Category: Mediterranean

Homemade Beef and Barley Soup

Homemade Beef and Barley Soup

After making Homemade Beef Stock I ended up with some leftover beef that was perfect for soup. I love it when my cravings go with what I have in the pantry: pearl barley, carrots, celery, onions, diced tomatoes, and homemade beef stock. Soup’s on! One 

Oven-Broiled Peel-and-Eat Shrimp with Garlic-Butter Zip Sauce

Oven-Broiled Peel-and-Eat Shrimp with Garlic-Butter Zip Sauce

This Oven-Roasted Peel-and-Eat Shrimp can be prepped in advance and broiled in minutes. The garlic-butter zip sauce from this recipe exists in my refrigerator as a staple, so I’m always looking for creative ways to use it. The inspiration for this recipe is from a 

Pan-Seared Oven-Finished Salt and Pepper Rack of Lamb with Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus

Pan-Seared Oven-Finished Salt and Pepper Rack of Lamb with Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus

It was the day before Easter and I still didn’t know what to make for our Easter dinner.  This year it was going to be dinner for two, my husband and me. This was good news since “life” had been busy lately. I had already 

Spinach Salad with Turkey and Pomegranate Seeds

Spinach Salad with Turkey and Pomegranate Seeds

Spinach salad with leftover turkey coupled with pomegranate seeds is the cure after a couple of days of Thanksgiving leftovers. Soon after the big turkey day, I want a salad. I crave salad. I need a salad. This is a colorful and refreshing concoction items 

Turkey, Spinach, and Cheese Panini

Turkey, Spinach, and Cheese Panini

Are you wondering what to do with all the Thanksgiving leftovers in the refrigerator right now? This is a great time of year for a Turkey, Spinach, and Cheese Panini. Paninis are grilled Italian sandwiches. They became popular in the 1970s and 1980s in Italy. 

Greek Lemon Chicken with Potatoes – Restaurant Style

Greek Lemon Chicken with Potatoes – Restaurant Style

I remember being surprised the first time I ordered chicken in a restaurant and there was 1/2 of a chicken on my plate. I’m calling this Greek Lemon Chicken with Potatoes “restaurant style” because I’ve left the chicken cut in half like you get at 

Not-Your-Ordinary Fruit Salad

Not-Your-Ordinary Fruit Salad

This is not-your-ordinary fruit salad because tomatoes, olives, and avocados are not often thought of as fruits. Technically, they are fruits. Add apples to the ingredient list and that makes four fruits in this salad. This salad is a bit like a party in your 

Mom’s Wax Beans With Buttered Bread Crumbs

Mom’s Wax Beans With Buttered Bread Crumbs

When I was a kid I loved when my Mom made her recipe for wax beans with buttered bread crumbs. She often served them with pork chops. As I got older, I even remember begging her to make bigger batches. I would have been happy 

Jeff and Zoe’s Master Boule Dough Recipe

Jeff and Zoe’s Master Boule Dough Recipe

Homemade no-knead breads are hugely popular nowadays. No wonder. In about 4 hours you can have a homemade boule.

Chicken Shish Kebab

Chicken Shish Kebab

Chicken Shish Kebab is a classic example of Mediterranean food which I love. I might go as far as saying that it is my favorite type of food. However, I would like to travel extensively all over the Mediterranean just to make sure! Mediterranean food 

Chicken Capri Deluxe

Chicken Capri Deluxe

I have made some version of this recipe at least a dozen times in the past 6 months. I’m not even sure if I’ve made it the same way twice. The original Chicken Capri recipe is on page 214 of The South Beach Diet Cookbook. 

