Sometimes when I type up posts, my taste buds kick into high gear, remembering the flavor of the dish. That’s the case here, Proust-like, I remember the piquant taste of the lemon curd filling and the crispy top.

Since I’m not eating desserts these days, it’s with reverence that I recall the lovely mouth-feel of this crostata, and just wish I could have some. This was from a cooking class a several months ago; one I’d forgotten about, so am posting it now.

Update about my diet: As an aside, I’m positively amazed that I’ve been able to not eat a single, solitary sweet thing for the last 2 1/2 months. I don’t crave sweets now (and I sure did in the past), and lucky for me, I can have an ounce of bittersweet chocolate a day. I went cold-turkey on carbs altogether – – and trust me, if this wasn’t working, I wouldn’t be continuing with the diet of zero carbs – except for the few carbs that exist in regular vegetables. Nary a piece of bread, a grain of rice, a bite of potato, a bean (legume), a grain of any kind, a speck of flour, sugar or pasta has passed my lips in the 2 1/2 months. I am able to eat 1/2 cup of fruit a day (berries only). I snack on a specific mix of toasted nuts (without peanuts or cashews, which are both legumes), 1/4 cup mid-morning and another 1/4 cup in the afternoon (if I’m hungry) and mostly I have soup (more cold soups lately) at lunchtime and I make a nice big salad for dinner with some kind of protein on it – maybe chicken, salmon, tuna, hard boiled eggs, or even a hunk of burrata cheese with a tasty salad dressing. Although I can make a more traditional dinner (a piece of grilled meat, for instance, with side vegetables) I’ve found that my weight loss continues at a steadier pace if I make my dinner meal a salad. I vary it with different dressings (just none like blue cheese, ranch or thousand island). I’ve never been a snacker type person after dinner, and I hope every night that when I go to bed my stomach is growling slightly. That means when I get on the scale each morning, it usually shows a weight loss.

If you missed my earlier mention of this diet, I’m following the food plan of Dr. Steven Gundry, a heart surgeon, who wrote the best selling book, The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain. It all has to do with wicked lectins, which exist in so many foods (carbs, grains and legumes, even dairy). I didn’t have intestinal issues when I began this diet, but as I read his book, it simply made so much sense to me that I decided to go for it. And I am consistently losing about a pound a week, which is a healthy type of weight loss. I’m not hungry all the time. At my age, I’m content with losing a pound a week. Going out to eat is do-able (salads or fish and a vegetable), although I’ve found that when I do go out, my weight loss slows for a day or two, likely because of salt. If I sweeten my iced tea, I use a stevia product (Truvia or Sweet Leaf), which is okay because it’s derived from a plant, not chemicals. Of course, I’m a family of one, so sticking to this diet is easier, as I simply don’t buy or prepare any carbs. I’ve given away a whole lot of things from my pantry, and will likely continue doing that. If you’re interested in knowing what you can and can’t eat, this LINK will take you to Gundry’s website where he provides a printer-friendly group  of pages you can print out (I keep it in my purse).

Well, so back to this lovely crostata. It’s made with an almond crust (it does contain some flour), and then you concoct a lemon curd filling. You’ll use a food processor for the crust (easy, really), adding only as much flour to make the dough hold together. It’s flavored with lemon zest and almond extract and does contain a big chunk of butter, which makes the crust kind of shortbread-like. There’s enough to make a bottom crust, and also to add strips to the top, which makes for a really beautiful presentation. The bottom crust needs to be blind baked and cooled.

The lemon curd is the normal type. You can use this version, or you can make my favorite lemon curd that came from America’s Test Kitchen. It needs to be made enough in advance that it can chill well, then it’s added to the cooled crust and baked again just long enough to get the extra pastry strips browned. Then the crostata is cooled completely on a rack before slicing and serving – along with some sweetened whipped cream and a sprig of mint for decoration.

What’s GOOD: the flavor – but then I love lemon anything – and the pretty presentation. Lots of good flavors in your mouth as you encounter the soft, acidic lemon curd and the crispy crusty bits. Softened by the whipped cream. Divine.

What’s NOT: this does take longer than some to prepare.

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Really, you might want to call this a roasted red bell pepper and roasted eggplant salad with feta, kalamata olives and pine nuts. Lots going on in this salad. All delicious.

Every so often in the course of running a blog you have to clean house. The digital house, that is. I store files on backup CDs and over the years I’ve collected about 4 dozen of so with the photos I’ve used. Not the stories, the write-ups. Those are saved by the blog server once a week. But the original photos and the finished ones. That’s when I ran across these files for a bunch of recipes I’d forgotten to post. So here I’m doing it now.

