My Very First Herb Garden

Everyone, I finally have fresh herbs in the kitchen: Mint, Rosemary & Basil! I know, it took me LONG ENOUGH but they’re finally here. I was sick and tired of not having any fresh herbs in my kitchen… I mean what kind of an Italian am I?! Now that I think about it, my mom never had fresh herbs in the kitchen because she doesn’t have a green thumb… she has a black thumb. Everything she tries to grow is dead in a week. Thankfully that didn’t happen with her children…

A long time ago, my dad had a beautiful garden which is where we now put our garbage pails… oh how times have changed. Nonetheless, this garden was awesome! It had zucchini, bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, snow peas, cherry tomatoes – my favorite and much more. Every morning, once the tomato plants were in full blossom, my dad and I would go outside after breakfast and pick the cherry tomatoes for the day. Both of us would eat a handful or two before we got back to the house because they were so sweet and juicy. And by the way, the garden is 5 ft. from my house… can’t explain that one to ya.

However, this garden was his pride and joy. Whenever he had free time he was always trimming something or watering something else. You could see how much he loved it. I guess that's where I get my love for food. Hard work really did pay off those summers when we had baskets of produce waiting for us in our back yard. My two brothers, Chris (older brother) and Nicky (younger brother) and I tried to refurbish our garden and bring it back to life. But, it was taking longer than we thought so we might see it next summer. In the meantime, I created this little garden of my own to keep his memory alive. I actually took the mint straight from our dad’s garden. It survived all these years – it’s like a weed. We couldn’t kill it if we tried. 

Hopefully, one day my family will have a garden again. And hopefully my esteemed followers will be encouraged to grow their own herb garden themselves! I know it might seem like some work, but it’s so much cheaper to grow your own herbs instead of buying them by the bunch in your supermarket. And of course, it’s always fresher. If you have a green thumb, or want to try and grow something of your own, I would highly recommend it. Don’t forget to add spices to your meals, they can pack a nice flavor into the dish and provide necessary antioxidants to help you fight against harmful infections. As my mom always says, “I don’t have time to take ya to the hospital, Dommie!” So give your mom a break and get an herb garden.

Happy Gardening,

Dom

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Now, Shut Up and Eat.

Chicken Cutlets!

Ever since I left for college, chicken cutlets have always been my choice food from home that I always take back with me. They are easily packable in plastic bags or some tupperware, and they can either be frozen or last for about a week in the fridge - Perfect staple food item for an Italian kid going to college. And believe me, I eat them all. Okayyy, maybe I share ever once in a while.

Back in freshman year, my mom used to pack pounds of chicken cutlets that I jam-packed in my mini fridge in my tiny, little dorm room… under my lofted bed that I continually banged my head on and developed a hunched back that I’m still trying to recover from. BUT, the past is the past, and we move on to bigger and less painful things.

Now that I have a kitchen and a working stove, I figured I should stop annoying my mom to always make me chicken cutlets when I come home. As my mom would say (in a Brooklyn accent of course,) “These kids… they drain my blood.” So, she taught me this simple and quick recipe to make her infamous chicken cutlets. And let me tell you, it really got me through some tough times when I couldn’t eat any more “dining hall” food. All you need are 6 simple ingredients: Chicken, Oil, Eggs, Milk, Grated Parmigiano Cheese and Breadcrumbs (and salt and pepper but that’s optional.)

Try this recipe out and tell us what you think! (post comments below) We would love to have some feedback since we are a new to this whole blogging thing. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter! Enjoy the chicken cutlets. 

Bon Appetit,

Dom

Now Shut Up and Eat.

Click Here for the PRINTABLE RECIPE!

