Darcie's School of Italian Cooking... Pasta Lessons and Zucchini and Eggplant Parmesan

My dad's side of the family is Italian. Like real Italian! My maiden name is Alvin but it was originally Alviano when our grandfather came from Italy to America. This post is a nod to my Italian heritage... though I know I'm not truly doing it justice!

While I am fortunate enough to have been the only one of us Alvin's to have actually travelled to Italy, I think my brother and sister have more of the traditional Italian personalitytraits. That's strictly my opinion of course....but they have the true Italian blood! They're more passionate and intense than myself. Or so I think ;0) While they were both home this week on break my brother Justin asked me to make him and the family the pasta I wrote about in my blog early on.

I invited the whole family for dinner of course. But instead of making all the food, I got Molly and Justin in the kitchen with me to learn how to make pasta! I told Justin that he had to pull up my blog and follow the recipe. I was over his shoulder giving him pointers all along but he did it! We took turns rolling because it's a hard job with no pasta roller! (especially when cooking for 6 people!)







I started early that morning with the sauce. I like to slow cook it all day in my crock-pot. I buy large cans of pureed imported Italian tomatoes. No salt. No spice. No additives. Just pureed tomatoes. Then I add to it a whole chopped onion (usually a sweet onion but I used a red onion last time), a few minced garlic cloves, sea salt, chopped red peppers, a few carrots (to absorb acidity), fresh herbs (oregano, basil and thyme), olive oil and some parmigiano reggiano (I also save the rinds to add to the sauce to add flavor and then remove at the end). At the end of the night when the vegetables are cooked down and all the flavors have meshed- I give the sauce a whirl in my food processor to blend all the yumminess (don't forget to remove the cheese rinds!!).

I also made a low fat baked zucchini and eggplant parm! I started with 3 or 4 zucchinis which I sliced long ways and roasted. Then I mixed some fat free ricotta cheese with some minced garlic and grated parmigiano reggiano, herbs and salt. I had initially intended it to be only zucchini but I didn't have enough in the end. Fortunately I had some Trader Joe's frozen breaded eggplant in my freezer! So I layered sauce, zucchini strips, eggplant, ricotta and fat free mozzarella cheese and toped the final layer with low fat provolone and herbs!

Make some rustic whole grain garlic toast (topped with olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and parmesan) and a big green salad and you've got yourself an Italian feast! The only thing missing? All the family gathered around the table talking and enjoying the food you just prepared for them! Even though I don't love Italian food...I love meals that take the entire day to prepare and I love meals that bring people together. Having Molly and Justin at my house for the day to experience this with me was truly an experience.

ADORO LA MIA FAMIGLIA!!!
(I love my family!!!)

**Random fact**
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My dad designed the apron I am wearing for my bridal shower!!

Nutty-Crunchy Sugar Free Low Fat "Sugar Cookies"

So I promised the nutty crunch Molly cookie recipe I made. Since Molly is hypoglycemic she can not have any refined sugar- ever! But come on! The girl needs treats now and then!! Fortunately she CAN have fructose sweetened baked goods! So from time to time I make her something special to enjoy. Always low fat and made with whole grains as well. As usual I found a recipe online to use as a reference and then altered it to suit my needs!

1 C. of whole wheat flour
1/3 C. of white flour
1/3 C. of almond meal (I buy mine at Trader Joe's... LOVE Trader Joe's!!)
1 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
5 TBS of butter
5 TBS of fructose
2 TBS of Splenda
1/4 C. of egg beaters
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp of almond extract







In your mixed beat together the butter, eggbeaters, fructose and splenda and extracts then add the dry ingredients.
Make a ball of dough and cut it in half and wrap both sides in plastic wrap and chill at least an hour. The reason for the two balls is because you want it cold and firm when you roll it out so it's best to handle it as little as possible!
Preheat oven to 350 when you're ready to bake.
Clean your counter very well and sprinkle some flour or powdered sugar out to keep the dough from sticking.
Roll the dough about 1/8 to 1/4 thick. It's hard to make cut out sugar cookies because when you move them to the cookie sheet they get all mushy and the shape changes. So I wrapped the dough around my rolling pin and unrolled it right onto my silpat and cookie sheet and cut my shapes right there!!

