Here you’ll find everything I’m preparing in my kitchen - from veggies, to leftovers and pasta. I eat simply, and I cook for one, but love cooking for others. And no matter what, I always pause to plate pretty.
Most of my meals are often times the result of freestyle recipe free ingredient riffing and a trip to the vegetable market. Produce is my passion, and I hope that you won’t simply come here for a recipe - but that you’ll read, cook and create a new story of your own.
I believe there’s power in a stocked pantry and freezer. From traditional Italian dishes to alternative sweets, vegan and vegetarian swaps - there’s something for everyone.
Let this serve as inspiration and let’s eat!
On Monday I gave you a recipe for one of my three ways with eggplant, and I’m doing this so the cook that I know lives inside of you can start to look at their food a little differently. The concept of Three Ways with Tina was born out of my long term singleness, weight loss maintenance and joy of cooking; creating and shedding new
Read MoreWith summer officially gone, so with it goes seasonal eggplants and many of my other farm fresh favorite vegetables. The eggplant will likely be prepared in my kitchen in the coming months, clearly not locally sourced (don’t produce shame me), so I scooped up three purple beauties at a farmers market last week.
Read MoreHere’s the thing, I’m an Italian woman who grew up in a predominantly Jewish and Italian neighborhood, so, suffice to say, I don’t just like my carbs - I love my carbs. Paint my world in pasta, pizza, bialys, bagels and babaka and color me happy. Now, here’s the other thing, if I ate these things in unlimited quantities as I did when I was
Read MoreBreakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day. I go to sleep thinking about eating breakfast because I look forward to quiet mornings and setting up my day. Breakfast time allows me to put myself first before my time becomes someone else’s - be it school or a client. And if you’re not into cooking or trying to take some steps toward healthier habits, breakfast is a good place to start.
Read MoreI love a spiralized vegetable noodle. And get it out of your head, it’s not because I don’t eat pasta, it’s because it’s another fun way to work a vegetable into my day. Spiralized zucchini noodles take well to light sauces, think pestos and reds made with fresh tomatoes, not heavy reds using canned tomatoes, cream or meat bases.
Read MoreGrilling a tray of vegetables and a few chicken cutlets on the weekend is a great way to get through lunches and weeknights, but it can also be done on the fly - taking about 10 minutes on a barbecue or on a grill pan, in your kitchen. Summer is grilling season, we all know, but when you’re not blessed with a backyard, you need to find
Read MoreLast Tuesday I met a woman named Mary Heyward, and two days a week - on Tuesdays and Thursdays - she sells her vegetables at the Surfside Farmers Market in South Carolina. I let her know I had to come back to her stand because her kirby cucumbers were, by far, the sweetest and crunchiest I’ve ever had. She sold me her
Read MoreMy freezer is stocked with frozen vegetables for many reasons, but the two main ones would be convenience and budget. Frozen vegetables are an economical way to stay stocked on healthy goods and they only take moments to prepare with some garlic, olive oil and - of course - love. Lately, between school, being tight on time and an income that is in constant flux, I find myself relying on the power of the freezer.
Read MoreTomorrow I head back to New York after two weeks of being in the south. I love being with and around my family, close to the beach, the smell of salt water, rainy concrete, morning bike rides with swan sightings and cranes in the distance - I think you get it. My mom still isn’t feeling herself, which worries me because life is fragile and
Read MoreThe recommendation from my friend Susana was to go out for breakfast this morning, and I was totally into it. A morning off from family cooking sounded glorious until I thought about all of the avocados sitting on the counter, the giant onions staring back at me and the dozen and a half eggs sitting in the refrigerator. I couldn’t justify spending money on breakfast
Read MoreMy love for turkey meat has grown over the years. I’ve found ways to jazz it up, from adding vegetables and herbs to the mix, to topping it with onion jam or caramelized cabbage. Turkey meat on its own still reminds me of diet food and that time my parents bought me these pills called “Fit America” where one eats an Atkins style diet
Read MoreWhat I’m enjoying most about the summer is being around my family, close to the sun, with access to the beach. I love our shared meals, the fruit we always have in the house, my long post or pre-breakfast bike rides. Making breakfast for the family feels like less of a chore and more of a gift, dinner is more of a chore - if I’m being really real.
Read MoreThe day finally came, I warmed up a frozen cauliflower crust pizza (already topped) for my family Friday night dinner. And it was pretty delicious. It felt all kinds of wrong being as we are 1) Italian and 2) my father had a pizzeria but 3) I don’t care. I’m human and making homemade cauliflower crust pizza for dinner wasn’t in the timeline for the day, I needed a beach and some time out of the kitchen.
Read MoreOne of my all time favorite spring/summer and early fall events is the picnic. There's an art to a picnic, you see. One does not want to pack food that is messy or cumbersome, as proper picnic food should be portable, light and easy to eat. The best picnic baskets, if you ask me, are filled with fresh fruit, nuts, spreads, bread, olives, a
Read MoreI try to balance my evening margaritas and wine with gut healthy smoothies so I'm actively making choices to feel good. That was a mouthful for an opener, huh? And, I didn't even drink last night - so I'm writing this sans hangover. I enjoy booze, occasionally, and it's something I don't plan on living without but something I also
Read MoreThis week I spent $13.49 on vegetables to get me through the week until I fly south to see the family. That said, it's been hot and sticky here in NY which means that roasting and turning on the oven is a huge no no. Luckily, my life is pretty saucy (that's a pesto joke) and I've figured out a thing or two when it comes to cooking veggies on
Read MoreAfter a hot day at the beach, a woman must have her priorities.
1. Make dessert for dinner
2. Get sand off of all belongings
3. Get sand out of crotch and under boobs
The cucuzza - known in my home as googootz - may be my very favorite squash. I anxiously await summer because I await its seasonal goodness. OK, the absolute truth, Italian woman’s honor, is that I anxiously await summer because I can finally say goodbye to pale Tina and hello to Turbo Tanning Tina AND THEN I can say
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