Delicious Quote

"The shortest distance between two people is the length of a kitchen table"- Brian O'Reilly, "Angelina's Bachelors"

Warm Salad

Many times I feel like eating something light and healthy but I'm not in the mood for a cold salad. And stir-fries usually leave me with a plate of mushy vegetables that don't feel anywhere near fresh and light. That's why I decided to try making a simple warm salad that still feels fresh and crisp.


Ingredients:
2 cups red cabbage, chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 cup baby carrots, chopped
1/2 cup white onions, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 can fully cooked turkey breast (12.5 oz)
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
Heat olive oil, then add the onions. Once onions are cooked, incorporate the red cabbage, carrots, spinach and broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer in very low heat until carrots and red cabbage are tender. Be careful that the vegetables don't get overcooked and mushy (include the spinach last, since it's the easiest to overcook). Bring in the turkey breast and fold until everything is evenly mixed.

This is can work great as a light lunch or a side dish.

St. Patrick's Day Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 banana
1 cup of light vanilla soy milk
1 cup of fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup of water
1 Tbsp of Agave Nectar
1 Tsp of ground cinnamon
1 Tsp of vanilla extract
1 Tsp of ground ginger

Directions:
Put all ingredients in blender and blend away! If you'd like the smoothie to be thicker add less water, or more if you want it to be lighter. Serve chilled.

Barolo Salami Salad

Ingredieants:
1 cup fresh baby spinach
1 cup fresh arugula
1 cup romain lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup of Barolo Salami, thinly sliced
1 cup fresh mushrooms sliced
1/2 cup baby carrots, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp almonds, sliced


Directions:
Mix spinach, arugula and romain in a large bowl, add olive oil and set aside. In a flying pan, sauté Barolo Salami. Incorporate mushrooms and carrots.

Once the mushrooms are fully cooked, add this to spinach, arugula and romain mix. Toss, top with almonds and serve. Simple and delicious.

Pair with a nice Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir. ;-)

Earl Grey Bread Pudding

Let's say you bought this amazing loaf of bread. It was delicious... two days ago. Now it's hardened and dry, and you don't know what to do with it. Sounds like bread pudding time!

Ingredients:
1 Half loaf of bread (day old)
1 1/2 cup of 2% Milk
1 1/2 cup of Almond Milk
3 Eggs
4 Tbsp of Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp of Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp of Ground Ginger
1 Tbsp of Agave Nectar
1/4 cup of freshly brewed Earl Grey Tea
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
Olive oil

Directions:
In a large bowl, soak bread in almond milk and 2% milk for about 10 minutes or until bread is easily minced with a fork.
Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
In a separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar, agave nectar, cinnamon, ginger and tea. Beat lightly until all ingredients are well mixed. Once bread has crumbled, pour in mix and incorporate all ingredients with a fork.
Grease a 11x7 baking pan by brushing with a little bit of olive oil. Pour bread mix and top with sliced almonds. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, on the top oven rack.
You'll know it's done if you put a dinner knife in the middle of the pudding and it comes out clean. Take out of the oven and let it cool.

This pudding is not super sweet, so you could serve it with your favorite ice cream. Either way it's a delicious, wonderfully moist dessert that won't make you feel too guilty.

Delicious Quote

"In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess I have always found it a wholesome diet." - Winston Churchill

Brunch: Breakfast Wrap & Sweet Plantain Puree

Breakfast Wrap
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of Cottage Cheese
1 1/2 cup of fresh Kale
2 Organic brown Eggs (lightly beaten)
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
Warm olive oil in a small pan to medium heat. Season lightly beaten eggs with salt and pepper. Pour eggs into hot pan, move around to settle eggs in a circular shape (like a tortilla). Simmer in low heat until one side is well cooked. Carefully turn to finish cooking the other side. Transfer to a plate.

In the same pan, pour the fresh Kale and saute slightly. It should reduce to about 3/4 cup. In a small bowl, mix the cooked Kale and the Cottage Cheese. Put the mix in the egg wrap and fold.

Tip: if your wrap doesn't want to stay "wrapped", turn the ends of the wrap to face the plate, that way the plate will hold the ends together and prevent it from "unwrapping".

Sweet Plantain Puree
Ingredients:

1 Sweet Plantain
3 Cups of water
1 tablespoon "I can't believe it's not butter"
Salt to taste

Directions:
Put water in small pot, bring to boil and add a little salt. Peel the skin off the plantain, cut into three pieces and put in boiling water. When plantain softens (you'll notice that you can easily mash it with a fork) transfer to a plate. Mash it with a potato masher or just a fork and incorporate butter. Mix well and serve.


