Chicken Caprese Salad

I realized recently I don’t have enough salad recipes on here. Mostly because I don’t eat enough salad, which I’ve been trying to change. I do love a good salad but I often find myself too lazy to get out all the ingredients and chop them up – which is silly because I usually spend 30 minutes preparing most of my meals anyway.

Whenever I see the word “Caprese” on a menu at a restaurant, I get excited. Caprese is the classic Italian combination of fresh mozzerella, fresh basil, and tomatoes. It’s one of my favorite flavor combinations and is always sure to satisfy. A traditional Insalata Caprese doesn’t involve lettuce or greens of any type, but I decided to throw some into this salad for extra heartiness and some crunch, and chicken for protein of course. This salad is so light and fresh tasting  – perfect for summer.

I also threw together a simple homemade creamy balsamic vinaigrette for this salad. You can find balsamic vinegar near the other vinegars or olive oil in your grocery store and it’s relatively inexpensive. I used Greek yogurt (my staple) for the “creamy” aspect of the dressing, but you could alternatively use mayonnaise or heavy cream for a more authentic version.

Chicken Caprese Salad
serves 1

Ingredients:

• For the dressing:
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tsp plain Greek yogurt or mayonnaise
  • 2-3 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
• one small stalk of romaine lettuce (about 3-4 cups), chopped and rinsed
• 1 small breast of chicken, grilled and sliced
• 1/4 cup of cubed fresh mozzerella
• 3-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

To prepare the dressing, simply whisk all of the ingredients for it together in a small bowl. Set aside. Place lettuce in a salad bowl, and layer remaining ingredients on top. Drizzle dressing over the salad and enjoy.

Ricotta Vegetable Turkey Meatballs

Meatballs are one of those things, when done right, I find so satisfying. I’m not a huge meatloaf person and I only eat burgers every once in a while, but something about meatballs makes them super appealing to me. They make a great meal and there are endless varieties to how you can prepare them. Some of my favorites include sweet and sour meatballs, which are made with grape jelly and chili sauce (sounds crazy but it works) and, of course, traditional Italian-style meatballs. My dad makes some of the best beef meatballs I’ve ever had, accompanied by his famous tomato sauce. I have yet to get the recipe from him…

Since becoming interested in eating healthier a couple of years ago, I’ve made the switch from ground beef to ground turkey. Growing up, we always had beef for our burgers and tacos, but I’ve come to prefer ground turkey because it’s not as heavy and still loaded with protein. I certainly enjoy beef every now and then, but I’m really more of a white meat-kinda girl.

After making many different meatball recipes, some successful and some not so much, I’ve discovered a few methods to make them delicious each time. One of the most important tips I can give is to make sure you stick to an appropriate ratio of ingredients. If you use too much or too little of one ingredient, your meatballs may come out dry and crumbly or a pile of mush. The ratio I typically follow for every one pound of ground meat is 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs and 1 egg. It’s also important to measure your spices and/or herbs, since you can’t taste the meat before you cook it. And a method I personally like to use to keep meatballs moist is to add veggies, cheese, or both!

These meatballs were inspired by two recipes. One is a turkey meatball recipe my roommate Emily would make a couple of years ago, which is still one of my favorites to this day. Her version includes veggies like spinach, red pepper, and mushroom and were so flavorful. The other recipe is these Turkey Ricotta Meatballs from CenterCutCook, which use ricotta cheese to help keep the meatballs moist. More or less, I combined these two recipes and came up with the clever name Ricotta Vegetable Turkey Meatballs… ha ha.

Ricotta Vegetable Turkey Meatballs
makes 20 meatballs or 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
• 1/4 cup finely diced onions
• 1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
• 1 large handful of fresh spinach, shredded
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan and/or mozzerella cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp dried oregano

Directions:

1. In a medium-large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly, either using a large spoon or your hands until all is well-incorporated.
2. Optional: For a more flavorful meatball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. If you choose to skip this step, preheat your oven to 375ºF.
3. Use your hands to roll the meat into about 18-20 meatballs, or around 1.5 tablespoons each. Mine made exactly 20. Place the meatballs on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until they are cooked throughout. Let cool slightly and serve with your choice of pasta, or on a sub roll with marinara sauce and enjoy!

Make sure your veggies are nice and finely chopped

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir

Once all your ingredients are well-incorporated, refrigerate for a few hours or bake right away. When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Roll your turkey into meatballs, roughly 1.5 tablespoons each or 18-20 meatballs. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

When your meatballs are no longer pink in the middle and cooked throughout, they are done. Serve with pasta or on a sub roll.

