Grillin' = Eggplant + Tomato + Goat Cheese

During the summer heat, most of our meals around here consist of some type of protein and some vegetable…on the grill.  We have an AC in our house, but when its really hot, and that has been most of the time around here, the last thing I feel like doing is cooking indoors.

Luckily, I think most everything tastes amazing fresh off the grill so I’m not complaining. 

The dilemma I’m usually faced with is what seasonings to use to make tonight's dinner different from last nights. 

Fish is super easy when you grill it in foil!  This was a pieces of wild Alaskan salmon with lemon, capers, and herbs.

But generally we just check out what meats/fish are on sale and go from there.  However we just started a meat CSA share from Chestnut Farms which I’m psyched about and will let you know more as we work our way through our first month’s share. 

Anyways, so one day I was browsing through Anthropologie and saw this cookbook! 

I think Anthro is one of my favorite places to find awesome cookbooks.  They don’t have many but they are all usually pretty good!

This book, The Gardner & The Grill is packed with recipes for the grill using all sorts of veggies, meats, fruits, and even sandwiches and flatbreads.

The first recipe I made was for a grilled Eggplant with Grilled Marinara Sauce!  I had an eggplant that needed to be used, so this was perfect and so easy. 

I’ve never been a huge eggplant fan, but I love it when it’s prepared so its cooked really well so it gets buttery and soft.  Even better with a nice grill flavor.

Because of this, I make sure to prep my eggplant to remove the bitterness and extra moisture…Eggplant will suck up any liquid or oil like a sponge!

I don’t remember exactly where I got this tip, but this is what I do:

Eggplant Prep!

• slice eggplant in thin slices
• arrange on a baking sheet
• sprinkle both sides with a little salt
• cover with paper towels
• place another pan w/heavy object on top
• let sit for at least 30 min.

I let mine sit for longer actually, until I’m ready to use it.  The salt brings the water to the surface so the paper towels can soak it up.  This also removes some of the bitterness.

Now:

• Heat one side of your grill to medium/med-high
• brush the eggplant with olive oil
• Chop 2-3 large tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• handful of basil, rough chopped
• salt + pepper

Make a faux pan out of aluminum foil and put in it the tomatoes, garlic, basil, drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt + pepper.

• Grill eggplant slices over direct heat, and place pan of tomato mixture on indirect side.
• Cook eggplant for 4-5 min per side, or until soft and it has good grill marks (watch thin pieces as they will burn fast).
• Meanwhile stir tomatoes a couple times.
• Once eggplant is done, remove everything from heat and arrange eggplant on a platter.
• Top with tomatoes and crumbled fresh goat cheese.

This was fantastic!  Even Brian who didn’t think he really liked eggplant, loved this as well.  In fact I’ve been buying more and more eggplants lately and can’t wait to make this again.

This was super simple and would make a great side dish for a party or bbq. 

Watermelon: Granita & Popsicles!

Hellooooo! 

I just got back from an incredibly delicious dinner with my mom and Brian at Toro in the South End.  I haven’t been since last year and my mom and I were craving it…specifically the corn on the cob and paella. 

Anyways…just had to mention that.  Other than that it has been a pretty low key weekend.  My mom has been travelling a lot for work so it was nice to spend some time with her.  It’s also been pretty toasty around here although I can’t complain…it’s summer, and this is summer weather. Although I really wish we had a pool, or a least a close friend with one ;)

Watermelon!

I bought a big whole watermelon earlier this week because I had a few people over on the 4th, but we never got around to eating it. 

I decided to hack away at it so we could eat it during this week.  

SO.MUCH.MELON.  It filled that bowl, and that’s a pretty large mixing bowl…about 12” diameter.  I don’t think the 2 of us could eat it all this week without it either going bad or us getting sick of it so I decided to use about less than 1/2 of it to make some frosty treats!

I saw this recipe on the Whole Foods website earlier in the week: Watermelon Granita

Perfect!

