Endive, Dried Cherry and Goat Cheese Appetizer

As an alternate to cheese and crackers, I think putting fun toppings on endive is a a quick and easy one-bite appetizer to put out with wine. While I didn't put much effort into the presentation shown here, you can add balsamic glaze or some other dressing to make it a bit fancier.

This last time, I just put slices of pepper-crusted goat cheese on top of the endive leaves, added a dried cherry and some walnut pieces, and voila!

The Search for Good Yogurt

I'm always on the search for good yogurt that's not filled with bad things for you. I picked up a new one last night at Whole Foods called "siggi's" and it was pretty good with a great thick texture similar to Greek yogurt!

It has only 5 ingredients including all natural milk from grass fed cows. No asparatame, no sucralose, no gelatin, no artificial coloings, no preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup, and produced without the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone. It's sweetened just lightly with natural agave nectar - a natural low glycemic sweetener. Winner!

Skinny Greek Chicken

This is a fast, easy and super healthy dinner for two - great for a work-night after a stop at the gym. I call it "Skinny Greek Chicken" but, it's really Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce to be accurate.

Ingredients for skewers:
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh or 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. olive oil (I have skipped this before to be extra-lean)
Dash of salt
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1-2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
Cooking spray
4-6 wooden skewers - I usually let them soak in water while I'm prepping the food

Ingredients for Tzatziki Sauce:
1/2 cup, peeled, seeded and shredded cucumber (I don't bother to seed to save time)
1/2 cup plain low-fat or non-fat yogurt
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Dash of salt
1 garlic clove, minced

Directions:
1. For skewers, combined the first 5 ingredients in a Ziplock plastic bag; seal and shake to combine.
2. Add chicken pieces to the bag; seal and shake to coat.
3. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for 30 minutes, turning once (or just put in the 'fridge long enough to chop the zucchini and make the sauce).
4. Make the Tzatziki Sauce and refrigerate while you cook the chicken and zucchini.
5. Remove chicken from bag and discard the marinade.
6. Thread the chicken and zucchini, alternately, onto each of the 4-6 skewers.
7. Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add skewers and cook them 8 minutes, or until the chicken is done, turning once.
8. Remove sauce from refrigerator and place on plate with skewers for presentation. Enjoy!

My Thoughts on Eating Healthy

While we love to indulge in fabulous food and wine on the weekends, in order to stay in shape, we have to workout and eat healthy and light during the week.

To that end, I get so frustrated by the amount of food out there loaded with sodium and sugar. I work really hard to find organic ingredients, eat "close to the source", buy local where possible, avoid anything in a jar or a can, and don't buy anything with corn syrup in it. Ick. The biggest offenders in my opinion? Salsa (loaded with salt), yogurt (there are only 2-3 brands I will buy - the rest all have corn syrup), juice (though, I indulge in a small glass of Simply Orange Juice from time to time), and most pre-made sauces (have you ever looked at the sodium level of hot sauce?? Sheesh!).

I'm currently reading a book about about how toxins in our environment and our food (think, plastic packaging and storage containers, as well as pop, and other fillers in our foods) have affected our hormone levels, which in-turn, make it harder to keep thin and fit despite how much we workout, or think we're eating fat-free and sugar-free. While, I'm not a total "Granola" (from these recipes, you can see that I do make some occassional exceptions), I do think keeping these guidelines in mind and making changes where possible can make a huge difference in our health and happiness. Thrive!

Avoiding carbs? Quick Dinner Idea.

I tried the Atkins Diet once and didn't even make it to lunch. I cannot survive without carbs...period. But, my husband doesn't seem to share that craving: he's a meat and veggies kinda guy - especially after 6pm. So, I just thought I'd share a quick meal I whipped up for him, just 'cause it was so pretty I decided to take a picture.

I seared a ribeye steak on a grill pan (we don't own a real grill, unfortunately), and broiled it the rest of the way in the oven. Then, topped it with some sauteed yellow onions that I carmelized with just some olive oil, salt and pepper. Add a side of heirloom tomatoes with some olive oil, salt/pepper, fresh basil and shaved parmesan cheese, and voila! Low-carb dinner is served. Add a glass of Miner Merlot, and it's truly bliss.

