FIRST KITCHEN BLOGS

I am like a proud mommy all over again. After 3 months of daily watering, weeding and watching I finally birthed my first tomato harvest! Granted, only one of the two plants that I started off with survived (hail storm in July…) but still, I am happy! The tomatoes are big beefy “mortgage lifter” heirloom tomatoes. Supposedly they got that name when the man who first bred them used the profits to pay off his mortgage…I have a looooong way to go until my gardening is that profitable ;-).

For now I am enjoying the fruits of the harvest, literally. The mortgage lifters are sweet and earthy tasting. Supposedly they are good cooking/roasting tomatoes. Since I had about 10 in my first harvest I decided to eat a few and cook a few so nothing would go to waste.

I made a fresh tomato sauce that is easy to freeze and take out as an alternative to canned sauces. It is a good recipe to make on a Sunday or a day that you don’t have to rush out of the house, as it takes a few hours to simmer. Here’s the scoop:

Garden Fresh Tomato Sauce

Makes about 3-4 cups

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time 2-3 hours

You will need:

5-6 large tomatoes , chopped (I used my heirloom tomatoes but any beefy variety will be fine, could also use double the amount of Roma tomatoes as they are much smaller)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped (*optional…could substitute a number of different vegetables such as green pepper, red pepper, mushrooms, etc)

¼ cup olive oil

1-2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 large handful of fresh basil, stems removed

 

Directions:

Chop all ingredients, set aside.

In large and deep saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until transparent (~2 minutes). Add zucchini and garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and salt. Bring ingredients to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and cover. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring every so often. 

After about an hour, add brown sugar and basil (mixture will be more sauce like now as the tomatoes will have cooked down and formed a liquid). Cover and simmer another 1 hour.

 

 

Remove

from heat and let cool for ½ hour. Place sauce in Tupperware and put in freezer.

 

 

May also use right away with pasta. You could add ground turkey or beef to make a classic meat sauce or pour it over roasted/pan seared chicken as an alternative or eat simply with noodles and parmesan cheese.

That's amore!

 

 

 

Over the weekend I hosted my sister’s “Vintage Circus” themed baby shower. She is having a little boy (Leonardo or “Leo”) at the end of September!  A vintage circus was the perfect theme for a baby named Leo (the Lion!).  Again, the theme guided the party planning but I did not go overboard. I found some vintage clowns at a thrift store; a toy carousal that I spray painted and I used popcorn holders as a vase for flowers. I also set up a tent outside and decorated with draping fabric and ribbons. I spent about $50 on all of the decorations…not bad!  Instead of getting to carnival-y on the food I went for fresh and summery. I also didn’t do anything too heavy because my Aunt Lin made beautiful and decadent circus cupcakes for desert!

Here was the menu:

Caprese Salad and baguette

Fresh Spinach Dip and veggies

Torta di Riso (My grandmother’s Italian recipe)

Fresh Fruit

Pesto Green Beans**

Balsamic Glazed Chicken

 

The menu was the hit of the party. The combination went well together and left people satisfied but not overly full. I will share the pesto green beans recipe. This was a hit and I used the pesto that I made last week and picked up green beans at the farmer’s market the day before.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures while I was making this dish, but it is very simple so I think just following the recipe you will do just fine!

Pest Green Beans:

Serves 4-6

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 2 minutes

You will need:

2 lb green beans, stemmed

1/2 recipe Presto Pesto

1 cup fresh parmesean cheese, grated

1/4 cup walnuts, toasted

Directions:

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Remove stem tops from green beans. "Blanch" green beans in the boiling water (leave beans in water no more than 2 minutes or until they turn a bright green- you want them crispy and NOT cooked or mushy).  Drain beans. Return beans back to pot.  Add pesto and parmesean cheese and mix well (I used tongs to do this). Transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle walnuts over the top as garnish. Refridgerate until ready to serve (could be eaten warm too but works very well as a cold salad).

Enjoy!

(I'll leave you with a picture of the cupcakes, so cute!!)

