Sometimes after too many nights out, and too many pizzas in, you just need to eat something really healthy. Something to make you feel good about yourself again (because that half a pizza, mozzarella sticks and brownie the size of your face, are still making your stomach turn).
You’re in luck because I have just the dish for you! And guess what? In addition to being healthy, it also tastes so so SO good!!!
The word “balance” is thrown out a lot in our lives.
You’re supposed to have a balance between work and play; we all need physical balance, especially when in a crow pose in yoga class or trying to balance our love of chocolate with our love of fitting into our jeans is always a challenge. When it comes to our food, that little word is thrown around like peanuts at a baseball game.
Since the premier of my show Junk Food Flip (Tuesdays, 9pmET on Cooking Channel), people have been asking me a lot about re-making comfort food dishes (probably because that is the premise of the show).
So today I had to share with you one of my absolute favorite recipe flips.
Many of us can’t imagine having dinner for breakfast, but it seems like we can all get on that "breakfast for dinner" train.
It may be hard to imagine having steak and potatoes at 7 a.m., but having eggs at 7 p.m. always sounds like a good idea.
I love anything with Buffalo sauce on it. One time Buffalo sauce landed on my phone and I seriously considered eating it.
Since I am from Buffalo you would think that this love affair started back when I was growing up, eating some of the best wings in the world. However, in actuality I didn’t even eat a chicken wing until many years later after I left those Buffalo winters behind.
I’m a huge cabbage fan...I’m also a huge Buffalo Bills fan, but for now let’s just focus on the cabbage. There is no need to get into a heated football debate until at least August.
Once you start looking at cabbage as more than just a main ingredient in sauerkraut or coleslaw, you will start to see how versatile it can really be.
I recently found myself in Kentucky with my good friend Damaris Phillips. To go along with the bourbon that you know is always on her table, she made me a sandwich with her signature tomato aioli.
Back home in NYC I found myself seriously craving her aioli, I needed more (but not more bourbon, I’m done with bourbon for a while). It was so rich, so meaty and so deep in flavor that I would not be forgetting it anytime soon.
A Horror Story:
Written by: Nikki Dinki
Sue and her date go to a local restaurant for a nice meal out. Sue orders the salmon, her date the steak and each meal comes with a side of vegetables. They chatter, flirt and then...the meal comes...all they can do is stare in horror at their plates.
It’s not the salmon or the steak that get their attention but that sad, mushy, flavorless, over-steamed broccoli thrown haphazardly on the plate. It’s blatantly obvious that no one at this restaurant cares about broccoli. And being advocates for Broccoli’s rights (ABRs they call themselves) they get up and march out of the restaurant.
For they know, as I do, that broccoli should NEVER be treated this way...
The end.
You see, I didn’t always love broccoli, I’ll admit it. The green tree-like vegetable and me had a bumpy relationship at first. But how can anyone fall in love with this green goddess when she is so often treated and dressed, so poorly?!
There are not often tears shed in my kitchen, but the event has taken place before. It actually became a frequent occurence years ago when I really got on a pizza making kick.
I had acquired the ESSENTIAL pizza making tool- the pizza stone. The magical stone that when pizza is cooked upon- the crust is crisp on the outside but remains chewy on the inside. It had changed my pizza making experience. There was only one problem, transferring the perfectly topped raw pizza onto the stone that had to be preheated in the oven...
And this is where the tears came in...
I'm convinced that the reason Broccoli Cheddar soup is so popular is because parents like that they can sneak a vegetable into a kids' bowl and disguise it as Cheese soup.
And let's face it! There are times when all of us would rather cozy up to a hot and cheesy bowl of soup rather than a bowl of steamy veggies.
And so we pat ourselves on the back for choosing such a healthy option while still feeding that inner child who is craving comfort food in a bowl.
The squirrels in NYC can get a little close... too close for my liking.
Through years of experiencing that getting close to humans results in the receiving of french fries, pretzels and maybe if they're lucky a classic NYC hot dog (probably better that they eat it than us), these little guys have no fear.
