Recipes

There’s nothing like a nice bowl of hot minestrone soup during the heart of winter. It’s one of my favorites. It’s chock full of fresh vegetables like carrot, celery, potato, onion, mushroom, zucchini, and beans. Add to that some small shaped pasta, such as elbows, ditalini, or conchigliette, and you’re all set. Obviously, choose whichever pasta you’re able to get your hands on – not all are available at every grocery store. As long as the pasta consists of small shapes, it should be good. Minestrone soup has been around for thousands of years. It was created after Rome conquered Italy and new types of vegetables flooded the region. The Italians, being as resourceful as they were, used their leftover produce to create a soup – minestrone! Through the years and among different places in the world, minestrone has changed little. It’s still a wonderful soup that calls for whatever is on hand. The primary ingredients though are traditionally onion, garlic, celery, carrot, tomatoes, and pasta. But again, it’s about what’s available and what’s in season, not about sticking to a rigid recipe. If you’re interested in making some minestrone yourself, please click through to see the recipe I share in this post. It’s one of Gino D’Acampo’s, so you know it’ll be good. Continue reading…

There are as many varieties of butternut squash soup as there are days of the month. Some are super sweet and creamy, but not the best for you and some are rather plain, but ultra healthy. I’ve tried them all. I tend to lean toward the sweeter side, but every so often a soup comes along that straddles the line between taste and health. I think we’ve got one of them here. I adapted this butternut squash soup from a recipe I found on the Williams Sonoma website. I changed it up a bit to fit my needs. This soup is a slow cooker version of so many other versions out there; instead of using a slow cooker though, I used my Dutch oven and wood burning stove. I cubed the butternut squash and added the pieces to the Dutch oven and then added all the other ingredients, including browned onion, spices, vegetable broth, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and a few other minor things. The beauty in cooking this soup is that the process is slooow. It takes three hours, but during those three hours, the flavors of the broth and other ingredients infuse themselves into the pieces of squash. When mine was finished, I puréed the squash to create a soup that was pretty much perfect. Just sweet, salty, and full bodied enough to keep me wanting more. To check this recipe out, please click through to the post. You won’t be disappointed. Plus, in this post, I teach far more about the butternut squash than any one person would ever want to know. Continue reading…

I’ve been making orzo salad for as long as I can remember – for good reason(s). It’s a relatively simple dish to prepare, it’s as versatile as any dish I can think of, and it has the potential to taste incredible. For today’s recipe, I chose to follow the Mediterranean route; one that leads to a diet that’s rich in flavors and healthy habits. The Mediterranean diet was developed back in the 1960s and was inspired by the southern regions of those countries that border the Sea itself; Italy, Spain, and Crete. Mind you, the Mediterranean diet doesn’t mimic the foods that are consumed in the Mediterranean regions themselves, it merely mimics the eating habits of folks in those regions. What exactly are those eating habits? Ones that include focusing on a plant-based regimen. Unprocessed foods. Cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruits. It’s a diet that avoids the over indulgence of red meat and is one that includes a moderate consumption of fish and dairy products. If you click through to read this post, you’ll find that what I just shared above describes the ingredient list to a “T.” Think balsamic vinaigrette, olive oil, Italian herbs, orzo, bell peppers, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and so much more. If you’re interested in learning about the Mediterranean diet, orzo, and how to prepare a quick and easy meal, this one’s for you. Continue reading…

The omelette is definitely my favorite egg dish. Through the years I’ve prepared so many different types of omelettes that I can remember them all. I’ve made complex and intricate omelettes and simple, yet delicious ones as well. Today’s omelette happens to be the latter. It’s actually one of the simplest I’ve ever prepared. And it’s awesome. I pulled this recipe from Mary Berry’s Complete Cookbook and what’s so nice about it is that it calls for only a handful of ingredients; mushrooms, chives, eggs, ciabatta, butter, salt, pepper, and that’s about it. As I explain in this post, there are two ingredients that make this dish special – the mushrooms and the ciabatta. The mushrooms, when nicely browned, are simply unbeatable. They offer such a distinctive earthy flavor that’ll keep you wanting more. As for the ciabatta, it’s soft and chewy and perfect for a sandwich like this. Interested? Click through for the recipe as well as much more information than you’ll ever need for a dish like this. Thanks! Continue reading…

Lentils possess a great many positive attributes; ease of preparation, low cost, and health benefits being the top three. Flavor, texture, usage being a few more. Lentils are considered a superfood due to their dietary characteristics. They’re low in calories, rich in iron and folate, and an excellent source of protein. They’re also full of health-promoting polyphenols and may reduce several heart disease risk factors. I can go on about the health benefits of these small legumes and I do in this post, but for right here and now, let me tell you that they’re one of the most underrated healthy foods in the U.S. They’re wildly popular in India due to their versatility and high levels of plant protein, but here, not so much. This lack of recognition is part of the reason I’ve written this post. I’ve gone ahead and combined the lentils with some utterly fantastic ingredients to create a tasty soup to be remembered. Think garlic, tomatoes, onion, carrots, cumin, curry, red pepper, and kale. The soup is a health powerhouse that can fill the bellies of an entire family. And at under $10 for a pot full, you honestly can’t go wrong. To learn more about this fantastic ingredient and for the soup recipe, click on through. Thanks! Continue reading…

There’s nothing like an incredibly tasty pasta dish that hits the spot like none other. That pretty much describes what I’m sharing today. It’s one of Gordon Ramsay’s recipes from his cookbook titled Home Cooking. The dish is outstanding in that it melds the flavors of fresh garlic, chili pepper, anchovies, olives, capers, and tomatoes together in a base of extra virgin olive oil. The dish is extraordinarily easy to put together. Simply cook the pasta and sauté the vegetables. Combine it all and you’re good to go. Because the olives, anchovies, and capers are so naturally salty, you likely won’t need to add additional salt. Yes, this dish contains garlic, so I wouldn’t recommend it for a first date, but if you’re in the mood for an Italian dinner that’ll thoroughly satisfy, go ahead and give this one a try. It’s definitely robust and the flavor is all there. Click through for ingredients and instructions. Continue reading…