This salad was so refreshing – good for a summer evening. If you had a grilled chicken breast along side or a lovely piece of grilled salmon, this could be a complete meal. There are a lot of layers of flavor in this salad – the peppers and eggplant for sure, the spice rub you’ll sprinkle on the eggplant and onions, the feta, then the crisp arugula. And the light crunch of toasted pine nuts too. Or you could compliment the salad dressing too. Or maybe the subtle garlic (roasted also) thrown into the mix. A lot of them, really, but they’re so mellow once roasted. If you don’t want to roast the red peppers, buy jarred ones – they’ll be just fine. That’s save one roasting step.

Do try to find fig balsamic – it adds a lovely light sweetness to the dressing, along with the honey mustard in it. Use good olive oil too. And don’t forget those toasted pine nuts, either.

What’s GOOD: all the flavors you’ll find rolling around your taste buds. Great for a summer outdoor evening, I think.

What’s NOT: nothing other than waiting for the eggplant to roast (40 minutes or so) and taking the time to roast the garlic (30 minutes, but at a different oven temp, so you can’t do them together). Have 2 ovens? Perfect! If not, make the garlic ahead.

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As I write this, I’ve only eaten this soup warmed up (hot) but I think it would be delicious served chilled. For me, the garnishes are what make it – cilantro, almonds and chives.

The other day I was searching through my own recipes for soups, and ran across this one, and I’d taken a photo of it which was inserted into my MasterCook file, but I’d never posted it. No reason why, I’m sure (other than perhaps I made it before I started my blog in 2007?), as I’d made a note in the recipe that it was really good. So, I decided to make it again. I bought fresh cauliflower and a sweet potato (the latter, something I can have in light moderation on my low-to-no-carbs diet, as sweet potatoes are what are called resistant starches – meaning they mostly pass through the intestinal track without metabolizing much). You can add regular potatoes if you’d prefer.

This soup is a fairly thin consistency, even with the sweet potato, so if you prefer a thicker soup, do add potatoes or sweet potatoes, or use less chicken broth (which will then make less soup). I used just one sweet potato, but two was suggested in the recipe. And the recipe came from Cindy Pawlcyn, the famous chef at Mustards Grill in Napa Valley. I have her cookbook, Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, published many years ago now, but it’s one I refer to now and then. Coconut milk is now considered one of those good fats, and it gives the soup some wonderful texture, color and flavor.

Don’t skimp on the garnishes – as I mentioned, they’re part of what “makes” this soup, for me.

What’s GOOD: overall flavor, not too thick, more on the thin side, refreshing; can also eat chilled.

What’s NOT: nothing really, other than chopping and mincing the cauliflower.

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We’re certainly not going into soup season, but I eat soup year ‘round. And this one is very satisfying if you like Mexican style cooking, this one is sort of a Tex-Mex.

Where this recipe came from, I know not. I think it came from a Rachel Ray TV program some years ago. But since I evolved the recipe some, it’s no longer “original” anyway, so it’s my version, and what exactly made this Tex-Mex, I’m not sure. Maybe the chorizo? Or the seasonings in the meatballs? Well, never mind about that. It’s still a really good soup.

Varying this was my way of sticking to my low-to-no carbs diet. What I eliminated from this recipe were bread and carrots – the crumbled up bread in the meatballs, and the carrots in the soup. And I substituted ground turkey for the chorizo, although I probably could have had chorizo; I just didn’t have any lean chorizo on hand. I like the chorizo at Whole Foods – it’s very lean and super-tasty. But I didn’t have any . . . and I forgot to garnish the bowl with a slice of lime. Oh well.

Since I’ve been on this new eating regimen I’m trying to find more recipes that get in lots of vegetables and lean protein, but with tons of flavor. There are lots of herbs and spices in the meatballs, AND there are plenty of seasonings in the soup part as well. I’ve upped the volume of onions in the soup, and added some celery (likely not authentic) to give the soup more texture. And I added some diced avocado to the garnish. On this Gundry diet, avocado is beloved; we’re advised to eat at least a half of one a day. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that for every 2 avocados I buy, at least one is rotten inside. My daughter Sara told me that she buys all her avocados at Costco and so far she’s had no throw-aways at all, but you have to buy a big bunch of them. Not sure I could eat them all before they’d go bad from over-ripening.

What’s GOOD: what puts it on the really delicious scale for me is flavor. I liked all the garnishes, and the meatballs, made with some ground turkey, are very tasty. You CAN discern the little tiny speck of cinnamon in the meatballs – that adds a lovely nuance to them. Might seem odd, but worth adding!

What’s NOT: nothing really – the laundry list of ingredients might seem daunting, but a lot of them are seasonings of one kind or another. This would even work for a weeknight dinner – making the meatballs does take some time, but they’re not all that fussy to do.

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Oh my goodness. If you love corn – and if you happen to know the fabulous taste of Mexican Street corn, then you’ll already know this dip will be off the charts fabulous.

If you’ve been a reader of my blog for awhile, you may possibly remember a recipe I posted several years ago for Mexican Street Corn. My hubby and I had gone to a local restaurant (this was 4+ years ago since I’ve been a widow for that long) and I’d ordered the Mexican Street Corn on the menu. I went nuts over it. So did my DH. So I came home, researched the recipe and promptly made it myself. Many times. Often for guests because it’s such a crowd-pleaser. I don’t think I’ve made it since, however. Mostly, I think, because corn is a carb, and there’s not much of anything healthy about the preparation, so I convince myself I don’t need it, etc. etc.

But then, Phillis Carey decided to make it into a dip. Oh gosh, was it good. On my current diet, this would be a no-no, but when I went to the class, I was not , so I ate it all. And it was fabulous. It’s the same ingredients, made a little bit looser so it’s a dip, and served with chips. Phillis put a whole lot more varied ingredients into the corn dip – cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, shredded Jack, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, chili powder, lime juice (which was discernible, so don’t skip that ingredient), red onion, hot sauce and fresh cilantro. It’s baked in the oven and lastly sprinkled with some Cotija cheese (a Mexican dry, crumbly cheese somewhat like Feta).

What’s GOOD: every single solitary morsel of this is delish. I’m having a family gathering soon, so perhaps I’ll make this. Or maybe not since several of the family members (coincidentally) are on nearly-no -carb diets too. But YOU should make it, for sure.

What’s NOT: uhm, nothing at all, other than calories!

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Oh, my mouth is watering. It was early May when I had this, and I can still remember the wonderful mouth-feel of this decadent chocolate pudding. I have these adorable little-bitty glass footed cups (pictured). They’re not used for much, but when it’s the right thing, well, they’re perfect!

You’ll want to know that this pudding is rich. You’ll not eat all that much of it. Does that make it more enticing because you know you’ll only eat about 1/4 cup of it? Less guilty, maybe? But you should not bypass this recipe just because of the calories. If you’re a chocoholic like I am, you’ll want this recipe in your repertoire. You could make this the day or two ahead of a party too. I doubt I’d make this for a weeknight meal – only because of the nuisance of baking in a water bath. Why do we think that’s so much trouble? It’s really not, but still I might not make it sometimes because of that.

It starts with an equal quantity of heavy cream and whole milk. Then 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate (do use something at least 72% cacao) get added in, with ground cinnamon (which would give it a Mexican hint) but THEN you add 1/4 tsp of ground chipotle chili powder. Pow. It also has a tetch of ground allspice in it, and a dozen egg yolks. This recipe is not for the faint of heart. Once the pudding is mostly made on the stove, it’s poured into individual ramekins, or a larger vessel (so it can be scooped as I did with the photo above) into smaller dishes to serve. Do make some whipped cream (it needs it, believe it or not, to cut through the sweet and the chocolate of the pudding itself) and sweeten it and add a little cinnamon to it too. Your table of guests will be deadly quiet as you hear the spoons clinking in the cups as they eat it. From a cooking class with Phillis Carey.

What’s GOOD: the overall chocolate flavor – almost a fudge like texture – and I loved the tiny hint of heat (from the chipotle chili powder). It’s very subtle, but perfect! Make this for Cinco de Mayo next year?

What’s NOT: maybe only the water bath thing. Otherwise, this recipe is a real winner.

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See that ooey-gooey cheese seeping out of the middle of the chicken? My fork just made a mad dash to slick up that stuff. The only thing I’d add to the plate would be a small mound of buttered pasta. Not lots, but just enough to be flavored by the marinara sauce underneath the chicken.

