Category: Lunch

Summer Tomato Feta Salad

Believe it or not, I’m not the biggest tomato person. I’ll happily leave them out of my burger, and I never put them in my tuna sandwiches. My husband, on the other hand, is tomato-obsessed. Ask him what he would take to a desert island, and I know without a doubt, that it would be a boat-load of tomatoes. So when it comes to salad-making, you can imagine that we are not always in agreement.

Summer, though, is the exception. There’s just something about summer tomatoes that is so deliciously sweet. Instead of arguing about adding tomatoes to the salad, we end up making tomato-only salads. Using an assortment of tomatoes like red and yellow tomatoes on the vine, or colorful heirloom tomatoes, makes for a beautiful presentation. With summer tomatoes being so juicy and delicious, you really don’t need much to make them sing. A simple drizzle of good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar is enough to dress them up. Feta adds protein, color, and saltiness, to balance out the tomatoes sweet flavor.

Needless to say, my husband is in LOVE with this salad. I hope you will be too.

Summer Tomato Feta Salad

Red & yellow tomatoes on the vine (or heirloom tomatoes)
Feta cheese
Good quality olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
Black pepper, optional
Chopped parsley, for garnish

Method: Slice the tomatoes, about 1/4″ thick. Lay the tomatoes on a platter, alternating between red and yellow. Sprinkle the feta cheese over the tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with kosher salt. Garnish with parsley.

1 year ago: picture perfect teacher’s gift
2 years ago: Asian bigger bowl soup

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3-Cheese Broccoli Pull-Apart Buns

I’m on a serious broccoli-cheddar kick right now, and every time I go to the pizza store, I find myself ordering a broccoli calzone. Or, at the very least, a broccoli pizza. There’s just something about broccoli and cheese that go together like cookies and cream, peanut butter and jelly or spaghetti and meatballs.

Now, I’m no baker, so the thought of making individual calzones is just too much for me. But after I made these amazing cinnamon buns (from scratch!) recently, I felt inspired to try a savory version. Using store-bought pizza dough made it all-the-more simple (thanks, Trader Joes!).

Making broccoli calzones into pull-apart buns, not only saves you on calories (if you can stick to eating just one!), it’s also cheesier, gooier and especially, prettier. Serve this up at a lunch with friends for some serious wow-factor!

If you’re not a broccoli person (what’s wrong with you?) then serve these up with the vegetables of your choice. Think olives, roasted veggies, caramelized onions, or whatever pizza toppings you wish! You can go also go crazy with the cheese varieties, using feta (feta and olives sounds great!), brie (how about some brie and figs!), or goat cheese (with pesto and sundried tomatoes, mmm…) Oh, the possibilities!

3-Cheese Broccoli Calzone Buns

1 lb. store-bought pizza dough (I use Trader Joe’s)
1 10oz. package frozen chopped broccoli, cooked and drained
1 cup ricotta cheese
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
parmesan or garlic powder, for topping (optional)
marinara sauce, for dipping

Method:

On a lightly floured surface, roll out pizza dough into a large rectangle. Spread ricotta cheese over dough. Top with chopped broccolli, shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. Starting from the shorter side, roll the dough up tightly. Cut the roll into 7 slices and place in a lightly greased 9″ round pan. Sprinkle the buns with parmesan cheese or garlic powder (optional) and bake at 350 degrees until dough is puffed and cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

1 year ago: DIY teacher’s gift
2 years ago: fast food, lightened up

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Grilled Marinated Chicken

With Memorial Day finally here, it’s safe to say that BBQ season has officially started. While BBQ’s are a great way to enjoy the warm weather, they’re also an excuse to serve up a spread of tasty, yet not-so-healthy hot dogs, burgers and fries (and don’t forget the coleslaw and potato salad!). It’s really a shame because grilled chicken is cheaper, healthier, and quicker than all that other BBQ fare. With the right preparation, your chicken can turn out perfectly moist and full of flavor, you won’t even miss the other stuff. Leftover grilled chicken is also great on salads, in tacos, or repurposed in a chicken tortilla soup!

The best way to get your chicken to be moist and flavorful, is to marinate it for several hours. Adding oil and acid to the marinade really helps to tenderize the chicken and keep it moist. I love the bright and fresh flavor that lime juice adds, but feel free to experiment with lemon juice or vinegars of your choice.

Grilled Marinated Chicken

1 pkg chicken breasts, cleaned and trimmed of fat
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
zest of 1 lime

Method:

Add garlic, olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice and zest to a bowl and mix to combine. Add chicken breasts to a ziploc bag and pour over the marinade. Place the bag in the refrigerator for about 6-8 hours (or a few hours at the minimum). Remove chicken from marinade (discard remaining) and place on a hot grill. Grill for about 4-6 minutes per side, depending on size and thickness (the internal temperature of the chicken should reach 165 degrees F).

NOTE: If you don’t have an outdoor grill, feel free to make this on a grill pan, or broil in the oven for about 4-5 minutes per side.

TIP: To get nice grill marks on your chicken, pat it dry before placing it on the grill.

1 year ago: salmon pasta salad
2 years ago: black bean & chorizo chocolate chili

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Kani Caesar Salad with Nori Croutons

When the Kosher Connection team decided on “croutons” as the link-up theme for May, I was so excited to finally try out a recipe that I’ve been dreaming of developing for months now. Truth be told, I am not the biggest nori fan. I mean, I wouldn’t eat the stuff if it didn’t hold my sushi together. It’s got that fishy quality about it that’s just kind of, well, stinky. But you know what? when you use it to top off a kani caesar salad, it just sorta, goes.

