Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Summer plum tomatoes roasted in the oven with garlic and herbs make an easy and delicious sauce that will fill your kitchen with an intoxicating aroma.

The end of summer means using up my garden vegetables and herbs before the weather changes. It seems I wait all summer long for my tomatoes to ripen, then I wind up with so many tomatoes I don't know what to do with them!

One of my favorite things to do with tomatoes this time of year is to roast them. The flavors of the tomatoes get concentrated and makes a wonderful sauce for serving over pasta or freezing for the future.  If you think four pounds of tomatoes is a lot, you'll be surprised! Four pounds reduced down to the contents of this jar.

What else do I like to do with my end of summer tomatoes? I have tons of recipes that use fresh tomatoes, but these recipes are a must!

Tomato Bisque - one of my favorite soups and perfect this time of year
Panzanella Salad - Using a good crusty bread is a must here!
Easy Garden Tomato Sauce - Perfect for grape tomatoes
Heirloom Tomato Sandwiches - So simple and delicious!
Heirloom Tomato Salad - I can eat this with some crusty bread and call it a meal!
Tomato, Mozzarella and Arugula Tower - A perfect meatless Monday lunch

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Homemade Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce

Sweet and spicy Kansas City style BBQ sauce made with tomato sauce, honey, molasses, vinegar and spices.

It's so easy to make, simply combine all the ingredients and simmer on the stove for less than 30 minutes and what you end up with is a thick, tangy sauce with the perfect balance of sweet and spice; perfect on chicken, pork or beef.

What I like about making my own sauce is that I can control what goes into it whether it's the amount of heat or sugar. You'd be surprised to learn that most BBQ sauces sold in the supermarket contain high fructose corn syrup. Did you know most brands of ketchup also contain HFCS too? Don't worry, I'm working on a ketchup recipe soon!

Here's a sneak peek at tomorrow's pulled pork recipe using this sauce...

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Skinny Shrimp Salsa

Shrimp, tomatoes, cilantro, red onion and lime are combined to create a zesty protein rich salsa. Bring this to a party and watch it disappear!

I love making salsa, and often combine whatever I have on hand to make an appetizer no one can resist. This shrimp salsa is low-fat, gluten-free and perfect for low-carb diets, but you can switch it up and add black beans to boost the fiber, or roasted corn to add a touch of sweetness, and even avocado to add some healthy fats. Add more jalapeño to make it spicier and adjust the lime, cilantro and salt to suit your taste. You see where I'm going with this.... the possibilities are endless!

I found these great black bean chips called Beanitos that are high in fiber which makes you feel full longer, low-glycemic, gluten-free and are high in protein, 10 chips are 3 points plus. My husband and daughter love them with guacamole or salsa.


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Crock Pot Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese sauce, a slow cooked ragú made with lean ground beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, wine, and cream is one of my favorite Italian sauces. I make this sauce whenever I need to feed a large crowd, or just to keep in my freezer. Serve this over pasta with a big Italian salad and everyone is happy!

Because Bolognese sauce needs to cook slow and low for several hours, the crock pot is ideal for this. You can make this with ground turkey, buffalo, veal, or whatever meat you prefer. I always make it with beef, using the leanest ground beef I can find.

Since purchasing my new crock pot a few months ago after reading so many reviews (which I love by the way, it's the Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6 Quart Programmable Slow Cooker), it's been parked on my counter to ensure that I use it at least once a week. I've been taking some of my existing stove top recipes and trying them out in the crock pot which usually require some minor tweaks to make them work. Because liquids don't evaporate as much in the crock pot, this recipe is slightly different than my stove top version.

By the way, first time trying out Reynold's slow cooker liners, talk about an easy clean-up!

This sauce starts out on the stove, which is essential to brown the meat then slowly simmers in the crock pot for the rest of the day. You can start this the night before if you want this for a weeknight meal, then turn it on in the morning and go to work. When you get home, all you will need to do is boil some pasta, or roast some spaghetti squash, perhaps make a salad and you have a delicious meal! (Over a 2 oz dry/1 cup cooked serving of pasta, it's a 9 points plus meal.)

