Spinach and Ricotta Frittata - Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Low Fat

This great recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, and low fat. It is a great main dish to just serve with a salad or some sweet potato fries! It is super easy to make, it's a tasty alternative if you're trying to cut down on meat.

It could also be your fancy appetizer for your next dinner party or romantic dinner (hint hint).

For the sweet potato fries recipe click here

For salad ideas visit the "Recipe" page of this blog, I have many suggestions!

Ingredients: 

4 eggs from free to roam hens
two big bundles of spinach (you may substitute for any other kind of leafy green)
some grated parmigiano cheese
freshly ground nutmeg
a little bit of salt
half of a small canister of MAGGIO ricotta, easily found at the grocery store. Let's face it, it's never going to be as good as in Napoli, but at least this one is not awful.
Some Extra Virgin Olive Oil to coat the pan

Utensils: 

non stick 9 inch/22cm pie pan
a whisk
a bowl

STEP BY STEP: 

1. If you haven't done so already, clean wash and cook the spinach in a large pot with some water at the bottom. Set the oven to 400F/200C
2. Meanwhile whisk the eggs, the ricotta, salt, nutmeg, parmigiano cheese.
3. Squeeze all the water out of the cooked spinach and whisk away with the rest
4. Coat the pie pan in olive oil (watch the video above for this step)
5. Pour the ricotta/spinach mixture in the pie pan.
6. Bake for 20/30 minutes.

I love it, it's one of my latest favorite fast lunch/dinner solutions, and I say fast because I usually prepare my cooked greens ahead of time. You can also put it in the oven while the oven is warming up and that will cut 10 minutes down from cooking time.

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The song playing in the background of the video is one of my originals called "I never talk about love", I took the vocals out so I could use it in the cooking video. You can find the full version here:

Enjoy!!

How to deal with a drastic dietary change - by Valentina from Real Italian Kitchen

Hey guys,
I have really exciting news!

I WOULD LIKE TO BE YOUR HEALTH COACH! 

In this article I'd like to share my experience and how I ended up wanting to be a health coach for people.

Before we start....

Email me at realitaliankitchen@gmail.com to schedule an appointment. I will work with your budget so we can set a rate that you can afford. 

"OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE SO SKINNY!"

When my friends see me now the first thing they say to me is "Oh my Gosh! You're so skinny! What happened??".
I had to change my diet for health reasons, that's what happened.
I'll organize this article according to the frequently asked questions people ask me.

After: I can enjoy my tight dresses again

Before: I barely squeezed into those jeans... 

HOW DID YOU NOTICE YOU WERE SICK? 

I've never been overweight. The mediterranean diet worked very well for me, until I moved to the United States.
Blame the sugars (that are in everything we buy that is pre-made), blame the GMO corn and wheat, blame the change in life style (from more active to more sedentary), I gained 1 kg (2.2lb) each year I was in the States without being able to shed it with with my usual diet and exercise combo.
I've been in the States for 6 years (since 2009) and the last year the number of kilos gained grew exponentially. For a total of 10 extra kilos from my starting weight (22lb).

Besides the weight gain, I also started having other symptoms: bloating, constipation, nausea, lack of energy, insomnia, headaches. Those were "mild" symptoms, I thought all in all, they are things that can occasionally happen to everybody, right? WRONG!!! I should have not ignored those symptoms.

My stomach and intestinal problems worsened over time, till a couple of years ago I started suffering of chronic vaginal and intestinal yeast infections (the word chronic is used when it occurs more then 3 times a year), accompanied by several episodes of migraine headaches. Yikes, right?

SO DID YOU GO SEE A DOCTOR? 

My first instinct was to go see an OBGYN about the vaginal yeast. He gave me an anti fungal but didn't tell me to make any dietary adjustments. As soon as the treatment ended the yeast came back.

After that epic failure I decided to seek comfort in the arms of friends and families and guess what I discovered? ALL of my female friends have had those problems. ALL OF THEM. I mean it's an epidemic. It must be something we all do or eat that causes all of us to have those problems.

That concept drove me to find alternative medicine doctors and nutritionists who could help me. I'm not skeptical towards those remedies, my mother raised me on organic foods and homeopathic solutions, so my mind is pretty opened.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

March 2015. Weight: 64 kg, 141 lb. The highest I had ever been. 

The first person who really helped me was a nutritionist. She was covered by my insurance, so I went for it. It was a risk free trial.

She was so sweet and supportive, really helped me understand what those foods I was eating were doing to my body on a chemical level and gave me a Candida Diet to follow for a few months that helped as long as I followed it but as soon as I strayed my problems came back. I already have an article on the Candida diet so I'm not gonna repeat myself, but in short that diet says:

NO DAIRIES
NO GRAINS
NO SUGARS (no sugary fruit or vegetables either, absolutely no alcohol)
NO STARCHES
NO BEANS
NO CAFFEINE
NO ALCOHOL

And guess what? I've also discovered I have a sensitivity towards nuts! So NO NUTS either!