Ingredients:

1 lb. Chicken, packaged sliced thin (or you could buy the chicken breasts and slice them yourself)

2 Eggs

2 Tbsp. 1% Milk

1 cup of Olive Oil (or Mazola Oil)

2 cups of breadcrumbs (or panko breadcrumbs for an extra crunch)

A pinch of Grated Parmigiano (optional but adds some good flavor to the chicken)

Salt & Pepper, to taste

EQUIPTMENT: 1 Medium Skillet, 1 Small Bowl, 1 Small Plate, 1 Large Plate, Fork & Knife

Directions:

PREPARATION: Crack two eggs into small bowl and add milk, grated parmigiano, salt & pepper. Whisk together with a fork until fully combined. Place the breadcrumbs on a small plate beside the egg bowl to encourage clean transfer from bowl to plate. Have a large plate ready to place the chicken cutlets when they are fully breaded and ready to be cooked.

In a medium skillet, add olive oil and wait for the oil to heat up (about 2-3 minutes.) Next add chicken cutlets to the skillet, cook as many as the pan can fit.

*Remember: chicken cutlets are thin and cook fast so make sure you watch them. And once the oil is hot, be careful of your hands, it splashes everywhere and burns (you might want to invest in gloves if you’re scared… or use a longer utensil)* 

Cook on each side for about 2 minutes, or until they turn golden (since I’m color blind, I kind of just guestimate… my life.) Then, immediately take off and place onto a large plate. You can put a paper towel down over the plate so that it can reduce the oil content, if desired. Serve immediately. You can also put another pinch of grated parmigiano cheese over the chicken cutlets to give it more of a cheesy flavor. MANGIA MANGIA!

Enjoy with friends and/or family. *THIS IS CRUCIAL!*     

Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins

If you are like me, you often get a nagging sweet craving right after dinner. And sometimes you just can’t resist the urge to rummage through your kitchen looking for that sweet treat! More often than not that treat comes with a heaping pile of guilt on the side (a.k.a guilt that goes straight to my ass). This scenario plays itself out almost every single night of my life. I wanted my cake and I wanted to eat it too…ok maybe I wanted to eat the whole cake…sorry bout it. 

About a year ago I discovered Clean Eating. Not hip dip granola eating but CLEAN eating! For those of you who have never heard of clean eating it is the lifestyle of consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible. It is not another fad diet or frozen food with some special secret ingredient that makes you drop 10 pounds in an extremely short amount of time. That’s a bunch of bananas. It is a lifestyle through and through (cleaneatingmagazine.com) <— Check it out, it changed my life! Now, there are a few guidelines to eating clean, the top five are try to eat 5-6 times day, drink at least 2 liters of water a day, get food label savvy, avoid processed or refined foods and learn about portion sizes! Ever since I adopted this lifestyle I feel healthier than I ever have before. Clean Eating helps me to navigate a super market so I only buy the good stuff that makes me feel great and none of the crap. Dom and Jenn may define good stuff and bad stuff differently than I do, but hey! That’s the fun of food! 

Now back to these sweet cravings! With the help of clean eating I was able to make one of my favorite recipes clean! Chocolate Banana Bread…ohhhh yaaaaaaa! It’s the perfect combination of dark chocolately goodness and banana heaven. Your average Banana bread can be up to 250-300 calories PER SLICE! WOAH! Not ok…At all. Unless you make my clean Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins. These will satisfy any sweet craving you have with its 70% dark chocolate chunks and its ooey gooey bananas! You can make this recipe in loaf form if you so desire but I prefer making them into muffins! This way my portion is already set and I know just how much I’m eating. Each muffin has only 182 calories and it has whole grain goodness to keep those cravings at bay all night long.  This is a muffin you can never feel guilty about. THANK GAWD. So give these muffins a good old college try, I promise they will make you feel happy and healthy! Whoever said healthy food sucks was an idiot.

Click Here for the PRINTABLE RECIPE!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (If you prefer a less dense muffin, use half whole-wheat flour and half pastry wheat flour)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground flaxseed (I use whole flaxseeds for more texture)
 Pinch of sea salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
2 egg whites
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup raw honey (I use agave nectar, tastes just as sweet!)
1/4 cup sunflower oil (Olive oil or vegetable oil can be used as a substitute)
1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate (70% cacao or higher)
Olive oil cooking spray, optional



Here’s all the Equipment you need!!


INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, flaxseed and salt.



In a large bowl, mash bananas roughly with fork then with a hand mixer, beat bananas until smooth. Add egg whites and beat until combined. Gradually mix in applesauce, honey and sunflower oil.

Mash those bananas and mix it all up!



Mix dry ingredients into banana mixture; stir in chocolate.

Mist a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or line a muffin pan with paper muffin cups and mist with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and bake for 45 minutes if making a loaf or 20-25 minutes for muffins, or until browned on top. Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!



Now Shut Up and Eat.


Nutrients per muffin: Calories: 182, Total Fat: 6 g, Sat. Fat: 1 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3 g, Carbs: 32 g, Fiber: 3 g, Sugars: 16 g, Protein: 3 g, Sodium: 74 mg, Cholesterol: 0 mg

Recipe from Clean Eating Magazine

Pasta alla Dom

      Pasta alla Dom (made that up myself. WHAT UP!) has become a standard in my cuisine. You can make it in bulk and save it for the rest of the week AND you can mix and match ingredients - it’s very versatile! The first day in my new college apartment I knew I had to break in the kitchen… even though it was in a 2x4 space. I looked in my fridge and my cabinets and literally threw something together and this is what came out!

       Naturally, I love pasta… but I was getting sick of the plain pasta with sauce. I needed to spice up my life a little, ya know?! Anyway, I started cutting up this and that and made this dish! You don’t have to use all the ingredients to make this dish either, I just made whatever I had. You could use a vidalia onion or a sweet onion to replace the red onion - I just like red onions because they’re tastier to me and add more color to the dish. You don’t even have to add the carrots if you don’t feel like grating them… or don’t even have a grater. I just like to add them because it adds wonderful color to the dish and adds a little sweetness.

       So, basically I’m just concerned about the color… which is funny because I’m actually color blind, hmm… oh well! But seriously, if there is more color in the dish, it is likely to be more nutritious. You could also add ingredients like cut-up chicken cutlets for some lean protein or even add other vegetables like chopped asparagus! Don’t be afraid to venture away from the classic pasta and sauce because you don’t think you can make this dish. I started out with this dish when I first started cooking, so if I can do it, you can too. Just don’t forget to relax and have fun because that’s what cooking is all about! It’s okay to make mistakes some time, that’s how we all learn. Cooking should be fun, not a chore. That’s my family’s philosophy and I want to share that with the world. Also, if you’re nervous, try cooking with a friend! Two heads are better than one and maybe you could share some laughs together. So try this out one day when you don’t know what to make and maybe you’ll surprise yourself!
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Click Here for the PRINTABLE RECIPE!

Prep Time: 8 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

 Ingredients:

    1/2 lb. Fusulli Pasta (or any other kind of pasta)
    ½ cup Cherry Tomatoes, halved
    1 Zucchini, sliced into circles and cut in half
    1 cup of Spinach, chopped if desired
    1 cup of Carrots (I used baby carrots), grated
    ½ Red Onion, chopped
    3 cloves of Garlic, minced
    ¼ cup of Olive Oil
    Salt & Pepper, to taste

 Directions:
      Add water to medium pot and bring to boil. Add a pinch of salt OR oregano to water and add pasta. Cook for 8 minutes, or until al-dente. Set aside.

      In a medium skillet, heat up olive oil and add red onion and wait 1-2 minutes and add garlic, wait till almost brown. Add tomatoes, zucchini and carrots into skillet and cover for 8 minutes. Add spinach for the remaining 5 minutes and cover again. Finish by adding salt and pepper, you can add more if you desire.
***Remember before you dump the pasta water from the pot, dump a little (about a cup and 1/2) into the skillet to give it more of a sauce-y look. It will make it easier to mix with the pasta as well and will ultimately taste better, trust me I always forget.

      Place pasta into skillet, if it fits, and mix together until pasta is fully coated. Grate fresh parmigiano reggiano if desired. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Now Shut Up and Eat.