Wonderfully juicy and moist in the middle

Veggie Pita Pizza

It’s finally starting to feel a bit like spring here in Massachusetts. I suppose I shouldn’t say “finally”, seeing as the first official day of spring was just last week, but it’s been a very long, snowy winter. The temperature has risen above freezing during the day and my favorite produce market is opening up the outdoor portion of the store to sell flowers.

Usually at this time of year, I’m realizing that bikini season is just around the corner and deciding I should start exercising more and eating better. Last fall I joined a gym for the first time in a long time, and had the epiphany that I don’t want being healthy and fit to just be a seasonal thing. Though it’s an effort to make yourself go to the gym every week and eat right, it’s even more difficult to let yourself go during the winter and then scramble to get yourself back into shape for the summer.

My attempt to become healthier has definitely been a process. I didn’t just wake up one day and magically eat all the right foods and go to the gym everyday. There’s been a lot of figuring out what does and doesn’t work for my body, and trying to form new habits. I’ve learned that my body functions best with an abundance of protein, healthy fats, limited sugar, and limited dairy. Though I’ve heard that carbs can slow you down and tend to contribute to belly fat, limiting my carb intake has been a bit more difficult. Like many other Americans, I tend to find a meal incomplete without some source of grains and find comfort in eating a bowl of pasta or a sandwich on really good bread.

Instead of completely cutting grains out of my diet, which just seems too drastic for me, I’ve been focusing on incorporating more whole grains into my diet. Lately, one of my favorite ways to eat whole grains is Arnold Pocket Thins. They are a pita pocket-style flat bread and one serving has (1/2 a pita) 100 calories and 8g of whole grains. They come in a number of flavors and are perfect for a sandwich, or in this case, pizza! I chose the Italian Herb flavor for this particular recipe, which seemed appropriate.

This Veggie Pita Pizza is loaded with fresh vegetables, marinara sauce, low-fat cheese and cooked on a delicious whole grain pita. You can use any type of pita bread that’s available to you, and feel free to switch up the veggies. It’s a quick and easy meal, perfect for a weeknight or even for lunch. This is a fun way to eat pizza without feeling guilty afterwards, plus you’re getting a healthy serving of veggies, too.

Veggie Pita Pizza
makes 1 pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 6-inch pita pocket
• 3 Tbsp marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup mozzerella and/or parmesan cheese, divided in half
• handful of fresh spinach, chopped
• 3/4 cup of veggies of your choice, thinly sliced or chopped
• optional: pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425ºF. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Spoon the marinara sauce onto your pita and spread around in an even layer. Sprinkle with half of your cheese. Layer on your spinach and veggies, and top off with remaining cheese and optional red pepper flakes.
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is fully melted and edges of crust are golden-brown. Let cool slightly before eating and enjoy:)

Begin by spreading a thin layer of your marinara sauce on your pita, and sprinkle with half of your cheese.

Add your spinach and veggies, and top with remaining cheese. I used onions, peppers, and mushrooms but you can use whichever veggies you like. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.

Once your cheese is melted and crust is golden-brown, your pizza is done. Let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Kale Pesto

Kale: It’s what’s for dinner.

Somewhere over the last year, I developed a deep love for kale. Yep, I’m one of those strange people that actually truly enjoys kale and I even prefer it to spinach. I eat it in salads, stir-fry, pasta dishes, soups, scrambled eggs, and I get kind of anxious when I don’t have any in the house. I love curly kale because there is so much surface area to the leaves and it’s one of the cheapest greens you can buy, averaging around $0.99 per pound. It’s much more substantial than spinach and doesn’t wilt into a slimy pile of nothing when you cook it. Kale can be bitter sometimes, but every now and then I’ll get a really good bunch that is sweet and full of flavor.

Today I somehow found myself with four bags of kale crammed into the back of the fridge… oops. I had seen recipes for kale pesto and today seemed like the perfect time to make it. I’m a huge fan of traditional basil pesto so I of course had to try out a pesto recipe using my favorite green.

I was concerned this pesto would be lacking in flavor since kale isn’t as fragrant as basil, but I was wrong. The kale gives a sweet, mellow flavor and the combination of almonds, parmesan cheese, and garlic doesn’t hurt, either. You can still include some basil in this recipe if you think you’ll miss the flavor. Incorporating kale into your pesto will make it go a long way and will save you money as well. Win-win!