Seeds, vegetables and proteins. That's all I could eat.

If I just said that it sucked it wouldn't be enough to express how I felt. Full withdrawal symptoms from the lack of sugars, I thought I was gonna die of hunger every step I took, I had to watch how much physical exercise I was doing (because of the low carbs intake), on top of it I couldn't even comfort myself with a glass of wine (because of the high levels of sugars in it) or sex (because of the discomfort caused by the yeast infection). It sucked times 1000. It was awful.

For two weeks.

Then I started getting better.

I did this for a month before I could start reintroducing foods in my diet again. No need to mention that going out to dinner was a nightmare. And that my husband is a saint for going through this process with me. The patience and the support he gave me were priceless and I couldn't ask for a better partner. Anyway...

....THE PROBLEM CAME BACK....
Stronger then ever I should also say.
But how?? Over the summer I thought I was "cured" so I drank a little more then I was supposed to, and maybe I had a dessert that normal humans eat, and maybe I was in Italy with my family and I wanted to see if eating pizza would still bother me.... BAAAD GIRL...

Well my yeast problem came back. With the migraines and the insomnia and all that jazz.

September: Let's find a new solution... 

This time around I went to a NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR, doctor Martin Orimenko. Doctor Martin is a Chiropractor, Nutritionist, Naturopath. He loaded me with all sorts of supplements that my body needed, which he figured out by doing muscle testing (this technique is awesome and doesn't require any needles), in addition to the supplements he put me back on his version of a candida diet.

His candida diet was a little less strict then the first one I followed, which made it easier to bare.
The supplements helped with the detox and getting rid of the yeast. The headaches went away. I'm less bloated, more focused. After only 3 weeks he allowed me to have a glass of dry red wine a few times a week if I wanted.

He promised me that my problem won't come back. But I still have to be careful about those foods that are harmful for me. And after this lengthy process of elimination, I know for sure which ones they are.
He was also really honest about the length of time it would take to be completely yeast infection free. I can't say the same about the nutritionist. Maybe she kept it from me so I wouldn't get discouraged, but getting a different "end date" every week was really frustrating and it made it look like my suffering was never going to end.

HOW MUCH WEIGHT DID YOU LOOSE? 

After the nutritionist's plan I lost 7 kg, about 15 lb, in 6 months.

Thanks to Dr Martin I lost another 3 kg, about 6 lb, in just a little over a month!

I keep on following my diet strictly, cause nothing is more important then my health. I'm also still not out of it completely and I'm still seeing Dr Matin every 2 weeks for updates and correction on my regiment.

Now I weigh 54 kg. 119 lb. I haven't been this weight since I moved to the U.S. 6 years ago... Just saying... what the heck is in the food over here!?!?!? And don't worry, I don't plan on loosing any more weight, my weight has been stable for a few weeks now.

This was me right after I started the cleanse, April 2015

Still me, October 2015. You can see the weight loss in my face, my arms. 

WHAT DO YOU EAT NOW? 

100% of what I eat is homemade.
I make my own sugar free apple sauce, sugar free jam, brown rice flour bread. I rarely eat sweets, but when I make them they have honey or maple syrup instead of sugar (which is still bad for me, but not soooo bad). I occasionally treat myself to some cheese (I prefer goat milk feta and other lean cheeses).

If I find myself buying pre made stuff (sometimes I give into buying gluten free tortillas), I always make sure the list of ingredients doesn't go over the 3 or 4 ingredients.

I buy organic as often as I can, grass fed no hormones no antibiotics meats, no GMOs.

I've gotten really creative making up recipes that include ONLY the safe foods for me. And I'll tell you more: IT'S FUN! 

I love to cook, and I think there's nothing better then being creative with some limitations. If you have endless possibilities sometimes you don't know what to choose, but having to follow all these rules has really taught me a lot about foods, ingredients, substitutions in recipes, how certain flours react with certain acids and more and more and more!

BOTTOM LINE: I WANT TO BE A HEALTH COACH. I want to help you transitioning towards your new healthy diet, because nobody should go through it alone. 

If you're going through something similar to what I've been through, but you don't like to cook, or you never had to cook for yourself and you're at a loss. I can help.

Because for me IT'S FUN! 

I'm not going to be a substitution for a nutritionist or a naturopath (who knows, maybe someday I'll get my license!), but I will happily be your personal chef (in person or online!) and I will make sure you follow what you're supposed to do every step of the way.

Together we will find recipes you can eat that follow both what you like to eat and what you must not eat.

I will help you build good habits, and slowly replace the bad ones...

