Strawberry, Pistachio, and Goat Cheese Pizza

Strawberries are in season, and in abundance! They're tempting in pies, jams, shortcakes, cookies, muffins and scores of other sweets. But perhaps this season, you'll try them as part of a savory dish.

Paired with soft cheese and fresh greens top a hot, crispy pizza crust, strawberries find a new home as dinner, not dessert. It's a light and lovely meal for a summer's evening.

Strawberry, Pistachio, and Goat Cheese Pizza

1, 12-inch prebaked pizza crust (store bought or homemade)
1/3 cup (3 ounces) crumbled goat cheese (or other soft cheese)
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup greens (watercress, mizzuna, arugula, etc.)
1/2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Dash of salt
Dash of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shaved fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3 tablespoons shelled dry-roasted pistachios, chopped

Preheat oven to 425-degrees. Place crust on a baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes or until hot.

Remove crust from oven and arrange goat cheese evenly over crust.

Combine strawberries, watercress, olive oil, juice, salt, and black pepper; toss gently to coat. Arrange strawberry mixture evenly over goat cheese. Sprinkle pizza with Parmigiano-Reggiano and nuts. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Serves 6.

Spicy Chickpea & Spinach Curry

What's with all the chickpea recipes lately?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm just drawn to garbanzos right now. They taste good (or rather, they taste good when you add yummy stuff to them) and they're high in protein and fiber.

And they're easy to deal with, as in this recipe. Throw them in with some spinach, tomatoes and spices, let cook for 20 minutes and voila! Dinner (and maybe lunch the next day).

It doesn't get much easier than that.

Spicy Chickpea & Spinach Curry (adapted)

2 (15 oz) cans of chickpeas, drained
10 oz. fresh spinach leaves
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp. ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp. garam masala
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot over medium heat, combine all ingredients and stir to combine; cover pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Chickpea Ratatouille

From Dreena Burton's Vive le Vegan! is a hearty, filling, economical and, most importantly, delicious chickpea ratatouille.

If I were Cathy at Not Eating Out In New York I could even figure out the cost of the meal but I'm not, and I'm bad at math to boot.

I adapted it slightly, using honey versus vegan-friendly honey substitute, and served it with Pan de Sal.

Chickpea Ratatouille (adapted)
3½ - 4 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 ¼ - ½ cups red onion, finely chopped
3 - 4 medium-large cloves garlic, minced
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1⁄2 cup red or orange bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
2 tsp honey (or honey substitute)
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1⁄2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
1⁄8 tsp allspice
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 dried bay leaves

Preheat oven to 400-degrees. In a large, deep casserole dish, combine all the ingredients except the bay leaves. Stir through until well combined, then embed the bay leaves in the mixture. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Stir through, cover, and bake for another 35-45 minutes, until the onions are tender and translucent (stir through again once or twice through baking). Remove bay leaves and serve. Makes 4-5 servings or more, depending on accompaniments.

Sautéed Tilapia with Lemon-Caper Sauce

I know I'm not the only one who's been craving lighter, brighter flavors lately. Eggnog, cookies, cheeses, meats, sauces, pies, cakes, and all those wonderful holiday foods are terrific, but after eating them for awhile, it's nice to enjoy something a little different.

Not only does this tilapia give your palate a break, but as it's easy to pull together, it give you a break from slaving in the kitchen, too. This dish is light yet satisfying, and completely delicious. I found it made quite a bit of sauce, perhaps because I didn't reduce it as much as I could have. But it was nice to mop up the sauce with a good slice of bread, and would be tasty over rice as well.


Sautéed Tilapia with Lemon-Caper Sauce (adapted from Cooking Light)

1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. drained brine-packed capers, lightly crushed
2 Tbsp. butter, divided
2 tsps. vegetable oil
4 (6-ounce) tilapia or sole fillets
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp butter
Lemon wedges and parsley (optional)

Combine first three ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

Melt 1 Tbsp of butter with oil in a large nonstick skillet over low heat.

While butter melts, sprinkle fish fillets with salt and black pepper. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Dredge fillets in flour; shake off excess flour.

Increase heat to medium-high; heat two minutes or until butter turns golden brown. Add fillets to pan; sauté three minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove fillets from pan, place on a serving dish and keep warm.

Add broth mixture to pan, scraping to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to about a cup. Remove from heat and whisk in the remaining tablespoon of butter. Serve sauce over fillets. Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley, if desired.

