Cook like an Italian!

May 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

guestgeniusIf you visited Italy recently and you’ve fallen in love with the Italian cuisine, then you certainly want to try some Italian recipes when you get back home – however, this is not easy. Italian people cook with the best ingredients, and some of the recipes are centuries old. This is why reproducing a truly genuine Italian dish is anything but easy – however, with the right practice and mindset, you can bring a piece of this marvelous country into your kitchen!

The serving sequence is also slightly different – unlike most people who serve the main meal in the evening, Italian people prefer to make lunch the most important meal of the day (this is referred to as “pranzo”). In some cases, the pranzo has up to six courses, including the antipasti and the aperitivo, while the regular meals do not have more than three courses (first and second course, along with a dessert).

Image courtesy of Naito8/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Naito8/
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Main Courses

1. Aperitivo

Every formal meal starts with aperitivo, which is the first course served to standing guests. The aperitivo can be cheese, nuts, salt cured beef and such, and it is usually accompanied either by alcoholic or by non-alcoholic beverages.

2. Antipasto



The antipasto is the second course, it is slightly more consistent than the aperitivo and the diners eat it after they are seated. It is not unusual for guests to be full right after the first two courses, given the fact that appetizers are offered in very large quantities in Italy. The Antipasto may include seafood, different types of cheese, pork or bagna cauda, a very popular dish in Italy that includes crudities with garlic, anchovies, olive oil and some carpaccio, which is a special dressing.

3. Primo 

The primo is actually considered the first course, which is also the most substantial one and it seldom includes meat – mainly, the primo includes either risotto or polenta. Guests who attend formal gatherings are usually offered more than just one primo, and the dishes are always served individually.

4. Secondo



As mentioned above, primo usually does not include meats – secondo (the second course) includes different types of meat, though, and they are often accompanies by several different dishes like roasted potatoes or veggies with olive oil dressing.

5. Dolce



After all the substantial courses mentioned above, there comes the dolce (the dessert) – provided that the guests are not full yes, of course. Panna cotta, gelato baked caked or tiramisu are by far some of the most popular and appreciated desserts in Italy, along with custard mixed with gelatine. In some cases, the dessert also involves assorted fruits combined either with nuts or with cheese.



6. Caffe e Digestivo



Last, but not least, there is the caffe e digestivo, which is basically either a digestive herb or a flavored liqueur coupled with an espresso coffee that aids digestion. The exact order may vary – in some cases, the coffee is served prior to the liqueur, while in other cases the liqueur is combined with the coffee.

If you are in love with Italian cuisine, then visiting Italy will certainly offer you a deeper insight into the delicious traditional dishes of Italy – after that, you can easily prepare tasty tiramisu in your very own kitchen!

Written by Maya Johnson, a blogger from Australia. A special thanks to David Marocchi for the insights.

Filed Under: bloggers, recipes Tagged With: , ,

Creamy Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

May 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

guestgeniusBeing born and raised in the south, I was ingrained from a young age that, for every life event, we need some kind of food to go with it. We take food for every occasion: you rarely even visit someone without bringing along something to share. Although I no longer take it to that extreme, I still like to provide a meal for a family when there is a new baby. I know from much experience that coming home with a new baby takes time to adjust, and not having to meal-plan and cook dinner every night is a big relief. With the birth of “Baby Flash,” Lydia (aka Cluttered Genius) needs some fill-in blog posts, and since I am too far away to provide an actual meal, I am making this virtual meal for her:

Today, I am preparing Creamy Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas with a salad and Ro-tel Cheese dip. I have been making these enchiladas for years and years, and the recipe has developed and changed so much that I have no idea where it originally came from. It is not your traditional red sauce enchiladas, and it works well with shrimp, too. My seasonings are approximate as I always season to taste.

