Roasted asparagus with fried eggs

I’ve wanted to make roasted asparagus with fried eggs for awhile now. I was inspired by this Martha Stewart recipe. Rather than steaming and poaching, I roasted and fried — which, in my opinion, are the more flavorful options. This dinner was so simple, clean and delicious.

You need:

• bundle of asparagus
• 2 eggs
• freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• salt, pepper and EVOO
• slice of toast (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425.

Coat asparagus with EVOO, salt, pepper and Parm.

Let the asparagus roast in the oven for about twenty minutes. Halfway through cook time, flip the asparagus.

At that point, put your bread in the toaster and then heat your pan (medium heat) to fry the eggs. Coat the pan in a little EVOO, crack the eggs and sprinkle with salt and pepper. My foul-proof method for not bursting the yolk is to not touch the eggs at all until they are opaque — takes about five minutes. At that point, I flip the eggs, turn the heat off and let them stand for about a minute.

Finished product with a light sprinkle of Parm:

I overcooked the eggs a bit, but hey, it happens. Ideally, I would have had more yolk flow, but this was absolutely delicious as is.

The dish takes about 20-25 minutes total to prep and cook. I’m not even sure if I can call this a recipe since it’s so incredibly simple.

Mid-meal!

I am a big fan of this dish and I highly recommend you try it! It’s a great example of how “healthy eating” can be fast, cheap and delicious.

Newsworthy –

According to ObFo, both the House Committee on Education & Labor and Senate HELP Committee will meet this week to discuss child nutrition and obesity. Hopefully these hearings will mean real progress for Let’s Move!

I hope you had a good start to your week. I’m so happy it’s March — spring is so close I can taste it!

Quinoa with black beans and peppers

Happy Friday! Have you tried quinoa before? If not, you definitely should. It’s a grain that, unlike most others, is a complete protein. It’s tasty and hardly takes any time to make.

Today’s recipe was inspired by We are not Martha’s quinoa & black bean salad. I tweaked it a bit to fit what I had on hand.

Here’s what I used:

• 1.5 cups of quinoa, rinsed
• 3 cups of water
• 3 limes
• EVOO
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well
• red + green peppers (your choice)
• cumin
• coriander
• cayenne pepper

Chop the peppers into bite-sized pieces. For the dressing, I used the juice of all three limes and the zest of one. I added EVOO, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander and cayenne all to taste.

Quinoa is incredibly easy to cook. Combine the quinoa and water in a pot and cook until the water is absorbed. I started on medium heat, and once it began to bubble, I give it a stir and turned it down to midway between low and medium. It takes about fifteen minutes total. You can tell when the quinoa is done once the little white thing (technical term) on the grain shows.

This recipe takes about 20-25 minutes total. It makes a lot of salad, so be ready for leftovers!

Here it is all combined.

This salad is delicious and super healthy. I let mine chill before eating. I have a feeling that the longer this salad marinates in the fridge, the better it will taste. The dressing is not overwhelming, but gives a nice flavor. Red peppers are by far tastier than green so next time I might use only red. However, as Giada always says, we eat with our eyes first, and using both green and red peppers makes this salad gorgeous and colorful!

Today was a SNOW DAY! NYU never, ever gives snow days, but this is the second one this winter! I don’t even have Friday classes so it was sort of a bummer that the snow didn’t come earlier. I have no plans to leave my apartment any time soon!

My thesis is due one month from today! SCARY! I have to get a lot done this weekend. Meh. At least there is no temptation to go outside, I guess? Fortunately, I have a delicious quinoa salad to keep me going all weekend

I tried to make a Green Monster smoothie today too, but I failed. Epically. I actually had to throw it out, which I hate doing. More on that tomorrow or Sunday, when it will hopefully be a success!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

PS – The black beans and quinoa come out of the Pantry Challenge running tab! I have barely anything left!

