Fresh

Thanks to I’m Not Obsessed for this image

This is so not fair! Yes, yes it’s Angie Harmon we can see that! But what we can’t see is where she’s eating-Booooooo! What we don’t know is what she’s eating. Looks like take out though right? See we do need celebrity food police. Okay I’m done complaining and I’m going to go pack my own lunch.

Thanks to ehow for this image

Thanks to Suite 101 for both of these recipes

Avocado Dream

Ingredients:

• ¼ ripe avocado
• 1 Tbsp. cream cheese or vegan cream cheese substitute (optional)
• 3 small pepperoncini peppers, stems removed and sliced lengthwise
• Tomato slices
• Balsamic vinegar or dressing
• Sprouts
• Salt and pepper, to taste.

Spread cream cheese on toasted or untoasted bread; top with additional ingredients. Drizzle with balsamic and (don’t leave this step out) sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Suggested bread: Hearty multigrain or flax

Thanks to The Wednesday Chef

Hummus Heaven

Ingredients:

• 1/8-1/4 cup hummus
• Roasted red peppers, cut into strips and drained if packaged in oil.
• Watercress, alfalfa sprouts, or other spicy greens

Suggested bread: a lighter multigrain or toasted Italian; pita bread.

Posted on August 7th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Sandwiches, Vegetables, Vegetarian | No Comments »

Thanks to Popsugar for this image

Lunch anyone? Mandy Moore was spotted at the Mustard Seed Cafe in L.A. recently with a friend. Yummy! No, not Mandy yummy - Mustard Seed Cafe Yummy - Okay, well unless you think Mandy’s yummy; what? Oh, stop babbling? Right! Now for the burning question. What do you think Mandy had to eat? Does she look like a Chilaquiles kind of girl?

Thanks to Food, and Other Musings for this image

Thanks to Reluctant Gourmet for this recipe

Mexican Chilaquiles

INGREDIENTS

chilaquilesTo cook the chicken

• 4 bonless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 onion, quartered
• 2 cloves of garlic

For the tomato sauce:

• 2 onions chopped very small
• 1 garlic chopped very small
• 12 tomatoes peeled and seeded and pureed
• 1 tablespoon cilantro, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons tabasco sauce if you want it hot (optional)

Tortillas:

• 4 round corn tortillas

To assemble:

• sour cream diluted with a small amount of water
• 1/2 pound manchego cheese
• 1/2 pound mozzarella cheese

PREP WORK

1. Get the onions quartered and chopped and then prep the tomatoes.
2. Mince the cilantro.
3. Slice the cheeses into thin slices.
4. Cut the tortillas into strips, but not too wide.

HOW TO MAKE AT HOME

1. Cook chicken with a little water, pinch of salt, the quartered onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Cover and slowly cook over medium heat. You are basically steaming the meat.
2. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Put chicken on a plate and let it cool for a while until you can shred it in very small pieces with your hands or a fork.
3. Throw out the garlic and onion. They were only used to add additional flavor.
4. Tomato Sauce:
5. Make a tomato sauce or buy your favorite prepared tomato sauce if you are in a hurry.
6. To make a quick homemade tomato sauce, saute the chopped onion and garlic in a little olive oil. When the onion is translucent, add the tomatoes, cilantro and optional tobasco sauce. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
7. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
8. Add the shredded chicken back to the sauce, lower heat and cook for a few minutes so the shredded chicken can absorb some of the flavors from the tomato sauce. Don’t let the sauce cook to long. You don’t want the chicken to dry out.
9. Fry the corn tortillas:
10. Deep fry corn tortillas. When they are crisp, remove and place them on sheets of paper towels to remove excess oil .
11. Assemble the Chilaquiles like a lasagna:

Use a big lasagna pan and layer the following:

1 - A layer of tortillas.
2 - A layer of chicken in sauce.
3 - A few spots of sour cream diluted in water.
4 - Cheese on top

Repeat by doing the same for next layer and finish with cheese and some sour cream.

Cook in the oven approximately 45 minutes at 335 degrees F.

Serve with a salad or some refried beans and save some chips to serve with the Chilaquiles.