Daring Bakers -- Lavash Crackers & Baba Ghanoush

Our DB hosts this month, Shel of Musings from the Fishbowl and Natalie of Gluten A Go Go, challenged us to make lavash, a type of flatbread, and a vegan dip of our choosing.

Although we were given the option of baking the lavash without gluten, I went for gluten. The recipe came together fairly easily, although I did have difficulty rolling the dough evenly, which resulted in the crackers browning unevenly. (Que sera, sera.) Still, the lavash was snappy (as it should be) and tasty with sprinklings of cumin and sesame seeds plus a bit of salt.

As for the dip, I've had a yen to make baba ghanoush all summer and it was great to finally have an opportunity to make it! It's an adaptation of the "Best Baba Ghanoush in the World" and the result really is fantastic.

Thank you to Shel and Natalie for a fun challenge!

Please visit Shel's blog for the lavash recipe, available both in gluten and gluten free versions!

Baba Ghanoush

1 large eggplant
2 to 4 Tbsp. tahini, plus more as needed
3 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of one or two lemons, plus more as needed
1 pinch ground cumin
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp.extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Place eggplant on baking sheet and prick all over with a fork. Roast eggplant for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, and peel off and discard the skin.

Place the eggplant flesh in a bowl. Using a fork, mash the eggplant to a paste. (If you prefer a smoother dip, puree in a food processor.) Add 2 tbsp. tahini, garlic, juice of one lemon, and the cumin and mix well. Season with salt, then taste and add more tahini and/or lemon juice, if needed. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl and spread with the back of a spoon to form a shallow well. Drizzle the olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve at room temperature.

Pasta with Swiss Chard, Raisins & Almonds

On Monday, we received a good portion of Swiss chard in our farm share, which I don't have very much experience with. So I was happy to find this recipe on Epicurious, adding a bit of pasta to turn it into a main meal based on Epicurious user recommendations.

I very much like how healthy this is: Swiss chard, almonds, raisins, and EVOO are very, very nutritive things to eat (better yet, use whole wheat pasta). Unfortunately, the final result here was a bit bland; everything just needed more "oomph" -- but this may be due to my tinkering with the recipe.

Next time, I'll increase the amount of smoked paprika (which was wonderful) and thrown in a bit of cinnamon and maybe cardamom to boot.


Pasta with Swiss Chard, Raisins & Almonds (adapted)

1 large, red onion, sliced lengthwise 1/4 inch thick
3 1/2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 1/2 lbs Swiss chard
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup coarsely chopped almonds with skins
8 oz cooked, short cut pasta (such as fusili, penne, shells, farfalle, etc.), kept hot

After washing & drying the Swiss chard, remove the center ribs and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Chop the leaves coarsely and set aside.

Cook onion and chopped chard ribs with 1/4 teaspoon salt in 3 tablespoons oil in a 5- or 6-quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring until softened. Sprinkle with paprika and cook while stirring, 1 minute. Add the chopped chard leaves in batches, stirring frequently until wilted, then adding raisins and water. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until chard is tender, about 7 minutes. When finished, toss with pasta and adjust seasonings.

While chard leaves are cooking, start preparing the almonds. In a small heavy skillet over medium low heat, cook the nuts in the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil, stirring frequently until golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle almonds over pasta and chard.

Serves 6.

Salad Pizza

Shane is a person who can eat salad for dinner. As in, that's all he eats as his main -- some greens tossed with red onions and a few tomatoes, dressed with oil and vinegar and perhaps a few hunks of goat cheese.

I am not that kind of person. For me, a salad as an entree signifies someone who is hungry but on a diet and so tries to sate their hunger both for thinness and food with a few green leaves. It's depressing -- not a recipe for a good meal.

There are a few (very, very few) salads that I don't view this way, but this is one of them -- probably because it tops a grilled pizza crust. And pizza can redeem almost anything, even salad. I absolutely love the heat of a crispy yet chewy bread paired with the coolness of the greens. It doesn't hurt that it's all perked up by a balsamic vinaigrette and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

As much as I dislike salad, I could really go for one of these right now.

Salad Pizza

Salad, prepped anyway you like (the above is a romaine lettuce mix, with grape tomatoes and red onions tossed with Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette and topped with grated Parmesan)
prepared pizza dough (recipe below)

Oil the grill and preheat to medium.