Refried beans & avocado burrito

Despite the fact that they have yet to make an appearance here on the blog, burritos are a weeknight staple for me. They take less than 15 minutes to make, are super filling, healthy, and delicious (in my opinion)!

Lia’s Cucina Cocina Burritos (clever, I know ):

• can of refried beans
• avocado
• salsa
• lime
• tortilla
• dried cilantro
• a few tortilla chips

Check out the nutrition stats on this can. Just three ingredients and packed with protein, fiber and no fat at all. Whole Food’s brand is pretty low in sodium, which is great.

Here’s what you do:

• Heat the refried beans on the stove top until heated through
• Heat the tortilla in the oven for a couple minutes
• Layer the 1/2 can of beans, 1/2 avocado, salsa, lime and tortilla chips on the warm tortilla
• Sprinkle with salt and dried cilantro

Mangia!

This combo is so delicious. I personally love refried beans. The lime and salsa really freshen up the flavor of the beans, while the avocado is creamy and the tortilla chips are crunchy. Mmm! I save half the avocado, half the can of beans and a tortilla for another meal (dinner tomorrow). You’ve got to give this one a try.

I am planning on having peanut butter and Nutella on a slice of toast later on…can’t wait. It used to be my favorite snack in Italy.

Have a great night!

Pasta with pesto, broccoli rabe and cherry tomatoes

I am on a pesto kick today! I finally went to the grocery store this morning and decided to make something different using the leftover pesto. I knew I wanted it to be a pasta dish, and I knew I wanted to include cherry tomatoes, but I wanted a special green. I thought about spinach or arugula, but eventually decided broccoli rabe would be a fun and challenging choice. I have never cooked broccoli rabe before, so I decided to jump right in and let it cook down in some olive oil and kosher salt for about ten minutes.

The rabe before cooking down.

After about ten minutes, the rabe had cooked down a ton, and I added cherry tomatoes, garlic and crushed red pepper. I also added a squirt of tomato paste but I don’t really think it did much. Maybe I should have used more?

Teeny tiny stove. I had to transfer the rabe and tomatoes to another pan because the stove top couldn’t fit two big pans Oh, NYC apartments.

I mixed the pesto into the pasta before using a slotted spoon to transfer the veggies. The cherry tomatoes burst while being cooked and created some sauce at the bottom. I added a little bit to the pasta but left the rest so it wouldn’t get watery.

I added some parmigiano on top.

The verdict: for being a non-recipe recipe, this was pretty good! It took about 40 minutes including clean up (not that long, considering I have about 3 leftover portions), but you could definitely do it even faster if you have a normal-sized kitchen and you were boiling the pasta water as the veggies were sauteeing. The sweetness of the tomatoes really evened out the bitterness of the rabe. The pesto flavor was nice but I think I would have needed more for it to really come through. It tasted great on bites of pasta, but did not really cover the veggies. All in all, I think this was a healthy, interesting concoction!

Bag o’ groceries from earlier:

• Bananas
• Grapes
• Broccoli rabe
• Cherry tomatoes
• Lettuce mix
• Avocado
• Lime
• Eggs
• Salsa
• Tortilla chips
• Eli Zabar wheat loaf

I have to do some work this afternoon and then I’m going to see Shutter Island later tonight. Kind of scared!!

Lame photo day

So I’ve been pretty lame in the blogging department lately. I had the same breakfast as yesterday and felt it wasn’t exciting enough to photograph! For lunch…I had three cookies and a handful of chips. Yeah. I guess I don’t handle stress well?

Dinner was a little more blog-worthy. I promised Kevin I’d make his favorite — chicken parm. I usually fry the cutlets, but I decided to give baking them a try. The verdict: Ehh. Frying obviously makes a much tastier cutler, but baking is definitely not a bad option. It is absolutely better for the waistline, though — no oil!

The drill: Beat the eggs, dredge chicken in eggs, and then in panko. I am new on the panko-train, and I think they’re great! Definitely crunchier than regular ol’ breadcrumbs.

