It’s been a while since I’ve been hard at work in the kitchen.  I moved this past summer and my new place has a much smaller kitchen and I have truthfully been just a little too busy to enjoy a meal.  But that all changed yesterday.  We celebrated our family Christmas (I know, I know… we were a day late) with a wonderful meal of Spezzatino (an Italian type of stew), Spinach Ricotta Lasagna (for the vegetarians in the family), a big bowl of Caesar Salad with home made dressing and Vinarterta (courtesy of my sister’s boyfriend’s mother – I’ve never had it before but it was really yummy so I’m going to give it the Accidental Chef treatment in the coming months) and Ice Cream cake for dessert.

To all you celebrate this festive season, remember, it’s not about the food but about the family and friends you have the pleasure of celebrating with. Here’s hoping you created some wonderful memories to last a lifetime.

Spinach Ricotta Lasagna

For the filling:

1 1/2 pound ricotta
2 pounds fresh spinach
2 ounces unsalted butter
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch freshly grated nutmeg

For the tomato sauce:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium carrot, diced
1 medium celery stalk, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley
5 large basil leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 28 ounce can plus 1 14 ounce can plum tomatoes with juice, coarsely chopped

For the Bechamel sauce:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole milk, heated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch freshly grated nutmeg

For the assembly

3/4 pound fresh lasagna noodles
1 batch of tomato sauce
1 batch of Bechamel sauce
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

To make the filling: Drain the ricotta in a fine sieve set over a bowl for an hour (or overnight if you have the time). I n the meantime, stem the spinach and rinse it well.  No need to dry the leaves.  In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the spinach until wilted (about 3 to 5 minutes). Drain well and let cool until it can be handled safely.  Squeeze out the excess moisture and chop finely.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the onion.  Cook until translucent (about 5 minutes).  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add the spinach and toss it for two minutes to coat with butter.  Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Add the ricotta, parmesan, eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Mix well.

To make the tomato sauce: In a 4-quart sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the carrot, celery, onion, parsley, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the vegetables are pales goal (about 10 minutes).  Add the wine and cook until it evaporates, about 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes with their juices, stir well, and simmer gently about 15 to 20 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Pass the sauce through a food processor (optional) if you want a smoother texture.

To make the Bechamel sauce:  In a 2-quart sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly for 3 minutes.  Be careful not to let the mixture brown.  Slowly whisk in th ehot milk and bring to a simmer, whisking frequently.  Reduce heat to low and cook, whisking frequently, until the sauce has thickened to a creamy consistency (about 8 minutes).  Remove from heat and whisk in salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Transfer to a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to keep a skin from form while you assemble the lasagna.

To assemble the lasagna: Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 350F.  Using a 9X13 in casserole dish, spread 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.  Cover the sauce with a slightly overlapping layer of noodles.

With a spatula (or by hand!), spread one-third of the spinach and ricotta filling over the noodles.  Spread one-third of the remaining tomato sauce and one-third of the Bechamel sauce over the spinach ricotta filling.  Spinkle 1/3 cup of parmesan on top.

Add a new layer of noodles and repeat as per above (filling, tomato sauce and Bechamel sauce).  Top each layer with parmesan.  Top the final layer (you should have enough filling for a three layer lasagna) with noodles, tomato sauce, bechamel sauce and parmesan.

Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the tin foil and bake another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

One of my first outings when I moved back to the city was to Chinatown.  Living in London, the Thai options were limited to food courts in the Mall.  I eagerly headed downtown for a feast for the tummy!  This chicken noodle salad is based on one of the dishes I enjoyed.

Thai Chicken Noodle Salad

For the salad

4 cups egg noodles, cooked
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1/2 cup snow peas, blanched
2 cups iceberg lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup peanuts, roasted and unsalted

For the dressing

1 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
5 teaspoons sesame oi
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 teaspoon pepper

To make the dressing: Mix all ingredients together.

To make the salad: Place all ingredients except the red peppers in a large bowl.  Toss with 1 cup of the dressing.  Serve in large bowls and garnish with chopped red peppers.

Kitchen Table Talk…

If this recipe brings back memories of Thailand, please share it with your friends and family through your favorite social media service.

It’s rare that I head into the kitchen and think “What am I going to bake today?“  Other than the occasional cheesecake or loaf of banana bread, I guess you can say I’m not much of a baker.

