Lately, I’ve been falling into that old trap of mine – how just when something starts going the right way, you wonder why it isn’t going even further.  You want to know how long it will take you to get to milestone 20 instead of celebrating milestone 2.

Smashed Potatoes (adapted from here)
Serves:  6
1 pound baby red potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 thyme sprigs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Clean the red potatoes.  In a small bowl, combine olive oil, salt, and garlic.  Toss with potatoes and place on a single layer onto a cookie sheet  Top with thyme sprigs (I broke mine in half so it covered most of the cookie sheet).  Bake 30 minutes.  Remove the thyme sprigs and remove the leaves.  Scatter thyme over the potatoes.  Carefully, using a large knife, smash down on each potato once.

Preheat the oven to the high broil setting.  Place the potatoes back onto the cookie sheet and broil 2-5 minutes, until lightly crispy.  Serve immediately.

Until the next time my oven is on...

Today is sister K's birthday!  I can't believe she is a quarter-century old.  She's fit a lot into her 25 years.  She's worked hard, graduated from MIT (yes, that famous school for super smart people, like her), and found her husband.  After college, they moved home to NY and both started jobs.  Last year, they got married in a gorgeous ceremony and they are literally made for each other.  It's actually scary sometimes (seriously).
She never slows down though - once they got back from their honeymoon, they started enthusiastically house-hunting.  For the last 6 months, we've followed along with their house hunt - through ups and downs until finally the last few weeks.  They found the best little house - so perfect for them, it's hard to imagine that they could have actually closed on any other house.  So just in the last few weeks alone, she will be starting a fancy new job and her husband E and her just had their offer accepted on that house!  I feel like their life is really coming together and I couldn't be happier for them.  Happy Birthday K!

It's fitting, too, that today is a "Dorm Room Dinner".  I started these when she was just in college, as a way to keep a record of tasty yet easy meals I made for her to follow along with.  She cooks as well as I do now, so there's really no reason for her to indulge in my dorm room dinners.  But I love this one - it looks fantastic and seems so fancy! You could easily serve this easy dish at a dinner party and no one would be any wiser.  

Pecan-Crusted Tilapia (adapted from here)
Serves:  2 (2 filets)
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2/3 pounds tilapia filets
1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  In a small bowl, combine dijon mustard and honey.  Brush the dijon mustard mixture onto the filets.   In another small bowl, combine pecans, panko, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Dredge the filets in the pecan mixture.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 8-12 minutes, until fully cooked.  Serve immediately.

Until the next time my oven is on...

As you saw from Wednesday's post, I've been inspired to incorporate kale and other leafy greens on a more regular basis.  Spinach salads, kale chips, you name it, we have had it! But when I saw this recipe on the Food Network website, I knew it would be the perfect ending to our leafy green week inspired by the book Foodist.

I think you all know by now that John isn't really a picky eater.  No, it's more about how you present the dish to him that will determine whether or not its a "yes" or "no" on the weekly planning menu.  For instance, this pizza was described as meatball white pizza with a little kale on top.  I might have failed to mention that it was more kale than meat but by the time he noticed, it was on his plate and he was happily munching away.  Another success story!

What I love best about the pizza is the kale; the edges get crispy so it's like you're eating cheesy kale chips - tell me that you would turn that down!  Just like my ravioli recipe on Monday, this is one that any veggie hater would gladly scarf down.  In fact, I have made a mental note to make this for my grandmother - the ultimate veggie hater!!  With meatballs and cheese (and yes, on a pizza), I can't see many turning this one down.

 
My first EVER Book Review!  YAY!  When I got "Foodist" in the mail, I started reading the minute it was open – I was excited about new ways to create a healthier lifestyle. The first thing that struck me was how many times the author compares “grocery fruit and vegetables” versus “Whole Foods and Farmer’s Markets fruits and vegetables”. I don’t disagree that there may be a difference, but there's also a major difference in price. 

In NYC you have some more options available; for instance the Union Square Greenmarket does take EBT dollars, which helps families on tight budgets. In California, where the author lives, there are also plenty more farmer’s markets. But in many other places, families don’t have that kind of access everywhere around them. Despite this, I threw myself into the "Foodist" healthstyle (what the author calls the diet). It's not fair to review something if we haven't fully tried it right?