I skip the flour step entirely. I know you’re supposed to dredge in flour first…but my breading always stays on…so, whatevs.

I baked them in the oven at 375 for about 20 minutes. For the last 5 minutes, I put them under the broiler to crisp them up.

Once they were done, I added the remained of the jarred tomato sauce from last night’s pizza and pre-sliced provolone cheese. Ideally, I would have had fresh mozzarella and also some parmigiano…but I made do.

I almost forgot to take a photo before we dug in!

As Ina would say…”How bad can that be?” LOVE HER!

Ok so I lied, I had 2.5 cookies for lunch and saved the other half for after dinner

Off to relax. Night, guys.

Hello from Boston

Hey guys! Sorry I went completely MIA yesterday. Here’s what happened. I ended up getting an interview (!) for Friday in Boston. I was planning to leave NYC after work Thursday night. All was good. And then…I got a second interview (!!!), and needed to be in Boston for Thursday afternoon. BUT, as any of you who live in the northeast know…a snowmageddon was predicted. Public schools were closing, panic was ensuing. Or, at least I was panicking. I knew that if I didn’t get out of NYC before the storm, I might not make it to Boston for my interviews at all. So, I did what any OCD, Type-A person would do…and hopped on a bus to Boston immediately. And now here I am…blogging from Boston!

I woke up this morning after my crazy day famished.

Made myself a gooey PB on cold bread. No banana because there is not a single piece of fruit in this apartment.

Kevin doesn’t drink coffee so I always bring Starbucks Via packets with me when I visit. They’re actually pretty good! I like the Italian Roast flavor best.

Then for lunch I found some Health is Wealth soy buffalo wings that I bought over winter break. I love these, but I eat them pretty sparingly because they’re really, really processed.

Found some Cape Cod chips laying around and snacked on a few of those.

Went grocery shopping, came back and made Kev his favorite cookies for coming to South Station to pick me up late on a Tuesday night! These are Betty Crocker Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, doctored up with a lot of cinnamon. Yummm. I overcooked them a bit.

For dinner…homemade pizza!!

• store-bought whole wheat pizza dough
• jarred tomato sauce
• provolone
• mozzarella
• mushrooms
• sage
• EVOO
• crushed red

I LOVE HOMEMADE PIZZA! My favorite combo is ricotta + mushrooms but I forgot to buy ricotta at the store.

Along with some greens for good measure.

I went back for another piece and a half…eek. I was super hungry.

My dining companion…I think he liked the pizza…:-D

Off to relax and try not to freak out about the next two days!!

Overboard

SVUbowl continued…

Here are the wings we made.

They were basically the easiest thing ever to make. Amanda did all the work nonetheless

Here’s what you need:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 3 lb chicken wings (about 16)
• **we added 3 Tbsp of honey and a dash of nutmeg to the recipe

Here’s what you do:

• Preheat broiler and oil rack of a broiler pan.
• Stir together garlic, five-spice powder, salt, and soy sauce in a large bowl.
• Cut off and discard tips from chicken wings with kitchen shears or a large heavy knife, then halve wings at joint. Pat dry and add to spice mixture, tossing to coat.
• Arrange wings in 1 layer on broiler pan and broil 6 to 7 inches from heat, turning over once, until browned and cooked through, 16 to 20 minutes total.

*Just a note: when we tasted the seasoning/rub mix…it was NOT tasty. If you are a “taster” like me, just a heads up — I didn’t think these would be very good — they turned out delish! Much better than ordering take out.

At this point, I had seriously overindulged. Tons of guac, chips, bruschetta, ice cream…and then I had some wings and…

MORE ICE CREAM.

Ugh. I went overboard and felt really crappy this morning. It’s easy for me to dwell on things, especially when I feel I’ve eaten badly, but I tried to just not think about it and get back on track this morning.

