Tomatoes

Daddy Memories – Butter Bean salad

As a little girl, I vividly remember my dad preparing what I think was his favourite salad, which in turn became my all time favourite of course!

So today I decided not only to re-live that memory, but to take it to another level in honor of  the great guy that he was, ❤ and I am sure that instead of being insulted by the changes, he would be proud of his little girl.

The original salad was very simple, below is a list of the ingredients:butterbeans

  • Butter Beans
  • Sliced Tomatoes
  • Thinly sliced onions
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Olive oil and vinegar
  • Dusting of oregano

As you can see, it’s pretty simple, just mix the above ingredients and it’ oh sooooo tasty, and the best part was dipping  pieces of a fresh baguette into the leftover juices!

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In those days there was no fancy vinegar, no cilantro and goodness know’s what else, especially in Uruguay.

But nowadays, with the available ingredients, new flavours, fancy vinegars, etc…. I decided to take this salad to the next level.

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Not too many changes, just a few additions, so here it goes………

  • Butter Beans – stayed the same I used 2 cans
  • Sliced Tomatoes – stayed the same, used 2 medium tomatoes
  • Thinly sliced onions – stayed the same, used 1/2 medium onion
  • Salt and Pepper – stayed the same, tsp of each
  • Olive oil and vinegar – used olive oil but replaced the vinegar with same fabulous Lemongrass Mint infused White Balsamic vinegar from Mount Dora Olive Oil Company
  • Dusting of oregano – replaced this with some chopped cilantro
  • Added a can of sliced Hearts of Palm that are easily available nowadays but when I was a kid they were an expensive commodity!

Hope you enjoy this salad as much as I do, and I do recommend that you try both versions, they are both great 🙂

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Light Tasty Bites

Grocery shopping all morning, came back home after noon quite hungry having skipped breakfast!

Time to put a light tasty bite together.

Pulled out a low carb flower tortilla and crisped it up a bit in a pan with a little olive oil spray.

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Topped it off with a loaded teaspoon of pesto sauce and evenly spread it all over.

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Then I sliced a tomato nice and thin and chopped up 3 artichoke hearts. Followed by a hearty handful of baby spinach and kale.

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Sprinkled some black pepper, red pepper flakes and lemon pepper for a nice kick and finally topped it off with some goats cheese.

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Placed it under the broiler for about 5 minutes and voila, nice, tasty light bite done in 15 minutes 🙂

 

Leftover veggies

After indulging on some delightful Taramosalata from a lovely little Greek Restaurant close to my house, I decided to check out the fridge to see what might need some attention, i.e. dying/rotting veggies 🙂

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Two lonely tomatoes and a couple of courgettes (zucchinis) were crying for attention so I thought a simple Ratatouille was in order.

I sliced the courgettes and tomatoes, then I went the yard and got some fresh oregano and basil.

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I placed the chopped tomatoes at the bottom of my glass pyrex, layered the courgettes and tomatoes, added the crushed garlic, seasoned with salt, lots of black pepper, oregano and basil and then drizzled some basil infused olive oil.

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Baked it in a 375 Deg F oven for about 40 minutes and I have to say that I was very temped to have dinner again, all I needed was a french baguette and I would have been set. But I fought temptation and now I have some delicious veggies for lunch ❤

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Isn’t it great how you can spend 10 minutes in the kitchen with 2 leftover lonely veggies and end up with a delicious meal?

For the love of lemons…….a fab carb free yummy salad!

After I posted the recipe for my imitation version of the”Lemon Caper Capellini Salad” one of my blog readers made a comment that they made my salad and used basil instead of parsley and zucchini noodles instead of pasta!

So tonight I am going for that same version but with an “Andy” twist “……

For this I used:

  • 4 zucchini’s
  • 12 cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
  • 1/8 cup of capers
  • juice from 4 lemons
  • 1/8 cup of olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste ( love lots of black pepper)
  • dash of garlic powder
  • 4 kafir lime leaves
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Started by putting my zucchini’s through my handy dandy spiralizer.

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Then I proceeded to boil some water seasoned with salt, garlic powder and 4 kaffir lime leaves. The kaffir lime leaves infused some lovely thai lime flavor into the zucchini noodles. Don’t have any but happen to have a lemon or lime tree, use those leaves instead, they are very aromatic!

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I let the zucchini noodles boil for just 2 minutes, any longer and you will have zucchini mush, 1 minute will give you an all dente texture.

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As soon as I got them out I placed them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

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Whilst they cooled down, I squeezed the lemons, mixed the juice with the olive oil, salt and pepper and put that to the side.

