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!
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
Read MoreIf you’ve read anything I’ve ever written recently or in the past, you know I’m single and over buy produce - it’s my thing. I’m a well intentioned shopper and eater who is sometimes tempted by wine, crepes, a night out or sushi on my couch. Every week I buy what looks best at the market - my only goal is to refresh my refrigerator with real/fresh food and produce.
Read MoreCanned fish has gotten me through the last 15 months of health coaching, substitute teaching, random production work, single lady, solo meal, low budget living. That was a mouthful. My love for canned fish runs deep, as deep as it does for good olives, 85% Lindt chocolate bars and $9.99 bottles of Malbec that I so happily
Read MoreI dislike hollandaise sauce, but I love the idea of eggs benedict particularly for Sunday brunch. I am, however, English muffin-less with no smoked salmon to be found in my fridge and lord knows I’m not going out in this NYC rain to shop. In my freezer I found one last wild salmon filet to defrost in cold water. You can also use canned wild
Read MoreCooking on weeknights can be frustrating, tiring, blah, blah, blah. I know, I get it. I work too. But a burger salad could be the solution to all of your weeknight cooking woes. Yes, it's true. 8 minutes to season and saute meat, and while that's happening you can chop your romaine, cucumbers, onions, cube feta and grab some olives.
Read MoreOn Saturday night my father sent me a photo of my grandmother. This photo captured the essence of who she was as she stood in her element. Photographed standing over a table in the basement of our Brooklyn home, hair uncombed, glasses on, iron, scissors, clothes, and her sewing machine surrounding her - all I had to do was
Read MoreLast Thursday I was walking home from work and took a terrible typical Tina tumble on the street. My bod is beat, which makes it kinda hard to do like life stuff. No one to grocery shop or do my laundry. I was tired and grandmaster cranks - but I knew the most helpful and healing thing I could do was take care of myself.
Read MoreSometimes I walk past those semi-dirty looking NYC street nut vendors and I wanna stop, but I say resist - Tina - resist. Lord knows what’s in those nuts and, let’s face it, they smell much better than they actually taste.
Bored of your same old same old mixed nut? You can feel super about this combo of molasses (a great low GI sweetener) and
At home, I tend to lean toward cooking food with a lot of flavor and texture. I’ve spent a lot of my downtime exploring spices, writing about the food of Queens and Canarsie - the neighborhood where I grew up. Canarsie, once famed for Italian salumerias and bakeries, bagels and babka - now houses a large West Indian/Caribbean population. It's through this eating and writing that I opened up my mind, palate and kitchen to cooking globally.
Read MoreThis past week of cooking wasn't unlike any other with the exception that I realized a few things about my routine. Over the last 17 years I've created a routine that I so steadfastly maintained to keep up my health, happiness, cooking curiosity and weight loss. After 3 months of teaching, 5am wake-ups and getting home at 4pm I now know that I don't need to apply my old routine from my old life to my new life. In my old life I got home most evenings stupid late and then I checked emails to even more stupid late hours (part neuroses, part necessity). I didn't have time or energy during the week for much of anything but boozing and walks, so I did my best to batch cook on Sundays to get me through lunches and freezer meals for dinner when I wanted and needed.
Read MoreA few weeks I bought my favorite pre-peeled and pre-cooked Gefen Organic Beets.
Why do I love these whole peeled, ready to eat, vacuum sealed, organic beets?
Because they are mess and hassle free, my weeknight lunch prepping and snacky friends.
Put them in a quick salad, eat them as is (I'm strange, I can snack on sweet beets and sometimes I crave exactly that) or turn them into your favorite dip.
Read MoreI’ve been cooking quite a bit, but with the balancing of substitute teaching and coaching - recipe posting has taken a backseat for the moment. Waking at 5am and getting home at 4pm, although shorter than my corporate days are still somewhat anxiety filled (counting kids and making sure everyone is learning, getting along, practicing kindness and has not gone missing) but much more joyful.