We can come up with a weekly meal plan, I will find recipes that will be good for you, so you don't have to do the research.

So take actions towards being healthy and rid of your problems.

LET'S DO THIS!

Email me at realitaliankitchen@gmail.com to schedule an appointment. I will work with your budget so we can set a rate that you can afford. 

How to make and preserve Jam - Marmellata di More - Real Ital...

It's hard to give specific measurements for this recipe, because the quantity of sugar should vary depending on how much fruit you have and how sweet it is.



Examples:

When I made peach jam I had 1kg of peaches, but they were so sweet, I only added 300gr worth of sugar.

For raspberries and blackberries I recommend adding half of the weight of the fruit in sugar, because they're usually not very sweet to begin with.



For the blackberry jam of the video I had



555gr of blackberries

the juice of one lemon

250gr of cane sugar



No need to add any extra pectin, berries have their own natural pectine.



If you follow all the steps of sterilization your jam will keep in the pantry until you open it, then store in the fridge.



Here's a video about just that! "How to Sterilize Jars - Real Italian Kitchen"

Enjoy!!! 

How I organize my food for the week

Monday... ahhh!!! That wonderful day of the week when you think you're gonna behave and be on a healthy diet all week!

After a weekend of partying with my friends my Mondays are always filled with good purposes. I believe that if I have 100 great ideas, I'll probably follow through at least 10 of them and that makes me happy!

Today I'm going to the grocery store, yesterday we successfully ate whatever was leftover in the fridge. Now that's an accomplishment!

My grocery list looks like this:

Fish
Meat
Cheese
Vegetables
Fruit
a few other items I might be missing, today it's soy sauce and milk.

Once I'm at the store, I buy whatever looks best out of these categories.

FRUITS AND VEGGIES
I never buy fruits and veggies that come from too far away (like mangos from Chile) because of all the chemicals they spray them with. I try to stick to whatever is in season or at least in season in a place close to me (in my case Florida, California, Mexico). They have a lot of organic choices where I shop, I try to stick by that.

MEAT AND FISH
Despite my best efforts to be a pescatarian (a vegetarian that eats fish), my fiancee still likes meat, so I buy it for him and I eat lentils or beans (I hate tofu).

Beef is so expensive! I only buy it once a month at this point, and only the best quality (cause if I have to spend the money mine as well buy something that's GREAT with it).

I buy only "wild" fish. I think I'll buy some salmon this week, I haven't had any in a while. We eat fish probably 3 times a week. He eats white meat once or twice a week.

CHEESE
When we don't have meat of any kind we eat vegetables, cheese and eggs. Since we started following this diet we were able to loose a lot of weight and keep it off. I have to be careful about my cholesterol, I try to eat 2 eggs a week and limit my consumption of fatty cheese.

THE BOTTOM LINE
While I'm shopping I try to pair things that will go well together, for example if I see a good looking piece of salmon, I'll make sure I have some salad to go with it and a greek yogurt dressing (I'll write a blog about this cause it's delicious). If I buy a chicken I'll pick some sides that will complement the dish (like potatoes or spinach). If I'm craving Roasted Peppers, I'll make sure I have a piece of cheese and some good bread (I love peppers and cheese! ).

How do you organize your week? Feel free to comment, I'd love to know how other people do it!
I hope this was helpful,

Valentina
Real Italian Kitchen

Butternut Squash Mini-Quiche with homemade Pecorino Crust

This is a new spin on an old recipe of mine, the Butternut squash and pecorino quiche. 

I made a salty shortbread crust using grated pecorino cheese. And then I decided to make them bite size, for the joy of my fiancé!

Ingredients for a life time supply of mini quiche:

THE FILLING
1 butternut squash
1 cup of grated pecorino
1/2 an onion chopped finely
2 eggs
1tbsp butter, 2 cups milk and 2 tbsp of flour for the Bechamel Sauce


1. Clean the squash (long and painful procedure, buy it clean if you don't have the patience), cut it in little flat pieces and put it in the oven, where it will cook at 300F for about 20 minutes. You know it's cooked when you can squish it down with a fork.

2. Make it into a puree (I used the food processor) and while you do that let the onion cook in a pan with a little bit of butter. Once the onion is transparent and looks cooked, throw in the squash and mix it well.

3. Add the béchamel and half of the pecorino but leave some on the side to put later on top of the quiches.

FOR THE SHORTBREAD PECORINO CRUST:
300 gr (3cups) flour
1 whole egg
2 yokes
170 gr of butter (2 sticks)
30 gr of grated pecorino (half a cup)

1.Mix all the dry ingredients together, add the butter and start making little crumbs with your hands.