Creamy Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Diced
12 Flour Tortillas, Taco or Fajita sized
2 Tblsp Butter
2 Tblsp Flour
2 Cups Milk
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 Tblsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tblsp Fajita Seasoning
2 Tsp Ground Chipotle Pepper
1 Tsp Salt (to taste)
1 Tsp Pepper (to taste)
2 Cups shredded Mexican Cheese
1 Can Ro-tel Diced Tomatoes & Chilies (Mild or Spicy version, at your preference)

  1. First, cut and brown the chicken in a deep sided skillet, seasoning to taste with the fajita seasoning. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
  2. In the same pan, melt butter and add flour to create a Roux with the remaining seasoning. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add milk and stir well to remove lumps. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and add sour cream, paprika, chipotle powder, salt & pepper to your taste preference. Cook for 4-5 minutes till thickened. Remove from heat.
  3. Assemble all ingredients (tortillas, chicken, sauce, cheese & Ro-tel) so they are handy for easy filling and rolling.
    chkn enchiladas ready to assemble
  4. Spray casserole dish for baking lightly with nonstick spray or oil. Cover bottom of pan with cream sauce.
  5. Take each tortilla and fill with spoon full of cream sauce, chicken, sprinkle of cheese and Ro-tel. Roll and place into pan, seam side down. Repeat until all tortillas are rolled. Top with remaining cream mixture and shredded cheese.
    chkn enchiladas ready to roll
  6. Bake for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees.

chkn enchilada ready for oven

Unless I know the family receiving this meal will be eating right away, I will often take the casserole partially pre-baked with baking instructions to finish it. Sometimes receiving food can be overwhelming. This gives the receiver more flexibility. When taking a meal, I always want to include sides and round out the meal as well. The salad is a simple tossed salad with tomatoes and cucumber. The cheese dip is one I have made since I was a child. Many people use salsa or other brands of tomatoes/peppers. This is the one I have always made and prefer.Chkn Enchilada Meal

Ro-tel Cheese Dip

1/2 block of Velveeta Cheese (approx 1lb), Cubed
1 can of Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Chilies, with some/most of the liquid removed (save it to add back, if the dip is too thick)

Microwave for approx 5 minutes, stirring after 3 minutes.
Serve with Tortilla Chips or Fritos

If you find yourself the one organizing meals for any life event, there is a great website for planning meals to take to a family. Check out Meal Train.com. It is free and very easy to setup and send out via email or share on Facebook. It even has a place to note allergies or food aversions. I have used it numerous times for school, church and my moms group with great success.

Welcome Baby Flash! Wish I could come to visit and bring this meal in person. Thank you Cluttered Genius for the opportunity to share it with you and your readers.

Dee is a mother of three, and one of my Sistas from Mamavation. She blogs over at Lumpy to Lean about her journey to leave obesity behind. Be sure to check her out and show her the love!

Filed Under: bloggers, recipes Tagged With: , , ,

Effortless Pumpkin Pie

May 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Following in the tradition of the Stupid Easy Recipe as established by the Cluttered Genius, I am pleased to present Effortless Pumpkin Pie. I’ve been baking and serving this nutritious, tasty snack to my family for years. The credit for developing this healthful pie recipe goes to a wonderful playgroup leader to whom I will always be grateful. In addition to organizing play dates and facilitating parenting discussion, she compiled a cookbook full of family-friendly recipes for group members. My copy of her book is now dog-eared and food-stained, which, of course, is a very good thing.

Featured as a vegetarian alternative to traditional pumpkin pie, this simple recipe caught my eye during a time when I was constantly on the lookout for nutritious snacks to feed my babies. I can’t even count how many times I labored over ‘super- snack’ recipes that were not always received with enthusiasm.  But happily, this pumpkin pie recipe is both wholesome and easy to make and my kids love it. And I love the fact that the uncomplicated ‘dump and pour’ method used to prepare this pie means quick and easy clean up.

Really, if you have five minutes to place a few ingredients into a blender, turn it on then pour the mixture into a store-bought pie shell, you have time to make this pie! Actually, you don’t even need a pie crust – many times I’ve just poured the filling into a greased 9-inch pie plate and baked as usual. When it’s topped with a generous frosting of vanilla yogurt, nobody misses the crust.