I do get inspired every once in a while as you can see by the recipes in the Desserts section of the site and today was one of those days.

I had some over ripe bananas and instead of turning them into banana bread, I decided to experiment and make muffins.  Here’s my new banana muffins recipe. Enjoy!

Banana Muffins

1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 medium egg
2 whole over-ripe bananas
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a blender, blend the buttermilk, oil, egg, bananas, cinnamon and ginger on high speed until smooth.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and then whisk in brown sugar (be sure to break up any lumps).  Pour in wet ingredients and fold them together until just moist.

Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.  Divide the batter into muffin cups.

Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

The Key To Mixing Muffins

The key to making fluffy muffins is to not overmix your muffin batter and to work quickly. Here’s a great video that helped me perfect my technique:

Kitchen Table Talk…

If this recipe has you saying Mmm…muffins, please share it with your friends and family through your favorite social media service.

Today is International Women’s Day. For the past few years, I have been participating (as a listener, not a speaker) in a special summit designed by women, exclusively for women.

The summit is the pet project of a dear friend of mine, Tera Warner, who though we may not always have time in our schedules to connect as much as we used to, still holds a special place in my heart.

In honor of International Women’s Day, she’s brought together an amazing list of speakers to share their wisdom and knowledge about a diverse set of topics of particular interest to women (though I’m sure a few men participate in the summit as well).

WISH SUMMIT: The Women’s International Summit for Health

I’m not sure what you usually do to celebrate a big event like this, but if you’re not too busy… I have a suggestion for you:

It’s an online summit with 40 of the best, most inspiring luminaries, authors and change-makers on the planet.

It starts today and it’s FREE like the air you breathe!

It really doesn’t cost anything and it never will!

The whole event lasts for 40 days and 40 nights and you can download all the calls so you can listen in your car, at the gym, on the way to work!

WISH: The Women’s International Summit for Health, has been called by many as the world’s BEST online summit.

You can find out why for yourself when you sign up.

I invite you to check it out, tune in to the wisdom of the WISH Summit and prepare yourself for the next, great adventure in living a passionate, purposeful, empowered life!

Happy Shrove Tuesday! I just happened to catch a tweet about Mardi Gras starting soon and realized that Lent is almost upon us… which meant that buttermilk pancakes would soon be gracing my table for dinner.

While I admit that I often make pancakes from a premade mix, occasionally, I go the extra step of preparing my own batter.  Enjoy!

Buttermilk Pancakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1 whole egg
2 teaspoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

In large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, butter and vanilla; pour over dry ingredients and whisk until combined.

Lightly brush large nonstick skillet or griddle with some of the oil; heat over medium-high heat. Using 1/4 cup per pancake, pour batter onto griddle.  Cook until bubbles appear on top, about 3 minutes.  This is the part that always makes me impatient.  I always flip the first one or two pancakes too early LOL  Flip and cook until bottom is golden brown, about 1 minute.  Top with maple syrup and butter and serve.

Note: I haven’t mastered making my own gluten-free pancake mix yet but when I do, I’ll be sure to share it with you.

Kitchen Table Talk…

Will you be serving pancakes today? If you like this post, share it with your friends and family through your favorite social media service.

I’ve always been interested in nutrition and health.  It started back in high school, long before I ever picked up a pot or pan and started experimenting in the kitchen.  My mom had a subscription to Prevention magazine which I would read cover to cover the minute it arrived. The health section of the newspaper was also a great source of daily information on health and wellness topics.  Plus I had a few wonderful mentors who I loved dearly and from whom I learned by example: they all ate well and were very well versed about what they put in their bodies and the things to do to live an optimal life.

Around the same time, I also became a gym rat, joining my first gym when I was 16 and starting a daily exercise habit which I’ve kept up over the years.

But sometimes life gets in the way, as it did this past Fall, and I fall off the healthy wagon.  As a result, I started to eat poorly, started to sleep badly, and stopped exercising.  I tend not to beat myself up about these things because… life happens!  And I know that I usually get back on track once things settle down.

Or sometimes I stumble across something online that sparks my interest and gets me excited about getting back to my healthier habits!

That’s what happened earlier this year.  One of my Facebook friends “liked” a page and it grabbed my attention: Eat Stop Eat.