I was reminiscing yesterday, remembering that very first cooking video I shot in my kitchen. The lighting wasn't great, the sound was a little off, and as I felt the need to explain everything in utmost detail, it was entirely too long.
But people started watching. And since I was featuring “Zucchini Noodles” a fairly new and exciting concept no one seemed to mind the low budget quality or rambling host.
That first video is what started everything...
I love food (obviously). And I have made a happy deal with myself that I can have the pasta, garlic bread (and the brownie too) as long as I workout... but this can be a flawed deal.
I only have so many hours to spend in the gym working off said meal and let's face it, working out sucks. So I made a new deal. I cook healthier dishes during the week and the more indulgent selections are kept for the weekends.
Since being pregnant, I have been on a real fruit kick. I think I- or maybe I should say, the small human being in my tummy is craving sugar. SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR...and water!!
There is nothing like waking up in the middle of the night desperate to slurp water out of the faucet. Isn't pregnancy beautiful?!
So fruit is kind of the perfect food that my body wants right now. Sweet with natural sugars and jam packed with juicy goodness.
And yes, I'll admit, a little better for me than the sour patch kids and gummy worms which have been finding their way into my candy drawer lately.
A couple times a week this happens in my house...
It's 8:30 and my husband comes home only to find me on the computer, blogging, producing, editing, writing (maybe online shopping ;) and he meekly says “What's for dinner?”
You see, at this point in our marriage he is well aware that if he doesn’t walk in to find me rocking to 90's pop with the kitchen in full-on disaster mode than I'm probably not making dinner.
I love a good salad, the crunch from the lettuce, the tang from the dressing, and the hidden surprises of things like chewy cranberries and juicy oranges.
The only real problem that I have with salads is that they don't contain carbs.
I know, you're asking yourself why that is so important... Well, guys...
I'm a carboholic...
RECIPE:
¼ Olive Oil
8 Garlic Cloves - sliced
6-8 Large Tomatoes cut into 1 inch chunks or 3 pints cherry/grape tomatoes
3-4tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
3-4 Tbs Chopped Basil
1lbs Linguine
2 Chicken Breast, split in half, breaded and cooked See Recipe
Heat oil in a pan on medium low and add garlic. Cook till just slightly golden about 3-5minutes and add tomatoes. Let tomatoes cook until tender, 15 -20minutes. Smash tomatoes down with a spoon and add vinegar, basil and salt, cook for another 5-15minutes until you have the consistency you want. Taste to see if it needs more salt. Toss with pasta and serve.
Serves 4-6 portions
Notes:
Kabocha squash is like that quirky but cute guy you have been eyeing at the grocery store but are too afraid to approach. There is something about him that intrigues you and you have a feeling that he's better for you then some of the other handsome junk in the store but...
He seems like too much work to get to know. You wouldn’t even know where to begin. And so you walk away from Mr. Kabocha Squash, never knowing the love affair that could have been.
If you know me at all, you know that more than anyone or anything...
I LOVE CHEESE.
Yes, my husband knows, it's just something he has to accept, we are working through it.
Up until I was 20 years old my diet was beyond questionable. Growing up as the pickiest of eaters my go-to list of foods included; bread (only white please), canned tomato sauce (only Prego of course), ramen noodle soup (the 25cent kind), cereal (anything with sugar), and of course CHEESE.
You see even when my diet resembled that of an anti-Atkins child, cheese was always there for me.
Every time I have moved in NYC (and those times have been many) there is always one very important question to ask before even considering the place.
Sure, you can ask about the cost, utilities, pets and other trivial things but let’s get down to the nitty gritty... because there is only one really important question, and that is....
Where is the closest grocery store??
You see there are many places in NYC where you have to walk 15-20 minutes for a grocery store. Some people even have to take a subway or god forbid...a bus!
And though some would argue that you can get your groceries delivered and it's not a big deal, these people obviously don't understand how often I go to the grocery store.
So when my current apartment building boasted a grocery store in the building well... I was sold.
