Va: You are one of the most driven people I know.
Me: Thanks. … But I am actually disappointed that I didn’t do more when I was younger before I was married or had kids. Chalk it up to finding myself, I guess.
Va: A lot of people would disagree with you on that.

A good friend and I had that conversation this week . . . I made an offhanded, but serious, comment about being a millionaire by 30 and needing my book to hurry up and come out. I know I am harder on myself than anyone else is on me, but I have very high expectations of myself. I have a lot of goals.

This past year has been a whirlwind. It seems like just yesterday I was in Miami, enjoying the sights, tastes and sounds and taking in my first-ever professional football game in the rain (how awesome is it to have the Super Bowl be my first?!?). In the months that followed, I signed to write a cookbook, got pregnant, wrote that cookbook, my office moved, my son turned two, I learned how to save and had that baby. As far as I am concerned, 2007 went way too fast and I didn’t get a chance to stop and enjoy it enough. The holidays — St. Patrick’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas — all flew by in one great big blur. And summer was over before I realized.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this post and how to say what it is I want to say best. When I sit down to write it, it just doesn’t seem to come out right. So, I am going to say it in the simplest way possible and hope it makes sense to everyone else. Read the rest of this entry…

I did exactly what you are not supposed to do when planning to lose weight: I set a date to begin the dieting phase. I know, it’s silly and stupid to put it off. And in most cases, it is a set up for failure. After all, isn’t the whole point to renovate your eating habits so that it’s a life change, not just a temporary fix?

In my defense, I knew that I had a ton of baking to do for the holidays. And I also knew it would be even harder than usual to focus on eating better when I would be surrounded by unhealthy foods. So, I figured I would just kick off the New Year with a bang. Beginning on January 1, I will track what I eat on SparkPeople and cutting out all the bad stuff – fried foods (even if they were homemade), fast food, excessive amounts of sweets, etc. I’ve already started a little bit of exercise (just a very small ab workout so far) and will increase that to include a little cardio too. And with any luck, my husband will be joining me in these pursuits.

In the meantime though, I have been working on some new recipes with a healthier slant. This one, which is zesty but not spicy (don’t be fooled by the hot sauce — it’s just a bit for tang), was fantastic with the Fettuccine Alfredo pictured but let’s face it — that’s not the healthiest side dish. For a healthier slant, I would serve it on a salad bed or with a bit of rice and a vegetable like corn. Read the rest of this entry…

Christmas has come and gone. I did most of my shopping online this year, even though I love the crowds (gasp, I know) and the decorated stores with carols playing in the background. It just wasn’t possible with a newborn and a toddler this year . . .

Snow and ice prevented us from decorating for Christmas beyond the living room, but that didn’t change the merriment of the season. Will enjoyed all of his presents, pausing to play with each one before opening another. Paige slept through most of the festivities. Fortunately, Santa had the brilliant idea to bring a set of pacifiers in her stocking — the only ones that Will would use when he was a baby. Did I mention that Santa is brilliant?

With Christmas over, one would think that means all the holiday stuff is done with — but it’s not. There are still presents to wrap and ship (ugh), some more cookies to bake, and more well wishes to pass along. Fortunately, the lead up to these things is a little more relaxed than the lead up to the big day was . . . thank goodness.

The past few weeks have been busy, to say the least. There were parties to attend, presents to wrap, tricycles to build . . . and I was awake until 2 a.m. at least one night this week, finishing up the holiday gift baskets for my husband’s coworkers and several friends and family members. I baked several varieties of biscotti, dark chocolate cranberry cookies, vanilla bean cookies and these divine creations — Deconstructed Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies.

I was digging through recipes, looking for a recipe for a great cookie to include in the baskets when I found my recipe for triple chocolate chunk cookies. Somehow that translated into coming up with the idea to mix peppermint bark ingredients into the dough instead of just plain ol’ chocolate.

These could be the best baked good ever to be born in my kitchen. They are chocolately, pepperminty and just absolutely delicious. Everyone who has tasted them has oohed and aahed. In fact, my husband’s coworker said I was “a genius” for creating this cookie. To bad I am going on a massive diet in a few days . . . Read the rest of this entry…

Today, I made peppermint bark, dozens and dozens of vanilla bean cookies, a roast, roasted potatoes, and other things that elude me. And now, I can barely keep my eyes open. Scratch that. I can’t keep my eyes open. It’s been a long day.

