Baked Tomatoes with Parmesan

And here is another easy, delicious, healthy Mediterranean diet recipe for you.

Ingredients:
Plump Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Oregano
Parmesan Cheese
Salt
Pepper

Directions

• Heat oven to 400F.
• Slice Tomatoes (I cut mine into thick pieces). 
• Place on tin foil in deep dish pan. 
• Sprinkle with Salt & Pepper. 
• Sprinkle with dried Oregano (or use fresh if you want/have it)
• Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese (I grated a nice Parmesan on ours)
• Drizzle the Tomatoes with Olive Oil
• Place in oven for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, broil for a minute or two to lightly brown the top of the cheese.

I served the tomatoes with a Parmesan crusted Tilapia I picked up from Whole Foods and Far East Garlic & Herb CousCous.

Enjoy! XO

Greek Island Chicken Marinade

Continuing with my weekday Mediterranean Diet plan, I found this delicous and easy! recipe on Allrecipes.com. I changed up the recipe a little bit to use what I already had in my fridge.

Instead of white vinegar, I used apple cider vinegar. I also omitted mushrooms (hate them) and didn't grill them on skewers.

Ingredients:
1/4 C of olive oil
1/4 C of lemon juice (I squeezed 1 and 1/2 fresh lemons)
1/4 C of white vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar and was delish)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 large bell peppers: I used yellow and green
12 cherry tomatoes, diced

You really can use whatever vegetables you prefer or what you have in the fridge. And if you don't already have some of these spices, I highly recommend buying them - you'll find them in most Mediterranean diet recipes.



Directions:
Since I changed up the recipe a little bit, my directions will differ from that on Allrecipes.com

• Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano, thyme, salt, and black pepper together in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Add the chicken and evenly coat. I then transferred this to a large Ziploc bag. 

Chicken in the greek island marinade

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Remove the chicken from the marinade and shake off excess liquid. Discard the remaining marinade. If you have skewers, then you can thread your meat and vegetables and then bake (or grill) them. I didn't have any skewers so I just laid everything out on aluminum foil. I added a little olive oil to the vegetables.

Yellow pepper, green pepper, cherry tomatoes, marinated chicken

• Bake until the chicken is no longer pink, about 15-20 minutes. 
• I prepared half of a box of original cous cous to lay the chicken and vegetables over. (Takes about 5 minutes to make. You can find a box of cous cous that comes with seasoning at any grocery store)

Added fresh wheat bread and a side of olive oil 

Enjoy! XO

Seafood Cous Cous Paella {Mediterranean Diet}

If you haven't heard about the study recently published about the Mediterranean Diet than you may have been living under a rock.

Indulging in extra-virgin olive oil, nuts, red wine and easy on the red meat are a few highlights of the study that have shown if you stick to the Mediterranean diet, not only will you live a healthier life, you will be happier. You think that's why the Greek's economy tanked? Because they're too busy enjoying life?
Maybe :)

Anyway, I found this delicious Seafood Cous Cous Paella from EatingWell.com. A note, it is only a serving for 2 so you may want to double up on the recipe. I love all seafood so I did stick to the recipe and make it with bay scallops and shrimp - if you're not a fan of either one of those - you could try it with another seafood of your liking. We also had a lot of the ingredients already in the house - except for the Saffron Thread - which is not cheap by any means. But I was able to find some at my local Whole Foods.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Pinch of crumbled saffron threads
• 1 cup no-salt-added diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 4 ounces bay scallops, tough muscle removed
• 4 ounces small shrimp, (41-50 per pound), peeled and deveined
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat couscous

Directions:

• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, fennel seed, salt, pepper and saffron; cook for 20 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and broth. Bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

• Increase heat to medium, stir in scallops and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Add shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes more.

•  Stir in couscous. Cover, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes; fluff.

This is a very simple recipe once you get your chopping done! We made a Greek salad and paired with a Merlot.

Enjoy! XO

Wild Salmon Salad

Recently during my lunch break, I was sitting in our cafeteria watching the Dr. Oz show and they started discussing health benefits from fish. Interesting enough, there is a small list of types of fish that contain higher level of Omega-3 and have lower mercury levels. These include: anchovies, herring, mackerel (Atlantic only), sardines, trout and wild salmon.

We have been eating tilapia at least twice a week - for one, it takes me less than 10 minutes to make, and secondly, it's very inexpensive compared to other fish at Whole Foods. But now that I have given up my daily grande-soy-mocha- no whip at Starbucks, I can afford to spend the extra few dollars on healthier fish :)

Anyway, I picked up some wild salmon and made a fresh salad to go with it.

With skin side down on aluminum foil, I spread on dijon-mustard, sprinkled with salt and pepper then sprinkled with dill.  Baked in the oven at 375 for 11 minutes. (Times will differ based on your oven). When the fish starts showing white, it's time to take it out of the oven. I sliced the fish and laid it on top of the salad and drizzled a balsamic vinaigrette on top.