Since Molly can't have frosting and I wanted to make something more artistic I decided to make linzer cookies with the little see-through-window! So I cut out big hearts and then hand cut the center out in the shape of a heart! Then I was left with small hearts I made sandwich cookies out of and large hearts I could play with later! Bake the cookies for 7 - 10 mins until they are a very light golden brown. Let them cool a few mins and then move to a cooling rack. When they are cool you can play! I took the large solid hearts and spread some naturally sweetened strawberry fruit preserves on them and put them aside. Then I took the large hearts with the hole in the middle and dusted the top side with a sprinkle of powdered sugar just to make it pretty. Then I put that cookie- powdered sugar side up on top of the strawberry one!
I took the small hearts and made little sandwiches with them. I also made a few small round ones with organic red sprinkles on them!

LOVE is in the air! Valentine's Day goodies for my loves!

I'm not huge on Valentine's Day. However, I am still a newlywed I suppose...and I'm absolutely head over heels in love with a certain dark haired, dimpled man! I also love surprising my family with goodies! So I went all out this year! I made sooo many things!!

I even made Ron a heart shaped breakfast sandwich "to-go" before work yesterday with a "sugar and spice" (brown sugar and cinnamon) latte with a cocoa heart on top! It's the little things in life, right?

I sent my little brother and sister (Justin is a junior at Brandeis University and Molly is a 1st grade teacher in Greenfield Ma) each a box of valentine's day cookies! (that recipe I will share in another entry) I saved 4 cookies out of those- 2 for my parents, one for Ron and 1 for Ron and I to share.

If anyone wants any of the other recipes I'm posting pictures of- just ask! I'm happy to share them! But there is a LOT to write and none of them are my own recipe and none of them are "heathy" except the cookies I baked (which I will make an entry for later I promise!)

Every Valentine's Day Ron and I have spent together- as cliche as it is- we make chocolate covered strawberries. This year I wanted to make him something extra special (even though I'm not a fan my self). So I made him a heart shaped tiramisu! It literally took me two days to make this thing! It's crazy!

I also made some truffles and finally succeeded! I've made them for Ron once before (the Valentine's day he asked me to marry him) but I tried something new this year. I figured that they or the tiramisu might be a failure so I did them both so I'd have a backup if that happened! As it turns out- everything came out great! So now we are sending chocolates and tiramisu off with our friends!! lol MUST GET CHOCOLATE OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!

Like I said... I made lots of stuff! I'm still not done! I know that the bowl of buffalo wings probably doesn't scream "Valentine's day" to you. You are right. However, along with not really like tiramisu myself, I also definitely don't eat buffalo wings. Especially extra spicy and on the bone! Yuck! But Ron loves them! I also despise blue cheese (hello! it's MOLDY!!!) but Ron likes it. So I bought wings and expensive fancy blue cheese and all the fixings and surprised him with extra spicy wings and a bowl of homemade blue cheese dressing!
If that doesn't say "I love you" I don't know what does.

I'd like to dedicate this Valentine's day post to my one and only Valentine. The love of my life, my best friend, my taster of all my creations! The best husband I could ever ask for.

BBQ chicken nachos for Friday night movie night

Friday night we had the Cakebreads over for dinner and a movie (we watched "Outsourced"- great movie! Ron and I love it!). We wanted "Friday night movie night food" but I didn't feel like doing anything too fancy because well.. it was a work day, plus I had a super long doctors apt and I still am not feeling 100% yet. So I whipped up these BBQ chicken nachos! I don't like cooking chicken (or most meats for that matter) if I can help it. So I sometimes buy a rotisserie chicken from Stop & Shop and take the skin off and chop up that meat. It's a huge time saver! And honestly- it's a great deal! On Fridays they are only like $5 or something like that!
Usually I make my own BBQ from scratch when I'm making a BBQ chicken dish. But I instead did a dr'ed up bottled sauce. I buy Sweet Baby Ray's and add to it. I added some tomato paste, liquid smoke, honey, smokey paprika, garlic and Montreal's BBQ seasoning. I mixed it all together in a small pot and added the shredded chicken and warmed it.

Preheat the oven to 350. Drain a can of black beans and a can of corn (I go through so much canned beans and corn in this house! What a time saver they are!!). FINELY chop a red onion. I use fat free cheese when it's just Ron and I but not everyone likes that. So I mixed fat free cheddar and low fat mexican blend together since we had guests. Get all these things in small bowls and ready to assemble. Plate a layer of corn chips (baked not fried if you can!) and top with beans, corn, onions, chicken and cheese. Repeat a second layer. Then top with sliced jalapeno rings and bake! Serve with a dallop of low fat sour cream and a selection of salsas. (we like Trader Joe's pineapple salsa and their habanero lime salsa)
We made a salad and called it a night! Time to go put your feet up, put on your snuggie and enjoy your movie! (wait- I'm being serious! If you don't have a snuggie.. you need one!!)