2. Add the eggs and work the dough till smooth. Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Flatten the dough with a roller pin. I like my crust thin and crispy, it also cooks better if it has stuff on top of it. With a round cookie cutter cut out your circles and put them on a muffin tin. With your hands give it the shape of the bottom of the tin, so that the edges rise up a little.

WE ARE READY FOR THE FILLING!
I tried putting just a little bit of filling or A LOT of filling and both were fully cooked and delicious, so it's up to you to decide! Sprinkle some pecorino on top.

Bake for 20 minutes, oven set to 350 F, or until the edges appear to be golden brown. Once they're cooked let them rest for a minute (the shortbread has to harden) and then scoop them out of the tin with a fork.

Enjoy!
Valentina
RealItalianKitchen

Italian Fast Food: Tomato Salad Variation no 1.

What's the fastest and healthiest thing you can put on your plate?

A salad. With all those tomatoes laying around the house I decided to make this fast, simple delicious meal!

Ingredients for 2 people:
5 medium size plum tomatoes
1 mozzarella
a bunch of baby spinach
two spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt

Cut the veggies in big chunks and put them in a bowl with the mozzarella cut in cubes and some baby spinach that you have ripped with your hands.
Add oil and salt. Eat with bread or crackers.

Enjoy!
Valentina
Real Italian Kitchen

Italian Fast Food - Spaghetti Garlic, Oil and Hot Peppers

Or as they say in Rome: Aio, Oio e Peperoncino!
It might sound strange but you have to try it to believe how good it actually is.

It's the most plain and simple pasta you could possibly make and it's perfect for those days when there's nothing in the fridge...!

Instructions:

-Brown the garlic in a pan with some hot peppers and extra virgin olive oil. Be careful not to burn it.

-In the meantime boil some salted water and cook your favorite brand of Spaghetti, mine is DeCecco, because it doesn't overcook easily.

-When the pasta is ready toss it in the pan with the flavored oil and fry it for a minute or two.

-Serve with parmigiano, or by itself.

Delicious.

Enjoy!
Valentina
Real Italian Kitchen 

How to make Italian Style Grilled Vegetables

Last night I had a dream I was Woody Allen's chef and I was making him Grilled Vegetables for Memorial Day... 

I'm always very happy to go to barbecues and find a side of vegetables. Salads are fine, but you need a fork to eat that. Grilled vegetables can be eaten with you hands and are a great addition to a burger. They also make a great side if you're having steak or fish.

For 2 people: 1 Zucchini, 1 Eggplant, 1 Pepper

What's good on the grill? 
Peppers
Eggplant
Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Onions
Tomatoes
Asparagus

For 2 people:
1 Zucchini
1 small Eggplant
1 Pepper
(see picture)





Prepare the vegetables
1. Rinse all the veggies.

2. Peppers: cut them in half, cut out the seeds inside and the white lining of the vegetable. Cut in even strips.
Zucchini: cut in long strips, a little on the thick side especially if they're going on an outdoor grill.
Eggplant: you can eat the skin but I like mine pealed. Cut "circles" out of it (like the picture) or cut through the length of it if it's a thin eggplant.
Tomatoes and Onions: start cutting circles from the "bottom"
Asparagus: leave it whole.

3. Season with oil and salt BEFORE they go on the grill.

Grill it!
Put it on the grill and once the griddle has made convincing marks on one side, turn them. On a medium hot grill about 5 minutes per side. Don't burn them.

Enjoy!
Valentina
Real Italian Kitchen

Light Lunch: Vegetables and a slice of good cheese

Sometimes in Italy we don't feel like cooking elaborate things.
Sometimes a slice of cheese is more then enough to build a balanced lunch.

I always try to have some of my favorite cheese around. Right now I'm having a love affair with this Sheep Cheese (Formaggio di Pecora) that I bought on Supermarket Italy, an online import of italian goods. It's called Gioioso, it's a Primo Sale, meaning that is a lean kind of cheese that didn't season for a long time.

You can choose to use it in many different ways, I have a video on a salad with cheese, green apple and pistachios on my channel, if you want to check it out.

But today it's cold, I want to use my oven to warm up the house and  make some awesome roasted veggies.

Ingredients:
Carrots
Peppers
Zucchini
Eggplant
Potatoes
Garlic

Cut the carrots, zucchini and peppers in thin strips (julienne) and lay them randomly on a baking sheet covered by oven paper (the correct english word is escaping me right now). Cut the eggplant and the potatoes in thin slices and also put them on the same baking sheet. Oil, salt, minced garlic. The cook for 10/15 minutes on a medium temperature oven, depending on the kind of oven you have. I like them particularly well cooked, sometimes I even leave them in there for 20 minutes risking to burn them. Don't do that.
Pictures coming soon! Probably after lunch time, american eastern :-)
Enjoy!
Valentina
RealItalianKitchen