Thats Amore

Whats better than Pizza? not much! Dont we ALL love pizza? and how many kinds of pizza are there? Thin crust, Chicago, Sicilian, Grandma's, square, sauce, no sauce, veggies, cheese...I could go on and on. I decided this morning to take the Boboli 100% whole wheat pizza shells out of the freezer. There was some fresh mozzarella, gorgeous garden tomatoes and a big pot of fresh Basil in the yard. MMmmmm Pizza. Placing a piece of parchment paper on my half sheet pan, I placed the boboli shell on top. I took one large clove of garlic and crushed it. I rubbed the crushed clove all over the pizza shell. I sliced the tomatoes nice and thin placing them all around the shell. Grabbing a large bunch of fresh Basil from outside, I ripped it off the stems and sprinkled it all over the tomatoes. SLicing the fresh mozzarella cheese as thin as I could, I placed it over the tomatoes and basil. I did not cover the entire shell in cheese, just enough to melt nicely. Some fresh cracked black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil ( about 1 TBS for the whole shell ) to finish it off. In a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 min. until the cheese is bubbly but not browned. Remove from oven and let sit for a minute or so to allow cheese to settle before slicing. A couple of slices and a nice salad is a great fast and easy dinner. I am hoping in the future to calculate calories and carbs for the recipes I post. A healthier way to eat pizza...I know when I was on WW last year, it was about 6 points for a third of the boboli shell. Mom and her hubby loved it. She of course had a glass of wine and was lookin pretty happy. Of course she forgot to take a picture of the pizza when it was done cooking so I can only post the before pic. LOL. I guess it smelled good and she was hungry! Next time....and Remember...Life is full of Tasty Morsel's!

Changes in Attitudes......

I decided to give my blog a new makeover. A fresh new look. Color and whimsy. Its a physical and mental makeover. New recipes, new ideas, new everything. Including me. I mentioned in my previous blog that I was having some health issues. Well I have all the results and fortunately I am blessed. Everything the doctor told me can be treated with diet and exercise. That being said, I have to change my attitude before I can change my appearance....or maybe its changing my appearance that will help change my attitude. Either way, New Blog New me! Damn the genetics....I am now Diabetic. I guess the thinking it will never happen to me took over, as I never worried about doing things to reduce my risk of being diagnosed with it. Its now a part of my life and I have choices....along with some other health problems its time to CHANGE!! I am going to see a nutritionist next week to find out what is going to work best for me. Since I have extremely high trigycerides, very low good cholesterol and slightly elevated blood pressure along with the diabetes, I am going to need to know what to do. I am going to work on recipes that I love and make them healthier so I can still enjoy them. Loving food was a part of my life long before I went to Culinary School. Noone wants to just give up the things they love, so this is my mission : To find tasty and healthy alternatives to the foods I love so much. I will be sharing it all with you, and please send me your favorite healthy recipe or ideas....thats what its all about. Trying new things and passing it on. I am also changing my sign off. I loved the "Bite Me" but I think its time for yet another change...so here we go...hope you like it. Remember....Life is full of Tasty Morsels, enjoy them all.

You can take the Chef out of the kitchen but....

Its been quite a while since I posted anything on my blog. Health issues and some self pity prevented me from even wanting to cook or write. Thanks to some old friends from HS that I have reconnected with, and some awesome family members ( you know who you are CIL ), I think I'm back! LOL. The past couple of weeks I have been cooking alot. So far our summer has been pretty hot ( for NY ) so I am trying to stay out of the kitchen and outside at the grill as much as I can. You'd be suprised how much can be cooked on the grill. My prep work is done as early in the day as I can, with as little work as possible involved. One of my culinary instructors always said "prep" is 90% of the work. I truly believe that. Its the most time consuming and tedious work there is. Get it done and out of the way. Its what we call "Mise en place" which is the french term referring to having all the ingredients necessary for a dish, prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking. My mise en place is all ready for tonites dinner. We are having Talapia. Tilapia have very low levels of mercury, as they are fast-growing and short-lived with a primarily vegetarian diet, and thus do not accumulate mercury found in prey. Tilapia is a low total fat, low saturated fat, low calorie, low carbohydrate and low sodium protein source, as well as high in other vitamins and minerals. I will be coating the Talapia with an Japanese spice blend called Shichimi Togarashi which is a combination of red chili flakes, white sesame seeds, nori( seaweed ), dried mandarin orange peel, black hemp seeds, and white poppy seeds. It is also knows as 7 spice seasoning. It has a peppery citrus flavor that brings out the simple and clean flavors of the food used with it. I will cook the fish on the grill using a fish basket since the peices of talapia I have are a bit thin. Each peice of fish will get some of my Mango salsa which couldnt have been easier to make. It enhances the citrus flavor of the Togarashi spice and gives a coolness to the heat of the spice.

Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangoes diced small
1/2 small red onion diced
1/2 roasted red pepper small diced
1/2 jalepeno finely diced no seeds
Juice of 1 small lime
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to taste. ( salt will bring out the sweetness of the mango)
mix all together and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

I use the mango salsa recipe for Fish and Chicken. I also substitute fruits...I love nectarines and peaches which give a great flavor to Pork(just add some fresh grated ginger) Be creative, try something you like! And remember......BITE ME!