Enjoy! XO

Lemon Pepper Fish with Avocado and Tomato Salad

This is by far my FAVORITE dinner dish to make. Not only is it healthy and absolutely delicious - but it takes me less than 20 minutes to make and I spend less than $15.00 at Whole Foods for the main ingredients!

Recipe

Lemon Pepper Fish
lemon pepper spice
1 tbsp of Dijon mustard
tilapia (or whatever fish you would like to use)
olive oil

Heat oven to 375F.

Lay out aluminium foil on a deep dish pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the foil. Place fish on top and spread a little Dijon mustard on the top side - this adds a little more taste and the spice sticks better to the fish. Sprinkle the lemon pepper spice on the mustard. Flip the fish and repeat spreading the mustard and sprinkling on the lemon pepper. Close the tin foil up so the fish is enclosed - bake for 12 minutes or until the middle of the fish can flake off with a fork.

 While the fish is in the oven, you can start making the salad.

Avocado & Tomato Salad
1 Avocado, diced
12 Grape Tomatoes, diced
Feta Cheese (optional)
Balsamic Vinegar
Pinch of Salt

In a bowl, carefully put in your diced avocado and tomatoes. If you want, you can add in feta cheese - although cheese is my favorite food, I actually don't care for it too much in this salad, but others I have served this to love the feta in it. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and a dash of salt. Be careful - the balsamic vinegar can be strong so start with less and add more if you need to.

Carefully mix the salad so the balsamic vinegar and salt are evenly mixed in.

And that's it! Pair the fish and salad with a nice piece of fresh bread - I mix up a little olive oil and a flavored balsamic vinegar. I recently purchased flavored vinegars from Sapore in Capitol Hill, DC.  (Try their Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar - its to die for!) Enjoy!

Sapore - White Balsamic Vinegar

Eggplant & Tomato Pizza

I told you, I have been craving veggies lately - and especially eggplant. In lieu of calling up Domino's again (I have their app on my iPhone), I decided to head to Whole Foods so I could make my own (healthy) pizza.

Recipe:
1 Pizza Crust (I bought the pre-made wheat crust from Whole Foods)
1 Eggplant, Sliced
Minced Garlic
Basil
Mozzarella Cheese
Feta Cheese
2 Tomatoes, Sliced
Olive Oil

Preheat Oven to 375.

I first roasted the eggplant over medium heat on a skillet. - To do this, put olive oil on a pan, add in minced garlic stirring for 2 minutes; then add the sliced eggplant. Roast until the white part of the eggplant is a light brown.

Lay out pizza crust and drizzle olive oil all over. Sprinkle Feta and  Mozz. Cheese (add as much as you like). Then spread on the roasted eggplant.  Place sliced tomatoes on top of eggplant. I then added more feta cheese (cheese is it's own food group in my book). Add basil.

Bake until the bottom of the crust is a little brown and the feta cheese is melted (about 12 minutes).

Enjoy!

Salmon with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

One of my favorite fish dishes - Salmon with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Feta Cheese. If you love Mediterranean food like I do then you'll love this.

How cute is the fish dish!?

1 lb Salmon
Few pinches of Dill weed
Lemon Pepper
Feta Cheese
1/2 jar of Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

Lay out tin foil on a deep baking dish allowing about 4 inches of extra tin foil on the sides (to wrap fish after you sprinkle the ingredients).

Place salmon, skin down on foil. Sprinkle lemon pepper all over the fish. Then sprinkle a small amount of dill weed  Carefully place sun-dried tomatoes on fish - some people prefer to have their sun-dried tomatoes diced - whatever floats your boat. Then sprinkle feta cheese all over.

Take extra foil from the sides and gather together so the fish is completely wrapped in tin foil and keeping all the toppings on the fish.

Salmon over Brown Rice

Bake for 25 minutes or until the middle of the fish is fully cooked (take fork and scrape the middle - if it easily scrapes off, your fish is done).

I eat mine over a bed of  brown rice - enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas

Lately I have been craving vegetables - crazy but definitely not a bad thing!  This week I was contemplating putting together vegetable enchiladas but I wanted something quicker to make - so quesadillas it was. These would be great to serve as a snack during a football game!

Vegetables used:
Eggplant
Red Pepper
Orange Pepper
Yellow Pepper
Grape Tomatoes
Minced Garlic
Basil

Slice the Eggplant, Red Pepper, Orange Pepper, Yellow Pepper and Tomatoes into thins slices. Fold aluminum foil on a baking sheet then add the vegetables. Drizzle olive oil over all the vegetables; sprinkle garlic and basil on top and bake at 400F for 30 minutes.



At this point, once the vegetables are done, you really could eat them by themselves, add them to a spinach or arugula salad or even add them to pita bread. I chose to make quesadillas so I could also add in my favorite food group - cheese and sour cream. Yes, in my life, they are their own food group.

I placed a wheat tortilla on the skillet; then added shredded white cheddar cheese; then the roasted vegetables until the tortilla seemed crisp. I then added the top tortilla, and flipped it until both sides were nice and crispy.


For the sour cream, I squeezed in some lime juice to give it a little kick.

Enjoy!