I’ll admit, it’s not my first experience with intermittent fasting.  When I used to work with the creator of the Body Enlightenment System, I used to fast for 24 hours every time we ran the 30 day cleanse program.

But I never really bothered to learn much about the science behind fasting.  I did it because it was part of the program and the person who designed the program is someone I know and trust.

When I stumbled across Eat Stop Eat, I was ready to learn more about why intermittent fasting works, not to mention use it as a way to get back on track with my healthy habits.

And it worked!  It took me about an hour to devour the 144 page ebook and by the end of it, I was ready to give intermittent fasting a try.

I’ve been following a plan of intermittent fasting for about a month now and I can honestly say that I am pleased with the results.  I find that on my fasting days, I am more focused and alert and approach my work with renewed passion and love for what I do.

I’ve also lost a few inches around my waistline and while I haven’t stepped on a scale yet, I’m certain that I’ve lost a few pounds.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results so far and will definitely keep you posted about my progress.  And best of all, the program is so simple, it’s a no-brainer that anyone can follow this lifestyle.

I encourage you to check out the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle today.  You’ll be glad you did.

Happy Valentine’s Day! I know I’ve been absent from the kitchen for a while and thought it would be great to come back today and share a few recipes that will be emerging from my kitchen today.

What I love about preparing food on Valentine’s Day is that it’s one of the rare times of the year where I pay attention to color and incorporate red into the food, as well as my table.  I’m hoping that I will be treated to a night out for dinner but you will find today’s breakfast and lunch below.

Enjoy!  And Happy Valentine’s Day!

Lovely Raspberry Smoothie

I always start my morning off with a smoothie… of one kind or another. Today’s smoothie will be a lovely pink, the perfect way to start my Valentine’s Day.  This makes enough smoothie to share with someone you love.

2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
3/4 cup low fat yogurt (I usually use plain or vanilla flavored yogurt)
1/2 cup almond milk

Whiz up all three ingredients in a blender or Vitamix. Pour into a glass (or two) and serve.  Note: You will likely end up with seeds in your smoothie.

I Heart Rice Salad

Lunch will have a touch of red in the form of peppers and dried cranberries.  Tossed with a homemade lime dressing, it’s yum!  Again, this recipe makes enough to share.

1 cup long grain brown rice, cooked
1/2 whole English cucumber, thinly sliced
1 whole red pepper, chopped
2 whole stalks celery, chopped
1/8 cup green onion, chopped
a handful dried cranberries

For the Lime Dressing

2 tablespoons lime juice (1-2 limes depending on their freshness)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
1/2 tablespoon sweet chili sauce (you can find a variety of Thai or Asian sauces in most major grocers)
1/4 tablespoon vegetable or other cooking oil (experiment… there are some great light oils that can add a different layer of flavor)
1/2 clove garlic, minced

Put the salad ingredient (the first six listed above) in a large bowl.  Toss together.

To make the lime dressing: Combine all ingredients in a glass mason jar.  Fit lid and secure tightly.  Shake well…. have a little fun with this.  You can turn on some salsa music and shake along to the beat! Drizzle over the salad.  Toss well and serve.  Makes about 3 cups of salad.

Kitchen Table Talk…

Will you be dining in or out this evening? Feel free to share your creations in the comment area below. Or if you like this post, share it with your friends and family through your favorite social media service.

For personal reasons, I wasn’t much in the Christmas spirit this year.  I didn’t send out Christmas cards, didn’t really do much Christmas shopping (just for the kids) or even put up lights outside the house.  I just didn’t feel like celebrating though I did keep up a few of our family traditions.

As Christmas drew closer, I started to think of different ways to celebrate the season.  I usually get excited shopping for gifts and it’s usually pretty easy.  I have a good memory so if you tell me in July that you started a new business or that you broke your favorite tea mug, chances are you’ll find a replacement mug under the tree or even business cards to promote yourself.

That’s why, when it came time to select gifts for my sisters-in-law this year, I thought I’d do something a little different and make them food gifts.  They both meet a few times a year to enjoy dinner at Milestones Restaurant and typically have a mixed greens salad with goat cheese, strawberries and honey dijon dressing.  I opted to make them food gifts this year: a jar of honey dijon dressing and toasted pecans (actually, they ended up being walnuts as the grocery store was out of pecans!).

