Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Fruit!

January 5, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

So after enjoying all these wonderful meals and special treats and drinks during the holidays, I am waking up to discover that I am really fat.

Not really. But, you know, when you put on a pair of favorite pants and think they’ve suddenly shrunk in length (even though they were fine the last time you put them on), then you have to fess up to the fact that it’s the size of your hips that’s hiking them up and you know, Spanx can only do so much. So I’ve gained a few pounds and it feels really uncomfortable.

I’ve now gone back to “clean eating” – less meat, little or no carbs and having a piece of celery or a half of apple if I’m starving before dinner. It’s working. I’ve already lost 3 of the 5 pounds.

I think fruit is a wonderful thing. Some doctors have told me it’s too sweet, it has too much sugar. But it’s a natural sweetness, right? It’s refreshing, satisfying that sweet tooth craving and makes all things “right”, as my mother used to say. She would have a piece of fruit at the end of her lunch every day as well as pack an apple, orange or pear in our lunch for school. I have kept that habit up, only we have a small bowl of fresh fruit salad at the end of our breakfast everyday. What I do is make a very large fruit salad on Sunday morning, and then it lasts us for the week, making it super easy to serve up for a workday morning.

You can, of course, combine all sorts of things but I don’t recommend bananas, unless you eat them right away, as they don’t hold up. Leave your strawberries whole so they don’t break down as quickly and serve them up sooner than the rest. A pineapple is wonderful, along with grapefruit, oranges, apples, and red or green grapes. Blueberries, blackberries, mangoes and kiwi are nice as well, but need to be eaten first too.

And here’s a great tip, squeeze some fresh lime juice all over your salad and then top it off with torn fresh mint leaves. I have found that the mint leaf edges will not darken as quickly if you tear them, as opposed to cutting or chopping them.

So start your new year with fruit!

Traveling

October 30, 2011 by Mary Frances 3 Comments

Last night we were supposed to go out to dinner but with the major snowstorm upstate, we chose not to travel, built a fire and stayed put. Instead we traveled to Greece with a French side trip!

We started with store bought hummus – Sabra brand with roasted garlic. Now what I always do, and I think this makes it just a little more special, is drizzle high quality, extra virgin (of course) olive oil on top and then sprinkle on some ground cumin. I served it with whole grain pita chips and some fresh red pepper strips. Fast, easy and delicious!

I then made Melissa Clark’s recipe for Moussaka that was in the NY Times Dining section this past week. It was called “Greece on a Speedboat” – which was supposed to mean that this was the speedy, sort of short-cut version of moussaka. Well, it still took 2 1/2 hours! And it was good but it wasn’t great. To me, when you spend that much time on something, it should be great. And I guess to make the authentic version takes even longer! We have been to Greece several times. I love Greece, even Athens, and Santorini used to be our special place but now it’s too crowded. The Greeks are lovely laid back people yet all their traditional dishes are very labor intensive. Ever make Baklava or watch someone make it? All those separate sheets of thin pastry, each one buttered, layer upon layer. Yikes!

But let me tell you about the salad I made. It was a Jacques Pepin recipe also from the Times the week before this last. He wants you to make it with frisee but my little local market doesn’t even sell that. I guess it’s too expensive and they don’t have a calling for it. So I substituted a bunch of watercress and a sliced endive. I figured these two combined could substitute the slightly bitter frisee bite he was looking for. It was delicious – I’m thinking it may have even been better! You tell me.

Here’s the recipe. I love his way of making the croutons rather than roasting in the oven. You must constantly toss them but you have more control and can achieve beautifully colored croutons with just the perfect crunch and this uses much less oil than oven roasting which equals less calories. Yay! The dressing is more mustardy – very French and very delicious.

FRISEE WITH CROUTONS AND SPICY OLIVES
Adapted from “Essential Pépin” by Jacques Pépin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011)

Serves 4

1 1/2 cups 1-inch bread cubes
1 tablespoon olive, canola or peanut oil (I used olive oil)
1 tablespoon spicy mustard
1 teaspoon crushed and finely chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large or 2 small heads frisée, cut into 2-inch pieces (5 to 6 cups) or one bunch of watercress, large stems removed and one endive sliced in rounds
1/4 cup pitted spicy green olives, cut in half
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained, each cut in half or thirds

Drop bread cubes into a skillet and sprinkle oil over them. Toss gently and cook over high heat, tossing constantly, until cubes are browned on all sides. Remove from skillet.

Mix mustard, garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar in a large serving bowl. Whisk in oil.

Add the frisée or watercress and endive, olives and sun-dried tomatoes to the bowl and toss thoroughly. Divide among 4 salad plates and sprinkle the croutons on top.

Easy Friday night shrimp salad

October 1, 2011 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

This is something I threw together last evening and it was great!! I love warm cooking juices on a chilled lettuce salad, and you don’t feel stuffed after this dinner. It is clean and light – much better for you. We served it with a chilled White Bordeaux and it was very good, but a Vouvray or Sauvignon Blanc might be better.

EASY FRIDAY NIGHT SHRIMP SALAD – serves 2
5 large green leaf lettuce leaves
10 small hearts of romaine lettuce leaves
3 small patty pan squash, cut in chunks
1 medium onion, sliced in 1/4 “ slices, cut in half
3 tbs. olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 – 1/4 “ slice of pancetta, cut in 1/8” squares
2 dried red chili peppers, minced with seeds, no stem
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 – 16 oz. can cannellini beans, drained
1 lb. large shrimp, shelled and de-veined, preferable with the tails on
2 small green zebra tomatoes, quartered
1 small red heirloom tomato, cut in eighths

SALAD DRESSING
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
French grey salt
Fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Whisk together mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. Slowly add olive oil by droplets and whisk until emulsified.

Wash, spin dry, and chill all the lettuce leaves. Tear into bite size pieces.

Warm 1.5 tbs. olive oil in a skillet, add onions, cover and let sweat on low heat for 15 – 20 minutes. Uncover and raise heat to medium, add squash. Toss and cook until crisp tender. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Wash (at least 3 times) and pat dry shrimp. Salt and pepper one side

Meanwhile, in another skillet, warm remaining 1.5 tbs. of olive oil, add garlic and sauté on low heat for 5 minutes. Add diced pancetta and cook for 10 minutes or so. Raise heat to medium, add white wine and chili peppers. Let wine cook down by one-half, add drained beans and cook for 3 minutes. Add shrimp and toss until pink on both sides. Remove from heat.

Divide lettuce up on 2 dinner plates, spoon out squash and onion mixture on top. Top with shrimp and bean mixture. Arrange tomatoes in a circular fashion on top, drizzle on salad dressing and serve immediately. You may not use all of the shrimp and bean mixture or salad dressing. I didn’t. They make great leftovers and you will use them later.

Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Fruit!

Traveling

Easy Friday night shrimp salad

Pages

Blogs We Love