My guess is that the #1 animal protein sold these days is chicken breasts. They come in mostly the same shape, but they can be small – these are chicken breast halves I’m talking about – (3-4 ounces) or huge (8-10 ounces) depending on whose label you purchase. Organic chicken breasts are smaller (because the chickies are not fed antibiotics, hormones or grain/corn – no GMO anything). If you buy regular ones, they’ve been treated with antibiotics and hormones to enhance their ability to plump up with all the fat in the grains and GMO corn they consume in the last week or two of their lives. Those latter were what I used to buy. Now I seek out organic and if I can find it, pasture raised. I watched a TV program recently where someone in the food science industry visited a poultry farm and categorically said if you ever visit one of those places, you’ll never eat another chicken in your life. I also read very recently that poultry farmers pretty much make up their own rules to describe their chickens as organic or pasture-raised. One example I read – a poultry farmer called his chicken meat “pasture-raised” if the 500+ chickens in the barn are given a 6 inch square opening to the outdoors once a day for 5 minutes. How many of those chickens ever get OUT the door that’s 6 inches square? And they just get there and they’re herded back into the smelly barn enclosure. Probably artificially lighted, is my guess. Supposedly, poultry farmers submit paperwork explaining how/why they call their birds organic and pasture-raised, and someone in Washington reads it (maybe) and says okay. Doesn’t make sense to me. But I’m certain there is a very powerful chicken lobby working on their behalf in Washington.

But I do still eat chicken. I like chicken, but my preferred cut is thigh meat, even though it’s higher in fat. I think the flavor is better, AND you run a lot less risk of overcooking it. But today I’m talking about chicken breasts. White meat for sure. Plump, juicy and tender. And really, I must admit, that if you cook a plain chicken breast with little or no enhancing flavor on it, the chicken meat is rather tasteless. Dull, flat. The chicken breast contains the least amount of fat of any meat on the bird, hence it’s tasteless characteristic. Salt helps. For me, though, you have to DO something to a chicken breast to make it interesting. I love chicken piccata. Funny, I don’t even have a recipe for that here on my blog. I don’t make it for myself – I order it out usually. It’s something I could have on my current diet as long as I didn’t overwhelm the sauce with butter.

Anyway, medium-thick chicken breast halves are what you want for this recipe – thick enough that you can cut a pocket into it (from the thicker side). Big enough to salt and pepper the inside just a little, and big enough that you can stick a long wedge of fresh mozzarella cheese in it. Do buy fresh mozzarella – this is not a dish to use the ubiquitous ball of Mozzarella you’d use in lasagna. No, use fresh. Some markets now have sliced fresh mozzarella cheese – that’s what you’ll want if you can find it. Otherwise, buy the medium-sized balls of fresh mozzarella floating in water. Cut it as best you can into rounds and stuff about 2 slices into each breast. You may have to cut off one side of each piece of cheese to make it fit. Once the cheese is nestled inside, do your best to kind of stretch the chicken so the 2 sides of the pocket hold together. The sticky consistency of the raw chicken helps the two edges to adhere a little bit. You don’t want any cheese sticking out of the pocket or ALL the cheese will ooze out during the baking.

The chicken is dipped in flour, eggs, then panko crumbs (mixed with some Parm, garlic powder and dried oregano). Then the chicken breasts are lightly sautéed in a big nonstick skillet with about 1/4” of olive oil heated in it. You’ll brown the chicken breasts on both side about 4 minutes per side. Then the chicken goes into a large glass or ceramic baking dish. Jarred marinara sauce (have you tried the Victoria brand from Costco?) is poured around the chicken (not on top), fresh basil is added to the sauce and the chicken is baked in a 425°F oven for about 14-16 minutes (depending on thickness). The dish is removed and allowed to sit for 4-5 minutes, then you garnish with parsley and serve.

What’s GOOD: it’s a lovely presentation, whether you make some pasta on the side or not. Really good flavor, but enhanced with the cheese that slightly oozes from the pocket. DO salt and pepper the interior pocket, however, as fresh mozzarella doesn’t taste like much either unless it has something on it. Delicious.

What’s NOT: well, there IS some prep to this dish, but not all that much. If you buy a good jarred marinara, really the steps are quite simple.

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Succulent is the word I wrote down on the recipe after my first bite. So very tender. And the glaze, oh my.

Doesn’t that dish look good enough for company? I think so, but it’s also easy enough to do for a weeknight meal as well. Just make sure you have a couple of fresh oranges on hand, white miso and some fresh green onions. That’s assuming you have fresh ginger, vermouth, soy sauce, sesame seeds, honey and avocado oil.

Being on this diet I’m on, I really shouldn’t have eaten the salmon (because of the honey – everything else was generally okay), but I couldn’t help myself. It was so SO delicious. I ate about half of that serving above, and a couple of days later I flaked some of the leftovers into a green salad as a dinner one night. It was equally good (cold) in that rendition.

The mixture that becomes the glaze is mostly orange juice (use blood oranges if you happen to have them, which makes the glaze a lovely rosy deep color) flavored with honey, ginger, garlic, vermouth, soy sauce. That is reduced down by half until it’s thick and syrupy, then you add in the white miso.

