Category: Recipes

Tomato Basil Baked Gnocchi

Tina36 Comments

When I was younger my parents required that the entire family be together at dinner time.  We talked about our day or chatted about whatever we wanted.  As a kid, I just saw it as family time, but now I realize how important that time was to connect with one another.  Now as a married woman, I’ve kept the same tradition going.  No matter how busy we may get, my husband and I always know that we have dinnertime to together and that makes us happy.  We may have deep philosophical conversations or talk about the weather or anything in between.  There’s something …

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Light Fudgy Brownies

Tina34 Comments

Do you know how the brownie came about?  I’ve made a lot of brownies (who hasn’t?), but after making this latest batch, I was curious.  Go go Google.  Here’s some Food History 101.  For the Chicago (Illinois, USA) 1893 World Fair, a woman by the name of Bertha Palmer requested a dessert for the ladies in attendance of the Fair.  She wanted someting that was cake-like but smaller in size.  A chef at Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel created what we all know now as a brownie. Since then a million bazillion brownie recipes have been invented.  (Yes, I counted.     😉 )  They can be fudgy or …

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Indian Chickpea Salad

Tina36 Comments

I finally watched the movie, Frozen, and I love it!  Don’t worry, I won’t talk about it in detail to avoid spoilers for those who haven’t seen it yet.  Olaf is seriously the coolest snowman ever.  (I want one!)  It’s a great movie with several good songs in it, but the song “Let It Go” stands out as being the one that is stuck in my head.  You know a song is stuck in your head when you find yourself singing it in the shower and in the car even over the radio playing a different song.  Even if you haven’t …

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Eggplant And Asparagus Stacks

Tina36 Comments

Is everyone in detox mode after overeating over the holidays?  After all, bathing suit season is right around the corner.  It’s been on my mind too and I thought you might feel the same.  I’m kicking the healthy lifestyle into high gear, including some healthy eats, like these eggplant and asparagus stacks. These roasted veggies are stacked with layers of a lemony ricotta cheese and topped with mozzarella cheese. Eggplant And Asparagus Stacks Recipe (About 4 servings) Ingredients: 1 large eggplant 16 asparagus spears (about 1 and 1/2 pounds) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 container …

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Crumb Carrot Cake

Tina42 Comments

As many of you may know, I’m half Greek and half Italian, and I was baptized Greek Orthodox.  Sometimes the Eastern Orthodox Easter falls on a different day than what my family calls the “American Easter.”  Do you know how confusing that was for me as a kid?  “Mom, why does the Easter bunny come at a different time for me?”  I actually don’t remember how she used to answer that. My husband isn’t Greek so it’s great when the Easters (yes, it’s weird to make that plural for me too) fall on different days because we can just visit both …

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