Berry and goat cheese dinner salad with black cherry balsamic vinaigrette 8 PTS

Ron and I enjoy really good salads. Usually for lunch or when we go out to eat for dinner. I have been craving a good light fresh vibrant salad the past few days. So I made this one the other night. I calculated my portions to be about 7-8 points. It was so delicious that I'm making myself one for dinner again tonight (I'm cooking Ron a special Valentine's day dinner that I'm not interested in eating myself so.. yay! Salad!!)
Tell me this salad isn't GORGEOUS?!?!? It's just so pretty!! :)

What you need for the salad:
Clean, chopped up lettuce (we do romaine mostly)
fresh strawberries sliced up
dried cranberries
cashews (I probably would have chosen pecans or pistachios but we're out of both!)
garlic herb goat cheese

What you need for the vinaigrette:
black cherry balsamic vinegar (the yummy kind from Gustare I've mentioned before http://www.gustareoliveoil.com/)
light olive oil
a small squirt of brown mustard
a pinch or sea salt and ground pepper
(whisk together and pour over salad)

wii night chocolate mint trifle...low fat!

So my friend Danielle is the trifle queen! She always makes amazing trifle for my girls night dinners! A few weeks ago we went to our friend's Zac and Illise's house for dinner and couples wii tournament. I of course asked what I could bring and Illise mentioned that they wanted a trifle "one of these days". So naturally I volunteered to make one! My first! And get this! Ron and I made it together!! AND it was low fat! The only bad part is that the night we made it was the night that I got wicked sick. I think I only had a few bites and don't remember if it was any good! (damn you fever!!) But it was fun to assemble and pretty to look at! And it was very easy!

This trifle was made with boxed brownie mix (I said easy right???) made low fat. Fat free/sugar free chocolate pudding (two boxes worth). Low fat cool whip... and chopped up mint chocolate candies (we used Andes and York peppermint patties- a handful of each).

I've learned that you can essentially use any combination of cake/brownie...pudding a topping of sorts and layer it any way you'd like! Ron baked the brownies while I napped (should have seen that darn flu coming!!). Then we cut it into small cubes. When we made the pudding we mixed it with slightly less milk than it calls for so it would be on the thicker side. Then we folded in the cool whip stuff (I usually don't use cool whip...pretty much never actually... but it holds together better than whipped cream and sadly is less fat too!). I reserved some plain cool whip for the middle layer.

Basically all you do is layer your trifle dish (or clear bowl) with brownies, pudding, candy crumbles, cool whip, more brownie...etc. I reserved some un-chopped candies for the very top so that people eating the dessert would know what flavor it was!
Next time I think I'll make an angel food cake with vanilla pudding from scratch and fresh fruit! Yes I think I will do that in the spring!

English Muffins

Alright...
First of all: these are NOT my own recipe.
Second of all: these are NOT weight watcher's.
I've never made home made english muffins before but since I was still too sick to get back to zumba tonight I decided to give it a try! I made a breakfast-for-dinner type thing. I pulled this recipe off the internet. Just thought I'd share it with you!

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/english-muffins/Detail.aspx

You will need:
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup melted shortening (I don't actually have shortening in my house so I used butter)
6 cups all-purpose flour (I did 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt

I know these directions are boring. But hello- I didn't write this! But I followed these recipes exactly except for one thing. I cooked my muffins on med-low for 7 mins on each side. I think that 10 mins seemed to be a little too much. So keep an eye on them around that time!


Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.
Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Great with orange butter, or cream cheese and jam.

SO GOOD!! I'm glad (and I think Ron might be more glad!!) that I gave them a try! Guess I know what we're having for breakfast tomorrow!! We also have leftover frittata that I made to go with it! Yay!!

Zucchini and turkey bacon mini frittatas...0-1 Point!!!!

Ok I made these for my girls night party... they were good! But I didn't figure out WW points until just now! Oh my goodness! 1 = 0 pts 2-4 = 1 pt! Want the recipe??