Divide dough into four equal pieces and roll out thinly. Brush both sides lightly with extra virgin olive oil.

Lay the dough on the grill, close the lid and let cook for about 3 minutes. Using tongs, flip crust over so that the grilled side is now facing up. Grill for another 5 - 7 minutes until the bottom is browned and crisp.

Remove crusts to plates and top with prepared salad.

Serves 4.

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Basic Pizza Dough (source)
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt


In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, honey, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, stirring to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until the dough is smooth but still slightly sticky. You might not need all of the flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes.

Oil a large mixing bowl with remaining olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place, free from drafts until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Red Meat, White Rolls, & Blue Cheese: Blue Cheese Burgers for the 4th of July

Mmmm ... grilled beef, stuffed with melted blue cheese, nestled on a toasted bun loaded with tomato, lettuce, red onion, ketchup and a squirt of Dijon mustard.

It's the most flavorful, satisfying burger I've had in a long, long time. Enjoy and happy Independence Day!

Grilled Blue Cheese Burgers (from Cooking Light)

2 (1-ounce) slices white bread
2 Tbsp. fat-free milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 pounds lean ground beef (90-percent lean)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese

Grease grill with oil; preheat grill.

Grind bread in a food processor until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Place breadcrumbs in a large bowl, add milk and toss mixture with a fork to moisten. Add salt, pepper, and beef to breadcrumb mixture, stirring just until combined. Divide meat mixture into 16 equal portions, shaping each into a patty. Spoon a tablespoon of blue cheese into the center one patty and top with another patty, pinching edges to seal. Repeat until you have 8 blue cheese stuffed patties.

Place patties on grill and cook for 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Serve patties on toasted rolls with desired toppings.

Yields 8 burgers.

Chicken Picadillo

First al fresco dining opportunity of the season!

I love cinnamon. It's warm, rich and spicy; I'm absolutely obsessed with it when baked in sweets. Cinnamon and sugar is a natural, but the depth it adds to chocolate (or chocolate and dark coffee; mmm...) or mixed in with the fruity notes from cardamom -- I just love it all.

But I rarely cook with it; that is, I don't often add it to savory dishes. But it's delicious here in Chicken Picadillo. The peppery spice from the salsa pairs beautifully with the cinnamon. The raisins in the dish hint at cinnamon's sweet uses but those notes don't overwhelm the other flavors but play off them nicely.

I paired this with rice and beans (sauteed some garlic and onions in a pan, added two cans of black beans and mixed it in with a cup or two of cooked rice) but you can use it with tortillas for a twist on tacos.

Chicken Picadillo (adapted)

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs (or 1 pound ground chicken)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup bottled salsa
1/3 cup raisins (regular or golden)

If using chicken thighs, place in a food processor and pulse until ground.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken, cumin, salt, cinnamon, and garlic, and cook for 3 minutes or until chicken is done, stirring frequently. Stir in salsa and raisins, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer until thoroughly heated (about 5 minutes).

Serves 4.

Salmon with Agrodolce sauce

This is a very impressive, delicious dish -- if you like salmon, that is -- that takes very little effort. I was especially in love with the look and texture of the crust; it's a gorgeous deep-gold color and lends the fish an appealing crunch. I served this along with piselli con asparagi e basilico .

Note: be sure to finish the sauce with a pat of butter, or risk an overly acidic sauce.


Salmon with Agrodolce sauce (adapted)

3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (1 inch thick) with skin
2 medium red or sweet yellow onions (about 1 pound total), cut into wedges
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Pat salmon dry and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place salmon skin side up into the hot pan and cook until undersides form a golden crust, about 12 to 15 minutes. Turn fish over and cook until just cooked through, about 3 minutes more.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a separate skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Sauté onions until golden brown and crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in vinegar, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until sauce is syrupy, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter.

Spoon onions with sauce onto plates and top with salmon, skin side down.

Serves 4.

Piselli con Asparagi e Basilico (asparagus, peas, and basil)

It might actually be Spring.

I'm not totally committed to that idea yet, because I live in Upstate New York and we had several inches of snow on the ground about two weeks ago, but I am hopeful. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and it's supposed to get up to 68-degrees tomorrow.

My hope is further pushed along by fresh asparagus, tender peas, and hand torn basil. So simple, so green, so delicious.

