Refreshing Pompeii Pasta Salad

Here is a delicious and refreshing pasta salad!

Post by Lizzie Marie Cuisine.

The Recipe

Bursting with fresh, Italian flavors!

Serves 6+

• 1 pound pasta (use your favorite: fusilli, bow-tie, piccolini, etc.)
  
• 1 cup provolone or white sharp cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes
  
• 1 cup hard or Genoa salami, cut into small cubes
  
• 1 shallot, chopped
  
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
  
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves, chopped
  
• 1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar
  
• 1/4 cup parmesan reggiano cheese, grated
  
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  
• 2 pinches sea salt
  
• cracked black pepper, to taste

Optional Items

• 1/2 red or green pepper, chopped
  
• several cherry tomatoes, halved
  
• 1 cup artichoke hearts, rinsed and quartered
  
• 1/2 cup large black olives, rinsed and halved
  
• 1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
  

Boil large pot of water on high heat. Add a few pinches of salt and pasta; cook until pasta is al dente, about 9 minutes. While pasta is boiling, combine shallot, garlic, basil, vinegar, and mustard in a food processor or blender until roughly chopped. Add oil to running processor or blender until well blended into vinaigrette. Drain pasta and cool in colander. Pour cool pasta into large mixing bowl and add meat, cubed cheese and any combination of the optional items. Pour vinaigrette over pasta, mix carefully. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover bowl and set in refrigerator to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Serve cold or room temperature. When serving, top with grated parmesan cheese.

This can be an easy vegetarian dish be replacing the meat and cheese with extra vegetables.

Minestrone Soup Part 2

Here is the final part of the Minestrone soup video ... a recipe so easy, even a grownup can do it!

Post by Lizzie Marie Cuisine.

See Part 1 for the complete recipe!

Minestrone Soup!

Here's how I do Minestrone soup ... with a secret ingredient! Check out the video, more parts are coming soon!

Post by Lizzie Marie Cuisine.

The Recipe

My secret ingredient makes this dish “souper” savory.

Serves 4+

• 3 cups all-natural, low sodium chicken broth
  
• 1 28-ounce can all-natural diced tomatoes
  
• 2 carrots, chopped
  
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
  
• 1 cup onion, chopped
  
• 1 cup ditalini pasta, uncooked
  
• 1/2 bag fresh, baby spinach or 4 stalks fresh kale, rinsed, pulled off stalk and torn into bite sized pieces
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste
  
• Parmesan reggiano cheese (the real deal, not from a cardboard can)
  
• SECRET INGREDIENT: The rind of Parmesan reggiano cheese, about 4 inch piece

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot and sauté onions and celery until translucent. Add broth, tomatoes, carrots, thyme, sage, bay leaves, a few pinches of salt/pepper, and cheese rind to pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cover pot. Slow cook for at least 1 hour. 30 minutes prior to serving, add pasta and fresh greens (spinach or kale). Before serving, remove rind and bay leaves.

Posted a few New Pictures

I really love the picture that Cherokee Life did for their "Kid in the Kitchen" article:

From Lizzie Marie Cuisine

A Peek into what Lizzie Marie Cuisine is All About!

This quick video is fun to watch. Check it out and let us know your thoughts!

Post by Lizzie Marie Cuisine.

Green Eggs and Ham

Pesto and Prosciutto give a Tuscan twist to a childhood classic!

Serves 2

• 3 eggs
  
• 2 slices Prosciutto (Italian ham), torn into bite sized pieces
  
• 1 teaspoon all-natural pesto
  
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese (the real deal, not from a cardboard can)
  
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
  
• 1 pinch sea salt, to taste

Crack eggs into mixing bowl, add pesto, and whisk until eggs and pesto are well combined. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Pour eggs into pan. Slowly push and pull eggs with a spatula (be sure to scrape bottom of pan too), forming large curds. Add Prosciutto. When eggs are no longer liquid, serve on two plates and top with cheese.

Serve with a toasted slice of challah bread or baguette.

Salmon Turtles

A turtle is a way of cooking I learned in Girl Scouts; wrapping meat in a foil turtle shaped pouch. This is a fun and healthy way to cook salmon because the fish is steamed in the pouch.

Serves 4

• 4 6-ounce salmon fillets (wild-caught salmon; healthier than farm-raised)
  
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
  
• 4 – 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  
• juice of 1 lemon
  
• 8 lemon slices (about 2 lemons)
  
• 1 or 2 pinches dried rosemary
  
• 1 pinch sea salt
  
• 1 pinch fresh cracked black pepper
  
• 4 teaspoons capers
  
• 4 pieces aluminum foil – large enough to fold over and seal each fillet
  

Preheat oven 400 degrees.

Rinse fish with water and pat dry. Brush both sides of fish with olive oil and place one fillet, skin side down, on each piece of foil (fold up foil edges slightly so liquids do not spill out). Top each fillet with salt, pepper and rosemary, 2 lemon slices, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of wine and 1 teaspoon capers. Wrap up fillets tightly in foil turtles. Place foil turtles in a shallow cooking pan and bake for 12 minutes.

A fresh salad and couscous make excellent side dishes.