Warm Salmon and Roasted Asparagus Salad

Warm Salmon and Roasted Asparagus Salad

When my husband and I have a busy in our lives we have a tendency to not think about what we eat.  We derail from a health lifestyle – and throw all dietary guidelines out the window, eating whatever we want whenever we want.  When 

Broiled Wild Salmon

Broiled Wild Salmon

I used to be intimidated to make a whole side of salmon. Not anymore! Making seafood has been a learning curve and it takes practice. This is a salmon preparation that I now serve to guests! Broiled Wild Salmon1 large fillet (about 2 pounds)3 tablespoons 

Easy Crisp-Tender Oven-Roasted Asparagus with Peeled Ends

Easy Crisp-Tender Oven-Roasted Asparagus with Peeled Ends

These Easy Oven-Roasted Asparagus are crispy yet tender from end to end because part of the stalk is peeled. They are quick and easy enough to make for a week night dinner, and elegant enough to serve to guests. Sometimes you can find tender thin 

Lemon Vinaigrette

Lemon Vinaigrette

If you are trying to reduce the amount of your sugar intake in your daily diet be sure to check the ingredient list of your salad dressing. I’ve read the back of a few bottles of dressing, and not recognized an ingredient or two. Now, 

Chicken, Vegetable, and Rice Soup

Chicken, Vegetable, and Rice Soup

I wanted to have another chicken-based soup in my repertoire with more fiber than my traditional chicken noodle soup recipe. After several experiments, I settled on using a gourmet blend of brown rice, plus zucchini and spinach as my added vegetables. I’ve been reading about 

Swiss Chard with Cannellini Beans and Bacon

Swiss Chard with Cannellini Beans and Bacon

Walking through Whole Foods the other day I noticed a giant display of gorgeous Swiss chard. I bought a bunch thinking that at the very least I could wilt them in olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper. In reality, when it came time to 

Cauliflower Gratin

Cauliflower Gratin

Cauliflower Gratin is one of my favorite cauliflower recipes. Although my “Smashed-cauliflower Potatoes” are a close second, I have literally made this cauliflower gratin dozens of times. I love that I can have a large portion of it if I’m especially hungry. It’s a delicious 

Whole Wheat Linguine with Mushrooms and Lemon-Garlic Gremolata

Whole Wheat Linguine with Mushrooms and Lemon-Garlic Gremolata

The following recipe is one of my brother’s go-to recipes. He has made it so many times that he no longer needs the original recipe, and now just cooks it by feel and what looks good. I love when that happens! It all started one 

Quick and Easy Spicy Black Bean Soup

Quick and Easy Spicy Black Bean Soup

When I lived near a Trader Joe’s, I would sometimes buy a carton of spicy Cuban black bean soup that they carried. I thought it was reasonably healthy for being so convenient. The only listed ingredient that bothered me was cane juice. The soup didn’t 

Special Crispy Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Special Crispy Garlic Smashed Potatoes

A few weeks ago I happened to catch Food Network show with Giada. One of the dishes she made really stuck in my mind. So much so, that the next time I went grocery shopping I bought fingerling potatoes. As Giada was cooking the potato 

Penne Pasta Bake

Penne Pasta Bake

Penne Pasta Bake is not only great on a weeknight, but also for any occasion you would like to have something assembled before hand. Then all you have to do is bake it.  It’s easier than lasagna but just as tasty, and this casserole can 

Authentic Recipe Italian Meatballs – Polpette

Authentic Recipe Italian Meatballs – Polpette

Who knew that a “food stuff made of ground meat” could taste so good? I had no idea how many different kinds of meatballs there were until I did a little reading on Wikipedia. There must be thousands of recipes using every kind of meat 

Quick Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Quick Red Wine Tomato Sauce

I have a handful of recipes floating around in my mind that I’ve made hundreds times that were actually given to me word of mouth. This Quick Red Wine Tomato Sauce is one of those recipes. Sure, I buy a good quality jar sauce to 

Roasted Garlic

Roasted Garlic

The other day I was walking through Whole Foods admiring their salad bar area (I often cruise by to get ideas) and I saw the biggest station of roasted garlic cloves that I had ever seen—hundreds of little cloves in a light amount of olive 

Genoa Basil Pesto

Genoa Basil Pesto

A couple of weeks ago I was given the gift of a grocery bag full of garden-grown basil and I knew I was going to make homemade pesto which I had been craving for months. The plan was to freeze most of it so that 

Roasted Vegetable Salad

Roasted Vegetable Salad

Friends of mine have a bountiful garden, and I’m grateful that they have shared their abundance with me. They gave me spring onions, Japanese eggplant, zucchini, carrots, turnips and basil. Also, my neighbor gave me some yellow squash. So, almost everything in this salad is 

Strawberry, Basil & Romaine Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Strawberry, Basil & Romaine Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Yesterday, I found organic strawberries on sale—three pints for $6.00 and I couldn’t pass that up. While at the grocery store my husband and I decided to invite some friends over for a casual dinner and a movie. With our usual dinner-for-two bumped up to 

Tomato Sandwich

Tomato Sandwich

Now that I have homemade mayonnaise, I have a week to use the batch. To begin with, my itch to make the mayonnaise started with my craving for a tomato sandwich. A what? Yes, a tomato sandwich. I must have had a hundred of these 

Mom’s Salmon Patties

Mom’s Salmon Patties

Mom’s salmon patties were an ingenious method for her to get us kids to eat more fish, I’m sure. We always ate them without complaint, albeit with ketchup. I imagine my mom used this as fast weeknight dinner she could make with ingredients she kept 

Pan-Seared Talapia with Clarified-Butter Lemon Sauce

Pan-Seared Talapia with Clarified-Butter Lemon Sauce

Pan-Seared Talapia with Clarified-Butter Lemon Sauce is a good beginner’s recipe for fish. Most of us know fish is good for us because it is full of heart healthy Omega 3s. And, because it is so good for us we know we should eat more 

Stromboli

Stromboli

I love bread. Sometimes, I really think that I could survive on wine, bread, and cheese alone. (But it would have to be really good bread). Even though there all countless types of bread. My favorite type of bread has a crispy crust with a 

Te Con Leche (Tea with Milk)

Te Con Leche (Tea with Milk)

This is a super easy recipe as it consists of 2 ingredients: tea and milk. I first had this beverage back in 1987 on my first night in Spain with my host family. In all honesty, it was the only thing she offered that I 

French Chicken in a Crock Pot

French Chicken in a Crock Pot

The idea for French Chicken in a Crock Pot came about because I wanted to be able to have the moist, tender, and flavorful dish without heating up the house, and I wanted to be able to leave the house and come back to a 

Asparagus, Baby Bella, & Red Onion Saute

Asparagus, Baby Bella, & Red Onion Saute

Tired of the same old side dish vegetables? This is good enough to turn into a meal by adding some protein. I was doing some shopping in my new favorite health-food market Jimbos, and in the vegetable section they had about a pound of asparagus, 

Herb-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Herb-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Herb-Stuffed Chicken Breasts is an easy way to use fresh herbs you might have on the counter or in your fridge. I have been buying more fresh herbs lately. Sometimes I feel like those fresh herbs are like a ticking time bomb in the fridge, 

Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes and Onions

Roasted Rosemary Sweet Potatoes and Onions

I love sweet potatoes!  I didn’t know this until last week. Until now, I have confused sweet potatoes with yams. I didn’t realize that there was a difference until I went to a grocery store that had both and were clearly marked! Yams are the 

Chicken Piccatta

Chicken Piccatta

Have you ever been chatting with a friend and before long you’re sharing recipes with each other? A couple of my favorite recipes that I make were given to me verbally in just that manner. This dish is just such a recipe. The original called 

Zucchini Frittata

Zucchini Frittata

This is one of my all-time favorite  frittata recipes. I have made this dozens of times and it always tastes great. This recipe comes from the very first cookbook I ever bought called, Reader’s Digest Great Recipes for Good Health, published in 1988 back when 

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

This recipe has made its way to an Easter tradition in our home, and has been served as a brunch item, and used as an appetizer on occasion. If there are any left over (and that is a big “if”) I love to chop them 

Potato Pancakes—German Style

Potato Pancakes—German Style

I have had many versions of potato pancakes, after all, they come in many shapes and sizes. When I was a kid my mom made a version from leftover mashed potatoes which we all loved. I have made them from box mixes. I have ordered 

Moussaka

Moussaka

I must be in the mood for Greek lately. This is so good I just bought all the ingredients again! Isn’t that the case though—going through seasons of cravings? Or, am I the only one? I am so grateful that I’m actually starting to crave 


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