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Cranberry Pear Sauce

A Thanksgiving table is never complete without the cranberry sauce. Sweet autumn pears beautifully compliment the flavor of the tart cranberries lightly sweetened to create this delicious cranberry sauce.

Thanksgiving is only weeks away so I am dedicating the next two weeks to Thanksgiving recipes, sides, desserts and ideas for using up your leftover turkey. I also added all my Thanksgiving Recipes to my recipe index to help you easily locate them.

This cranberry sauce is sweetened with ripe pears and agave, but if you don't have agave you can use the same amount of honey in it's place. Diabetics can use Splenda instead of agave. Make this a few days ahead, this can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

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Crock Pot Applesauce

Nothing beats homemade apple sauce, making it in the crock pot is easy and your house will smell divine while the apples and cinnamon simmer all day long. The hardest part about making this sauce is peeling the apples (which is not hard at all!).

I love using a variety of apples to make applesauce, for this recipe I used eight different apples; Honey Crisp, Fuji, Gala, Macous, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Braeburn, and Granny Smith. Gravenstein, McIntosh, Jonagold and Jonathan would also be great options.

Dinner tonight - pork chops and apple sauce. Recipe coming soon!

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Quick Marinara Sauce

This is my favorite go-to recipe when I need to whip up a quick sauce. You may have seen this recipe used in some of my other recipes, but I felt it deserved a post of it's own.

This is perfect to use in baked pasta recipes, eggplant parmesan, shrimp parmigiana, french bread pizzas or when I need a quick dipping sauce for zucchini sticks, mozzarella sticks or anything you like to serve with sauce.

I'm really picky with the brand of tomatoes I use, I always get the best results with Tuttorosso (green label), but if you have a favorite brand you are loyal to, feel free to use it.

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Low-fat Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

A creamy low-fat ranch dressing made with buttermilk and fresh herbs. Perfect to serve with end-of-summer garden vegetables!

There is nothing better than homemade dressing, store bought dressing just doesn't do it for me. Serve this over your favorite garden salad or dip your favorite veggies in it.

I slightly modified this recipe from my friend Susan's blog Farmgirl Fare. I love her blog, she is a former California city chick turned Missouri farm girl, complete with chickens, sheep and donkeys! I often tell her how lucky she is to have her own farm fresh eggs and fresh produce, and she often tells me how lucky I am to live near a Trader Joe's. You can easily halve this recipe and leftovers can be stored in the fridge for about 4-5 day. Enjoy!!

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Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Strawberries, rhubarb and honey are simmered over gentle heat to create this simple compote.

I love the combination of strawberry and rhubarb, it's one of my favorite pie fillings but it's also wonderful as a compote to eat for breakfast over Greek yogurt or crepes, or for dessert I love it warm with a little frozen yogurt. What do you like to do with fruit compote?

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Salsa Picante Roja

This spicy red salsa is made with fresh tomatoes, roasted jalapeño, garlic and cilantro, pureed in a blender then simmered until the tomatoes deepen in color. Serve with your favorite baked chips and Sinless Margaritas!

There are so many varieties of Mexican salsas with different levels of heat, some chunky, some smooth, some raw and others cooked. This one is smooth and cooked, perfect for topping a burrito bowl or simply enjoying with some tortilla chips. I love the smoky flavor of roasting jalapeños, which I did right over my stove. I let it sit for a few minutes over a medium flame, turning a few times. When the skin started to char I removed it from the flame and peeled off some of the charred parts. You can do this on the grill as well.

If you want a milder sauce remove the seeds before putting it in the blender. This is so easy to make, put all the ingredients in the blender, then simmer for 25 minutes. That's it!!

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Colombian Aji Picante

Aji picante is a spicy Colombian hot sauce served with soups, sancocho, stews, rice, beans, empanadas and more. Every Latin country has there own version of a spicy hot sauce, each unique and delicious. This is my mom's recipe, she never measures when she cooks so it was a bit tricky getting her measurements right. A little goes a long way, you only need to add a few teaspoons to whatever you put this on. To save time, I used my mini food processor.