Back to the biscotti – this is the second year that I have made this biscotti. It is super flavorful. Love it!

White Chocolate Ginger Biscotti
yields 24 biscotto
adapted from Cooking Light, March 1995

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp minced crystallized ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, ginger, baking soda, salt and white chocolate chips. In a smaller second bowl, whisk together the vanilla, eggs and egg white.

Pour liquid mixture into the dry mixture and stir well. The dough will be crumbly.

Flour a wooden cutting board or another surface and turn dough out. Knead dough for 1-2 minutes until it forms one ball.

Shape the dough into a 16 inch long cylinder and place on the prepared pan. Flatten the dough to one inch thick.

Place the pan in the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove the log from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Cool for 10 minutes.

Slice the log on the diagonal into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place on the cookie sheet and cook for 10 minutes on each side at 325 degrees.

Place biscotti slices on the rack again and let cool. The cookies will harden upon cooling.

When the first big snow storm hit New England last week, I smiled a bit and took Will outside to play while I shoveled. Of course, I am not supposed to be lifting heavy things, but someone had to do it and my husband was working. Less than 48 hours later when we got slammed with winter weather again, I groaned. More snow? Already? Oh no. And then it sleeted and iced over and we couldn’t quite remove it. Now, days later, there is a sheer sheet of ice covering my extra-long, extra-wide driveway. And no matter how much salting and attempted shoveling, I cannot seem to banish it. What a pain, and it’s only December! This is why I want to uproot our family and escape to New York . . .

So, what do you do when you can’t play outside or go out anywhere or even get the mail (since the mailbox is at the end of the supersized driveway)? You cook. A lot. And do your best to keep the house clean while everyone gets crazy cabin fever. One of the things I have been cooking is asparagus.

Now, David Lebovitz might take me to task for playing with asparagus in December when it’s clearly out of season, but if I only ate New England’s seasonal vegetables (see, using the FULL word, David!) then it would be a depressing winter of too many tubers, I dare say. (Psst! Click here to read David’s really amusing posts on five words he thinks should be eliminated from the food vocabulary. I would add the insipid E.V.O.O. – ugh, just say the whole thing! – and foam anything to the list as well. Foam is cute, and cute isn’t always a good thing.) Sometimes, it is okay to give in and buy a vegetable from far off.

I love asparagus. As a child, I would only eat the tips because the ends were too stringy for me. As an adult, I realize that’s because my grandmother didn’t properly snap them off — if you snap the asparagus ends off then it will naturally break above the too stringy portion. And, if you soak the asparagus, like this recipe suggests, then you will easily remove any trapped dirt. Just be sure to extract the asparagus from the water carefully so as not to reattach any of the dirt.

These simple recipes make some really delicious asparagus recipes. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Roasted Asparagus
serves 4-6

1 lbs asparagus
1 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Snap the ends off of the asparagus. Place in a large bowl of water and soak for 30 minutes. Remove and pat dry.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Spread asparagus in a single layer on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Serving Method #1: Just Roasted

Transfer asparagus to a serving platter and serve warm. If desired, garnish with a bit of lemon zest and sprnkle with lemon juice just prior to serving.

Serving Method #2: Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Let asparagus cool to room temperature. Then wrap each piece with a half slice of prosciutto. (You will use 1 piece of prosciutto for every two spears of asparagus and delis will cut to order — as in you can request 13 extra thin slices, or whatever, as need be.) Serve as an appetizer.

Serving Method #3: Asparagus and Swiss Omelet

Have leftover roasted asparagus? Make an omelet and stuff it with three spears of asparagus and one slice of Swiss cheese. It’s delicious. Seriously. You have to try it.

I spent Tuesday morning doing something I despise. Ironing. A sheet. It seems that despite the expensive price of this sheet set, the manufacturer couldn’t quite make something that would come out of the dryer without deeply embedded wrinkle lines. Ugh. So, section by section, I ironed, starched and ironed again until it was all done … about an hour later. Who has time for this??