EffortlessPumpkinPie

Your little ones will love to help you create this pumpkin pie. It’s the simple things—measuring, pouring, cracking eggs and pressing buttons that make this a fun recipe to prepare together.

Effortless Pumpkin Pie

Filling:
¼ cup apple juice concentrate
1/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 banana
2 eggs

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until thoroughly combined. Pour into a 9-inch graham cracker pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Allow to cool on a rack. Serve with a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt. Cover leftovers and refrigerate.

jacquelinecoleJacqueline enjoys cooking and baking for her always hungry family. As the Bread Babe, she posts tried-and-true bread and muffin recipes at her wildly popular blog. Thanks to her son’s expert cinematographic skills, the Bread Babe’s helpful and entertaining bread baking tutorials are all the rage on YouTube.

Filed Under: bloggers, recipes Tagged With: ,

Tropical Fruit Turtles

April 30, 2013 By 2 Comments

guestgenius

Kids love fruit, and kids love animals–why not put the two of them together?

This tropical fruit turtle is exactly that! Though a lot of parents don’t really have a hard time getting their kids to eat fruit because fruit is so darned sweet, it’s still fun to make the whole event enjoyable! This tasty reptile is perfect for a summer snack or even a healthy dessert!

It’s super easy–you only need three ingredients to make two turtles:
One Orange
Two Clementines
Two Kiwi Fruits

TropicalTurtle_01

Okay! Let’s get started!

First, peel your orange and carefully peel it into two more-or-less even halves. Put each half on a plate.

TropicalTurtle_02

Next, cut your kiwi into slices and remove the peel.

Cut some of these kiwi slices in half to start layering the turtles’ shells.

TropicalTurtle_04

Add the kiwi slices around the orange halves as evenly as you can. Aim to have one, solid slice on the very top of the orange to give the shell a complete look. Each orange took most of one kiwi, but I had some left over so you should feel free to snack up!

TropicalTurtle_05

Now that your turtles have shells, peel the clementines. Each turtle will take one whole clementine. Use four segments to make the flippers coming off the sides of the shell, and cut one clementine in half and put it with the rounded side faced down to make the tail.

TropicalTurtle_09

Use the whole other half of the clementine for your turtle’s head.

TropicalTurtle_08
And there you have it! A beautiful and delicious fruity treat! It’s really that easy!

TropicalTurtle_06

This post is from Deb, a mother of five and foster for dozens of children, including those with special needs, and is the creative force behind CreativeKrate. With a background in nursing and early child development, kids and all things kid-like are her life.

Filed Under: bloggers, recipes Tagged With: , ,

Organic, Delicious, and Mother-in-Law Approved Hummus

April 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment

guestgeniusThe other day, my mother in law was introducing me to some of her friends at a sort of dinner party. When the girls asked me about the crackers I had brought, they were impressed to hear that I had made them (not from scratch or anything, mind you – I simply baked some flatbread until it was nice and crisp). My MIL made a point to tell her friends that when we met, my husband (then my boyfriend – but it feels really weird to say “my boyfriend”) did all the cooking, so she told me that I needed to learn to cook. Now, my MIL has a tendency of sometimes saying things without totally thinking them through, and I will admit that I have a tendency to be a little oversensitive to her remarks. So, I was a little aggravated that she felt the need to take credit for my ability to bake a little flatbread, especially when her comment was not even true. I did not begin cooking because anyone suggested I do so, and even though she has never been one to hold back her opinions, I am pretty sure that she never suggested I learn to cook. My guy used to cook a lot, yes, but that is because he liked to, not because he had to. Not sure what happened to that guy, by the way, but I wish he would make an appearance once in a while. Maybe cooking is something boyfriends do for their girlfriends, and it expires over time much like rollerblading together and, well, foreplay (Did I just say too much?).

Despite my kneejerk reaction to correct her, I told myself that there was a compliment somewhere in my MIL’s comments…she was saying that I can cook.

I do prepare all of the meals for our family. Sometimes I like to, and sometimes I don’t. It is a pretty important part of eating healthy on a budget, though. You just can’t do it without cooking your own meals. Now that we are cutting out refined ingredients and processed foods, I actually love transforming old favorites into better, healthier versions of themselves. And I also love making at home what we used to buy packaged. Like the crackers. And the hummus with which I served them.

