Eat 3.

I have gotten really horrible at posting regularly, but I really am going to start doing more posts. I am currently working on about five at once, so expect some good stuff soon! But for now, here’s a yummy recipe a friend and I designed. It has some pretty strong flavors, but if you’re a fan of Italian food, you’ll love it!

Tomato-Basil Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 package of fusilli or penne pasta
• 1 small jar of julienned, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• 1 package of cherry tomatoes, sliced into fourths
• 1 handful fresh basil, chopped finely
• 1 jar of store-bought basil pesto (or the equivalent amount of homemade)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. toasted pine nuts
• 1/8 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1 pinch of Italian herb blend
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Boil water for the pasta. Add a pinch of salt and then the pasta. Cook according to the instructions on the package, until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the chopped basil, cherry tomatoes, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes together. Add the salt, pepper, and Italian herbs and stir in.
3. When the pasta is cooked, drained, and rinsed, serve onto plates and distribute the pesto amongst the servings.
4. Incorporate the tomato mixture with the pesto pasta and sprinkle with the desired amount of pine nuts and parmesan.
5. Drizzle with 1/4 tsp. olive oil each and serve hot! This goes well with warm crusty bread or a simple green salad.

Eat 2.

Hey guys, I designed a little recipe for you guys to give a try. This is my own Greek Lentil Salad and it is a super quick and easy lunch, snack, or side. I personally loved it, hope you do, too!

Greek Lentil Salad

Ingredients

2.5 cups of ready-cooked Puy lentils

1-2 oz. of feta cheese

3 oz. sugar plum tomatoes

Drizzle of olive oil

Sprinkle of Italian seasoning

Instructions

1. Separate the lentils with a fork and toss.

2. Dice the tomatoes into quarters with a sharp knife.

3. Mix the lentils and the tomatoes together.

4. Drizzle with olive oil and stir in.

5. Crumble feta cheese into the mixture.

6. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the top.

Image Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk

Eat

A little bit of inspiration for your tastebuds…

When I went to Italy a few years back, of course I went to many a gelateria. The gelato was yummy, but for me the shining star was something called a granita. It looks sort of like a Slurpee and can be consumed in the same way, only it isn’t made of a bunch of junk. It’s basically just various juices, herbs, etc. frozen into ice and then crushed periodically over a period of time. It doesn’t sound like much, but the result is heavenly. I loved them so much that I went and found a book called Granita Magic, by Nadia Roden, which features 55 different flavors of granitas! 55! It is crazy, but it turns out there are so many more iterations than I had imagined. However, I naturally gravitated towards my favorite granita flavor, strawberry, and I have posted the recipe below.

Strawberry Granita (from Nadia Roden’s book Granita Magic)

Ingredients

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar or to taste

1 1/2 pounds sweet ripe strawberries (about 5 heaping cupfuls)

1 cup fresh orange juice

Juice of 1 1/2 lemons

Simmer the water with the sugar for a minute in a medium saucepan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Briefly rinse the strawberries and hull them. Blend the berries to a puree in a food processor. Mix in the sugar syrup and the orange and lemon juices. Taste and add more sugar if needed. Pour the mixture into a wide and shallow container. Cover with a lid, foil, or plastic wrap. Freeze the mixture for an hour or two until it has frozen around the edge. Take the container out of the freezer and scrape the ice with a fork, mixing it from the edge to the center. Repeat the scraping and mixing process every 1/2 hour or so (at least three times) until the entire mixture has turned into small, sequined ice flakes. It is best to eat the granita at once, but if you leave it in the freezer overnight or longer, just let it sit for 10 minutes until it softens a little and then scrap it again with a fork to lighten the texture.

So there you go! Give it a whirl, and if you like it, you can purchase
Granita Magic by Nadia Roden from Amazon for just $4.23 new!