Posted on August 6th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Casseroles, Meat | No Comments »

Thanks to Beyond Hollywood for this image

I Want To Believe, that the new XFiles movie is going to rock. Will you go see it? Do you care about the XFiles anymore, or is it just too over?

It would be kind of cool though, don’t you think? To spend all of your time trying to find out “the truth.” And get to be in TV shows and movies. FAME! At last! oh wait, that’s Gillian doing all that stuff. Oh well, no worries, we will just make some of her favorite food and pretend we are her okay? Well - not really - but, we will still have the salmon sushi, right?

Thanks to BBC for this image and recipe

Easy Salmon Sushi

Ingredients:

• 300g sushi rice
• 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar (ultrafine sugar)
• 200g pack smoked salmon slices

Method:

1. Tip the rice into a sieve. Place under a cold running tap and rinse until the water runs clear, then drain really well and place in a saucepan. Pour over 350ml water. Bring to the boil and cook about for 5 mins until most of the liquid has boiled away and small holes appear in the rice. Turn the heat down as low as it will go. Cover the pan with a really tight-fitting lid or tin foil and leave for 10 mins. Then turn off the heat and leave for another 10 mins.
2. Heat the rice wine vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt together in the microwave for about 30 secs until the sugar dissolves. Tip the cooked rice into a large bowl. Pour over the warm rice wine mixture and stir through, then leave the rice to cool down.
3. Line a 20 x 20cm baking tin or similar-size dish with a double layer of cling film. Spread the sushi rice over the bottom of the tin (the mixture will be a little sticky, so you may have to wet your hands to do this). Then cover the rice completely with smoked salmon slices. Fold the cling film over the salmon to cover pressing down well with your hands to mould everything together. You can chill the sushi in the fridge until ready to use, but try not to chill it for longer than 3 hrs or the rice will harden.
4. To serve, dip a sharp knife into a little hot water to stop the rice from sticking, then cut into 16 rectangles.

Posted on August 5th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Fish, Rice | No Comments »

Thanks to popsugar for this image

Well! Look at this! Lindsay and Samantha go out for dinner at L.A.s Matsuhisa and they forget to invite me BUT! Not to worry because I managed to find a recipe for something they might have had to eat there. Yay!

Thanks to guidelive for this image

Thanks to Star Chefs for this Nobu Matsuhisa Recipe

Tiradito

Peruvian-style sashimi

Yield: Serves 1
For the tiradito:

• 2 to 3 ounces sashimi- quality halibut or white fish
• 1/2 Tablespoon Rocoto chili paste*
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon yuzu juice
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

For the garnish:

• Fresh cilantro

To prepare the tiradito, fillet the fish and lay it out on the plate in a circle. Dab the pepper paste on each piece. Sprinkle with salt, yuzu juice Garnish with cilantro and lemon juice.

• Note: Rocoto is a red chili pepper sauce from Peru. It is available in Hispanic specialty markets.

Posted on August 4th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Fish | No Comments »

Thanks to Wordsmithsbooks for this image

Well who knew? Not me that’s for sure. Singer Billy Joel’s wife - that would be katie Lee - can cook, is, in fact a celebrity chef! Think along the lines of Rachel Ray meets Paula Deen. Her favorite thing to make by the way is Peach Cobbler and hubby Bill apparently makes a mean marinade for skirt steak. I guess I should have been watching more cooking shows like season one of Top Chef. katie Lee was one of the judges way back then.

Thanks to How Stuff Works

Thanks to CBS News for this recipe

Southwestern Corn and Bean Stuffed Peppers

4 large red or green bell peppers, cored
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 package taco seasoning
3 ears of corn, cut from the cob
1 cup canned black beans, drained
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in taco seasoning and 2 tablespoons water. Cook until water is absorbed, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a mixing bowl, combine corn, black beans, rice, onions, sour cream and cheese. Mix well. Spoon mixture into peppers and bake until tender, about 30 minutes.

Posted on August 1st, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Casseroles, Vegetarian | No Comments »

Thanks to Popsugar for this image

Have you ever gone to see a Psychic? It’s kinda fun in a creepy sort of way. How do they do that? Tell you stuff that you never told anybody. Well, we may never know and if we did, it wouldn’t be fun any more.