I love hummus, but I never thought I’d actually make it. Never thought I could make it taste as good as the one at the store. My hesitation was affirmed a couple of months ago when I tried a recipe that was supposedly super-healthy, using only chickpeas, garlic, and water. Gross. It’s still in the freezer, waiting for me to correct it or toss it out. But when a healthy living Facebook page posted a photo of my favorite brand with the GMO ingredients circled, I knew I had to give it another try. I wasn’t going to give up my hummus! Coincidentally, it was right around this time that my mother mistook a jar of tahini for all-natural peanut butter at the store, and she promptly brought it to me. What better excuse to start experimenting?

This recipe is adapted from http://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/, where there is a great tutorial. I love this hummus with and without the essential oils, but the oils add a really great punch of flavor. The rosemary is especially nice because you get the full flavor without the added texture of chopped herbs. Don’t get me wrong – I love herbs! I just like my hummus smooth, so the oils are more appealing to me in this recipe.

SAM_3365

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas, or one 15-ounce can (drained and rinsed)
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • one garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons water, or a little extra olive oil

Optional, but totally divine: (I only recommend dōTERRA essential oils, which are 100% pure and safe to ingest. You can find out more about them by clicking “The Essentials” tab at the top of my blog.)
• 1-2 drops lemon essential oil
• 2 drops rosemary essential oil

Instructions:

1. Combine tahini and lemon juice in a food processor and blend for about a minute. Scrape the sides, and blend for another 30 seconds or so.

2. Add olive oil, garlic, cumin, and salt, and blend for about 30 seconds. Scrape, and then blend for another 30 seconds.

3. Add half the chickpeas and blend for a minute. Add the other half, and blend for another minute. Scrape sides, add the rest of the chickpeas and the essential oils (if using), and blend for about two minutes.

4. Scrape it down. Lick the spatula. Wash the spatula.

5. If it appears too thick (I think this depends on taste), add a little of the water and blend for about 20 seconds. Repeat this process until you reach your desired consistency. (I like to alternate adding water and olive oil so as not to lose any of that rich flavor.)

6. Scrape it down. Lick the spatula. Have toddler lick the spatula. (Some of you will wash in between; some of you will not. No judging here.) Toss the licked-clean spatula in the sink.

You may be asking yourself, “Can’t I throw everything in the bowl and blend it all up in one shot?” I asked myself the same question. You can do that, and it will still taste excellent! But, it might not be as smooth as if you follow the instructions above. Having said that, please do what works for you!

I’m a plain hummus kind-of girl, so I have only tried this plain and with the oils. But I imagine it would be really nice to toss in some roasted red peppers, some basil, or whatever other flavors you like. Sundried tomatoes would be good, I bet, but I cannot get them to work very well in my food processor. So, you are on your own with that one.

Put the hummus in a pretty dish and drizzle with a little olive oil when you are ready to serve. Mmmmmm, I like adding a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on  op, too. It will keep for about a week (longer if you use the essential oils, which – BONUS POINTS! – act as a natural preservative).

I love to serve these with toasted pita or flatbread. Like I said before, I have not yet attempted totally homemade crackers, but I love baking them from Whole Foods Whole Wheat Lavash Wraps, which have a small number of ingredients, all recognizable. I brush the bread with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and whatever herbs I am inclined to try that day, and bake them until crisp (about 8 minutes).

So, there you have it – approved by your mother-in-law and her friends – hummus that is fresh, homemade, delicious, and just as clean and organic as you want it. Give it a try, and then please leave some feedback below! I would love to hear about the ways you alter it for your tastes, as well as about
any tasty additions you might explore!

~
Lindsey
Subscribe to my blog at http://anessentialllife.weebly.com
Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EssentialPerspectives
Follow me on Twitter (Give me some time with this. I’m a newbie) at https://twitter.com/LindseyC79

Filed Under: bloggers, recipes Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts