Great with freshly shucked oysters on the half shell
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallots (by hand or preferably pulse in a food processor to capture all the juices).
1 teaspoon cracked white peppercorns
1 teaspoon minced Italian parsley
Combine ingredients and let chill at least an hour before serving with your favorite oysters. This has essentially no calories. Drizzle over or dip oysters in the mignonette.
Serves 8
Heavy cream 1 quart
Whole milk 1 quart
Sugar substitute 12 ounces
Gelatin leaves 10 ea (or 3 packets powder gelatin)
Vanilla bean 1 pod
1. Soak gelatin in ice water, and set aside – if using powdered, then reserve a small amount of the milk to bloom the gelatin in.
2. Bring heavy cream and milk to a boil and stir in sugar substitute until dissolved
3. Open vanilla bean pod and scrape all the beans add in the cream
4. Gentle stir in soft gelatin until all dissolved (or the milk/powdered gelatin mix)
5. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before dividing between 8 high ball or martini glasses.
6. Chill 3-4 hour in the cooler to set
Garnish the tops of the panna cotta with mixed fresh berries. Add some
picked mint or basil leaf if desired.
Courtesy of Chef Zach Bell of Addison Reserve Country Club, Delray Beach, FL
(Serves 4)
Use remnants of a roasting chicken from the previous night, remove the meat from the carcass, eliminate fat, gristle, make into bite-sized pieces. In the alternative, you can brown a whole chicken in the pot, then add the vegetables and water/stock
To make life easier, you may wish to use chicken breasts/thighs, dice the chicken breasts and sauté, separate meat from thigh bones, cut into pieces and add to the sauté pot.
2 quarts water
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups carrots
2 cups celery
1 yellow or white onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
bay leaf
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup Italian parsley, chopped
8 ounces pasta of choice (optional)
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
Sauté the vegetables and onion until translucent, add the bay leaf and chicken, sauté several additional minutes, add water/stock/bay leaf, simmer on low-medium heat about an hour, skim the top, add chopped Italian parsley, cook the pasta until al dente separately add approximately 2 ounces of pasta to each bowl, add broth, chicken, and vegetables, top with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano.
I like to start the day on the right foot! The first thing I do every morning is read a page from one of my books of positive affirmations. This sets the tone for my day. I repeat whatever the message is, and make it my mantra for the day. Doing so, especially if I find myself frustrated or losing my peace of mind is so helpful to bring me back to focus. Examples include: “I am at peace” or “I am love” or “I am grateful” or “I can do anything!” I also tell myself that my life is a gift, that my life is precious, and I am going to do everything I can today to nourish and care for myself and treat my body well! I believe that great results begin with positive thoughts. We shape our world with our thoughts! If we follow up a positive thought with a positive action, we can literally shape and re-shape our lives!
Be the example of peace, happiness, strength, stability, and love! It is contagious! Just as negativity leads to more negativity, a positive action leads to more positive actions. I am learning to be patient and kind towards others. I try to practice random acts of kindness each day, doing something nice that doesn’t cost me anything for someone else, even a stranger. It doesn’t cost us anything to pay another a deserved compliment. It doesn’t cost us anything to let someone pull in front of us on a congested road. Next time, I might be the one sitting there, trying to pull out. I know whatever good I do will come back to me. This is the law of the universe! Besides, doing good with no expectation of anything in return makes me feel good! It is a win-win! We can choose to be positive or negative, but the choice is up to us!
Makes approximately 15 meatballs.
1 slice white or whole wheat sandwich bread
¼ cup of skim milk
1 1/2 pounds ground lean sirloin or round
(May substitute ground turkey, a mixture of light and dark meat.
Other options are ground veal and ground chicken.)
4 large eggs
1 cup freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese
1 cup fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Prepare the bread: Remove the crusts, cut into small cubes, soak a couple of minutes in the milk.
• Mix the ingredients with a fork until well amalgamated.
• Roll the meatballs by hand, forming approximately 15 balls (you can adjust the size as you wish).
• Drop rolled meatballs into a large pot of hot simmering tomato sauce and let simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes on low heat, gently stirring occasionally so they don’t stick.
Use the same quantities of the above ingredients, except use 1 ½ pounds lean ground sirloin (omit the pork and veal), and also the raisins, marsala, and pine nuts. Mix and roll the meatballs, cook in simmering sauce as above.
Note: by eliminating any oil in the cooking, approximately 32 calories per meatball have been eliminated without compromising flavor. They come out moist and delicious!
Calories 97
Calories from fat 36%
Fat (grams) 7
Saturated fat (grams) 3
Cholesterol (milligrams) 90
Carbohydrates (grams) 2
Protein (grams) 14
Sodium (milligrams) 321
You may use your own recipe for tomato sauce to simmer the meatballs in or a quality jarred sauce, such as Rao’s. My homemade San Marzano Tomato Sauce Recipe will be in the book as well.
Buon’ Appetito!