Quickly, I started seeing the impact in my own life. Soon, I was trading the pizza that turned up at work for the yogurt I had brought. And, I changed my yogurt from the “sweet and fruity” ones to one that is completely plain and I added muesli to control my sugar intake. We went out for a work function and after eating one not-so-good stuffed mushroom, I didn’t bother to try the rest of the passed appetizers when before I would have gobbled it up just because I was hungry!
John and I also began incorporating a ton of leafy greens into our diet.  It's not like they were lacking before but we are making a conscious effort now to have some green on every plate we eat.  In honor of Foodist I have 2 kale recipes for you this week - the Homemade Raviolis and a Kale Pizza (on Friday).  The other change we made about eating was doing so "mindfully".  I do believe that most of my eating is mindless.  John and I are talking and before you know it, that bag of pretzels or dinner or dessert is just gone.  Everyone, I'm sure has a moment where they eat something, look down, and think, wow done already?  The sad thing is, the rest of my day, I am very mindful of my actions.  I am even mindful planning dinner menus.  So, why do I eat mindlessly when food is one of the things I'm most passionate about?

We make the choice every day to take the stairs over the elevator or escalator but for the last few weeks I've also been walking to my work on the  11th and down from there each night.  I’m not saying that all these new, small choices enabled me to lose weight (they didn’t) but we both agree that we feel healthier making these kinds of lifestyle changes.  
Thus far, then, I’ve been successful at both breakfast and lunch makeovers (no more sugary yogurts in our house!). The one habit I did try to break which proved to be more difficult was my daily dose of ice cream. Despite the author’s suggestion of some “sliced strawberries” as a substitute, nothing satisfied that sweet frozen treat as my reward for the end of a day. I’m not done working on different ideas, but for now, the ice cream stays. 3 1/2 stars.

You can find Darya Pino Rose on her blog, Twitter, and Facebook!  To read more reviews, check out all the stops on the book tour HERE!

John's dad got us a Williams-Sonoma gift card for Christmas that we've been slowly savoring with small purchases that we make, basically whenever we head that way and want to treat ourselves!  The first thing I purchased are these ravioli presses.  Why?  Because I am obsessed with all handmade Italian foods.  I think it's partly channeling my grandmother and partly reminiscing about our wonderful times in the North End.  And how we miss it.

One of the things we miss most (and unrelated to seeing old friends or having a life) is the number of delicious Italian restaurants in the area, that our new neighborhood sorely lacks.  I had promised John a few weeks ago when we bought sausage that I would make raviolis.  He's been doing a ton lately around the house while I work like a crazy lunatic lady (I wish I was kidding).  Of course, these types of recipes usually involve me halfway through, having some sort of mental breakdown because it's taken me 3 hours instead of the 1 hour I thought it would and I've burned myself on 4 different pans.

That's when John gets up from the couch (reluctantly) and pitches in to help me out.  It's no surprise that one of my favorite things about him is his selflessness but it's also the fun we have together in the kitchen!  As you'll see on Wednesday, we're also trying lots of new foods and he's embracing those too!  I love that he's embraced my passion and gotten more involved with dinners, prep, and planning.  It makes it more fun.  Now if only I could embrace his passion for cars in the same way.  For now, we'll just enjoy some homemade raviolis.

Homemade Raviolis with Sausage-Kale Stuffing (adapted from Cook's Illustrated page 281)
Serves:  4 (32 raviolis)
Dough:
2 cups flour
3 eggs

Filling:
1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup ricotta
1 egg yolk
1 cup kale, chopped small
2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
 
In a food processor, combine flour and eggs until a ball forms.  Knead the ball on a flat surface for 1-2 minutes.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes (up to 2 hours).

Meanwhile, remove the sausage from its casing.  Then, in a heavy-bottomed pan, brown the meat over medium high heat until fully cooked through (about 8-12 minutes).  Break up large chunks and let cool.


Start a large pot of water boiling over high heat.

In a large bowl, combine garlic, ricotta, egg yolk, kale, and Italian seasoning.  Add cooled sausage and mix well. 

Roll the dough out to the finest thickness possible*.  Place 2 tablespoons of filling about 1-inch apart on the dough.  Fold the dough over itself and press down to ensure there are no air pockets.  Use the ravioli presses to cut the raviolis.  Drop the raviolis into the boiling water immediately and cook for about 60 seconds, until the raviolis float to the top and turn a pale white.

Serve immediately with the sauce of your choice.

*I do not use a machine to roll out dough.  I split the dough into threes and work each one individually with a rolling pin (good way to get the aggression out).  If we had room, I'd prefer the manual machine since you have more control.  Automatic machines are fine though - however you can roll out the dough to be as thin as possible. 

Until the next time my oven is on...