Piselli con Asparagi e Basilico (asparagus, peas, and basil -- adapted)

1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 bunches of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 pound shelled fresh peas (2 1/2 cups; 1 3/4 pound in pods) or 1 (10-ounce) package thawed frozen peas
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Handful of torn basil leaves (about 3/4 cup)

In a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, cook onions in butter, stirring frequently until just tender, about 4 minutes.

Stir in asparagus, peas, sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, then seal skillet with foil. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender but still slightly al dente, about 8 minutes. Stir in basil and sea salt to taste.

Happy Valentines Day

Moist, chewy brownies can be made – and eaten – without throwing one’s healthy diet under an oncoming bus.

I made the recipe two ways – first using dutch processed cocoa, and then with traditional baking cocoa. The traditional cocoa yielded a reddish brownie with a detectable coffee flavor, while the dutch-processed turned out a nearly black brownie with a more complex depth of flavor (the coffee was much harder to taste).

All-in-all, I prefer the version using the dutch-processed cocoa. Not only did it have a richer flavor, but the DP brownie is visually stunning, telegraphing, “I am the chocolate brownie of your dreams.” Unfortunately, the chocolate hit you expect to get with them isn’t there. The flavor simply isn’t as intense as the color of the brownie suggests. I’d like to increase the amount of bittersweet chocolate and fold miniature chocolate chips into the batter in the hopes of kicking up the chocolate decadence quotient.


Bittersweet Brownies
1/4 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon instant espresso granules or 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa or dutch processed cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil, allowing it to overhang on two sides, and spray with cooking spray

Combine 1/4 cup boiling water and espresso in a medium bowl. Add chocolate chips, stirring until chocolate melts; cool slightly. Stir in butter, vanilla, egg, and egg white.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt), stirring with a whisk. Add coffee mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into baking pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.


Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 brownie)

CALORIES 171 (31% from fat); FAT 5.8g (sat 3.4g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 2.5g; CHOLESTEROL 25mg; CALCIUM 26mg; SODIUM 107mg; FIBER 1.2g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 29.3g

Lamb Souvlaki with Tzatziki

Back in December, I visited a new doctor (or, as I like to call him, "hot doctor" because, well, look at him), an MD with an acupunturist's license and a holistic approach to medicine. His practice is radically different from traditional practices: he's the only person there, the number of patients admitted into the practice is limited, co-pays can be paid through PayPal, his waiting room is pleasant and relaxing (the kind of pleasant and relaxing you'd expect when waiting for a massage, not when waiting for someone to potentially draw blood).

At my appointment -- required to be an HOUR long as I was a new patient (see, I told you this is different)-- we did a lot of talking about health, in part about healthy eating. After congratulating me on my weight loss and exercise regimine, he asked me to think more about the gylcemic index when choosing what eat. It's not enough to eat low-fat, it isn't even necessarily "good" to do so, but my goal should be to reduce the amount of simple carbohydrates I consume and increase the amount of vegetables and fruits I consume, supplementing that with lean meats and complex carbs.

Now, this isn't news to me, but my tastebuds don't want to hear it. I really love sweets. (As you may have noticed.) And to me, the glycemic index has a loopy kind of logic: a glass of skim milk and a packet of peanut M&Ms have the virtually the same glycemic index. On a low-fat diet, there's an incentive to choose the milk, but here? Pass the M&Ms, please!

I tried the South Beach diet a few years ago, and didn't make it past the two-week/no-sugar phase. (Spreading natural peanut butter on a sugar free fudgsicle to sate a craving didn't seem like healthy eating behavior to me.)

Still, it's been something I've been thinking about. I've lost quite a bit of weight on WW. But if you stay within your given calorie point allotment, and you choose to eat all those points using simple carbohydrates (potato chips, cookies, cupcakes, etc., etc.), you can still lose weight. It's not a balanced diet and WW doesn't advocate doing this. But if the primary goal is to lose weight -- and they are called "Weight Watchers" -- you can lose weight and not learn healthy eating habits.

Then again, what's a healthy eating habit? Gary Taubes argued in his article, What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?, that low-fat diets aren't really healthy, and were thrown upon the American public based on wonky policy:

While the low-fat-is-good-health dogma represents reality as we have come toknow it, and the government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in research trying to prove its worth, the low-carbohydrate message has been relegated to the realm of unscientific fantasy.

Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, [...] is the de facto spokesman of the longest-running, most comprehensive diet and health studies ever performed, which have already cost upward of $100 million and include data on nearly 300,000 individuals. Those data, says Willett, clearly contradict the low-fat-is-good-health message ''and the idea that all fat is bad for you; the exclusive focus on adverse effects of fat may have contributed to the obesity epidemic.''

Taubes goes on to challenge what we commonly believe about fats and their relationship to "good" and "bad" cholesterol:

Few experts now deny that the low-fat message is radically oversimplified. If nothing else, it effectively ignores the fact that unsaturated fats, like olive oil, are relatively good for you: they tend to elevate your good cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (H.D.L.), and lower your bad cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (L.D.L.), at least in comparison to the effect of carbohydrates. While higher L.D.L. raises your heart-disease risk, higher H.D.L. reduces it.

What this means is that even saturated fats -- a k a, the bad fats -- are not nearly as deleterious as you would think. True, they will elevate your bad cholesterol, but they will also elevate your good cholesterol. In other words, it's a virtual wash. As Willett explained to me, you will gain little to no health benefit by giving up milk, butter and cheese and eating bagels instead.

Add to the mix the body fat acceptance movement (you can get started reading about this and related topics on The F Word), which advocates health at all sizes, and constantly questions what medicine and science say are "healthy" body types and you've got a big fat (ha-ha) pile of confusion on your hands.

In the face of all this, I plan to stick WW and an increased an effort to eat less sugar and other simple carbohydrates. There will still be PLENTY of dessert recipes on the blog, it's just that I'll be giving away a lot more of these treats to friends and coworkers.

But it's also why I turned to Kalyn's Kitchen . I thought if anyone would have scrumptious recipes emphasizing lean meats, vegetables and complex carbs, it would be Kalyn.

Naturally, she did. I cooked up her recipes for lamb souvlaki and tzatziki; both were excellent. The souvlaki was and as flavorful, with a nice herbal kick, and wonderfully tender. And her tzatziki -- well, it really might be the world's best.

So thank you, Kalyn. Thank you for providing us with a dinner that was not only easy-to-prepare, not only health-conscious, but delicious as well. I'm looking forward to exploring more of your recipes.
--

Lamb Souvlaki (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)

1 lb. lamb shoulder meat

Marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil (preferably Greek olive oil)
2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp. dried Greek oregano
1 tsp. minced garlic or garlic puree

Cut lamb into pieces slightly over one inch square, trimming off some, but not all of the fat. Combine marinade ingredients. Place lamb cubes and marinade in small Ziploc bag and marinate in refrigerator for about 4 hours, no longer.

To cook, place lamb on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil until done. Serve hot.


World's Best Tzatziki (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)

3 cups Greek Yogurt (or regular plain yogurt, strained )
juice of one lemon (about 3 T)
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 medium cucumbers, seeded and diced
about 1 T kosher salt for salting cucumbers
1 T finely chopped fresh parsley (substitute dill or mint leaves for a slightly different version)
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Peel cucumbers, then cut in half lengthwise and take a small spoon and scrape out seeds. Discard seeds. (If you use the small seedless or European cucumbers with few seeds, you can skip this step.) Dice cucumbers, then put in a colander, sprinkle on 1 T salt, and let stand for 30 minutes to draw out water. Drain well and wipe dry with paper towel.

In food processor with steel blade, add cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, and a few grinds of black pepper. Process until well blended, then stir this mixture into the yogurt. Taste before adding any extra salt, then salt if needed. Place in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving so flavors can blend. (This resting time is very important.)

This will keep for a few days or more in the refrigerator, but you will need to drain off any water and stir each time you use it.

Lemon Chicken with Mushrooms

Photo courtesy of Light & Tasty.

As a flavor, lemon has been on my mind a lot lately. Naturally, it took center stage in January's Daring Baker challenge, but I think there's more to it than that.

When I was in London, though the calendar said "January," the air felt like early spring. The days were sunny and bright, the temperatures ranged between 45 and 50 degrees, and flowers (yes, FLOWERS) were blooming.

When I returned home, there was snow on the ground, it was well below freezing, and the light had that sad, greyish cast typical of winter.

Still, the knowledge that spring is coming (eventually) is there, and the flavor of lemon -- bright and sunny -- is akin to those longer, warmer days ahead.

