A Big Box of Veggies

Today I received a box of goodies from Moore Farms and Friends and I think Im gonna do something creative for tonight's dinner to integrate into the show. Looks like we have cabbage, purple, orange and yellow carrots, vidalia onions, potatoes, purple radishes, peaches (which I forgot to put in the picture) and a big purple beet!

Anyway, Im thinking of doing Chicken wings, a veggie bake with the onions carrots and potatoes, fried cabbage and either peach cobbler for dessert or make peach preserves for biscuits in the morning. I think I'll use the radish's on a salad for tomorrows lunch or do a veggie omelet with the biscuit in the morning. As far as the beet goes, Im stumped! Suggestions please!

Do you have any other ideas of what I can make with the veggies in this weeks box? I'll post pictures of the final result the day that the episode airs.

I love my job!

Today I had the pleasure of cooking in the kitchen with Micheal Bertolone of Lucia's Italian! Let me tell you, the food was absolutely delicious! We cooked a classic Italian dish, Chicken Picata. It will air on In The Kitchen with Queen in a couple of weeks, but until then, here are a couple of pics of me with the owners and of a delicious dessert that they serve at the restaurant!

5 steps and 20 minutes to Italian inspired low fat, low calorie pizza

If you know anything about Queen, you know that I love love love Italian food! All to often that means fattening sauces, gravies, pasta, meat etc...
This dish goes to show you that you can have great food and stay within your eating plan! Feel free to leave comments below!

Ingredients:

Thin Crust Pizza Dough (in the refrigerated section)
1 medium Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (cage free and vegetarian fed)
1/4 cup Tomato trinity (tomato, onion and bell pepper)
Spinach and/or Arugula to taste
1/4 cup Bottled Pizza Sauce (should be no more than 40 cal per serving)
1/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1/4 cup of Broccoli Florets
1/4 cup Mushrooms

Use as much or as little of the veggies as you desire! They are low calories and super filling!

(No canned or frozen veggies!)





1. Cut chicken into small pieces. Saute until brown, but do not over cook. Set aside.



2. Unroll pizza dough onto greased pan. Bake on 400 degrees for exactly 5 minutes. Remove from oven.
3. Spread 1/4 cup sauce over the crust and add your cooked chicken.



4. Began building your pizza as desired with veggies and cheese.
Personally I build as follows: sauce, chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, tomato trinity, cheese, and top with spinach and arugula.



5. Bake for 10 minutes or until crust is brown on edges and cheese is bubbly!





Caution: Pizza is very very hot!

Be careful, you may fall in love with this healthy dish! 2 small squares the size of a deck of cards is a serving. 320 cal per serving

The goal: to live a longer, healthier life

50 years ago, it wasn't strange to live to be 90 and 100 years old. Today, we are dying off younger and younger from issues such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. You hear more cases of ecoli and salmonella poisoning. Whats the difference? 50 years ago, we were more self sufficient. It wasn't odd to go into the back yard and pick your fresh herbs and vegetable to cook the evenings dinner with. Now, we have turned into a "hurry, hurry, hurry" society, to busy to cook dinner more less actually plant food. If you ask someone in their early 20's to snap a pea, they would have no idea what you were speaking of.
Advancing in technology is greatly needed, but holding on to somethings is not such a bad idea either! In 2009, I watched a documentary titled FOOD INC. That movie changed my life! It changed how I looked at, even thought about food. It changed the way I looked at the grocery store produce department and made my eyes light up when I saw rich fertile ground. I began to have an appreciation for the simpler things in life, for the way things were done, 50, 60, even 70 years ago, when the diseases that are apart of our everyday existence were a rarity.




Something seriously has to be done about the direction that our kids are going in. Someone has to show them the importance of self sufficiency and living a healthier life. And, I plan to do just that! I want to see my grand children, and their children and possibly their children. I want to be able to breath clean air, walk a mile without a thought and eat dinner without thoughts of sickness.
I'm putting together a plan currently, to open a center for sustainable life, or center for self sufficient living, or something along those lines, in 2012. I use to be the person to wait until others are ready to get on board, now I'm saying I'll do it alone and others can jump on the band wagon later but this has to be done. For our children and their children's children.
I can envision now, acres of a community garden, open to anyone who is willing to get dirty hands one weekend a month, or to volunteer to teach classes or even work the centers gift shop. I can envision classes teaching alternative ways of building homes and living off of the land.
But hey, that's just my idea of living. Who the heck am I?!?