I made about 1/2 batch loosely following the recipe:

• 4 cups watermelon, put into blender
• blend until smooth
• add juice & zest from 1/2 lime
• 1 – 2 tsp honey (more or less if you like)
• blend again
• pour into a glass baking dish (mine was 11” x 7”)
• Place in freezer
• I stirred with a fork every 30min for about 2 hours (then left for dinner), when I came home it was frozen and time to scrape up with a fork!

Until it’s all icy

So cool and refreshing!!  This was so easy I’d love to try it with other flavors.  The original recipe said to top with mint or basil which I think either would be delicious.

I think I want to try Espresso Granita next…we had some in Rome on our honeymoon….it was sweet espresso granita topped with freshly whipped (unsweetened) cream…amazing.      

This is perfect hot weather food.   

Next!

Using the same ingredients, I put more watermelon chunks in the blender, the juice and zest from the other half of the lime and blended again.

This time I ran the mixture through a fine mesh sieve:

And filled popsicle molds with the remaining strained watermelon juice!

I bought those popsicle molds for less than $10 at Bed Beth and Beyond and have been dying to try them out. 

These will also come in handy on these hot days!

Don’t worry, we still have a GIANT container of fresh watermelon to eat this week ;)

sidenote: the pops and granita are paleo friendly!  The use of honey is up to you :)

You could also make some amazing cocktails with fresh watermelon puree…mojitos, margaritas… the possibilities are endless.  I also plan to enjoy some watermelon + feta this week too! 

What’s your favorite way to use up extra watermelon??

Flexitarian Friday

Happy Friday!!  Is everyone ready for Irene??  I love a good dose of extreme weather sometimes…as long as no one is hurt of course, and there are no $$ damages ;) 

First, the winner of the $20 Eversave credit… @marciebeth!!

Congrats!!  I’ll send your email address over to the people at Eversave!  I hope the rest of you took advantage of the free $10 credit…which has been extended until today!!! 

This post is one of those times I just want to catch up on the week and such.  However, those don’t make for good titles, and so I tried to find a theme…Flexitarian!

I’m sure by now you’re sick of reading all the Healthy Living Summit recaps from around the blog world, and if you are then I know you read about the keynote speech given by Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet.

To sum it up in one sentence: pro-vegetables, not anti-meat!  I’d say this would describe me most of the time.  Hey, I still like meat and I don’t see that changing, but it can be expensive and I do love meat-free meals as well.  I can easily go days without eating meat and not even be trying. 

Turns out there was a lot of that this week too!

It started Monday night!  I remember a mention of Zucchini and Black Bean quesadillas somewhere in Dawn’s speech, or in something I read about her…either way this idea sounded fantastic!

I happened to have way more summer squash than zucchini that day from the garden, so I used the summer squash instead. 

Once the squash and onion were chopped, this came together in no time!

Black Bean and Summer Squash Quesadillas
Inspired by Dawn Jackson Blatner

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 2T canned green chilies
• 1 small summer squash, chopped (about 1/4” cube)
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp paprika or smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• crushed red pepper to taste (optional)
• 4 whole grain tortillas
• sliced or shredded cheese of your choice (we used 1 sliced of Havarti cheese per quesadilla)
• sliced avocado
• Salsa
• sour cream or plain low-fat Greek yogurt

1. Heat oil in a medium sauté pan over med heat.  Add onions, sauté for 3-4 minutes.  Then add summer squash, sauté for 3 more min.
2. Add cumin, smoked paprika, chili  stir to combine.
3. Add broth, stir, cover pan and simmer on low for about 5 min to soften up summer squash.
4. Remove cover, turn heat back up to medium, and add beans.
5. Cook for 2-3 more minutes or until squash is tender, then set mixture aside on a free burner.
6. Grab another sauté pan and heat over med heat, spray with canola oil spray.
7. Place tortilla in pan, add cheese, 2 sliced of avocado, then add 1/4 of the bean filling over half of the tortilla.
8. Fold the other half over, cook for 1-2 min, carefully flip your quesadilla and cook for another min, or until golden brown.
9. Cut into 3rds and serve with sides of salsa and sour cream!

Really though, I love anything I can smother in salsa and sour cream!

Both Brian and I really enjoyed these!  Definitely going to keep this one in mind…so fast and easy!

Leftovers were enjoyed for lunch the next day.

 Some other meat-free gems this week…

Wednesday night I had my most FAVORITE salad ever!  I had 2 hours to kill after work and parked my butt at the bar of my favorite North End restaurant…Antico Forno…home to the salad that introduced me to my love for goat cheese.     

So simple, yet so perfect.  Mixed greens, tomatoes, soft goat cheese, balsamic and olive oil, grilled zucchini, all on top of pieces of aromatic flatbread. 

Breakfast is the easiest Flexitarian meal of all…for me anyways.  A lot of times it looks like this…

• plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• a drizzle of maple syrup
• chopped nectarine
• Lovegrown granola (from my HLS swag bag!) 

I’ll wrap it up with TWO outfits of the week :)

Greens and Blues

• green eyelet skirt – Old Navy
• navy t-shirt – Banana Republic
• light blue cardigan – Banana Republic
• Navy belt – was my grandmothers
• nude peep toe pumps – Rampage

And saving the best for last…not because it’s my favorite outfit, but it’s definitely my FAVORITE photo…with a special fluffy accessory!

• white cotton v-neck dress – Old Navy
• navy/floral scarf – Nordstrom
• wedges – Banana Republic
• Fluffy pup – Bromley :)  Doing the Murphy one leg-out pose

Happy Weekend! 

Have you done any Hurricane prep??  Do you think you’re a flexitarian??

Girls Dinners: Bistro du Midi and Dining In!

I had two fun and fabulous dinners with some beautiful ladies last week!

The first was a birthday celebration for my bestie!!

I’ve been dying to try Bistro du Midi for a while now, so this was the perfect excuse to have a fun girls dinner, sitting in the open patio area they have right along Boylston Street across from the Public Gardens…

I arrived first, earlier, to secure a good table.  We had a reservation, but this area is first come first serve

I then ordered a cocktail while I waited for the rest of the crew.

This is most definitely my favorite cocktail of the year!     Excuse me if I am spelling this wrong but it was the Montesquieu, which was:

• white rum
• fresh strawberry
• sparkling wine

It was refreshing, could barely taste any alcohol (which I like), and the only sweetness was from the fresh strawberries!  Perfect Bridget drink :)

We started with a couple appetizers:

Courgette Flower Beignet, Orange Maple Glaze :
Fried Artichokes, Aïoli

Both were delicious (fried of course), but the aioli served with the artichokes was so good we dipped everything in it!  I didn’t care for the sweeter orange maple glaze that came with the zucchini flowers.

For my dinner I chose the:

Seared Duck Breast, Swiss Chard, Gnocchi, Black Olives:

Everything on this plate was incredible!  I especially wished there were more gnocchi!!  Filling though, after the apps, so I took half home to Brian…he was happy about that!

Really didn't need this side of Ratatouille Provençale , but it too was amazingly flavorful.

The birthday girl ordered the:

Coral Infused Chitarra Pasta, Maine Lobster, Baby Spinach, Lobster Jus

I stole many bites.  The flavor was so interesting and delicious, and that pasta was perfect.

If all that wasn’t enough, we made sure to save room for desserts.

I had checked out the dessert menu ahead of time and knew I wanted to try something!

We chose 2 for the 4 of us.  Both were AMAZING!!

Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Cake, Salted Caramel Ice Cream

I wouldn’t even call this “cake”…it was like a layer of almost a crisp meringue/cake with a chocolaty mousse layer on top of that.  Then whole hazelnuts and chocolate on top!  With the salted caramel ice cream on the side.

Each bite was heaven.

The other was a fresh cherry and pistachio tart with cherry sorbet (can’t find the menu description)

A pistachio tart shell was filled with a pastry cream and topped with sliced juice fresh cherries!

The pistachio flavor was subtle but paired perfectly with the cherries.

I haven’t had restaurant desserts this good in a long time!

