quickie lunch

Sometimes you want to spend hours in the kitchen, experimenting and creating delicious new dishes, and sometimes, you just want to eat.  But I'm trying, in the spirit of finding balance in my life, to make something beautiful and fresh and healthy even on those 'just feed me now' days. 

 

Quick but insanely delicious and satisfying lunch between rehearsals last week: fresh whole wheat bun from the local market, avocado spread on both halves, a bed of fresh spinach, sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, a few basil leaves, and two eggs over easy on top.  It was messy to eat, but wow was it worth it.

Accompanied by a strawberry-banana smoothie made with milk and mandarin juice.

stuffed tomatoes

Made these a while back, along with tons of other stuff that I've photographed but not had the chance to actually sit down and write up. Suppose this is the bright side of being so sick for so long. Today I was able to take a shower and make myself some whole wheat pancakes, which definitely cheered me up. But still, no energy for venturing into the great outdoors, so here I am, catching up on the blogs.*        
These were inspired by my pal Lucia who always surprises me with her good cooking. Is it horrible of me that I would never have expected it of her? In any case, she made these once with ground beef and I flipped, so here's my version, with ground turkey instead, just cause.
It really is so simple it's almost embarrassing to write up, but it was just so damn good. I started off by sauteing onions and the ground turkey, along with the requisite salt and pepper and to be honest I can't even remember what else. Whatever you feel like throwing in at the moment. In the meantime I cut the tops off the tomatoes and scooped out the innards. Then I loaded them up with the meat
Then I topped them all off with a thick slab of goat cheese.  Yum.

Into the oven it all went, and came out once the cheese had all melted and oozed down inside the tomatoes. Delicious. I think maybe next time I'd peel the tomatoes and maybe put a bit of goat cheese in the bottom before the meat as well as on top. But even so, for a first run, I was happy.

*updated march 14, 2011.  Found more photos on husband's camera, and they were so nice I had to include them.  Please excuse the mix of quality, I'm working on getting better and more consistent with my photographs.

today's variation on chimichurri

Refreshing, but sharp.

green sauce:

• one bunch Italian parsley
• one bunch cilantro
• two large cloves of garlic
• grated peel of one lemon
• one Fresno pepper or jalapeño (or dried hot pepper flakes)
• juice of half a lemon
• salt
• olive oil

In a food processor, chop everything together. Start with a small amount of olive oil, and after everything is chopped, continue to pour the olive oil in a small steady stream until the green sauce is the consistency you like.

I had some for lunch. Spread toasted home-made bread with ricotta, then the sauce, then topped it with a tomato slice. Woke me up. Like a gentle slap on the face.