This recipe is adapted from one in the current issue of Taste of Home's Light & Tasty magazine, which is fitting, as this is a light and tasty meal. I added more lemon juice (about 1/4 cup total) to brighten the flavor and additional chicken stock (2/3 cup total), as it took longer than expected for my thickly cut mushrooms to cook. If you like, you could leave the mushrooms out altogether, make extra sauce, and serve the chicken and lemony sauce over a bed of rice. If you'd like more mushrooms, double the amount making sure to increase the chicken broth and lemon juice as well.

Additionally, it's a healthy recipe, featuring healthy fats (only 9 grams per serving), lean meat, and veggies. Since I began watching what I eat and exercising about a year ago, I've lost over 25 pounds, knocked 4 points off my BMI, and built up my muscle mass and overall endurance -- it's something I'd like to continue in 2008!


Lemon Chicken with Mushrooms (adapted)

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 cup lemon juice

Flatten chicken to 1/4-in. thickness. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine 1/4 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add chicken, one piece at a time, and shake to coat.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in butter until golden brown and juices run clear, flipping once. Remove and keep warm.

Add 2/3 cup broth to the pan, stirring to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil. Add mushrooms; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until tender. Combine the remaining flour and broth until smooth; stir into the mushroom mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in lemon juice, taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with chicken.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy

I love, love, loooooooooove comfort food. Homemade mac-and-cheese, lasagna, meatloaf, mashed po-taters, apple cake, PB brownies, banana bread; the list goes on.

I lurve them all.

So pork chops with country gravy are right up my alley. Here, boneless pork chops are lightly coated in seasoned flour, pan-seared until golden brown, and then topped herbed gravy. I served them up with oven-roasted corn on the cob and freshly-baked dinner rolls.

Could things be more delicious? Or simple? Or wonderful? It's even a Cooking Light recipe. But the beauty is that it tastes like it came from the depths of Paula Deen's butter-rich kitchen.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
1 tablespoon butter
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk (I used skim without a problem)


Place flour, salt, dried marjoram, dried thyme, and dried rubbed sage in a shallow dish. Dredge pork in flour mixture, turning to coat; shake off excess. Reserve remaining flour mixture.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add pork to pan; cook on each side until browned, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat, and cook for 10 minutes or until done, turning pork once. Remove pork from pan; keep warm.

Combine reserved flour mixture and milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add milk mixture to pan; place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat, and simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Serve with chops.

Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 chop and 1/2 cup gravy)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 252(34% from fat); FAT 9.6g (sat 4.4g,mono 3.6g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 28.9g; CHOLESTEROL 83mg; CALCIUM 142mg; SODIUM 584mg; FIBER 0.3g; IRON 1.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 10.6g

Lorrie Hulston Corvin , Cooking Light, JUNE 2006

Vegetable Tian

Our neighbors, Chris and Shelly, are about the nicest neighbors anyone could ask for, always ready to lend a hand. Or a vegetable -- Shelly sent over two giant zucchini and an equally large summer squash on Sunday, grown in their backyard garden.

The squash & 'zuke were perfect for the Vegetable Tian recipe I'd been eyeing. It was very simple to pull together, makes a very pretty presentation, and very tasty.

From what I can tell, the big difference between a Vegetable Tian and Ratatouille is the way the veggies are prepared. Tian vegetables are thinly sliced; ratatouille vegetables are chunky. Tian is baked; ratatouille is simmered. (Technically, the ratatouille featured in Ratatouille isn't ratatouille but confit byaldi . . . say THAT 3-times fast.)


Vegetable Tian
from Martha Stewart Living, September 2007 (adapted)

2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 leek, white and pale green parts only, quarted lengthwise, rinese well, and cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 zucchini, unpeeled, very thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1 summer squash, unpeeled, very thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
2 plum tomatoes, very thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
1 small eggplant, unpeeled, very thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1/4 dry wine (red or white)
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided
grated Parmesan for serving

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch gratin or round baking dish. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil over medium heat. Add leek and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Spread into baking dish.

Arrange vegetables on leek and garlic in slightly overlapping circles, alternating zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and eggplant. Top with wine, 1 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bake 30 minutes. Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive and bake until vegetables are tender, 30 minutes more. Serve with Parmesan.

Grilled Flank Steak with Corn, Black Bean and Avocado Salad

Image source.

I'm still shocked this is a Weight Watchers recipe: it's casually elegant, tasty, and there's nary a "diet substitution" in sight. I can't say I detected the garlic or lime flavors on the beef, yet it remained tasty. And the salad is terrific, fresh and flavorful. For an added dimension of flavor, I roasted the corn in the oven for 45 minutes at 450-degrees F, then cut off the kernels after it had cooled.