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I quartered my cherry tomatoes, chopped up the cilantro and got my capers.

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Now all that’s left it to put this delicious lemony Zucchini healthy salad together.

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Add the tomatoes, cilantro, capers and top off with the lemon vinaigrette, give it a toss and kaboom, there we have it, if you love lemons, you will love love this guilt free salad!

Bon Apetite!

Lemon Caper Capellini Salad Obsession!

Too all my my Lemon Caper Capellini Salad Obsession followers and lovers, check out my first cook book “For The Love of Lemons“, available on Amazon 🙂

Just got back from yet another fantastic trip to the wonderful state of Arizona!

Whilst staying with my BFF, she introduced me to this delightful, refreshing Lemon Caper Capellini salad from her local supermarket “Safeway‘” which I immediately became obsessed about! So now that I am back in swampy Florida, I decided it was time to replicate such delicacy!

Here is how I did it:

  • 1lb angel hair pasta
  • juice and zest of 2 large lemons
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 3 tbsp of rinsed and chopped capers
  • 5 garlic cloves minced
  • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes
  • as many chopped tomatoes as you want

Warm up the oil and cook the garlic till nicely blonde (do not over cook). Let it cool.

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In the meantime cook the angel hair (al dente, do not overcook!) and reserve some of the pasta water.

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In a large salad bowl, add the lemon juice, lemon zest, oil and garlic, chopped capers and chopped parsley,parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and a handful of quartered cherry tomatoes.

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Add the pasta and toss till it’s nicely coated (add some pasta water if you need to loosen up the pasta a bit), add more chopped tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste!

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I of course had to go a bit more lemony so I drizzled some wonderful Meyer Lemon Sedona Vinegar.

Now every bite I take of this refreshing salad, not only transports me to the magical state of Arizona, but it also reminds me of my good friend Mo <3!

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To make this a complete meal, add some shrimp or serve with some poached salmon or protein of choice 🙂

Finally a home cooked meal…….

After nearly 10 days on the road, eating in restaurants and hotels its finally time for a home cooked meal! I have no idea how people who travel a lot do it, eating out all the time would drive me crazy!

Back to my home, kitchen, garden and family, today I embarked on a simple tasty meal made with garden goodies that was just perfect for the moment.

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The loveliest vine ripened tomatoes, basil and jalapeños were ready to be picked from the yard to partake in my spicy aromatic tomato sauce to go with some al dente spaghetti.

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Dished the spaghetti, topped it off with my aromatic spicy sauce and drizzled a little bit of my Basil Olive Oil from the Mount Dora Olive Oil Company!

Of course as a celebration of Mamacita being back, I had to make a sweet treat, and one of the family favorites is my Raspberry Chocolate Tart.

All you need for it is:

  • 1lb of chocolate chips
  • 1 cup of heavy cream
  • 2 pints of raspberries
  • 1 tbsp light corn syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups of oreo cookies
  • 3 tbsp of butter
  • 1/4 cup of sugar

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Pulverize your oreo cookies and then mix them with the butter and sugar and press down into mold. Bake at 350 deg for 20 minutes. Let it cool.

Grab 1 pint of strawberries and press them onto the crust till you cover it nicely.

Put the chocolate chips in a bowl, add the corn syrup and warm cream and mix until all the chips are melted.

Pour into your mold covering all the raspberries and then add more raspberries to decorate. Place in fridge to set for a couple of hours.

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So here is a cheer to being back at home but most importantly, to eating a home cooked meal ❤

Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic……..it’s that simple.

Yes my followers, Mount Dora is back on the map!

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Tonight I came across these perfectly ripened  plum tomatoes, remembered the abundant basil growing in my yard outside and decided that with the addition of garlic it was time for some Tomato Bruschetta.

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Chopped up my tomatoes, garlic and basil, added some olive oil, salt and pepper and for the drum roll finale, added some delicious ( and by this I mean you can drink it with a spoon) Blackberry Ginger Balsamic Vinegar from the Mount Dora Olive Oil Company!

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Slight technical hitch, there is no fresh french baguette in the house to serve it on! So I had to settle for some last minute crostini made from several types of leftover sliced bread, not ideal but who’s complaining right?

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I went from a totally unplanned dinner, to a delicious satisfying appetizer which will pair very well with a new wine I got to taste recently. The wine is called Apothic Dark which has a blend of blueberry and blackberry with notes of coffee and dark chocolate, need I say more…

Perfect scenario would have been to be enjoying this appetizer at the Wine Den in Mount Dora in the company of some crazy lovely ladies but instead I will settle for the loving hubby ❤ ! What can I say, I am a lucky girl, always surrounded by good company 🙂