Anyways, I just got thinking about it because I read that Cameron Diaz was going to see one, a psychic, that is. Then I started thinking maybe I was psychic because I knew what we were going to have for supper to- night without anyone telling me. Yep! Sweetie did the cooking last night and he made waaaaaaaay too much pasta. So- Leftover spaghetti it is. But wait, he made too little sauce. Oh no! Not to worry, we’ll just do something mystical like this…

Thanks to leggacy7777 for this image

Thanks to about.com for this recipe

Spaghetti Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound leftover spaghetti noodles
• 12 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 bottles Zesty Italian salad dressing
• 2 cucumbers, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped

Preparation:

In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients except the salad dressing. Add the salad dressing to taste, it will not take the whole bottle. Chill for 8 hours or overnight, tossing the salad every so often. If the salad looks dry, you may add more dressing. Serve cold.

Posted on July 31st, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Pasta, Salad | No Comments »

Thanks to Popsugar for this image

So, Ashlee is looking pretty cute right? All dressed up for dinner at La Loggia. Want to peek at the menu ? I did, and you know it. The first thing that caught my eye was the Capelli oh yeah. All that wonderful Angel Hair Pasta. I wonder if that’s what Ashlee and Pete ate?

Honestly, there should be ‘what are they eating’ spies out there so they could fill the rest of us in. I mean after all, we wonder what’s in their shopping bags, what underwear they have or don’t have on and what groceries are in their carts, true?- Oh well! Maybe I could be the first member of the what they eat police- Okay so, back to the Capelli…

Thanks to Kosher Vegan for this image

Thanks to IGA for this recipe

Capelli d’Angelo with chick peas and balsamic reduction

• Serves : 4 servings
• Preparation time : 10 minutes
• Preparation : Easy
• Cooking time : 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 90 mL (6 tablespoons) balsamic vinegar
• 30 mL (2 tablespoons) honey
• 250 g capelli d’angelo pasta
• 1 tin (540 mL) Compliments chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 80 mL (1/3 cup) pitted Kalamata olives
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 500 mL (2 cups) baby spinach leaves
• Parmesan cheese shavings to garnish

Directions:

1. Place balsamic vinegar and honey in a small saucepan.
2. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is reduced by two-thirds and becomes syrupy. Reserve.
3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chick peas, tomatoes, olives and garlic, and sauté for 5 minutes. Add spinach and gently combine. Remove from heat.
4. Cook pasta according to instructions on package; drain. Transfer chick pea mixture onto hot pasta and stir well.
5. Add balsamic vinegar reduction to flavor and garnish with Parmesan shavings. Enjoy!

Variation: Replace spinach with arugula.

Thanks to Italian Food and Cooking for this image and recipe

Capelli d’angelo with basil

This dish is so simple it doesn’t really count as a recipe Definitely a case of “less is more” though. Serves 4

Pasta basil ingredients:

• 320 grams Capelli d’angelo
• 1 bunch basil leaves, torn by hand (not chopped)
• 50 grams parmesan cheese
• 50 milliliters olive oil

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta until al dente (about 2 minutes)
2. Toss with the olive oil, basil and cheese.

Posted on July 30th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Pasta | No Comments »

Thanks to Just Jared for this image

So many celebrities are doing good things and Cindy’s no exception; teaming up with PUR to aid in their Thirsty for Change Campaign. And, she’s doing something else kind for the earth starting at home. Her kids are learning to be environmentally conscious and they remind Cindy to make *better* choices and to take those reusable bags when she goes shopping. I wonder, are they eating green too? I think they probably are. Do you think they follow the 100 mile diet? Maybe.