 

 

 

 

Air conditioning has been the ‘hot’ commodity here for the past few weeks. I have scheduled my day around being in it and if I am unable to be, I make sure I am near a body of water!  That said, this heat wave has made cooking a dwindling priority. I would rather not turn on any appliance that conducts heat, so there has been a lot of eating out ($$) and getting by on cold sandwiches and fruit.

Today, I decided to try my luck in the kitchen but with one exception: no oven, no stove. I was not going to let any heat creep into my perfectly cool 68 degree home. I had some kale left over from the weekend farmer’s market trip and I remembered this amazing salad my sister made a few weeks ago. It was so delicious to actually be kale! So I tried my hand at it and it turned out so good AND my house stayed cool! I even had my fiancé, an extremely finicky eater, try the salad (before I told him it was kale, he though t it was spinach) and he LIKED it. So, it’s that good ;-)

Kool Kale Salad

Serves 4

Prep time: 5-10 minutes

Cook time: NONE

Chill time *: ½ hr (give or take)

You will need:

1 bunch of kale, chopped and stems removed

1 lemon

¼ cup olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

½ cup bread crumbs

½ cup parmesan cheese, grated

Dash of cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Directions:

Remove tough stems from the kale. Rip the de-stemmed kale and place in large bowl.

Chop garlic into small pieces (‘mince’), add to kale.

Squeeze the juice of the lemon and pour over kale.

Pour olive oil.

Add bread crumbs, parmesan, salt and cayenne pepper.

Mix well with tongs or fork. Check the bottom of the bowl, which is where all the ingredients will want to hide.

 Make sure all of the kale gets drenched in the oil/lemon juice mixture.

I like to chill my salad for at least ½ hour to allow all of the flavors to mix and for the kale to absorb the juices. You can also serve it immediately. This salad is good in the fridge for 2-3 days (if you can keep it that long!).

Eat alone as a light lunch or snack or serve as a side dish to grilled meat! Enjoy!

I ran across an article in my Environmental Nutrition newsletter that inspired me to talk about how to make your Chinese takeout a little healthier for you. Their article focused on the sodium content, but I imagine we are all interested in how to limit the calories and fat too.

Chinese takeout is usually pretty economical and also so convenient that we may be tempted to choose it often, but for your health here are some tips:

 

First, limit how often you might have your favorite take out meal.

Try plain rice instead of fried rice as a side. 

The portions are usually large – so plan on having it for 2 meals.   It generally reheats well and as is just as tasty the second time. And just think the second meal was Free!

When choosing your meal, look at healthier alternatives.  For example:

Some good choices for appetizers might be- Hot and Sour Soup, Spring Rolls, Steamed Dumplings or Lettuce Wraps.

Entrees- Choose unbreaded meats, chicken or shrimp with lots of vegetables such as Pepper Steak, Pineapple Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Wok-grilled chicken or shrimp.

Every restaurant has their own name for their dishes, but you get the idea.

P.S. We have a great easy, healthy stir-fry recipe in our First Kitchen.

Tomatoes- tis the season.  Its hard to believe that the lush red tasty tomatoes we are seeing at the market now have any resemblance to the ones we see in the winter.  So take time to enjoy them any way you can.   Regular, hierloom, cherry or grape- they're all tasty.  For example try a Caprese salad -we can show you how.   Or how about bruschetta with fresh tomato topping as an appetizer for your next outdoor barbecue.  (You can use that basil you have growing in your herb pot too.) 
                                           

Bruschetta with Tomato-Basil Topping

(About 4 servings)

Grilled toast rounds

16 slices French bread (or about 8 slices Italian bread)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove

Brush both sides of bread slices with olive oil and place on medium hot grill; grill until lightly brown; turn and grill other side.  Remove from grill and rub one side of toasts with garlic.  Serve with Tomato- Basil Relish (below).

Tomato-Basil Topping

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped basil

Salt

Pepper

Mix tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, vinegar in a small bowl. Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste Cover and let stand about 30 minutes. Garnish with basil springs and serve.

Okay, I admit, I too have made many resolutions that I didn’t keep beyond January 15. However, this year I’ve decided to focus on only one, which should be pretty easy thanks to a few of my friends... Betty Crocker, Mark Bittman and of course the First Kitchen team.