The salmon is broiled – but broiled from an 8-inch distance – it’ll take about 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon. But before broiling you spread that succulent glaze all over the top – that helps with the browning on the top, obviously. Once done, let it sit a minute or so, then garnish with the sesame seeds and chopped green onions. Done. Beautiful! Recipe came from Phillis Carey.

What’s GOOD: everything about this dish is delicious. More than delicious. Make the glaze ahead of time if you want. Serve with a simple green salad and a complementary vegetable (roasted broccoli, roasted asparagus perhaps?). You’ll hear raves from everyone.

What’s NOT: nothing other than making sure you have everything on hand to make this.

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Really tasty cake made with mostly almonds (with a little bit of flour), lemon juice and ricotta cheese. Not a light and airy cake, this, but loaded with flavor. Sublime with the whipped cream and berries on top.

The leavening in this cake comes from the egg yolks and egg whites. I wish I were enough of an adventurous baker to fiddle with this recipe and reduce the amount of butter in it. Two cubes. That’s a lot, but then, it serves 12 people, so I suppose you’re not really getting all that much butter in each slice.

The cake requires a 10-inch springform pan, and it’s a bit of a fuss to butter it first, then line it with parchment, and then butter the parchment. You need to do this to assure that the cake will not stick. The blanched almonds are coarsely ground up in a food processor with a bit of sugar, then combined with the minor amount of flour and lemon zest. The butter and sugar are mixed up in a stand mixer (or hand held), then yolks added and you fold in the almond mixture.. The ricotta is mixed lightly with a fork along with the lemon juice, just to make it a bit more pliable. That’s folded into the almond cake mixture. Lastly the egg whites are whipped to soft peaks and folded in as well. Finally that’s all put into the springform pan and baked about 40 minutes.

Ideally, serve this cake warm, and with the lightly sweetened whipped cream, and with the lovely fresh berries on the side. And a sprig of mint if you have some.

What’s GOOD: the texture of the cake is slightly crunchy – not majorly crunchy, but a little crunchy. The cake is very sweet (I think n ext time I’d reduce the sugar by a little bit). Overall, though, this is a wonderfully tasting cake. Very different than a traditional light and airy cake. This isn’t, but it still fabulous!

What’s NOT: only that it has a bunch of steps to making it, but none take a lot of time. Worth doing, I think.

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Simple spice-rubbed pork tenderloin, but served with luscious cooked carrots. Who knew they could taste so good when roasted? You may want to make these again and again. Then there’s the grits, creamy with smoked Gouda. And then there’s the salad too, with a sherry and honey mustard vinaigrette.

Pork tenderloin is something I cook for myself now and then. I probably should buy one, cut it in half and freeze the other half because one pork tenderloin (at least the Costco ones) are big – usually enough for 4 meals for me. Maybe even 5 if I don’t dole out too much on any one serving. And by day three, I’m tired of pork tenderloin! But this meal, this pork tenderloin is merely a way to eat the scrumptious carrots on top, the creamy grits with Gouda and the lovely green salad on the side. I’m telling you true, your fork is going to want all of those carrots to the exclusion of everything else on the plate.

The carrots, scrubbed and halved, are roasted for 15-20 minutes in a hot-hot oven, sprinkled with some kind of various spice rub (your choice). Once cooled, you whiz some of them up with pine nuts and olive oil to make the Romesco part. The remaining carrots are served in the salad. The pork is seasoned with the same spice rub, browned on the stove, then finished off in the oven.

Meanwhile, you make the grits – using a combination of broth and milk to make them creamy, then at the last, add in the Gouda (did you know it’s pronounced gow-da? not goo-da, as we do?) and serve it right away while it’s still piping hot. When I make this, I use regular Gouda, not smoked. I’m not a big fan of smoked cheeses for some reason – I like the pure stuff, but suit your own palate. Place the pork tenderloin slices napped over the edge of the grits and top with the Romesco carrots.

You will have tossed up a lovely green salad too (adding arugula for sure, maybe even watercress or some other unusual greens if you can find them), toss with the sherry wine vinegar vinaigrette and the remaining carrots, and that’s dinner. The recipes came from a cooking class a couple of months ago with Tarla Fallgatter. I was still eating some carbs then, so I can attest to the deliciousness of those carrots. Now I’m only eating raw carrots.

What’s GOOD: well, the carrots Romesco are the best part of this dish in my opinion, but the grits are good, as is the pork AND the lovely greens on the side. Altogether great meal – would definitely be suitable for a company dinner.

What’s NOT: maybe a bit more prep than some meals.

Pork Tenderloin: printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 15/16 file (click link to open recipe)

Grits: printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 15/16 file (click link to open recipe)

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