Thanks to Simply Recipes for this recipe and image

Summer Squash Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 small zucchini or mixed yellow and green summer squash (1 lb total)
• 1/3 cup loosely packed mint leaves
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (1 oz.)
• Grana Padano, Parmesan or Asagio cheese for shavings (optional or use vegan versions)
• Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

Method

1. If you are starting with raw pine nuts, toast them first. Heat a small skillet on medium high heat. Add the pine nuts. Stir gently as the pine nuts start to brown. When slightly browned, remove from heat and let cool.
2. Slice the squash into paper-thin slices using a mandoline or other slicer. Set aside in a bowl.
3. Stack the mint leaves, roll them together lengthwise and slice crosswise to make very thin slivers. Add to squash in bowl.Combine the oil and lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk together. Whisk in the salt and pepper and pour the dressing over the contents of the bowl. Add the pine nuts and toss all together, gently, but thoroughly. Let mixture stand for at least 10 minutes to soften the squash and develop the flavors.
4. Transfer salad to serving dish or to four individual salad plates. Garnish with shavings of cheese made with a vegetable peeler and a few sprigs of fresh mint.

Serves 4.

Posted on July 29th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | No Comments »

Thanks to Kaleb Nation for this image

Believe me when I say I am reading Twilight. I was checking it out on different review sites and even though it’s just a tad *Cough* * Cough* young for me, went and bought my first copy and- you know? I am really enjoying it. Anyways whenever I think about the Twilight Series I think dark food, dark drink. You know it! Black cherries, currants and deep chocolate with apples. So thanks Stephanie Meyer. These are for you!

Thanks to 1001 Recipes for this image and recipe

Le Pomme Noir

• 3/4 cup water 175 mL
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar 175 mL
• 2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apples 500 mL
• 2 tbsp Calvados (apple flavoured liqueur) 25 mL
• 1/3 cup butter 75 mL
• 500 g bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1 lb
• 6 eggs 6

Ganache:

• 1 cup 35% whipping cream 250 mL
• 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped 250 g

Directions:
For cake:

1. Butter a 10-inch (25 cm) round springform pan. Cut a round of parchment to fit the bottom of the pan, butter the parchment, and line the bottom of the pan. Wrap 3 layers of heavy-duty foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim.
2. Combine 1 cup (250 mL) water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add apples and simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat. Mash until smooth. Stir in Calvados.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
4. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Place springform pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake in centre of preheated oven until centre of cake no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool completely in pan (and do not remove from pan until after ganache has been applied).

For ganache:

1. Bring whipping cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake and gently shake pan to distribute evenly.
2. Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides.
3. Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream.

Serving Size: Makes 16 Servings

Thanks to dcoupal for this image
Thanks to Ciao for this Recipe

Pomme Noir

Ingredients:

• 90ml/3 fl oz apple juice
• 90ml/3 fl oz cola
• Ice

Method:

1. Half fill the glass with ice and pour over the apple juice and cola. Stir and garnish if you want to.

Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Beverages, Fruit, Meat, Salad, Sweets, Vegetables | No Comments »

Thanks to Daily Celebrities for this image

So- Brooke is everywhere. Lipstick Jungle, Interviews, Charity Work, Celebrity Events, Author, Mom…Wow! I mean I struggle just to get up in the morning. And she has to eat too and make sure her family is eating well. She has growing girls and a hubby after all.

Shall we help her out a little? I think I’ll find something that’s quick, easy and full of yummy goodness for her to make for lunch or supper. Hmmm…mmm…Maybe this?

Thanks to Vegan Foods that We Enjoy for this image

Thanks to Vegweb for this recipe

Tofurkey Apple Spicy Sandwich

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

• Tofurkey deli slices
• red onion, sliced thin
• spinach
• apple, sliced thin
• spicy mustard
• wheat bread (Try Romain Lettuce, Iceberg Lettuce, or Cabbage leaves as a wrap instead)

Directions:

• Make a sandwich with the ingredients.

Thanks to TeamSugar for this image

Thanks to about.com for this recipe

Fresh Fruit Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Bing cherries, pitted OR 1 (15-ounce) can dark cherries, drained
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup sugar (Or sweeten to taste)
• 2 cups fresh raspberries
• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon salt1 cup vanilla yogurt (Try a Vegan Yogurt)
• 2 cups white grape juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preparation:
In blender or food processor, combine cherries, orange juice, sugar, and raspberries and blend or process until smooth.

Pour into large glass pitcher and stir in remaining ingredients; stir with wire whisk until blended. Serve immediately, or cover and chill for 2-4 hours before serving. Serves 4-6

Posted on July 25th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Fruit, Living Raw, Sandwiches, Soups and Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian | No Comments »