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!

A Mindful Breakfast: Spinach and Tomato Egg White Omelette

Breakfast is the most challenging meal of the day for me. It is difficult to put together a healthy, complete breakfast when your eyes are bleary with sleep and you can barely stand up straight. Being at home during the day has made me more conscious of my breakfast choices, but there are times when I hearken back to the days of commuting an hour and a half to work and quickly scarfing down a Starbucks breakfast sandwich, or whatever piece of chocolate or leftover baked good I could find in my apartment. Then there were those days when I didn't eat breakfast at all, and rectified my low blood sugar with a can of coke at 10 AM...yeah, those were the days. I am a reformed woman, though, and I eat breakfast every day, and 95% of the time, it is healthy and mindfully eaten. I definitely thrive on having a wide selection of breakfast varieties available to me, so that I don't slip back into eating sugary cereals or other nutritionally-deficient options. I usually alternate between oatmeal, fruit, green smoothies and a variety of egg dishes. Today, I am sharing one of my favorite omelettes.

Mindful eating has always been a challenge for me. I have never been a fan of prepackaged food and convenience snacks, but I have always been a fan of anything butter-laden and decadent. I still love desserts and baked indulgences, but I save them for the weekend or special occasions. Anyway, I digress. Back to the point. When I make my food myself and consciously choose to use fresh produce, and the most natural ingredients I can afford, I am a more healthy, happy and satisfied person. My diet directly affects how I feel, and a good breakfast can set the tone for the entire day. This weekend, I had several sodas, pizza, and fast food. I felt awful. I know that is directly related to my dietary choices and my body screaming at me to eat something with nutritional value and devoid of all traces of high-fructose corn syrup.