Grilled Flank Steak with Corn, Black Bean and Avocado Salad

Ingredients
1 pound raw lean flank steak
1 medium garlic clove(s), peeled and smashed with side of a knife
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

Salad
1 Tbsp jalapeno pepper(s), minced (do not touch seeds with bare hands)
1 small corn on the cob, cooked, kernels removed
1/2 medium avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
4 tsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, minced (optional)
1/8 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp black pepper


Preheat grill to medium hot.

Score steak on one side by making shallow crisscross slashes with a sharp knife; rub garlic over cut surface of steak. Brush steak with lime juice and season with salt and pepper; set meat aside for 10 minutes to allow meat to absorb flavors.

Meanwhile, combine salad ingredients in a medium bowl; stir gently and set aside.

Grill flank steak for 5 minutes on first side; flip and grill until well-browned on outside and medium-rare inside, about 5 to 6 minutes more. Immediately remove steak from grill and set aside on a clean plate for 5 minutes for meat to reabsorb juices. Thinly slice steak across grain and serve with salad. Yields about 3 1/2 ounces of steak and 1/2 cup of salad per serving.

Roasted Corn, Jicama and Mango Salad

Next time, I'll reduce to amount of Jicama by half and increase the amount of corn by two or three. I couldn't get enough of the taste of roasted corn in this salad -- delicious! (And, yes, I left out the cilantro...)


Roasted Corn, Jicama and Mango Salad4 ears fresh corn, unshucked
1 large jicama, peeled and thinly julienned
1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
Citrus vinaigrette, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Put the ears of corn on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool. When the corn has cooled, shuck it and stand it on end. Using a sharp knife, run the blade down the cob to cut the kernels off. Rotate the cob and repeat until all the kernels have been cut off.

Combine the jicama, mango, red onion and cilantro in a large mixing bowl. Add the cooled corn, and toss with the vinaigrette. Chill until ready to serve.


Citrus Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoons sugar
Dash hot sauce
1 cup olive oil
Salt pepper
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
In a large bowl combine the lime juice, orange juice, orange zest, sugar and hot sauce. Whisk together and slowly add the olive oil, whisking as you go. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and cilantro and whisk until combined.

Yield: 1 1/4 cups

Grilled Fish Tacos with fresh salsa

The marinade for the tilapia adds a subtle flavor. Kick things up with a healthy dose of salsa and a squirt of fresh lime juice.

Grilled Fish Tacos with fresh salsa

1 pound tilapia fillets
Marinade:
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped chives/cilantro/Italian parsley leaves
Squeeze of lime juice
Ground black pepper

Combine tilapia with the rest of the ingredients. Grill (or saute) until opaque. Serve immediately on warmed flour or corn tortillas with salsa and lime juice.


Fresh salsa
Ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 red onion, diced
1/4 to 1/2 jalepeno, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients; let sit 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Winter Night Salad

When Shane & I used to frequent Ports Cafe, I'd almost always order the winter night salad. It combines crisp romaine lettuce; sweet but tart apples; salty, tangy blue cheese; and a few other goodies to create a delectable salad.

I hadn't had it in over a year (we've been distracted by this place, this place, this place, this place, and many of these places) but the salad was very easy to recreate for dinner last night.

It's just as good as I remembered -- just as tasty, just as filling, just as satisfying.

If you're feeling a bit ambitious, complement the salad with a slice of good bread brushed with a bit of pesto and topped with Parmesan, broiled until the cheese melts a bit. The piquancy of the pesto and parm pairs well with the salad.

Winter Night Salad

1/2 bag of Romaine lettuce,
1/2 large "salad" apple, chopped (red for more color)
Raspberry vinaigrette (recommended: Newmans' Own)
1-2 Tbsp of blue cheese, crumbled (recommended: Old Chatham Ewe's Blue)
1-2 Tbsp dried cranberries
2 Tbsp red onion, chopped
1 Tbsp glazed walnuts

In a medium-sized bowl, toss lettuce and apples with raspberry vinaigrette to taste. Add blue cheese, cranberries onion and walnuts; toss again and adjust flavors as needed. Plate and top with fresh-ground pepper; serve with bread.

Yield: 1 large dinner salad or 2 appetizer servings .