1 small sweet onion chopped very fine
1 small or 1/2 large zucchini shredded
3 slices of Trader Joe's turkey bacon, chopped, cooked and set aside
2-3 TBS chopped fresh basil
1/2 C. of fat free or reduced fat cheddar cheese
6 egg whites
1 whole egg
dried thyme and ground pepper to taste






Pre-heat your oven to 350. After sauteing your turkey bacon and putting it in a bowl, use the same saute pan (coated in some cooking spray or olive oil if you aren't watching your fat) to gently cook your onions and zucchini. When the onions are soft and translucent take them off the heat and toss in the bowl with the turkey bacon. Add your basil, thyme and pepper. Crack your eggs in a separate bowl and gently whisk. Add your cheese and then the cooled veggie and meat mixture. Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. I have a 24 cup mini muffin pan but if you have 2 12 cup pans that's fine too. I suppose you could use a regular muffin pan if you didn't have the mini but it would of course effect your cooking time and point value.
There should be exactly enough for 24 mini muffins. Fill each cup with an even amount- about 2/3 full but you can always go back and add more if you have leftovers- it's harder to take it away! Then bake for about 20 mins. As long as the center isn't jiggly you're good! Cook these just before you're ready to serve them! I actually made the mix the night before and chilled it until it was time for my guests to arrive. Better to serve eggs hot... don't you think??

Bruschetta

There's no big secret to making bruschetta.. but it's delightful! So here's how I do it... sometimes ;0) Because as I've stated before... I never do things the same!!
1 Loaf of baguette (the long skinny french bread) sliced into 1/4-1/2 inch slices
1 1/2 pints of cherry or grape tomatoes
2 or more cloves of garlic (I usually say the more the merrier though I made something TOO garlicy last night so I'm less zealous feeling today!!
As much fresh basil as you can get your hands on
A good handful of shredded Parmesan
1/2 C. of chopped up smoked mozzarella (adds great flavor!! If you can't find smoked then get fresh mozzarella instead)
A couple TBS each of a good EVOO and a balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

Ok... preheat your oven to 350 or so and throw your slices of bread on a baking sheet and get them toasty! Check them after 10 mins. You just want them more like toast and less like bread so the tomato mixture doesn't make it too soggy! Then wash your produce. Always wash. You don't want dirt, bugs and chemicals in your beautiful bruschetta! Slice each tiny tomato in half, long ways. Toss into a bowl with the EVOO and glorious balsamic vinegar. Let them sit and soak up some flavors! Meanwhile, chop your basil and garlic and add cheese and s&p...mix it all together and give it a taste. Season some more if you feel it needs it. Here's what I did that was new this time- I took about 1/2 the mixture and gave it a whirl in the food processor to change the texture a little. Then I mixed it all. That way, the food processed part would stick to the bread better but you would still be able to see those beautiful tomatoes you just cut! Top each toast slice with a couple TBS of mix and top with a small sprinkle more of the parmesan cheese.
Bake them about 10 mins more until the cheese is melted and serve immediately!
** Ron said they needed more balsamic vinegar... but then again- a client gifted us this AMAZING balsamic vinegar for Christmas that we are IN LOVE WITH(!!) so it could just be him wanting to douse everything in it!! But when we had the leftovers we put a splash more vinegar on each slice prior to eating.
*** if you are interested in tasting this amazing vinegar I'm including a link so you can check them out! Oh...My..God are their products ever heavenly!!
http://www.gustareoliveoil.com/

Girl's Night

Early this past fall I started a fun tradition here at the Brilhante house... Girl's Night! About once a month Ron leaves the house to me and the ladies. So all my girlfriends and my mother come over for a night of fun. It's always pot-luck. It's always finger foods. It's always fun! Each time there's a different eclectic group of ladies I love around my table.

I love hostessing! I like having my sweet smelling candles burning and a fire in the fireplace (which is right in my dinning room) and my Fiesta ware dishes stacked in quirky combinations and music softly playing throughout the whole house.

So everyone arrives with some sort of appetizer. My friend Danielle is famous for her trifles! She always makes amazing WW friendly chocolate trifles for dessert. We make mock-tails. We eat. We talk. We laugh. We share stories. They've been some of the most fun nights!

This month I made low fat, mini turkey bacon and zucchini frittatas and bruschetta! I will write a separate entry for the specific recipes!

Baked sweet potato fries with dipping sauce

I was shopping for my usual sweet potatoes the other day and came across white yams also. So I decided to get one of each to try.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of skins on my sweet potato fries because they peel off easily when cooked. So I pre-peel them and chop them into equal sized strips. Throw them into a big plastic bag with about 1 TBS of oil and spices. I like to use sea salt, chili pepper and cinnamon for sweet potato fries. Give them a shake-shake-sake and then spread them out on a baking sheet and bake at 425 for about 15-20 and flip. Continue baking until you get the crispiness you want.

Meanwhile it's time to get the dipping sauce mixed up!