My New Year resolution this year is to make at least four dinners a week at home (not counting frozen meals). To do this I have picked up copies of two basic cookbooks: The Classic Betty Crocker Cookbook- my mom’s all-time standby, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, and of course our First Kitchen DVD and website. All of these are great resources for beginner cooks. They provide simple yet yummy recipes for Breakfast to Desserts.  Another great on-line resource for simple healthy recipes is from

Green Moutain- a Woman's retreat for healthy weight mangement:

http://http//www.fitwoman.com/recipes.htm 

Here's a hint: Spend an hour the weekend before planning out your meals for the week and buy all the groceries ahead of time. This will make it easier to stick to your plans.

Now, if you are brand new to the kitchen and are thinking  “Yes but I don’t even know how to use a recipe”, I suggest your first purchase should be the First Kitchen DVD (www.firstkitchencooks.com) because you will find a ton of step-by-step information on how to get started in your kitchen, food safety and healthy alternatives to your favorite recipes. You can also check out the First Kitchen website (www.firstkitchencooks.com) for additional information as well as post your questions and thoughts on the blog or emails us at info@firstkitchencooks.com.

We’d love to share your ideas for quick meals to make.

Happy New Year and get cooking!

 

After a summer of outdoor activities, eating healthy fruits and vegetables of the season, not to mention free meals with the ‘rents- things are about to change.  

Does this sound familiar?

·      Late night studying  -and snacking

·      Late night studying- and sitting, sitting

·      Partying -and snacking and consuming caloric beverages

·      Grabbing quick and cheap meals in (or out) of the cafeteria

This can add on the pounds.  No wonder the term the freshman 15 has caught on.   But with a little planning, this does not have to happen.

Sure we can give you a list of what to avoid, but we’d rather talk about what you can do.

While studying and snacking, maybe try a yogurt and pretzels or an apple and string cheese as an alternative to the many trips for chips or candy bars from the vending machine. How about a party where you make our own pizza? A simple prepared crust with lots of healthy ingredients – It is not only good for you, but it takes the focus off of only eating and/or drinking. 

The cafeteria is a handy place eat, but know their sneaky philosophy – they put the dessert out first and when you are hungry they are tempting.  Dessert is ok, but let’s not make it the main item on your tray. 

These are just a couple of hints, but as recent graduates we know a few more trick that we can share with you on our First Kitchen DVD

Good luck!

Does it seem like you have a million graduation parties to attend? Your cousin from high school, your sister from college, your friend from graduate school or maybe even you!  Graduation is a time of celebration and change and central to every graduation party is the food, which, if you aren’t mindful about how much - can change your figure.  Buffet tables lined with taco bars, dessert trays, foot-long sandwiches, chips, dips and cheeses could make anyone weak in the knees…or should I say mouth.   Don’t worry!  You don’t have to steer clear of the food table…just don’t become it’s best friend! 

Fill up on fun, not food using these simple tips:

 

-Don’t go to a party hungry…there is no doubt you will eat more than your share and maybe catch a few looks after your 4^th trip down the line.

 

-Use a small plate.  This will make it look like you have more than you really do.

 

-Drink ...WATER.  Don’t fill up on alcoholic drinks or soda.  Those both have a lot of calories and can increase the amount of food you consume…use moderation (trust me, you don’t want to start dancing on the buffet table)

 

-Head for the fruits and vegetables.  Choose dishes such as the grilled vegetables or fresh fruit bowl to go wild, not the tray of brownies.

 

-Socialize!  The more people you talk to, the less time you’ll have to eat.

 

Lastly, don’t forget to bring a gift for the hard working graduate.  Everyone appreciates a reward for his or her efforts.  Rather than giving the typical card-with-cash, try something more creative….

The FIRST KITCHEN DVD is a perfect gift for a graduate whether high school, college, or even grad school.  It is a great tool for getting started in the kitchen and learning how to cook tasty, healthy, inexpensive and easy food in the comfort of your own kitchen.  Let the FK team help you make this graduation season easy and rewarding…you may even get invited over for dinner after they’ve watched the First Kitchen DVD.

 

To order go to: http://www.firstkitchencooks.com/fk-shop.html