Easy Peasy Grilled Caprese

Tags

appetizers, italian, Party Food, salad, Side dishes, Vegetarian

Is it really January, or have I been secretly teleported to April.  The weather here is telling me the latter.  The trees in the yard are even confused as the early buds are being coerced out almost to full bloom.  I have been lackadaisical about the house work for no excuse other than it is warm and sunny.  The girls doctor has said to make sure that they are getting enough vitamin D after all, and what better way to get it than basking in the warm winter sun.

We have also been firing up the grill in the evening and spending the last few minutes of daylight on our new deck watching the sun set each evening.  One of my new favorite things to grill is this Caprese Salad.  It makes and excellent accompaniment to pretty much any grilled protein, and requires the companionship of a warm and crusty baguette.

I didn’t exactly write down the recipe, but it is easy enough to recreate without one.

You will need:

• roma tomatoes, cut lengthwise
• olive oil
• mozzarella cheese, sliced into thumb sized slices
• a handful of basil
• balsamic vinegar

First, slice your tomatoes lengthwise Brush the flesh side with olive oil and toss on the grill.

Let them start to soften, and then brush the skin side with your olive oil and flip over.

Continue to let the tomatoes cook until the cheese is melted.  Tranfer the tomatoes to a plate and top with some chopped basil leaves and a quick drizzle of balsamic vinegar.  Serve with warm baguette.

This would make a superb Superbowl snack too, don’t ya think!

 

Simple Summer Pasta with Basil Pistachio Pesto and Blistered Tomatoes

Tags

italian, Main course, Quick and Easy, Vegan, Vegetarian

Hi Y’all!  Tomorrow our baby, Georgia, will be five weeks old.  I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful and stressful the past month has been.  Taking care of a four year old, two year old, and a newborn is a challenging adventure everyday.  Some days the house gets cleaned, a healthy dinner is on the table at night, and everyone is serenely happy.  Then there are the days when we order pizza and I don’t even manage to make time to brush my teeth.  And I never know which one of these scenarios is going to play out from day to day.  We are just winging it at this point.  And that’s okay.

On the nights where I am able to throw together a quick meal, I usually just have to work with whatever is on hand.  Trips to the grocery store can be painful, so they have become few and far between.  I always keep some staples in my pantry like rice, beans, and pasta to get me through in a pinch.  This is one of those meals I can make when I have little time to prepare or cook, and as a bonus, it uses up some of my garden bssil.  This particular night I just happened to have pistachios on hand which I threw in the pesto.  You MUST try this, it’s completely mind blowing!  You will be putting this pesto on everything for the rest of the summer.

For the pesto:

• 2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 handful of pistachios
• Juice from ½ lemon
• Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

For the pasta:

• 12 oz whole wheat pasta (I used spaghetti, but whatever you like will work)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup basil pesto (see above)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan

Cook you pasta according to the package directions.  While it is boiling away, heat your olive oil in a large sautee pan over medium high heat.  Add the tomatoes and roll them around ever couple of minutes until they are blistered looking like this

Add the pasta and pesto to the pan and gently toss it all together.  Top with the Parmesan.  Serve it with some crusty bread because we all know that is the best part of pasta night!

XO-Jenny

 

Lentil Minestrone Soup

Tags

italian, kale, Lentils, soup, statement necklaces, upcycled

Spring has sprung! It was a beautiful weekend.  The sun was out and temperatures climbed into the double digits (celsius).  On Friday, I went to the thrift store and bought a bunch of jewelry that I upcycled into a cool new necklace. Then I took Minda and Kaya to the farmer’s market where we had lunch, danced to an old street musician playing the guitar, and stocked up on some beutiful organic local produce like purple carrots and blue and pink potatoes.  The warmer weather must also be giving me the gardening bug because I even bought a couple of potted herbs.

My upcycled necklace made from thrift store finds

Saturday we went for our first walk in our new double seater Chariot to the playground, which is officially snow free now.

First walk with the double Chariot

To end the weekend I went to open house at Yoga Santosha for a long overdue and much needed yoga class.  I also made a big batch of parmesan garlic bread sticks (think Olive Garden but whole wheat) to go with the eggplant parmesan that I cooked for dinner last night (so delicious, another post for another day).  A pretty great weekend I would say!

I still have a bunch of bread sticks left over, and would really hate to see them get stale, and I immediately knew exactly what to cook for dinner tonight that would be the perfect accompaniment.  Minestrone Soup! 

I wanted to come up with a recipe that uses the ingredients I already have on hand because I really did not want to make a grocery run today.  I didn’t have any kidney beans, which is what I usually find in minestrone that I get at restaurants, but I did have some lentils, so that would have to do.  

Have I mentioned how much I love lentils?! Dried lentils are one of my pantry staples.  They have all of the nutritional goodness of beans, but they don’t require any of the soaking time, perfect for someone like me who likes to cook things on a whim.  I also threw in a bunch of kale into the pot to make it extra nutritious, a perfect way to start the week!

Lentil Minestrone Soup

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 medium carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 dried bay leaf

1 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped

1 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

½ tablespoon fresh oregano, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

5 cups water

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained 

1 cup green lentils

 1 bunch kale, removed from stems and coarsely chopped

1 cup cooked whole wheat pasta (4 ounces dried pasta. It is impotant to cook it first or your soup will be a starchy mess!)

sea salt & fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

Pecorino Romano and bread for serving

In a large stockpot over medium heat, heat the olive oil, add the carrots, celery,  and onion.  Cook stirring occasionally until the onions are soft, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic, herbs and crushed red pepper, cook stirring constantly for one more minute.  Add the water, diced tomatoes, and lentils.  Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 40 minutes.  Add the kale and pasta, cover and let simmer about 5 more minutes until the kale is wilted and the pasta is heated through.  Remove the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with some fresh grated hard cheese if you like (I used pecorino romano) and plenty of warm bread.