And there you have a delicious and gluten free brunch!

Delicious Quote

"Only in the presence of the slow or the sick does eating, a task of utmost seriousness, fail to get the attention it deserves." - Like water for chocolate, Laura Esquivel

Pear Apple Celery Soup

Recently, I found this very interesting Pear Celery Soup on Chow.com and had some fun with it. The result was a light delicious blend of flavors, perfect for lunch!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons "I can't believe it's not butter"
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped shallots
1 pear, chopped
1 gala apple, chopped
2 1/2 cups low-sodim vegetable broth
3 1/2 cups water

Instructions:
In a large pot melt butter. Once melted, add olive oil, shallots, pear and apple. Season with salt and pepper, cook until tender. Add celery and simmer until celery starts to soften. (About 10 minutes.) Stir occasionally.
Add broth and water, bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer until celery is very tender.
Turn off heat and let cool a little bit. With your hand blender, carefully puree soup until all the pieces have dissolved.

Now eat!

Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients:
3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of brown sugar
3 organic eggs
1/3 cups of "I can't believe it's not butter" or margarine
2 cup of 2% milk
1 cup of blueberries

Directions:
Combine all dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, sugar) in a bowl. In a different bowl, separate egg whites from yolks. Beat egg whites and put them aside. Whisk yolks into dry mixture.

Combine butter and milk, then whisk it into the batter. If the batter is too thick then add more milk. Now, fold in the beater egg whites, until completely mixed. Drop in the blueberries.

Grease pan and pour in your batter. When one side is cooked turn over your pancake and cook the other side. (about 1 minute on each side)

Serve! =)

As for syrup you can use any kind you want. Today I served them with something different, I used Agave Nectar (the light version). It's sweet, 100% natural and delicious!

Delicious Quote

"Fish, to taste right, must swim three times - in water, in butter, and in wine." - Polish Proverb

Quick Mussels

Ingredients:
2 lbs. of mussels
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 orange
1/2 small onion chopped
2 large plum tomatoes (cut in cubes)
1 teaspoon of fresh garlic (crushed with garlic press)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In sautéing pan warm up oil, once warm add chopped onions and garlic. Saute briefly and add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Continue to cook in low fire. Cut the orange and squeeze the juice and pulp into the pan (being careful not to drop in the seeds). Let cook for a few minutes. Once all the ingredients form a sauce add mussels. Cover with lid and let cook at medium fire for 4 to 5 minutes (or until mussel shells open).

Now, pour yourself a glass of chilled white wine and enjoy!

Delicious Quote

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." - Luciano Pavarotti

Avocado Tapas

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 red bell pepper
1/2 small onion
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 whole wheat baguette
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cut the baguette in 1/2 inch slices. Put aside.
Cut avocado, red bell pepper and onion in small cubes. Put the cut ingredients in a bowl, add lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix together being careful not to smash the avocado (you don't want it to become too mushy).

In a pan, toast the slices of the baguette. Once they are toasty, warm and nice, transfer to a serving plate and add the avocado mix on top.

Enjoy right away, the avocado gets dark if you leave it out for a long time. Although the lemon should help avoid this.

Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups of Kellogs Corn Flakes cereal (brand doesn't matter any cereal of that type will work...)
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 egg (beaten a little)
4 carrots (grated)
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 cup of buttermilk or cream
1/4 cup of olive oil

Directions:
In a bowl, stir flour, cereal, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, carrots. Add buttermilk, oil and eggs stirring together. Pour into already buttered or nonstick muffin pan.

Bake in oven at 400 F for 20 minutes or until golden and tops are firm.

Quick Tip

Do you usually find yourself throwing out bunches of lettuce, spinach or other veggies that just end up rotting in your fridge? This used to happen to me all the time, mostly because when I see a big bunch of lettuce I just don't feel like having to chop it up and wash it before being able to use it.

So now, as soon as I get home from the supermarket I chop up all the leafy greens and wash them and save them in plastic food containers. That way they are ready to go as soon as I open the fridge!

Shakes: Peanut Butter Ginger Shake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Light Vanilla Soy Milk
1/2 cup of Plain Yogurt
2 tablespoons of Peanut Butter
1/4 inch of fresh ginger, peeled
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar


Directions:
Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. About 3 to 5 minutes, the more you blend the smoother the shake.


Feel free to adjust the amount of ginger you use. If you'd like a more spicy drink use a little bit more ginger, but be careful a tiny bit of it goes a long way!

Now sit back, relax and enjoy a decadent and mostly healthy milkshake!