Saying I’m ok with not writing and running myself ragged while I continue to take on new work and projects makes me proud, where as in the past I would have made myself feel terrible for not doing it all.
Maybe you’re thinking, why is this broad telling me this? Just gimme the recipe for that green stuff on that salad and I’ll be on my way …
This morning I left my home in snow boots and a winter coat, but by the time I got out of school at 3pm I was greeted with melted snow and a sense of calm. Although I hear there is supposed to be a blast of snow yet, again, tomorrow and Sunday. Tonight’s dinner was inspired by the sunny NYC sky and my walk home. It’s been a minute since I made myself a dinner because I was down and out with the ills. Without a chance to do any shopping, but relying on my staples and produce from last week. So, what’s in this bright bowl of orange noodles?
Read MoreI’ve been warding off the ills since Wednesday. The creep of a cough, sneezes in succession, ear buzzing and a runny nose - I told myself it was the onset of allergies. I popped a Zyrtek and told myself it was the onset of allergies knowing full well that tiny humans who put their hands in their mouths, fingers up their noses and wipe snots on their sleeves … touch me all day long. And you know what, I don’t even mind. I imagined going down this whole sub teaching path I’d be way more neurotic about sickness, being within close proximity to small beings and with the knowledge that all of my teacher friends are always - in some way - sick. I don’t have it in my heart to not let them tap my hand, high five or pinky promise even after said snot riot I speak of above. I simply remind them to cover their mouth when they cough, wash hands after sneezing and remind them how germs spread.
Read MoreGrowing up Tuesday’s and Wednesday night meals were often Sunday reheats or leftovers. I always say that eating like a peasant never tasted so rich. Often times for dinner we ate stale bread with tomatoes, pasta with potatoes, canned tuna with olives and sauce, fagioli and leftover Sunday dinner bits and pieces. Our meals were home cooked every night of the week and rooted in preparation, leftovers and simplicity. This is how I developed my cooking style once I was able to understand how I was using food to support me emotionally. Now this process supports me emotionally, creatively and in an entirely new way.
Read MoreFor tonights meatless Monday tribute, I’ve got zoodles with a new green sauce, but not just any green sauce. This pesto uses the greens from radishes, often times discarded without thought. So, next time you have a radish green, spare its life from the trash or compost and make it into a pesto. At the very least, toss it in your salad. They add another layer of flavor to any dish (saute it, process it, eat it raw) and cannot be beat when it comes to taste and their naturally peppery flavor which makes them quite ideal for a raw sauce like a pesto.
Read MoreI spent about $15 at the market to refresh my produce and I'll combine that with leftover produce, pantry items/staples to make meals throughout the week. Because of my teaching and coaching schedule I've been eating many, many more veggie based bowls lately. Lots of colors layered with whole grains, sauces for flavor and in the evenings mainly soups/salads and toasts with avocado or hummus.
This is a system that's been working for me and to be wholly honest I probably wouldn't be cooking in such volume for myself if I wasn't trying to keep my food costs down.
Read MoreRoutine is wonderful and keeps us in check, but stepping outside of our comfort zone is essential for growth - in life and food. And keeping things saucy is certainly one of my secrets to making meals consistently fun and tasty. I don’t know if I could eat chicken, rice and broccoli or the same one pot meal over and over again throughout the week - not without some special sauces.
If you like the kitchen and if you don’t mind getting in it, dare to keep it saucy.
Read MoreYou too can make berry bright breakfasts on a Thursday by ...
Taking frozen fruit to a level 5 breakfast in 5 minutes!
Now, I’m going to tell you to put that mixture in the microwave, you know why?
Read MoreI grew up eating Sunday sauce with a family where we connected folding tables in a basement, ate meals bumping elbows and talking with our mouths full. We fought for freshly fried meatballs and seconds at the table. Obtaining the final meatball could be likened to winning the WWF heavyweight championship title belt.
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