Super Easily Dressed Green Salad

22 Dec

This is my go-to dressing…

It’s sooooo simple, people usually don’t believe it only has 4 ingredients.  And the only thing you’ll dirty is your hands to toss it together with the salad.

This works with ANY green salad – romaine, arugula, iceberg, baby spinach or a spring mix. I added this time grape tomatoes, but it’s your salad, you can add whatever you’d like.  I’m just showing you the dressing…

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SUPER EASILY DRESSED GREEN SALAD

1/2 bag of spring mix salad
6-7 grape tomatoes
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
about 1/4 cup of olive oil – use the best stuff you have around here
salt and pepper to taste
  1. Place salad greens and tomatoes in a salad bowl.
  2. Squeeze the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper on top of salad.
  3. Toss gently with your hands to dress.

Serve immediately.

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Baked Pasta with 4 Cheeses

22 Dec

This is my FAVORITE pasta dish of all time!!!!!!

 I did it last night as a Birthday present dinner for my friend Walter, who traveled with me to Spain this past Summer.  And whom I am trying to convince to apply with me to be in The Amazing Race.

If I have to ask for a Last Meal, this will be the dish I would request.  This is an adaptation from a Martha Stewart recipe, which is actually a recipe from a Providence, Rhode Island restaurant called Al Forno.  I’ve never been to Providence, but if I get to go, Al Forno is the only restuarant I need to go.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do…

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BAKED PASTA WITH 4 CHEESES

1/2 pound whole-wheat pasta – shells, penne or rigatoni would all work well
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese – I sometimes use a pre-shredded cheese blend from the store
1/2 cup  freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided in half – half for mixture, half for topping
1/4 cup freshly grated Fontina cheese
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1/2 cup pureed tomatoes
10 fresh basil leaves, torn with your hands
1/4 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper
  1. Heat oven to 500 degrees. 
  2. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.
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  4. While pasta cooks, place cream, cheeses, pureed tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil in a large bowl.
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  6. Drain pasta and toss together with cheese mixture in bowl.
  7. Pour into a medium-sized baking dish.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup remaining Pecorino Romano on top.
  8. Bake until bubbly and brown on top for about 15 minutes.
  9. Turn off oven and leave in there for a few minutes for the sauce to set a bit.
  10. Serve immediately afterwards while still hot.
  • It’s important to watch out the measurements of the cheeses.  The right amount will melt beautifully and create the most wonderful sauce.  When I started to eye-ball the amounts, sometimes the results were not as I expected. 
  • I make this recipe right in my toaster oven…    
  • And the recipe doesn’t reheat very well.  It will still be tasty, but the sauce becomes a bit oily…  just so you know.  This is one of those recipes to make and eat in the moment.  Every time I do it for company, people can’t believe that came out of a home kitchen.  It’s unbelievable!!!

I served this last night with my Cinammon Vanilla Plantains and my Super Easily Dressed Green Salad.  Oh, and I also did my Garlic Parsley Breadsticks.

Buen Provecho.

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Natural Cold Remedy

22 Dec

I no longer take chemical medications when I get a cold.  I try to eat well, take a natural vitamin supplement, etc.

But still, I get the occasional cold, just like I have right now.  My mom taught me about this concoction to help the system get rid of the “stuff” congesting inside of you…rather than drying it up all inside.

It’s super easy and tastes better than any Robitussin around.

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NATURAL COLD REMEDY

1/2 cup honey
the inside clear gel of an aloe vera leaf
the juice of 2 limes
  1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender. 
  2. Drink about a 2 tablespoon measure every hour or so…  It’s super good, so you can drink it as often as you want.

If you have a cough, add in a 1/4 of a small onion to the mixture and blend. 

Feel better – I am feeling better myself…

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Sangría

20 Dec

When I host parties, I try to offer a variety of refreshments for people to choose. My Sangría is always the hit of the party… I even stopped buying other stuff because this is what people drink the whole night.

I do not drink alcohol much now that I am vegetarian, so I will give you the basic recipe and you can adapt it to your preference either using real wine or a non-alcoholic wine, such as Welch’s or Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider.

 

 

SANGRIA

1 bottle of red wine or Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice
1/2 bottle of Lime flavored Perrier
3 cups orange juice, freshly squeezed preferably, but Tropicana works fine
the juice of 3 limes
1 Granny Smith apple – cored and sliced
1 Valencia orange – sliced
1 lime – sliced
ice cubes
  1. In a large pitcher throw in the fruit slices.
  2. Mix in the wine, sparkling water, orange juice and lime juice. Add ice.

Salud!!!

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Stewed Potatoes – Papas Guisadas

20 Dec

This was my dinner last night.

Back in my omnivorous days, I used to love when my aunt made stewed chicken, but not for the chicken… it was for the sauce and the potatoes in the stew. So when I decided to go veggie, I created this dish to celebrate all the good things I love about my aunt’s cooking.

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STEWED POTATOES

2 large potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, diced
1 cubanelle pepper or green bell pepper, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced or 1 tablespoon of sofrito
1 jar of stewed tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup of water – if needed
Salt and pepper to taste
10 large olives or 2 tablespoons of capers
2 bay leaves
a large dash of paprika
1 roasted bell pepper – optional
a few splashes of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
  1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, pour olive oil. Mix in the onions, peppers and sofrito, if using. If using just the garlic, wait a few minutes to mix it in. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  2. When onions and peppers have softened, add in the potatoes. Stir a few times for them to cook a bit.
  3. Add the tomatoes, olives or capers, roasted bell peppers, bay leaves and paprika. If there is not enough liquid for the potatoes to cook in, add a bit of water. Add the vinegar.
  4. Simmer in the covered pot for about 30 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.

Serve over brown rice or eat on it’s own.  Here, I show it over basmati rice.  You could add veggie hot dogs to this and it would taste great too.

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