Triple Berry Cobbler

My favorite thing to bake is pie. But, I also love a good apple-crisp style dessert. So, I merged a couple recipes together to make this "Triple Berry Cobbler". Substitute whatever berries you like. If I owned a cherry-pitter, I would have used fresh cherries for sure!

Ingredients:
1 pint (2 small containers) of fresh blackberries
1 pint (2 small containers) of fresh raspberries
1 pint (2 small containers) of fresh blueberries
2-3 tbsp. white sugar
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup butter

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
2. In a large bowl (or, I suppose a large Ziplock bag would work too), gently toss all the berries with the white sugar and set aside.
3. In a separate large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in butter slices until crumbly (I just smoosh the mix around with my hands to break up the butter pieces.)
4. Press half the mixture in the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan (you may want to spray it with cooking spray - but, I didn't), cover the base with the sugared berries, then sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture evenly over the berries.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling through the crumble mixture, and the top is slightly browned.
6. If baking ahead of time, serve slightly warmed with a good vanilla bean ice-cream or Cool Whip. Mmmmm…

Blue Cheese-topped Balsamic Figs

These are little bites of heaven, and especially great when figs are in season in California (just hitting now!) The perfect balance between savory and sweet, they are a great pairing with wine and cheese.

Ingredients:
Fresh figs
An aged Balsamic vinegar (10-15+ years) or better yet, Balsamic glaze (can get it in a bottle at Whole Foods)
A nice wedge of blue cheese (not crumbles)

Directions:
1. Slice figs in half, from stem to base and place on a pretty serving platter.
2. Top each fig half with slices of the blue cheese
3. Drizzle cheese-topped fig halves with the Balsamic glaze or aged vinegar.

Fruit Dip

Despite my husband's suggestion to call this "That Dip Sh*t", no one could get enough of this yummy, light, sweet fruit dip. So much so that they started putting it on all sorts of other items on their brunch plate! So good.

Ingredients:
1 (8 oz.) block Philadelphia cream cheese (I also use 1/3-less-fat version)
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow cream
3 Tbsp. Cool Whip (again, I use light)

Directions:
1. Mix all together in a bowl with a mixer.
2. Put in refrigerator and let it set for 3 hours (I've taken it out sooner). Then, ready to serve!

Breakfast Casserole

This breakfast casserole was a staple in my household growing up and now I love to make it for friends. It's really easy to throw together, and fun to play around with the ingredients just to mix it up now and again. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 package (32 oz.) frozen hash browns (I buy the cube-shaped kind, but it works with shredded too)
8 oz. package of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped, cooked ham (I like to substitute smokey links sometimes too)
1/2 cup sliced green onion with tops (feel free to add more if you want)
1 tsp. ground mustard (dry spice)
Dash of kosher salt and pepper (you can always add more when you're serving as well)
5-7 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup milk
Paprika

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350-degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients in a very large bowl except for paprika.
3. Pour into ungreased 9x13 baking dish.
4. Sprinkle with paprika.
5. Bake anywhere between 50 minutes to 1 1/2 hours uncovered until knife in center comes out clean (I usually set the timer for 50 minutes and keep adding 10 more minutes to the bake time until it doesn't have liquid on top anymore).

French Toast Souffle

I love french toast, but when having friends over - I don't want to be a short-order cook! This casserole is a huge crowd pleaser and doesn't come out too sweet. The recipes calls for it to be made ahead, but I've made it just a few hours ahead of serving and it came out just fine!