While ironing, a funny thought popped into my head: I originally wanted to name my blog something along the lines of Sarah, The Domestic Goddess. What a joke that would have been! I love to cook and all, but I am a major failure at chores. I hate cleaning (but do it), hate ironing (and rarely do), hate laundry (which my husband kindly does) and don’t like dishes (but do them anyway). My former and current coworkers can attest that I am not the best at keeping a clean desk either. But, I always know where everything is and I made a solid effort (and it’s pretty successful) to keep a clean house too. Still, I hate it.

I’ve always said that someday I would have a cleaning woman to help handle all the chores. But when it came down to it recently, I realized I don’t really want one — at least not right now. Why not? Because in order to have someone come clean, I would have to dedicate more time to clearing clutter so that they could clean. And at this point in my life, I don’t have time to add that to the agenda. Maybe later. So, perhaps someday I will get to that point. Hopefully.

In the meantime, I am up to here (picture hand at nose level) in baking and cooking for Christmas gift baskets. My husband needs three for his coworkers and I need at least three, though I have been cautiously ignoring an actual count — the plan is to get the first four done (three for him, one for me) and then evaluate how many more need to be made.

The first order of business? Biscotti. For those who aren’t sure, biscotti is a traditional Italian cookie that is baked twice — once as one big piece and a second time as individual slices to dry them out. It is fantastic served with coffee. Apparently, biscotti means “twice baked” or something close to it in Italian. And it’s plural. A single piece of biscotti is a biscotto. Interesting stuff.

Anyway, my inaugural batch of biscotti was crafted last December when making gift baskets. I don’t know what possessed me to try it, but it turned out to be a super easy and impressive looking basket filler. It does take some time, at least cooking time, but it’s totally worth it.

First up for this year’s baskets: Chocolate Chip Biscotti, which I think will really appeal to Shawn’s coworkers. He already gave it his seal of approval (stealing several pieces . . . “But they were the ends!” he insisted).

Chocolate Chip Biscotti
yields 24 cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I prefer unbleached)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 baking powder
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar and baking powder. Stir in chocolate chips. In a separate bowl, whisk together water, vanilla extract, egg and egg white. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Stir together until all the dry ingredients are moistened. The dough will be crumbly.

Carefully turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until a solid dough forms. Form the dough into a 16 inch log.

Place the log onto the baking sheet and flatten out to about one inch thick. Place into the preheated oven and cook for 25 minutes.

Transfer the biscotti loaf to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Slice on the diagonal into 1/2 inch pieces. Transfer back to the baking sheet, cut sides down. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and cook for 10 minutes on each side.

Place biscotti on the wire rack and let cool – they will harden as they cool.

Sometimes I will just write down a list of ingredients and guess how much of each one is necessary to make a mouthwatering dish. Sometimes I am right. Sometimes I am way off-base. It was definitely the former when I dreamed up this dish. I was hooked at first bite (and made sure to have another person try it too . . . just to be sure it was that good. It was). When I tried this dish, I was worried it would be too much tang, without a balancing flavor. Boy, was I wrong on that — it was the perfect mix of sweet and savory. It’s definitely going to be making a repeat appearance in my kitchen soon . . .

So where did I come up with this? To be honest, the inspiration for mincing the fresh ginger came from watching Guy’s Big Bite on the Food Network. On an episode that I saw recently – in the wee hours of the morning – he talked about how often ginger is grated in recipes, but he was mincing it so that his would have a bit of the texture as well as the taste. I decided to try it too. Can you say yum? What an awesome idea.

Anyway, a few little suggestions. If you make this, prep all the ingredients before even heating the oil. That will make the cooking process speed by. These are tasty hot or cold and they last for quite a few days in the fridge. And since this recipe can be easily doubled or tripled . . . Oh, and presliced portobellas often come in six ounce packages … just FYI.

Asian Inspired Portobello Mushrooms
serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 inch piece of ginger, minced
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
6 oz portobello mushrooms, sliced (about 2)

In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes, until just before the garlic begins to brown. Quickly whisk in the vinegar, soy sauce and honey.

Add the portobello mushroom slices in a single layer. Cook, flipping occasionally, until soft and browned (from soaking in the sauce) – about 6-7 minutes.

To serve: These are a very versatile mushroom. They were fantastic with rice noodles, but would be equally good in a vegetarian sandwich, in a pita pocket with avocado and bean sprouts, over rice or on a salad. Use your imagination.

