the spice out nicely, and the roasted tomatoes and peppers gave it a nice smoky quality.

After dinner, I dug into our wine collection and pulled out a bottle of Casa Zuliani Cabernet Franc.

Cabernet Franc

The second I opened it, I remembered why I bought it at the Bin Ends fine wine flea market. The nose on this wine is spicy and of dry leaves and tobacco. The flavor at first was almost TOO spicy, even for me. We let it breathe a little, then aerated it, and the flavors really opened up. It was still peppery but more in the sense of the white pith on the inside of a green bell pepper with a finish that brought more of a spicy black pepper. This wine is incredibly earthy. These are flavors that I really appreciate, and I am glad we have a second bottle of this Cab Franc.

So, now it is Thursday, the weekend is near, the World Cup starts tomorrow, and I get to go to Truro and Provincetown for an annual weekend with the girls.

Are you watching the World Cup? If so, who will you be supporting?

Salsa would be part of my last meal on earth (as would oysters, lobster with truffle butter, and wine). . . what would you choose for yours?

Tags: Cabernet Franc, Food, healthy recipes, Italian wine, Lunch, pineapple salsa, salsa, tomatoes, Trader Joe's, veggie burgers, Very Green powder, wine

My mom has been making this recipe for years, and I am not sure why it’s taken me so long to try it on my own. An interesting flavor combination, dill, tomatoes, sambuca, and cream, mixed with shrimp and ladled over whole wheat pasta, this dish is SO easy and seems a little bit fancier than your everyday pasta.

I LOOOOVE this time of year and the availability of beautiful, locally grown produce. Tomatoes and dill provide much of the sauce’s flavors.

Tomatoes and Dill

Fresh Dill

A nip of sambuca provides a kick of licorice, a little sweetness, and a bit of spice.

sambuca and fresh dill

While doing my little foodie photo shoot, I checked out my garden, including this habanero plant. There’s something happenin’ here! Can you see the teeny tiny little peppers starting to form? Last year my habaneros were plentiful and spicy, ripe just around the time that we had great tomatoes. Salsa! Let’s hope this year is just as good!

habanero peppers

Once I was back inside, I started the cooking. For this recipe you will need:

2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 pound large shrimp, shelled and cleaned

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

1/2 cup ouzo or sambuca

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 TSP olive oil

about 4 cups of pasta, I used whole wheat spaghetti

shrimp, dill, tomatoes, sambuca

Sautee the tomatoes and dill in the olive oil for just about a minute. Gently lay the shrimp into the pan so that each is fully exposed to the bottom of the pan. Cook until pink on one side, then flip over. Drizzle the ouzo or sambuca over the shrimp, and cook until the shrimp are pink on the other side. Slowly pour cream in, stirring gently to combine the ingredients. Increase the heat a little so that everything is simmering. Once the sauce is hot and the shrimp are cooked through, add the cooked pasta directly to the sauce and stir.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Shrimp, Dill, Tomatoes, Sambuca, and Cream

Top with some chopped, uncooked dill for an extra punch of flavor.

I paired this with a delicious white wine that we picked up after tasting it at Foodie’s Urban Market in the South End. The Domaine des Cassagnoles white from the Gascogne region of France had some pretty intense grapefruit flavors. Chilled for a couple of hours, it was incredibly refreshing, and the grapefruit really cut through the creaminess of the sauce. and was sweet enough to work with the slightly acidic tomatoes. At $12 a bottle, this wine is a great deal and truly a perfect summer sipper.

This week I am attending the media preview of a new wine shop and am getting ready to head to Provincetown next weekend with friends. I just put in an order for Mix Bakery cupcakes, and I am SO excited! I can already taste the vanilla buttercream topped strawberry cupcakes. . .

What are you up to this week?

Tags: cream, dill, Food, pasta, recipe, shrimp, tomatoes, wine

Is there anything more comforting than tomato soup and grilled cheese? Once again, heirloom tomatoes and Nature’s Pride bread star in my meals!

On a chilly night this week we had roasted heirloom tomato soup with grilled brie and fig sammies on Nature’s Pride 100% whole wheat bread. Yum.

To make the soup, I first took a few beautiful heirloom tomatoes, pierced them with a fork, and put them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 405 degrees until the skin started looking a little bit wrinkly.

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While the tomatoes were roasting, I also cut a Bermuda onion and popped about 1/4 of it in the oven with the tomatoes to bring out some oniony sweetness.

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When everything was nice and soft, and the kitchen was smelling amazing, I took the tomatoes and onion out and let them cool enough so that I could work with them without burning myself. While they were cooling, I ran 3 cloves of garlic through the food processor. Then I peeled the tomatoes and popped those and the onion in the food processor. My plan was to also add veggie stock to this, but these were some juicy tomatoes! They actually made a nice soup all on their own. The tomatoes were so fresh and flavorful, that I didn’t even miss that it wasn’t creamy. The key is definitely great ingredients!

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I also added some crushed red pepper flakes for spice. I left the seeds in the tomatoes because I like them, but seeding the tomatoes could definitely be part of the pre roasting process. I would not wait until after as they just fall apart and the seeds infiltrate the whole mess! Alongside this delicious soup, we ate grilled brie and fig sandwiches. Easy as can be, thanks to the Foreman!

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Trader Joe’s triple creme brie and chopped California figs on Nature’s Pride bread. Tossed in the Foreman grill for a few minutes. The combination of sweet figs and gooey, creamy brie with the grainy bread was to die for. It felt like a gourmet meal, and it took about 30 minutes from start to finish. As always, tomato soup and grilled cheese proved to be a comforting, filling, and delicious option.

What grilled cheese combos do you like? Do you enjoy making soup from scratch? I can’t believe how easy, delicious, and healthful it can be!

Tags: cheese, Food, sandwiches, soup, tomatoes

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