And my classy-self timed photo of my outfit that night:

 

• orange dress: Forever 21
• navy belt and gold bracelet: were my grandmother’s
• brown heels: Libby Edelman from Lord & Taylor

Friday’s dinner was just as fun and delicious…but totally different!

Different group of ladies, and we gathered at one of the girls apartments.  We all brought something to eat (on the lighter side) and spent the night gabbing away.

I made up a batch of zucchini cakes!  This time I baked them, as it was easier in this situation, but I would recommend frying them over baking!

We also had some beautiful jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce!

I always forget how yummy, easy, and healthy shrimp cocktail is!  I need to buy some shrimp more often!

Fresh corn salad with red onion and basil…this was a Barefoot Contessa recipe and such a perfect summer side dish.

Also a gorgeous salad!  This had mixed greens, big buttery pecans, and lots of dried berries!

(wines and salad dressings) 

Love my friend Wendy’s floral plates!!

I missed pictures of dessert, but we had small bowls of coffee ice cream and delicious little salted brownie bites from Trader Joes.

It was a blast!  Hope we do it again soon ladies!!

2 Questions:

• Favorite place/restaurant to go out for a girls night??
• Favorite dish to make for a girls night in?!

Out in the Outer Banks

This was the first time I had ever been to the Outer Banks!  One of our friends organized a group trip and 14 of us rented a big house in Avon, NC for a week!

felt kind of like Real World, without all the craziness…well a little craziness

We drove.  From Massachusetts to the Outer Banks (OBX), and that should be roughly a 13-14 hour drive.  Of course I have no luck when it comes to traffic, and even though we split the drives over 2 days (staying in a hotel in Delaware), it was rough!!  I hate that my last memory of the trip is being stuck in a car going 8mph through NY and CT, so hopefully this post we make me remember the fun stuff!!

(I will say I am going to think hard before doing another road trip that long again…I’m a flying kind of girl ;)

Our first “taste” of N.C. came in the form of this baby:

We all stopped at Morris Farm to stock up on fresh produce rather than dealing with what may or may not be available once everyone and their mother hits up the grocery stores down there. 

That pecan roll was heavenly…not greasy or anything just soft dough with cinnamon, sugar, and pecans!

We at at the house for nearly every meal, and most of my mornings started off like usual…

Greek Yogurt + Fruit + Granola.

I brought plenty of TJ’s Greek Yogurt to last me the week :)

And those PEACHES!!!  OMG!!!  I wish I brought back bags and bags of the peaches we got down there….best I’ve ever had!!

Most everyday was spent basking on the sandy beaches and playing in the water which was a perfect temp.

Speaking of peach, this guy was deliciously refreshing:

Each night one of the couples or groups of people would be in charge of dinner.  I wanted to go first to get it out of the way so we cooked that first Sunday night!

I really wanted to do something “different”, not crazy different but not your standard “group dinner”.  I did want to grill and wanted to make sure there were lots of veggies involved :)

(check out these ginormous zucchini’s from our garden we brought!)

To set our meal apart we went with lamb!  I know that’s not very “different” but turned out that almost half the group had never tried it before!  I LOVE getting people to try things!

I knew they’d love it because it had been marinating for about 2 days and this marinade was AWESOME.  Recipe to come!

To accompany the grilled lamb, Brian and I did grilled veggies plus an orzo salad with more veggies and Feta!  I’ll have to save the actual breakdowns for another post, this one is too long already!

(excuse the classy paper plates and craptastic picture, most were taken with the old camera)

The verdict?  Everyone LOVED it!  Score.

I also whipped up a homemade key lime pie that came out sooooo good.

Other adventures of the week included:

A trip to one of those fabulous beach stores to get the boy new sunglasses as he sacrificed his to the waves.

You know, the place where you can get anything airbrushed on a t-shirt??

A mini crab-fest by the pool…mmmm I love crab meat!!

A Ferry over to Ocracoke for the day.

A little thunderstorm

Boogey Boarding!!

And a final delicious dinner out with Brian on our way home at Ocean Boulevard Bistro

I got a GIANT crab cake, it was divine.

Such a fun trip with great friends!!

Wish my tan would stop fading though ;)