Kale Pesto
makes roughly 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch/6-8 stalks kale, leaves torn into pieces and stems discarded
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (to toast raw almonds, see directions below)
• 3-4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 green onions or 2 Tbsp chopped shallots
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried basil or small handful of fresh basil leaves (optional)

Directions:

1. Fill a 3-4 quart pot halfway full with water and bring to a boil. Add kale and cook for 1-2 minutes, until kale turns bright green and is slightly tender to the touch. Drain in the sink and let cool.
2. To toast your almonds, lightly spray a small frying pan with cooking spray and turn onto low-medium heat. Add your almonds and let them toast for 3-5 minutes, stirring often, until they are light brown.
3. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. You may need to do this in batches if your food processor is on the smaller side, especially because kale takes up so much space. Season with salt to taste and enjoy on pasta, sandwiches, and more!

Bring water in a large pot to boil and cook kale for 1-2 minutes until bright green and slightly tender. Drain and let cool.

Toast your almonds in a small, greased frying pan if they are not already toasted. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often, until light brown.

Combine all ingredients in your food processor and blend until smooth.

Season with salt to taste and enjoy

Mmm

Eggplant Parmesan Baked Pasta

So I know I just posted an eggplant recipe last week, but I’ve really been craving eggplant parmesan for months now and the eggplants at my favorite market have been looking extra fresh lately. Eggplant parm is one of those meals I can’t say no to. While eggplant by itself is pretty good, I absolutely love breaded eggplant. The exterior is crispy and crunchy, while the interior is moist and practically melts in your mouth. My favorite calzone in the world consists of breaded eggplant, artichokes, pesto, and tomatoes. Healthy? not so much. But delicious? oh yes.

This dish is like a fusion of eggplant parm and baked ziti. Layers of cooked pasta are covered in marinara sauce and topped off with crispy breaded eggplant and mozzerella cheese. I kept the amount of cheese light and opted for part skim mozzerella over whole milk, and used whole grain pasta to make this dish a bit healthier. I did choose to fry the eggplant because I wanted it to be extra crispy, but feel free to bake it if you’re looking to cut further calories.

This recipe does involve a bit of planning ahead, so make sure to leave yourself about 2 hours from start to finish. Prior to breading and frying the eggplant, it must be sliced and laid out to dry out a bit or else the moisture from the eggplant will make the breadcrumbs soggy. After cooking the pasta and frying the eggplant, the dish is cooked for about 20-25 minutes. It takes a bit of effort, but it will be well worth it

Eggplant Parmesan Baked Pasta
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant
• 6 oz. whole grain penne
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup seasoned Panko breadcrumbs
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 – 1 cup of your favorite marinara sauce
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzerella or parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Carefully slice your eggplant into 1/4″ thick slices. Lay them out on a paper towel in a single layer and sprinkle with salt. Let them sit like this for 40-45 minutes.
2. Cook your pasta to al dente – since we’re baking it, we don’t want to get too mushy in the oven.
3. For the next few steps, it’s best to prepare an assembly line of 3 bowls: In one bowl goes your flour. In the next bowl, your beaten egg, and in the 3rd bowl, the panko and spices. (It would also be a good idea to preheat your oven at this point, to 350ºF.)
4. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. One by one, lightly dredge your slices of eggplant in flour. Transfer the eggplant to the egg to coat, shaking off any excess egg, and then into the panko. Make sure each slice is thoroughly covered in panko. Carefully place your breaded eggplant into the heated oil in the frying pan.
5. Fry eggplant for about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Remove from oil, place onto a clean paper towel to soak up the excess oil and let cool.
6. Lightly grease an 8×8″ baking dish. On the bottom, place half of your pasta. Pour on half of the marinara sauce, and then layer on half the breaded eggplant and cheese. Repeat this process once more and top off with extra cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melty and golden-brown.

Lay out your slices of eggplant out on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt. Let them dry out for 40-45 minutes. During this time you may want to cook your pasta.

After 45 minutes, set up your breading station. Place flour, beaten egg, and panko all in separate bowls.

First, lightly dredge your eggplant in flour. Then coat it in the egg, and then cover with breadcrumbs.

Heat 3 Tbsp canola oil in a large frying pan and fry up your eggplant slices until golden-brown, about 5 minutes per side. (I did this in two batches.)

This is what the eggplant will look like when it’s done frying.

In a greased 8×8″ baking dish, layer cooked pasta and half of your tomato sauce.

Place breaded eggplant and cheese on top of pasta layer, and then repeat. Bake at 350ºF for 20-25 minutes.

Dish is done when cheese is melty and golden-brown.

Sprinkle with fresh chopped basil and enjoy