Don’t they look yummy?

Honey Dijon Salad Dressing

1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large glass mixing bowl. Whisk vigorously until emulsified (or pulse it in a Magic Bullet!).  Can be stored for several weeks in an air tight container in fridge.  Shake well before serving.

Candied Pecans Recipe

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup pecans
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter and sugar in frying pan on medium heat. Add pecans and heat until toasted (some of the sugar may not dissolve, that’s okay!). Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract (carefully! it will fizzle and bubble when you add the liquid). Pour onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and spread out flat. Cool. Store in air tight container in the pantry for up to two weeks.

I don’t know about you but I get all turkey’d out over the holidays.  So when I passed one of the local restaurants when I was Christmas shopping and recalled the yummy dinner that my friend had the last time we dined there, I knew what I’d be making for dinner on the eve of Christmas Eve: Korean BBQ Short Ribs. 

I quickly Googled for a recipe, just to get the basic idea of what I needed, and eagerly headed to the grocery store to pick up what I needed.  This is the first time I’ve made short ribs, never mind Korean style short ribs, but they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. 

I know what I’ll do differently next time (mainly, not listen to the advice of the other ‘chefs’ in the family, as it’s true what they say, too many of them do spoil the broth!) but for the first time out, they were tasty and reminded me of summer.  Once I’ve perfected the recipe, they may just become a new Christmas Eve Eve Tradition!

Koren BBQ Short Ribs

3/4 cup good quality, reduced-salt, gluten-free soy sauce
3/4 cup water (I might try a sweet rice wine next time)
3 tablespoons white vinegar (I might try rice vinegar next time)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup garlic, minced
1/2 large onion, minced
3 pounds short ribs

Pour soy sauce, water, and vinegar into a large glass bowl.  Whisk in brown sugar, white sugar, pepper and sesame oil until the sugars have dissolved.  Stir in minced garlic and onion.  Grab a large zip lock freezer bag and pour in marinade.  Submerge the ribs in the marinade zip lock bag, squeeze out all the air and seal (you may need to split ribs and marinade between two zip lock bags or use a glass dish and cover with plastic wrap).  Refrigerate 12 hours or over night.  The longer you marinade the ribs, the more tender they will be.  I would occasionally take the ribs out of the fridge and rotate them inside the zip lock bag to evenly distribute the marinade.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat).  Remove ribs from zip lock back, shake off excess marinade and discard marinade.  Working in batches, grill ribs until browned and cooked to medium-rare (about 4 to 7 minutes depending on your grill).  You can also broil your ribs in the oven if you’re unable to BBQ.  Serve with cooked chopped spinach or kimchi (Korean cabbage).

Kitchen Table Talk…

Have you ever been inspired to recreate a meal you have enjoyed when you dined out? Feel free to share your creations in the comment area below. Or if you like this post, share it with your friends and family through your favorite social media service.

This is the first Christmas Eve in recent memory where I will have the entire day to prepare dinner.  The past few years, Christmas Eve has fallen during the work week and I’ve had to rush through dinner prep in a few hours (which isn’t easy when you’re planning for 20!).  Luckily, I work from home so I have the luxury of being able to fit my Accidental Chef duties around my client commitments.  But it’s nice to have a day where I can just focus on being in the kitchen today and reliving the memories of my childhood as the smells and flavors of the dishes come alive.

My kitten is pretty happy too.  She’s sitting patiently beneath the Christmas tree, waiting for the samples of people food she knows are coming her way (once she’s start her cute dance… she’s napping right now LOL).

Christmas Eve was always a special time in my house growing up and I’ve tried to carry on that tradition into my own home.  My mom would be up all night on the 23rd, making the most amazing vegetarian lasagna.  She would roll out the dough by hand until it was paper thin and layer thousands of delicate (okay maybe it was only about six or seven) layers of pasta, her amazing sauce, ricotta, spinach, paper thin strips of zucchini and the best bechamel sauce that added a special touch to her finished dish.  Then she’d roll out enough gnocchi verdi to feed an army (and with five kids, we ate like an army) and make a little Christmas Tree out of strufoli (Italian Honey Balls).  Mmm yum!