In a small dish mix 1 TBS light miracle whip (I'm not a fan of mayonnaise but you could use that if you'd prefer), 1 TBS light sour cream, 1 tsp spicy whole mustard and 2 tsp honey mustard dressing.
That's it! Serve these alongside my chicken burgers or any burger/sandwich recipe you like!
Enjoy!!

Cheese filled chicken burgers 5 Points!

I usually make turkey burgers. And I never follow the same recipe. I literally just throw stuff in the bowl and I'm never unhappy with the way they turn out. I don't cook a lot of meat but these burgers I make are delish and I make them often... usually when we have friends here for dinner. But I decided to give chicken burgers a try recently. I also decided to lay out the recipe visually... lots of pictures for this one!!

So... Start with a small chopped onion, 1/2 a shredded zucchini, and lots of minced garlic.
**I've never used the zucchini in my burgers before but it's one of my favorite veggies and I like to add veggies into things whenever I can. Also- I was playing with my new mandolin my friend Kim gave me for Christmas....and lastly I was cooking something else on the stove while making these that involved zucchini so I was just being creative!

Then add your flavors! The more the merrier! Well... within reason of course.
I use a big squirt of a rich BBQ sauce, a few good splashes of hot sauce (it doesn't really make it spicy.. just gives it good flavor...use more if you want heat!), another few splashes of worcestershire sauce and about 2 tsp of Montreal steak seasoning (which has all kinds of spices INCLUDING salt and pepper so don't go crazy with extra salt!).

Next add one egg to help bind all these crazy ingredients and about 1/2 a cup of seasoned bread crumbs. I add the breadcrumbs because all the previous ingredients I listed have a lot of moisture in them! Too much moisture and they'll taste great but fall apart!

Mix all those ingredients together until well blended. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer but you can do it by hand if you wish. Then you're going to add your ground chicken (1 package) and gently fold it in by hand. Don't over mix it. It's ok it it's not perfectly combined!

Alrighty... this is where having a loving spouse/partner comes in handy! Having spent a good part of my life a vegetarian.. and being a "weirdo" with textures... I don't care for touching raw meat if I can help it. If I'm home alone I'll use gloves (the same kind I use when I cut hot peppers!). But if Ron is home... well then he's my night in shinning armor!

You should be able to get about 6 good sized burgers out of this. Loosely form a ball and then make a little thumb print on the top so you can stuff it with cheese in a minute!
I get Cabbot 75% fat free cheddar because 1 oz is only ONE point! So I precut the cheese ahead of time of course. About 1/2 an oz per burger.

So stuff each burger with a block of cheese and make sure you completely cover it with the meat so the cheese doesn't ooze out...too much!!
We found that broiling these kinds of burgers work best because of all the extra stuff I add they are still more difficult to work with than your average burger. Let's just say that we've lost more than a few burgers to the grill ;0)
Usually we do about 5-8 mins and flip them for another 5-8. Just check the fullest one when you think it's almost done. As long as you don't see pink you're ready to top them!

Top them with your favorite burger toppings and enjoy!
Ron even likes these a few days later, cold, for lunch! He says that's the way to tell a good burger!

Two point latte heaven

If you know me... You know I love a good coffee! When Ron and I got married we bought ourselves (with the help of gift cards and gift money of course) an espresso machine and a grinder. It's our baby! We love it! We always have lots of fresh whole bean coffee- both flavored, plain and decaf on hand....as well as about 15 flavored syrups- sugar free, regular and un-sweetened.

**This picture of the espresso machine is an older picture I took with my old iPhone. I can't help but notice how much better the iPhone 4 photographs! :)


Ok... latte yuminess! (that was for you Dad!!)
2 shots of espresso
3/4 C. steamed non fat milk
Sugar free flavor shots (I mix and match and make crazy combos!)
a dusting of cinnamon or cocoa on top

Once your drink is complete, take a big sip, put on your apron, crank up your music and cook some amazing meals!

My cook-free week

I haven't cooked or written in nearly a week! Following a ladies night dinner party at my house last weekend I was gifted with a week in bed. This time I managed to get the flu in addition to bronchitis and a sinus infection. AND being the good wife I am- I shared with Ron! Yaaaay!... No not really. The closest to cooking I've gotten is watching the Food Network in a feverish haze. I've had some good company though. All furry, all warm and all purring.

Thank goodness for my mom bringing us not one but two batches of soup along with some juice and ginger ale (my favorite when I'm sick!!)
In other news: I've heard from a few people this week that said they were trying my recipes this week!! My sister even wrote a review for me! This is so exciting!!!
So today my goal is to catch up on all I have to write about! We'll see if I get that far... or if I pass out on the couch with the cats!!