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Blistered Tomato, Spinach & Burrata Rigatoni

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If the title of this dish, blistered tomato, spinach and burrata rigatoni, doesn’t make you want to gobble it up, I’m not sure what will!  Are you even kidding me with this?  We are pretty much obsessed with any pasta dish that has spinach, deliciously sweet tomatoes and burrata cheese because, well, duh!  I’m not really sure that I need to get all wordy and explain it to you.  You already agree with me right?  There’s no sales pitch going on here.  Let me just take you on a quick journey to show and tell you how simple this dish is to make.

Start by boiling the pasta.  Easy peasy right?  While that’s happening, get the tomatoes going in a saute pan with some olive oil.  Cook them over medium high heat for about 10-13 minutes until the skin is nice and blistered.  In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, freshly pressed garlic and red pepper flakes.

Drain the pasta then toss the pasta in a large serving bowl along with the shopped spinach and tomatoes.  Toss with the olive oil mixture then add the burrata.  You can break up the cheese before you serve it but it looks so pretty all nestled in the center don’t you think?  Have you ever heard that expression, you eat with your eye first?  It’s really so true, don’t you think?  Well, trust us with this one…it tastes as good as it looks!!

Blistered Tomato, Spinach & Burrata Rigatoni
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 12 oz cherry tomatoes
  • 1 lb large rigatoni pasta
  • 2 C spinach, stemmed and chopped
  • 1 large ball burrata (can use 2 if you want it extra creamy)
  • 3 Tbsp + 2 tsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed
  • ½ - 1 tsp red pepper flakes + more if desired
  • kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste
  • optional - grated pecorino romano cheese
Instructions
  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add rigatoni and cook 13 minutes or according to package instructions.
  2. While the pasta is boiling heat 2 tsp olive oil in a sautee pan over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and sautee until browned and blistered (10-13 minutes).
  3. In a small bowl whisk remaining olive oil, pressed garlic and red pepper flakes.
  4. Drain pasta and transfer to a low pasta bowl. Add in chopped spinach and cherry tomatoes. Toss with olive oil mixture to coat. Add buratta to the top and season pasta with S&P to taste. Break buratta up with a spoon before serving. Add additional red pepper flakes if desired or grated pecorino romano cheese over the top to serve.

Chicken Sausage Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers

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We are so excited to share these off the hook delicious and oh so pretty chicken sausage stuffed baby bell peppers with you.  This is such a fun appetizer.  Move over chips and salsa or veggies and dip (which really do always have a place in our hearts) because  these cute peppers are stepping in.  Just saying, the next time you ask “what can I bring?” and the person says, “how about an appetizer?”….you will have the perfect answer!  We guarantee that this will please the crowd.

Now you may think that this recipe is labor intensive but guess what?  They are actually easier than you think and we are going to share some quick time saving tips for you.  So, follow along.  But first, run to the store and grab the ingredients!  These sweet little baby bell peppers should be easy to find at your local grocery store.

Start by blackening up the peppers in a large skillet with a little olive oil.  They will sizzle away and get nice and blistered.  This is a really easy way to char the peppers.  Once they are blackened, just turn off the heat and set them aside to cool on a plate.

While the peppers are cooling, you can brown up the chicken sausage.  Start by cooking the onion and garlic, add the oregano and red pepper flakes.  Add the sausage.  We like the Trader Joe’s sweet Italian chicken sausage.  Just remove the sausage from the casings and break it up into small pieces as it cooks.  Once it’s cooked through, remove from the heat and allow it to cool.

After the chicken sausage and onions are cooled, transfer to a mixing bowl and add the cheese, fresh basil, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine and set aside.

It’s time to open up the peppers.  Just use a small paring knife to cut a slit across the side from stem to base.  There will be a few seeds inside so just use your fingers or a small spoon to scrape them out if you desire.  You can certainly eat them if you’d rather.  Then scoop the sausage and cheese mixture into the peppers and top with fresh parmesan.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly. We are sure that these guys are gonna go fast!!

 

Chicken Sausage Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers
 
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Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
  • 1 pound sweet Italian chicken sausage
  • 1 pound sweet baby bell peppers
  • ½ yellow onion - diced
  • 2 cloves garlic - minced
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 Tbsp fresh basil - chopped
  • ½ C fontina cheese - shredded
  • ¼ C shredded parmesan cheese
  • pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 °
  2. Wash and pat dry baby peppers. Heat large skillet to medium-high and add olive oil. Add peppers and cook, turning frequently until skin is nicely blistered and blackened. About 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set on plate to cool. Add diced onion to skillet and cook for roughly 3 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add oregano and red pepper flakes. Remove sausage from casings and add to onion mixture. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, break sausage into small bits. Cook until golden brown then remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, transfer sausage mixture to a bowl and add cheese, fresh basil and salt and pepper and stir until combined.
  3. Using a small paring knife, cut a slit in peppers from base of stem to bottom half of pepper. This part can be messy as the peppers will be juicy. Work over a sink or bowl for easier clean up. Using your fingers or a small spoon, scoop sausage mixture into the peppers and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
  4. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan then bake for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted. Transfer to serving platter or plate and serve immediately.

Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats

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So these Italian stuffed zucchini boats are a fun way to mix it up!  If you are anything like us, we are always on a mission to come up with new ideas for dinner to keep the family interested and coming back to the table.  Why not carve your zucchini into a little boat and stuff it with some cheese and sauce?  Genius right?  Think of all the things you can call these to get the kids on board?  Anything that has sauce and cheese qualifies for a pizza title in our house!  wink wink  This might be a stretch but try it anyway!

Stuffed zucchini boats are really easy and fun to make.

Start out by cutting the zucchini in half the long way and use a spoon to scrape out some of the flesh from the middle.  The place them skin side down on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Then get the cheese mixture going in a medium bowl by combining the ricotta, spinach, egg, basil, garlic and a little salt and pepper and stir it all up.

Spoon a little marinara onto the bottom of each of the boats and then top with the cheese mixture.

Sprinkle with the parmesan and panko bread crumbs and bake for 20 minutes.  It may be necessary to turn the broiler on at the end to get a nice golden brown color.

Remove from the oven and serve immediately.  These stuffed zucchini boats are seriously so good.  Can’t wait for you to try them!

Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 2 zucchinis
  • 1 C spinach, stemmed and finely chopped
  • ¼ C fresh basil, finely chopper + more to garnish
  • 1 C low fat ricotta cheese
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ⅓ C marinara sauce
  • ¼ C grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 Tbsp panko breadcrumbs
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • ¼ tsp ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cut the ends off of each zucchini. Slice zucchini down the middle, lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the middle (flesh) of the halved zucchinis. Place skin side down on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet.
  3. In a small bowl add spinach, basil, ricotta, garlic, egg, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with a spoon.
  4. Line zucchini with marinara sauce. Divide ricotta mixture evenly between the 4 halved zucchinis. Top each zucchini boat with parmesan cheese and panko breadcrumbs.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn oven up to broil and allow the tops of the zucchini boats to turn golden brown, watch carefully as not to burn.
  6. Remove from oven, garnish with additonal chopped basil and serve immediately.

Lemon Pesto Capunti Pasta with Asparagus

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Tonight’s dinner was literally the easiest meal ever!!  Lemon pesto capunti pasta with asparagus.  First of all, lemon pesto anything is freaking amazing!!  I mean, don’t you agree? We just love this capunti pasta because of it’s light texture and of course it’s pretty ruffled edges.  It’s always fun to mix it up when serving something simple like this dish.  You guys are going to love this one and we know you are also really going to love how easy it is to make.  This dish is perfect for a crazy busy weeknight but it’s also pretty and delicious enough to serve to guests for dinner or a fun lunch.  The ingredients are really simple…we like to use homemade pesto but there are lots of delicious one’s you can buy in the stores so you could even shave off more time on the prep and buy some pesto if you are short on time.  Our recipe is really very simple though so we’d like to encourage you to give it a shot!  You can also substitute your favorite pasta if you are not able to find capunti.  Don’t stress, it’s just pasta!  Okay, check out how easy this dish is to master….

Here’s your line up or cast of characters!  Pesto, pasta, fresh asparagus and lemon!  If you are a regular here at GTK, you are aware of our obsession with lemons.  They can do wonders to just about any dish!  For this one, we use the zest and the juice.  Winning!!

So you are just going to start by cooking the pasta according to the package directions. After it’s cooked, don’t just dump it into a strainer, be sure to reserve a cup of the boiling water and set it aside.  You are going to use it to thin out the pesto so just hang tight.  After you drain the rest of the pasta water, add the pasta back to the pot and toss in the asparagus and the pesto.  Stir to combine, adding small amounts of the reserved pasta water to thin out the pesto.  Add in the fresh lemon juice and zest and top with freshly grated pecorino romano or parmesan.  Serve it up and watch how fast this one goes!!