When we awoke on Christmas Eve, we’d find her still at her post in the kitchen and open the fridge to peek at what she’d been up to all night.  As a child, my main job on this day was to keep my siblings entertained and out of the kitchen so mom could continue whipping up her amazing feast.  The five of us would head down to the basement and plan our Christmas show.  We had a trunk full of costumes that mom had made us for Halloween and we’d all work on the after dinner entertainment.

Mom would still be busy in the kitchen making a radicchio salad and tiramisu.  She’d pile oranges and grapes and apples in two large bowls on the table that would serve as our centerpiece and our dessert (for some reason, we never got to eat the tiramisu LOL).  One of my sisters would head upstairs at some point to help hold the pot while mom stirred the polenta and help peel the chestnuts and then we’d all be called for dinner.  Oh and did I mention she’d also make fish for my dad… usually a seafood salad and trout.

As we grew older, the menu expanded a bit.  She’d make breaded chicken or chicken saltimbocca and steamed mussels for my sister and would always ask our boyfriends and girlfriends who started to join us for dinner what their favorite dish was and she’d make sure that it was also on the table.  I don’t know how she did it!  My mom is amazing!  Christmas was truly her favorite holiday.  She was happiest when everyone was eating and laughing around the dinner table.c

As if that wasn’t enough, the best part came after dinner, when we were allowed to open one of our Christmas presents: our Secret Santa present (we’d draw names at the table at Thanksgiving).  Then we’d all head downstairs and it would be showtime.

So many happy memories.  Today I will be reliving them fondly as I prepare dinner for my family.  Where ever you are today, I hope that you’re able to enjoy the day with your family and I wish you all the best for the holiday season.

Hugs!

Gnocchi Verdi

2 pounds fresh spinach, washed and cooked or 2 packages frozen spinach (10 ounce boxes)
1 cup ricotta
2 large eggs
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons all-purpose gluten-free flour (or you can use regular flour if you don’t have any food allergies)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter

Grease an oven proof baking dish.

If using fresh spinach: Wash the spinach well, making sure no sand or soil is left on it. Place in saucepan, cover and cook till tender, a few minutes, without the addition of water. The water clinging to the spinach leaves from washing will be enough to cook the spinach with a minimum loss of flavor and nutrients.

If using frozen spinach: Cook spinach according to package directions.

Drain spinach well and let cool. My mom used to squeeze the spinach dry and then leave in the fridge in a colander over night to dry out even more. Squeeze spinach very dry. You can wrap it in a clean tea towel and twist the ends to squeeze as much water as possible from the spinach.

Once sufficiently dry, chop spinach very fine. If you’re using frozen chopped spinach, run your knife through it the few times to chop it more finely. Place in medium bowl.

Stir in ricotta cheese. Again, you can leave this to drain in a cheese cloth over a bowl in the fridge for a few hours or over night.

Add eggs and mix well.

Add 1/3 cup of the Parmesan cheese and 3 tablespoons of flour, the salt, pepper and nutmeg; stir to mix very well.

Refrigerate covered 1 hour. If you’re pressed for time, you can start to roll out your gnocchi and pop into the freezer for 10 minutes before you start cooking.

Sprinkle some additional flour in a shallow baking pan. You may need about half a cup. Lightly roll the gnocchi into round balls (as you would meatballs) and dust lightly with flour. Continue until all the spinach mixture is used.

If you did not chill the spinach mixture before starting, pop your rolled gnocchi in the freezer for 10 minutes. Remove your tray and slip 8 to 10 gnocchi into a large pot of boiling salted water. Return the gnocchi to the fridge or freezer to continue firming while the first batch cooks.

Once you’ve added the gnocchi to the pot of boiling salted water, reduce heat to medium. Cook uncovered until gnocchi are slightly puffed and start to float to the top (about 3-5 minutes). They should be medium firm to the touch. Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon and transfer to a colander or a paper towel-lined plate; then transfer immediately to greased broil proof shallow baking dish.

Reheat water to boiling. Continue cooking and draining gnocchi in batches until all have been cooked.

Arrange gnocchi so that they are in a single layer in the baking dish.

Heat broiler. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Spoon butter over gnocchi; sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Broil gnocchi, 5 inches from heat source, until cheese topping is light brown, 2-3 minutes. Serve at once.