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Slow Cooked Apple Butter

Apples are slow cooked with brown sugar and spices for hours, caramelized to make this sweet thick dark apple preserve.

It's late autumn in New York, the air is crisp, the leaves are falling off the trees and apple season is nearing it's end. A great way to preserve those apples for the winter months is to make apple butter. You can jar this to preserve for later use or you can refrigerate to use right away.

Apple butter is great on pancakes, biscuits, oatmeal, as a condiment, with pork, or you can bake with it. I'm looking forward to trying this grilled turkey, brie and apple butter sandwich from Tyler Florence with my leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Doesn't that sound amazing!

What's your favorite way to use apple butter?

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Fruit Kabobs

A perfect, healthy, summer dessert. Bring these to your next BBQ it really can't get easier than this! Your kids can even help make them, the presentation is adorable!! Use your favorite summer fruit and either serve them as-is, with a fruit dip or with melted chocolate - fondue style. Points will vary depending on the amount of fruit you place on each stick or what kind of fruit you use, but each kabob is usually about one point.

A simple dip I like to make for fruit is mixing low fat sour cream with brown sugar like I did for my Skinny strawberries romanoff. Also great with fat free Greek Yogurt.

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Low Fat Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

Nothing beats the flavor of homemade salad dressing. Making your own salad dressing gives you control of what ingredients go into it. Serve this with a wedge of iceberg lettuce, as a dip for skinny buffalo wings or one of my favorite ways to enjoy this is on a roast beef sandwich on a good whole wheat crusty bread with arugula.


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Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese sauce is a ground beef ragú made with pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, wine, and cream.

Everyone raves about my Bolognese sauce. I never really thought of it as a light dish and I usually make it when I have a large crowd over for dinner.

I decided to tweak my recipe to make this lighter version by using lean chopped beef, reducing the butter and using half and half instead of heavy cream. Results were just as amazing as always and quite frankly, you would never know the difference. The trick to a good Bolognese sauce is the longer it cooks, the better it tastes so this is a perfect Sunday meal. Let this simmer on low at least an hour and a half or up to 3 hours if you have the time.

Serve it over pasta or even spaghetti squash, enjoy!!
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Garlic Scape Basil Pesto

I went to the farmers market in Union Square this morning where I encountered these garlic scapes. Never seeing these before, I was told they are the shoots that grow from the bulb that eventually straighten out and bloom, and they are only available for a short time. Farmers remove these so the garlic bulb can get more energy to grow larger. These have a milder garlic flavor than garlic cloves, similar to a green onion, but with a garlic taste. The vendor at the market told me you can replace garlic in recipes or you can make a pesto which you can use on bread, in risotto, pasta, bruschetta, etc. I will now be purchasing these scapes on a regular basis if I can find them!

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Blueberry Compote

A fruit topping made with fresh blueberries, perfect over ice cream, rice pudding, or mousse, just use your imagination.

This morning I made homemade crepes topped with blueberry compote and it was delicious! I love to make compote with fresh berries like blueberries, blackberries or raspberries to serve over crepes, whole wheat pancakes, waffles, or oatmeal.

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Filetto di Pomodoro

Last night I had the pleasure of having my friend Julia over to show me some of her delicious recipes. Julia is an amazing Italian cook. She can make leather taste good if she had to cook it! Her secret is simple, she cooks with only quality ingredients, like Pecorino Romano, good extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs are all subtle differences that make food go from good to great. She always has on hand, a can of her own homemade filetto di pomodoro sauce she makes from scratch in the summer when tomatoes are at their peak and jars them to use throughout the year. She said she always has a jar in the fridge to incorporate into her weekly recipes. When not using fresh tomatoes, she uses Tuttoroso imported canned tomatoes. Here is her simple pomodoro sauce recipe from canned tomatoes. Make a large batch so you can keep it on hand for recipes throughout the week.

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