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These are a great entry for Sweetnicks‘ ARF/5-A-Day Tuesdays (mushrooms are a veggy, right?). Check out Cate’s site tonight for a roundup of great recipes from around the web.

After giving birth to my daughter last month, I was in the hospital for several days. Thank goodness for magazines because I would have been bored out of my head – I only had a temperamental television and a newborn to keep me company over the long days (and sleepless nights). And yes, she is adorable. But there are only so many hours you can spend staring at a little sleeping baby girl . . . seriously. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get out and get back to life regardless of whatever pain I was in. Of course, when I did get out I did wish a bit that I had stayed longer — it certainly was nice to have a fantastic staff ready and willing to help with anything. But that’s a topic for a different blog.

Anyway, one of the magazines I read was Woman’s Day. It’s not something I normally pick up, but I am glad that I did this time. I actually came out with a great recipe that worked fantastically and would make a nice holiday gift for someone.

And, strangely, I had all the ingredients on hand. I had picked up self-rising flour awhile back and it’s been collecting dust on a shelf ever since. For the beer, I used a lime twisted one that my husband had leftover from summer — I cannot remember the name though. It worked well. I would love to try this with a Harp or Guinness though.

If you want to gift this, let it cool completely before wrapping it up. A cellophane bag and bow could do the trick . . .

No Knead Cheddar Beer Bread
yields 1 loaf

2 2/3 cup self-rising flour
1 cup grated cheddar
12 oz beer, chilled

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Combine flour and cheddar in a large bowl and mix well with a rubber spatula (to prevent sticking). Add beer and stir until the flour mixture is completely moistened. Pour into the loaf pan and spread out as best you can.

Cook in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes until a tester inserted in the middle pulls out clean. The top should be golden brown.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes. Then remove from pan.

How to serve? My favorite way is warm with a nice slash of butter. Mmmm.

Take a deep breath. Can you smell the burst of freshness? That’s the new Cucina Bella – now called Sarah’s Cucina Bella – that you are breathing in. Ain’t it grand?

Welcome to the new site. It’s still a work in progress, so do pardon the dust. The recipe archive is partially up, but it still has a ways to go. You can still locate recipes with the categories menu though. That will remain up until the recipes archive is complete. You might also notice that some posts have feed information at the end – that’s a glitch from moving the posts from Blogger to Word Press. The good news though? The comments are all here. And, if you are an email subscriber, the switch from the Blogger address to www.sarahscucinabella.com has gone smoothly as well without you having to do a darn thing.

In any case, Sarah’s Cucina Bella is up and running. Take a look around and visit often. You’re going to like it here.

When I was pregnant with Will, all I could think about for several weeks was nachos. And they couldn’t be just any nachos either. They had to be piled high with freshly grated cheddar, beans, perhaps some chili, jalapeños, black olives, tomatoes, and of course salsa and guacamole. Mmmm. But search as I did, I didn’t find what I was looking for. There was the place with low flavor that used (BLECH!) liquid cheese and nachos from Taco Bell (and a half dozen other places) but nothing met my expectations.

My nacho obsession certainly didn’t begin with that pregnancy though. For years, I would order nacho platters as entrees when eating out. My favorite? Chili’s – but back in the day when they catered to Mexican food, not American with a dash of Mexican. Back then, they were big steaming platters . . . today, when you order nachos at Chili’s, it’s about 10 chips with perfectly placed toppings. Not enough.

Anyway, I was playing around in the kitchen recently and decided to make some black beans. The cool thing about these is that they are great on nachos, but can also be used to top baked potatoes, inside burritos or in a pita pocket. They are versatile. And they have a hint of spiciness, but aren’t going to blow your mind (which is good too — you can add jalapeños to your dish for more zing and leave it off for others who don’t want that.

Easy Black Beans and Tomatoes
serves 4-6

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomatoes with diced chilies (with the liquid)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, finely dice the red onion. When oil is hot, stir in the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to get translucent. Add minced garlic and cook for an additional minute.

Stir in the tomatoes with the juices. Bring to a boil and stir in the black beans, lime juice and salt and pepper. Cook, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes until the mixture thickens.

Serve immediately.