Ingredients:
10 cups or about 16 slices of (1-inch) cubed sturdy white bread (such as Pepperidge Farm Hearty White)
Cooking spray
1 (8 oz.) block of 1/3-less-fat-cream cheese, softened
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of 2% reduced-fat milk
2/3 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tablespoons powdered sugar (or enough to dust the top of the casserole)
3/4 cup maple syrup (if desired for serving)

Directions:
1. Place bread cubes in a 13x9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
2. Beat cream cheese at medium speed until smooth.
3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Add milk, half-and-half, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and vanilla, and mix until smooth (I often still have little cream cheese chunks, but then smoosh them out with a rubber spatula)
5. Pour cream cheese mixture over top of bread, cover and refrigerate overnight (I have also gently used a spoon to toss the bread cubes in the dish to be sure it was all coated with the mixture befor I put it in the fridge to speed up the process if I'm making it the same day)
6. Remove bread mixture from refrigerator, and let stand on counter for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375-degrees.
7. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes or until set. (Be sure to call people into the kitchen as you pull it out of the oven to see the souffle while it's all puffy and gorgeous - it will soon deflate.)
8. Sprinkle the souffle with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup (and maybe a side of sausage.) Yum!

High-class Grilled Cheese Appetizer

There is a wine bar in Culver City, CA that offers a truffle oil grilled cheese appetizer that is absolutely fantastic with a nice glass of wine after work. We've revamped that concept into our own version that we call "High-class Grilled Cheese". The secret is white truffle oil combined with a yummy flavored artisan bread. The oil, in particular, turns anything into a decadent treat with just a few drops.

Ingredients:
Rosemary Olive Oil Artisan Bread (the kind that comes in the paper bags in the bakery section of the grocery store)
Havarti Cheese
White Truffle Oil
A little bit of butter or margarine

Directions:
1. Slice the bread into 1/2-inch thick slices
2. Like making normal grilled cheese, slather the outsides of the bread with a bit of soft butter or margarine (I like Brummel & Brown, myself)
3. Drip just a few drops of while truffle oil on top of the buttered slices and spread the oil evenly over the butter itself (a little goes a long way!)
4. Place some sliced havarti cheese in between two bread slices with the butter facing out, so the cheese fills the whole bread from side to side, and the dry sides are touching the cheese (ok, you probably already knew this part)
5. Place the sandwich in a heated panini press until golden (or cook the sandwich the old-fashioned way, on a heated fry pan.) If using a fry pan, flip the sandwich over after a couple minutes so the grilled cheese is golden brown on both sides.
6. Remove from the press or pan, let the sandwich cool for a minute or two, then slice from the top of the bread to the bottom, into 1 1/2 to 2 inch strips (if serving as an appetizer for guests.) Makes a perfect 2-3 bite snack!

Caprese Salad with Burrata Cheese

I love Caprese Salad in the summertime when the Heirloom tomatoes are plentiful at the grocery store. Quick and easy to throw together for guests, this is the perfect meal starter for a warm summer evening.


Ingredients:
Heirloom tomatoes in a variety of colors
Burrata cheese (or fresh buffalo mozzarella)
A handful of fresh basil
A great olive oil
Aged Balsamic vinegar (I like to use a 10-year)
Sea salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Slice the tomatoes and cheese into 1/2-inch rounds
2. Alternate the stack with: tomato, basil, cheese, a splash of olive oil, a splash of Balsamic, salt and pepper...tomato, basil, cheese, olive oil, Balsamic, salt and pepper, etc. until you have your desire serving size. That's it!

Mushroom Risotto

My husband and I honeymooned in Italy and now crave the delicious risotto we ate in Rome, Florence and Venice. Paired with a flavorful Ribeye steak and a great Brunello, this meal is guaranteed to impress all your dinner party guests.

Ingredients:
6 cups chicken broth, divided (I use low-sodium chicken broth for 3 of the 6 cups to cut down on the salt-intake)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 lb. Portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 lb. white mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 shallots, diced
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
Sea salt or kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. In a medium-to-large saucepan, warm the chicken broth over low heat.
2. Meanwhile, on another burner, warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the mushrooms, and cook until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Remove mushrooms and their liquid, and set aside.
3. In a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, and stir in the shallots. Cook 1 minute. Add rice, stirring to coat with oil, about 2 minutes. When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed. Add 1/2 cup of the warmed broth to the rice, and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 20-25 minutes.
4. Remove the skillet from heat, and stir in mushrooms with their liquid, butter, chives, and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.