I started the day with some unpictured PBBT. The ush.

Then went to Karen’s for lunch. Much to my dismay there was no split pea I tried the zucchini potato soup instead and it was really good. Did not fill me up nearly as well as split pea, however.

Also had a lovely pear.

I’m continuing “back on track” this evening for dinner and having some defrosted lentil soup.

How do you get “back on track”?

Superbowl…or SVU marathon?

I’m currently watching an SVU marathon with my friends instead of the Superbowl…ha! We plan to watch the half time show though

Quick recap of lunch before I get to the SVUbowl goodies.

Leftover sweet potatoes.

And some salad out of the bag.

Then some Think

And a salted caramel truffle to accompany the coffee…

…all enjoyed while reading the Bible complete and utter food porn.

Here are most of the goods for today’s recipes:

Bruschetta classica

• tomatoes
• EVOO
• basil
• baguette
• S + P
  

Brush the sliced baguette with EVOO. Crisp in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes until golden.

Chop and mix tomatoes, basil, EVOO, salt and pepper.

Serve!

Yummmmmmm.

And theeeeen…tortilla chips with some melted Mexican cheese and scallions on top. Melt in oven at 300.

Simple guacamole

• avocados
  
• garlic
• cilantro
• onion
• tomato
• lime
• S + P
  

I LOVE GUAC!

Had about a million chips and guac.

And then a little chocolate ice cream for good measure.

A pretty healthy “Superbowl,” eh?

We’re planning on making chicken wings too but I’m stuffed. Bleh.

Enjoy the last hours of your weekend!

Cucina Italiana

Hey, guys! So here is the recipe I have been waiting to share with you: the ultimate, most simple, most delicious tomato sauce. My dad taught me how to make this simple sauce before I went to college and I have been making it this way ever since. Making this entire meal takes about 30 minutes start to finish and the results are so worth the time.

Here’s what you need:

• large can of tomatoes (I like ‘em crushed, and I like ‘em San Marzano)
• can tomato paste
• EVOO
• shallot (I hate chopping onions and I love a shallot’s subtlety in this)
• lots o’ garlic (I used about five cloves)
• fresh basil
• kosher salt
• pepper
• crushed red pepper (optional, however I use a lot)
• 1 pound of pasta (cross another thing off the pantry challenge list!)

Saute the shallot in some EVOO until they tenderize. I add the salt here to help “sweat out” the shallot.

Once the shallot is tender, add the tomato paste, garlic, crushed tomatoes, spices and basil. I do it in that order

After the pasta is done boiling, mix everything together. You will have one gigantic,  amazingly delicious meal.

I grated some parm on top of both my salad and pasta. Added some whole basil leaves to make it look pretty too!

Love, love, love.

My salad was Italian mix with balsamic, EVOO, pepper and parm.

I kinda devoured this. I was hungry! And it was so good! In my family, we eat the salad after the pasta

My belly is very happy.

Recap of this afternoon: I was going nuts sitting around my apartment so I decided to go for a walk. I wasn’t sure where I’d go, but once I started out, I felt some sort of…magnetic pull…towards….

…Anthropologie, of course! It wasn’t my original intention, I swear.

I tried one some really pretty things, but with $80 price tags (on most), I sadly had to leave them behind. I was a good girl.

Some shots of my neighborhood.

Okay, okay. I didn’t leave Anthro completely empty handed. I got these three little bowls ($4 each) to organize my jewelry with.

I also came home with these babies. I’m not sure if I have revealed this on the blog yet, but I am a seltzer addict.

After my first week of blogging, I have to say…I love it! It is fun trying to make my meals and recipes special to photograph them and post them here. I have also been eating pretty darn healthy all week (I think so, at least!).

