Quinoa and Parmesan Stuffed Roasted Tomatoes

Last week we had one of those Indian Summer dinners that made my mouth water and my senses tingle with joy. The main course, Baked Balsamic Agave Chicken, was succulent and flavorful. We munched Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes on the side. And we capped off the dinner with these delicious Quinoa and Parmesan Stuffed Roasted Tomatoes. These are easy to make, ridiculously healthy, and absolutely perfect to serve on the side of a some sort of grilled masterpiece of an entree. Nosh. Nosh. Nosh.

There is something magical about simple ingredients combined in the right proportions. These tomatoes are bursting with flavor, and the flavor of these little beauties is enhanced by roasting them. Simple, real, whole food, minus all of the junk and gunk that come in those supermarket pre-packaged foods. Oh yeah. Music to my ears. Or tongue. Whatever.

Rustic Mediterranean Flatbread Pizza

Someday, I will lounge on the shores of a Mediterranean island, soaking up the sunshine. In the evening, I will make dinner from cheese and eggs produced from my own cows and chickens and vegetables from my small garden, and I will inhale the scent of sea air and millenia of civilization. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? Dinner last night was a little less than my Mediterranean heaven, but it was still danged good, took 20 minutes, and embodied the flavors that I imagine linger heavy in the air in my dream paradise. This recipe is adaptable in a million ways and can be tailored to suit the individual palates of anyone at your dinner table.

The most amazing part of this dish is the flatbread base. I have made this several ways and it never disappoints. The bread comes together so quickly that it will wow you, cooks in a matter of 3-5 minutes, and has this wonderful earthy flavor from the extra-virgin olive oil. The original recipe (courtesy of Deb from Smitten Kitchen) uses fresh rosemary, and it is divine that way. I wanted more of plain base for a pizza crust and omitted the rosemary, but topped the flatbread with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to add some flavor and complexity before topping them with some great fresh veggies and cheese and spicy Italian sausage. Talk about yummy in the tummy. Hubby and I devoured ours quickly. You could substitute feta for mozzarella, add kalamata olives or sun-dried tomatoes, chicken, oh heck, anything that tickles your fancy. Personally, I loved the heat and slight fennel flavor of the spicy Italian sausage, and highly recommend using that as your topping. 

Cilantro Cheddar Burgers with Blackened Corn and Tomato Salsa

Almost two years ago, my best friend in the entire universe/my soul-mate in a Meredith Grey and Christina Yang kind of way, met a handsome man hailing from Mexico City. A year later, they were married and off to wedded bliss. Over the course of their courtship and marriage, I have been the beneficiary of many a delicious Mexican themed meal, including the Blackened Corn Salsa in this recipe. It's something she found on Epicurious and then worked into a number of different meals. Well, the other day I was hankering for a juicy burger and thought, "hmmm....a burger with Blackened Corn Salsa? I think, YES!" So I altered things a little bit to fit available ingredients and crafted this delicious little number. And thus, the Cilantro Cheddar Burger with Blackened Corn and Tomato Salsa was born. A light should be descending from heaven at this moment. This is a killer meal. It's real, whole food, with lots of flavor and room for personal taste.

In a culture obsessed with fad diets, health shortcuts, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to eat well, many people dismiss burgers as junk food. Yes, a burger from a fast-food joint or, in all honesty, a majority of restaurants are not good for you. They are made with low-grade meat (or the dreaded "pink slime"), full of fat, drowned in calorie and preservative-laden sauces, and usually three times the size of a standard serving. These burgers are not the same as burgers you will see on my blog, or pretty much any burger you can make at home. Using high-quality beef (or even ground turkey or chicken), keeping the toppings fresh and healthy, using a whole-wheat bun (high-fructose corn syrup free, of course) and limiting any sauces or spreads can leave you with an amazing burger. You won't even miss the taste of whatever junk you are getting at the Golden Arches, or the 2500 calorie burger from Ruby Tuesday. Trust me. A burger can be a great option at home, and it can be healthy! My final word-anyone who tells you that a frozen, preservative-packed microwave "diet meal" is healthier than a lean, homemade burger is severely misinformed. Whole food eating is always superior, and when prepared by you at home, is much more healthy. Get ready to eat some delicious burgers!

Quinoa, Lentil, Squash and Tomato Stuffed Peppers

There are some foods that should be your best friend. Quinoa is my best friend, for sure. We're super tight. We chill at least once a week. My other best friends are a little less healthy...cream cheese, well, any cheese to be exact, chocolate, bread...yeah. So I decided to make a new friend on the playground a few months ago. Her name is Lentil. Confession-I knew Lentil well during my childhood. My mom cooked with lentils all the time, especially a really yummy lentil soup that I have yet to make on my own. Lentils are packed with nutrients and a great, inexpensive addition to your cooking arsenal. I made a great one-pot meal with chicken and lentils a few months ago, and I was inspired to attempt something different today. So I am teaming up Quinoa and Lentil and we're going to have a grand old time.

The product of this blessed union of amazing food are these Quinoa, Lentil, Squash and Tomato Stuffed Peppers. This healthy, whole-foods, natural meal is a winner in terms of nutrition and taste. It is also vegetarian (it could easily be vegan if you omit the cheese) and super simple in terms of preparation. The lentil and quinoa mixture also contains some fresh zucchini and summer squash and chopped tomato, all encased in green bell pepper and topped with crunchy Panko and fresh mozzarella. I would prefer to make these with red bell peppers, but I had green on hand, so that's what we are using today!

These are delicious, extremely healthy and packed with fiber, protein and vitamins and minerals. Hubby ate his with great gusto and remarked about how good they were! We ate ours by just cutting them in half and enjoying the crunchy pepper shell and deliciously seasoned filling. We paired ours with fresh fruit and enjoyed an awesome, easy to prepare meal. Try these out. You might be surprised how much you like them. And your body will thank you so much for not stuffing it with Velveeta cheese instead ;) They are also really budget-friendly and a great way to create a meal that doesn't depend on meat.

Quinoa Stuffed Italian Zucchini Boats

The past four days of my life have been crayyyyyzaaaayyyyy. Yes. I must use that specific amount of hyperbole. We had a cute four-year-old niece sleep over, a filthy dog that rolled in all sorts of outdoor nastiness, a fun dinner party with friends, and family dinner and all sorts of little in-between things that came up. Most inconvenient of all was the terrible weather that rendered it impossible to take decent pictures inside, and the loss of water in our house on Saturday morning. Suffice it to say that I did not document any of my cooking exploits Friday-Sunday. I will put those recipes up in the near future when I take another swing at them.

Today, though, I am making a yummy, simple supper-these quick and easy Quinoa Stuffed Italian Zucchini Boats, and a post to come in the near future, a fast and good for your belly and your soul summery Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad with Apples on Whole Wheat. Look for that one soon!

We got a ton of pretty little Italian squashes in our Bountiful Basket produce haul this week. I had to come up with a few dishes that used them this week, and this is the first. I have never really cared for zucchini unless it was baked and covered in cheese, marinated and grilled, or grated up into bread or heavenly Chocolate Zucchini Cake. These little boats are a great new addition to my limited list of methods of zucchini consumption. They are roasted to bring out their natural flavor, stuffed with deliciously seasoned quinoa and baked to meld all of the flavors together. You will love these. I think kids will enjoy them a lot, and they are really, really easy to whip up. If you have 10 minutes of prep time, you can make these babies and then you can eat them and feel satisfied that you made an amazing, whole-food meal that is nutritious and absolutely mouth-watering. This could easily be made vegan if you omit the cheese.

Fresh Egg Pasta with Tomato, Basil and Garlic Sauce-Fresh Pasta Tutorial Included

Don't you just want to dive into that?

I think I have marinara sauce in my veins. There are few things in this world that can make me as weak in the knees as the combination of tomato, garlic, basil and a delicious Italian cheese. I grew up in New England, raised on the cooking and baking of some very skilled Italian aunts and a mother who makes a killer sauce and meatballs. My dear Italian Nona, bless her heart, seems to have passed all of the cooking genes down a few generations and failed to keep any for herself. I'm grateful for this marinara flowing through my veins and for the torrid love affair I have had for the past few years with learning the basics of Italian cooking.

I haven't been to Italy (keep in mind that my dream vacation is eating my way through Europe with my best friend), but I think culinary curing in the Boston/New York/New Jersey area is the second best thing. I have dreams of  melt-in-your-mouth fresh zeppole, made in front of you at the local Catholic Italian Church feast. I fantasize about perfectly pounded and fried chicken parmigiana, or pizza with a crust so thin that you can cook it in five minutes flat. Someday, I will go to my ancestral homeland and come back 30 pounds heavier, stuffed with mozzarella and polenta and San Marzano tomatoes and fresh pasta. For now, I will be as authentic as I can in my little kitchen in the Salt Lake Valley.

My mother is an angel, and for my birthday last month, sent me a hand-crank pasta machine, complete with a beautiful Cook's Illustrated pasta cookbook and ravioli mold. Aren't they beautiful? I love my husband, but if this pasta machine asked me to run away with it and live on a white, sandy beach, I might consider it.

Fire Roasted Tomato Kale Soup with Italian Sausage

Sometimes the only cure for a nasty cold is a warm bowl of soup. I love me some good chicken noodle, but the lack of grocery shopping this week (yet another side effect of this blasted cold) resulted in a new soup creation based on available ingredients. It only took a half hour, and is it stinkin' delicious. I want to make 10 pots of this deliciousness and run down the streets of our neighborhood singing and dishing out hot bowls of this soup, like I am in a Disney movie. Okay, that's just the cold medicine talking. But make this soup and you will see what I am talking about. It is heaven. In your mouth. Throw in a soft, buttery breadstick, and you will swear you have died and gone to the great beyond. Just a heads up-the breadsticks are a shameless indulgence. White flour and butter. But man, are they delicious. Just enjoy it and have a better day tomorrow.

A quick note-this soup is packed with kale. I don't know if you like kale, or have ever even tried it, but kale is a superfood. It is loaded with essential nutrients, and it is delicious. I am a New England girl at heart, and we ate kale all the time, especially in savory soups on cold winter days, steam rising out of the bowl as our breath fogged up cold windowpanes. It was very Robert Frost and Norman Rockwell. So trust me, and use the kale.

Ok...here we go. I don't have as many pictures for this post as I usually do. A lot of my ingredients were pre-prepped and in the freezer. But the result will still taste good-I promise!