Talking about dislikes, I used to have a serious aversion to surimi, those orange-colored mock crab sticks. But after I tasted this salad at my cousin’s house a few months back, I was hooked. You see, it’s all a matter of how you serve it. Pulling the kani apart into shreds and coating it in a spicy sriracha dressing takes it from what-is-this-spongy-orange-stuff-in-my-california-roll to what’s-in-this-amazing-salad?! Seriously people, kani salad has changed my outlook on surimi forever.

So that’s sorta how this happened. At first, I came up with the brilliant concept of a nori-flavored crouton. But who would want to eat a nori crouton on a standard lettuce salad? I knew I had to incorporate some kind of seafood to bring the whole sushi concept together, but it also had to have greens to hold up the whole croutons thing. Alas, I figured I would do a take on a salmon-caesar salad with a Japanese-inspired recipe. This Kani Caesar Salad combines the classic Caesar concept with the awesomeness of kani salad, with nori croutons and a sriracha caesar dressing to round it out. If you think this salad looks good, just wait until you taste the dressing. It’s got an amazing depth of flavor from the anchovies that is only made better by the Asian hot sauce, it’s heat  balanced by the addition of sweet rice vinegar.

So, if you’re looking to wow your guests with a nontraditional twist on a classic Caesar salad, give this Kani Caesar Salad with nori croutons a try. And don’t forget to check out the Kosher Connection Link-Up below for more fun & creative twists on croutons!

Kani Caeser Salad with Nori Croutons

2 heads romaine lettuce
1/2 package surimi (8 mock crab sticks)
6 oz. leftover bread, cut into cubes
2 sheets nori seaweed
1/4 c. neutral-flavored oil, such as canola
sriracha caesar dressing (recipe follows)

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place nori sheets in the food processor and process until a dust forms. Place bread and nori into a large mixing bowl and drizzle with oil. Toss the croutons to coat with the nori dust. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, until croutons are golden and toasted.

To prepare the salad, wash and dry romaine lettuce. Chop or tear the lettuce to desired size and place in a salad bowl. Pull the surimi sticks apart into shreds and spread over lettuce. Drizzle with dressing and garnish with nori croutons.

Sriracha Caesar Dressing:

2 cloves garlic
3-6 anchovy fillets
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp sriracha
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup canola oil

Method:

Add everything except for oil to the food processor. Turn the food processor on and slowly pour in the oil until a creamy dressing forms. Add more oil, if needed, to reach desired consistency.

NOTE: anchovies are what gives Caesar salad dressing it’s unique salty/umami flavor. If you’re scared away, start with 1 or 2. Alternatively, you can add a few shakes of fish sauce.

1 year ago: cream of leek soup
2 years ago: home-made fish sticks

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Pasta-Free Spinach Manicotti

This one is for all the low-carbers out there. The people with diabetes and those on restricted diets who drool over the cheese-filled pasta delicacies plastered all over their newsfeeds. You don’t have to feel deprived anymore. I’ve taken the cheesy manicotti experience and revamped it into a lighter, healthier version that is so good, you won’t even realize there’s no pasta in it!

To tell you the honest truth, I’m not the biggest pasta person. I mean, I enjoy a good plate of pasta, I do. But I’m just not one of those people who dreams about a giant bowl of penne ala vodka (duck confit ravioli, maybe). So when I’m watching my carbs, I care more about my bread-less sandwiches than my pasta-free baked ziti. And you know why? Because I always find a way around it. I’ll make spaghetti squash baked ziti, cauliflower mac ‘n cheese, cheesy stuffed mini peppers, or roasted eggplant parmesan with feta. And now, this. Oh. Em. Gee. Best reinvention to date. Seriously.

With Shavuot just a week away, think about reinventing your standard indulgent menu of french onion soup, lasagna and cheese blintzes for lighter, healthier versions of your favorite dairy dishes. You won’t be left feeling bloated and heavy, but you’ll still enjoy all the delicacies that the holiday of Shavuot offers. Lighten things up with my refreshing, palate-cleansing strawberry rhubarb soup and save your calories for a decadent dessert, coming up later this week!

No-Pasta Spinach Manicotti

large spinach leaves
manicotti filling (recipe below)
marinara sauce
shredded mozzarella

For the filling:

1 15oz. container ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
1 tsp lemon zest
salt, to taste

Method:

Mix the filling ingredients and add to a ziploc bag. Snip off the tip so that you can use as a piping bag. Set aside.

Quickly blanch the spinach leaves by dipping them in boiling hot salted water, just enough for them to wilt and then shocking them in an ice bath. Layer 3 spinach leaves on a cutting board, overlapping them slightly (you may need more or less, depending on the size of your leaves). Pipe some of the cheese filling near the ends of the spinach bed, leaving room at the sides. Fold the sides over the filling, and roll it closed, starting from the stems, to create a cigar.

Spoon some marinara sauce on the bottom of square ramekin dishes and place stuffed spinach rolls over it (however many will fit). Spoon some additional sauce over the spinach manicotti and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Repeat with remaining spinach, until you have used up all your filling.

Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is bubbly and it begins to brown and crisp up around the edges.

1 year ago: carrot muffins
2 years ago: meat lasagna

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