On my walk, I did some thinking…I want to make some changes in my life. I think that if I post my goals here on the blog it will help me stick to them. So, here they are:

1. Be more positive.
2. Do more school work during the week so I can enjoy the weekends. I tend to save a lot of my work for the weekends and then dread not only the weekdays, but the weekend as well. I think I can better utilize my time. The pressure is on for my thesis (due in 55 days), and that, in addition to two classes, a part-time job, a volunteering gig, a long-distance relationship and trying to have fun with my friends the second semester of my senior year…I can anxious and stressed to the max. I need to stop being so lazy about school work and not let this raging case of Senioritis ruin my GPA!
3. Eat healthy. I think that I generally eat pretty healthy, but there are definitely times when I go overboard. The blog will hold me accountable and keep me in line.
4. Save money. I make enough to support myself from my part-time job (school and rent is through a loan), but this year, I have been blowing through money. Something that I am willing to splurge on, because I think quality is more important than quantity, is food. However, I have been going a little crazy with clothes-buying. I am OOC. I have a goal in mind for an amount of money I want to have saved by the end of this semester and I really want to reach it. From here on out, I am not spending any money on clothes/accessories and I will seriously limit the amount of money I spend in restaurants. That said, I have two pricey dinners coming up this week (one for a friend’s birthday and one for Restaurant Week), so I have planned to eat every other meal at home. I think I ate every meal at home this week as well, except for a trip to Karen’s and Taj Mahal. I also am not spending a dime of my tax return.

Anyway, these are my goals and I am confident I will fulfill them. Sorry for rambling on! Have a great Saturday night.

Update: I went back for another half bowl of pasta, I was still pretty hungry. Had a Twilight Delight as well.

Freezer mania…and pesto!

So, I had a super early dinner this evening. I think it was mainly because I was bored…but it was still delicious. I used up something from the Pantry Challenge! Woo! I had Amy’s Butternut Squash soup along side some cinnamon raisin toast. I doctored the soup with some pepper and cinnamon. Such a good dinner for a frigid day. It was inspired by this article by the Amateur Gourmet that I read this afternoon. I love soup!

Loooove dipping.

I went grocery shopping this evening because I had to get out of my apartment. Generally I wait until Saturday or Sunday for groceries but I was antsy from sitting around all day doing work. Here’s what I picked up:

• Ezekiel 4:9 bread (have been dying to try this for awhile)
• Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English muffins
• 3 Amy’s Margherita Pizzas (on sale!!!!)
• Tazo Green tea
• Fennel
• Italian salad mix
• Basil
• Grapes
• San Marzano tomatoes (the best tomatoes)
• Bananas
• PB
• Garlic
• Shallot
• Avocado
• Parmigiano Reggiano

I have plans to make a little somethin’ somethin’ tomorrow (you’ll have to check back and see what it is ) that requires basil…however Whole Foods was only selling this massive container of it.

I figured I would just freeze the leftovers but then came up with a much better idea…homemade pesto!! I rarely ever use my mini food processor — I haven’t since this summer — and I am so happy I got to put it to use tonight.

My pesto: basil, almonds, parmigiano reggiano, garlic, EVOO and pepper.

Grind it up!

It came out delicious. So fresh. I love basil, it is my absolute favorite herb.

The Microplane, used here for grating the parm, is the ultimate kitchen tool, agreed upon by my cousin Mike. I don’t know what I would do without my Microplane. I have stopped chopping garlic all together now and only grate it on this baby. Makes my life a lot easier.

So yummy. I don’t have any use for it right now so I threw it in the freezer for a later date.

My freezer is a little OOC right now.

I told you guys that lentil soup made a ton of leftovers! Plus five kinds of bread, frozen veggies, rice, coffee…it’s a tiny freezer. Maybe I should have a freezer challenge as well?

I have no plans for tonight besides relaxing…maybe renting a movie off iTunes? I went to Best Buy today to search for 500 Days of Summer, which I have been dying to buy, but I couldn’t find it. Boo.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s recipe. It’s a classic! Any guesses?

Night!