Day Recipe Food Community

July 17, 2010

Santorini Bean Salad

Filed under: Recipes — Tags: , , , , , , — Annacia @ 9:20 am

This is a most enjoyable salad that the entire family should enjoy. With the cheese this could easily be a full meal on it’s own when summers full heat in bearing down. However, it was great with grilled chicken. A wonderful balance of flavors that evokes the wonderful way of life in the Mediterranean. You’ll also find this choice to be not only delicious but very healthy and heart friendly.

MAKES: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS:
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cucumber, finely chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved (cherry tomatoes will work well also)
1/4 cup sweet onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed
1 tablespoon olive oil (more if you would like)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups mixed salad greens (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
 Combine chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, basil and mozzarella cheese in a medium bowl.

Drizzle olive oil, vinegar and salt over top and toss all ingredients to combine.

 Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 1 hour to let flavors blend.

Serve alone as a side-dish or over a bed of mixed greens.

TIP:

Feta cheese, crumbled or cubed is another fine choice  to use in this salad.

Also try pairing it with roast lamb!

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July 10, 2010

Veggie Pizza Healthy and Delicious

Filed under: Recipes — Tags: , , , , , — Annacia @ 10:32 am

Lighten up and enjoy this healthy recipe for far a less sinful pizza pleasure. Optimistically this makes 8 servings but not in my house, 3 people polished it off easily.

MAKES: 1, 12 inch pizza

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb whole wheat pizza dough (purchased or homemade)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 lb mixed mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 small onion, sliced into rings (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canned no-salt-added pizza sauce (can use more if you like lots of sauce)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS:
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over moderate heat.
Add the bell peppers and saute for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Add the mushrooms, onion slices (if using), oregano and salt, and cook for 4 minutes or until the mushroom liquid has evaporated.
Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 450°F
Spray a 12-inch pizza pan or large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
Pat the dough into a 12-inch round.
Cover and let stand in a warm spot for 25 minutes or until doubled. Bake for 5 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the pizza sauce and cinnamon.
Spoon over the pizza.
Top with the pepper mixture and the mozzarella.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the crust is browned.

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July 5, 2010

Herb Magic Grilled Steak

Filed under: Recipes — Tags: , , , — Annacia @ 8:13 am

Any time you want to fire up the grill you won’t go wrong with this delicious steak treatment. It adds a lot of flavor and always gives me a moist and tender steak whenever I use it. Be sure to give it four to six hours to marinade so it will have enough time to penetrate the meat and work it’s magic.

MAKES: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS:
6 beef  steaks (any cut will work)
1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 teaspoons dried parsley (or 3 tbsp chopped fresh)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil (or chopped fresh basil)
fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

DIRECTIONS:
Mix oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil and pepper.
Roll steak in mixture and leave in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Place meat on the rack of a grill pan and cook 4 inches under or over a pre-heated grill for 5 to 7 minutes in total (rare) or 7 to 10 minutes in total (medium), basting meat with remaining oil mixture.
Season with salt and serve immediately.

TIP:

This will work equally well with chicken, pork, lamb and I think it would be quite tasty used with a sturdy fish also (halibut, sword fish and the like) but with you would want to cut down the the marinating time to no longer than an hour.

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June 30, 2010

Berry Patch Cooler

Filed under: Recipes — Tags: , , , , , , — Annacia @ 8:28 am

Make the most of summer’s crop of berries with this simple and refreshing non alcoholic (see TIP below if you would like a grown up version of this) cooler. I used strawberries but this would be just as perfect if you use blueberries, raspberries or blackberries. You might like to mix the berries but I’m not sure what color the cooler would end up being.

MAKES: About 6 cups

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces fresh berries, washed and cleaned

1/2 cup sugar, honey or sugar substitute
2 cups cranberry juice, well chilled
1 750 ml bottle seltzer water or club soda

ice for the pitcher and glasses

DIRECTIONS:
Place the berries in a blender or food processor with about 2/3 cup of the seltzer water and the sugar, blend till smooth.

Place into a pitcher containing as much ice as you would like and stir in the cranberry juice and remaining seltzer water.

Put some more ice into the serving glasses.

Serve right away.

TIP:

For serving to adults who would enjoy something a little more “Festive” just use a bottle of well chilled champagne for the seltzer water.

You can also use a 10 to 12 ounce package of frozen berries if you like. If the frozen berries are sweetened you may well want to skip adding  the half cup of sugar in the recipe.

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June 24, 2010

Lemon Poppy Seed Fruit Salad

Filed under: Recipes — Annacia @ 1:33 pm

This is a very healthy and delicious fresh salad that makes good use of summers best offerings. It’s low in fat and high in goodness.  These ingredients were my choices but if you have grapes, peaches, blueberries or raspberries on hand please feel free to use them. If you like some crunch a quarter to a half cup of chopped nuts would also be a great addition. Try pecans, macadamias or hazelnuts chopped to the size you like best. If you add to the fruit given in the recipe you’ll need to use more lemon yogurt also.

SERVES: 6

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 a cantaloupe (chilled, sliced and chopped)
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries (sliced, chopped or quartered depending on size)
1 banana
1 cup lemon yogurt, fat free, no sugar added
1 tablespoon poppy seed
ground mace (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Have the cantaloupe and strawberries chilled and ready.
Cut the cantaloupe in half, remove seeds then peel, slice and chop (reserve the other half for another purpose).
Place in mixing bowl.
Wash and cut the strawberries and add to the melon.
Mix the yogurt with the poppy seed and gently stir into the melon and berries.
Peel and slice the banana and fold it into the mix.
Sprinkle the top with the ground mace if desired.
Serve at once or chill up to 4 hours.

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