You are gonna like this a lot.

6-8 servings, will freeze in batches no problem

prep- 10 minutes, cooking- 30 minutes total

Serve with a grill cheese or garlic toast.  The easiest way to make garlic toast? Make toast. Rub it 3 times with a cut slice of garlic. Voila!  Garlic toast for dipping in soup.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil

2 onions (yellow or white), coarsely chopped

3 – 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes (no added sugar)

1/2 cup tomato paste (thats about one small can)

2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup orange juice

4 cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped

8 slices of Pancetta

sour cream- you can get low fat or non-dairy if you like

fresh chives

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

 

Directions:

1. Heat a Tbsp of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once the oil is warm, add the chopped onions and cook ( and stir occasionally) for about 4 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the garlic and cook and stir for about 1 more minute.  Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, and orange juice. Add a little salt and pepper at this time. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to low/med and partially cover with a lid. Cook for 30 minutes.

2. While soup is cooking, Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a non stick fry pan at medium heat and spread it around well with a flipper or wooden spoon.  Add the Pancetta slices and cook for a minute or so on each side until crisp.  Remove from heat, cut into slices and set aside.

3.  When the 30 minutes are up, remove your soup from the heat and transfer to a blender in batches (I like to use a ladle) .  Don’t fill your blender to the top with hot soup.  About half way.  Before you turn it on, you want to make sure you are wearing an oven mitt and that you have a t-towel over top of the lid.  Press down firmly on the lid before you start that blender. The lid will try to pop a bit when you are blending hot soup.  You really don’t want hot soup in your face.  Blend the batches just until the onion pieces are getting blended.  No need for a perfectly uniform texture.  It’s better with a little rustic texture.

4. Ladle the soup into bowls, arrange pancetta pieces over the soup and using clean kitchen scissors, cut some fresh chives on top.  Spoon a bit of sour cream or ricotta into the soup, give a swirl and season to taste again with salt and pepper.

5. Serve with garlic toast or a grilled cheese or salad from the leftover veggies from my last recipe!

tips- If you make this for any woman, she will think you are a culinary genius.  And, if it’s summer, and you use around 13 FRESH, chopped tomatoes instead of the canned variety, she will say yes.

If you want to use bacon instead of Pancetta, I really don’t have a problem with that.

 

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um.  Yum.  I think I was vegetable deprived the past couple of days.  This was amazing.  The Cherry tomatoes go off like little bombs in your already excited mouth.

Serves 4- total prep time- 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh Tuna Steaks

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil for brushing and dressing

1 red bell pepper, washed and chopped fine

1 red onion, sliced thin

2 stalks of celery, sliced thin on diagonal

1/2 cup washed and chopped mint

1 ripe avocado, sliced

2 small cucumbers, washed and sliced thin on diagonal

12 grape or cherry tomatoes

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well

6 cups baby arugula, washed

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a non-stick skillet on med/high heat. Brush your tuna steaks with a bit of olive oil and drop in pan.  Cook each side for 2-4 minutes depending on how you like your tuna steaks cooked, season with salt and pepper and set aside to rest.

2. Gather your ingredients and place the tomatoes, sliced onion, sliced celery, chopped mint, sliced avocado, sliced cucumber, diced red pepper, chick peas and arugula in a bowl.  Toss to combine. Mix your balsamic and apple cider vinegar together, set aside.

3. Slice your tuna steaks into bite size pieces, arrange on salad, Drizzle with your balsamic dressing and a little olive oil.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

This is a very healthy choice dinner or lunch.

 

 

 

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I have never made a meatloaf before. When I sat down to eat this sandwich (with a knife and fork as I severely overstuffed it), I actually swore out loud.  It’s that good.  And very easy. Once you have it made you can eat it for the next few days.  You don’t need to serve it as a sandwich, you can simply serve with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies as well.  (not!)

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced small
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck (lean)
1 cup roughly crushed saltine crackers (about 15 crackers),- I used Glutino GF crackers
1 cup coarsely grated Parmesan
3 large eggs
1 1/2 Tbsp teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (I used GF)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

6-7 slices of thinly cut bacon

Sauce Ingredients:

2/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup Siracha

1 tsp. dry mustard

1/3 cup brown sugar

Whole grain bread for sandwiches

lettuce

sliced pickles

ketchup

 

Directions:
1.    Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small skillet, heat oil over medium; add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until brick-red in color and fragrant, 3 minutes. In a large bowl, combine beef, onion mixture, crackers, cheese, eggs, horseradish, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper.
2.    On a broiling pan (line the bottom with foil for easier clean up), use your hands to form mixture into a 9-inch loaf. Wrap the loaf widthwise with strips of bacon, tucking them in on the bottom of your loaf. In a small bowl make a sauce with your ketchup, siracha, dry mustard and brown sugar.  Spoon about half of your sauce on top of the bacon. set aside.  then smush the sauce around the top with the back of a spoon.

3. Bake until nearly cooked through, about 40 minutes. Spoon the rest of the sauce on top and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the loaf is cooked through. Let rest 15 minutes before cutting into slices. To serve, place meatloaf slices between bread, topped with lettuce, pickles, and ketchup.

 

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