Lemon Pesto Capunti Pasta with Asparagus
 
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
For the Pesto:
  • 2 C packed fresh basil leaves
  • ¼ C toasted pine nuts
  • 1 cloved garlic, chopped
  • ½ C grated parmesan cheese
  • ½ C good quality olive oil
  • kosher salt
For the Pasta:
  • 1 lb capunti or like pasta
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • ¾ - 1 C prepared pesto
  • ¼ - ½ C reserved pasta water
  • zest and juice of 1 medium lemon
  • grated pecorino romano or parmesan to top
Instructions
For the Pesto:
  1. In a food processor combine basil, cheese, garlic, pine nuts and ¼ C olive oil. Slowly drizzle in the remaining ¼ C olive oil while the food processor is running. Season with kosher salt to taste.
For the Pasta:
  1. Cook pasta according to package ingredients.
  2. Cut tough ends off of asparagus. Cut asparagus into thirds at an angle.
  3. When pasta is cooked, use a label to remove 1 cup of boiling pasta water, set aside. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add asparagus and ¾ C pesto. Stir to incorporate, thin out with ¼ - ½ C reserved pasta water. Add more pesto/water if needed. Add the juice of 1 lemon, season with S&P. Top with lemon zest and grated cheese. Serve immediately.

Sheet Pan Balsamic Roasted Chicken with Green Beans & Tomatoes

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Once again, we bring you yet another super easy dinner!  This sheet pan balsamic roasted chicken with green beans and tomatoes is an absolute must for a busy weeknight.  Is there anything better than placing all of your ingredients on one pan and tossing it into the oven, only to have it all come out at the same time and ready to eat?  Well, no.  There really is nothing better!  If you are anything like us, you have a lot of stuff going on during the week…I won’t bore you with the details but we’ll just say “mom taxi” and that should sum it up.  Anyway, sheet pan dinners are where it’s at so let us just take a quick minute to share with you how simple this recipe is to make.

Start by making the delicious balsamic marinade.  We use this on pretty much everything…once you try it, you will know why.  It might be the easiest marinade to make but it’s also the most flavorful.  It’s literally dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, garlic and olive oil.  I like to make mine in the blender but you could just whisk it up or use an immersion blender too.  I always make extra and use it throughout the week for green salads or a yummy quinoa salad.  Yum!

You’ll want to marinate the chicken in the fridge for at least 4 hours so it has time to become one with the delicious flavors.  We suggest doing this part in the morning before you head out for the day.  Then, when you get home and it’s time to make dinner, the chicken is ready to go.

Just pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.  Place the chicken breasts, tomatoes and kalamata olives on the sheet pan.  You will be adding the green beans a little later as they don’t need as long to cook so make sure you leave some space for them on the pan. Pour the remaining marinade over the tomatoes and olives and season with salt and pepper.

While the chicken is cooking, toss the green beans in a bowl with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  After 20 minutes, place the green beans on the sheet pan and let everything cook for another 10 minutes.  Then remove the pan from the oven and serve up your super simple, one pan dinner!  Total WIN!!!


Sheet Pan Balsamic Roasted Chicken with Green Beans & Tomatoes
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
For the Balsamic Marinade:
  • ¼ C balsamic vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp good quality olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 chicken breasts, trimmed
  • cherry tomatoes or strawberry tomatoes on the vine
  • ½ C kalamata olives, pitted
  • 12 oz green beans, trimmed
  • 2 Tbsp good quality olive oil
  • kosher salt
  • cracked pepper
  • *Optional - mozarella or burrata cheese, ciabatta bread, balsamic glaze
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl whisk all ingredients together for the balsamic marinade.
  2. Add chicken to a large ziploc freezer bag. Pour balsamic marinade into bag and massage into chicken. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Arrange chicken on pan and place tomatoes and olives around pan (leave room for green beans, they will be added later). Pour remaining marinade over tomatoes and olives. Season with S&P.
  4. Set timer for 20 minutes.
  5. While chicken is cooking toss green beans with olive oil, season with S&P. After 20 minutes add the green beans to the sheet pan, set the timer for an additional 10 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven, slice chicken and serve.
*Optional - serve with sliced ciabatta bread, fresh mozarella or burrata and drizzle with balsamic glaze.

Roasted Carrot & Turmeric Hummus with Crispy Lavosh

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock,  you’ve probably heard about the many health benefits of turmeric.  It’s like the superfood of spices. So apparently, we all need more turmeric in our lives.  Courtney and I have been brainstorming some creative ways to dish up more turmeric, that’s how this roasted carrot and turmeric hummus was born. Just a forewarning that this stuff is goooood.

Only amazing things can come from roasting carrots, right? I mean a carrot is just a carrot…not too exciting in my opinion. But, when you roast a carrot it begins to ooze with a sweet caramel flavor that is to die for.

Couple the roasted carrot flavor with the deep orange and ginger flavors of turmeric and it’s a match made in heaven.  You guys, I’m telling you… this hummus is on another level good and it’s such a unique taste.  You will love it!

You can serve this roasted carrot and turmeric hummus up with your favorite veggies or chips, or you can take 5 minutes and toast up some crispy lavosh.  Just brush the lavosh with some olive oil and sprinkle with S&P, toast in the oven for about 4 minutes and break apart into pieces.

Check out another one of our favorite recipes featuring turmeric.  Roasted Cauliflower with
Turmeric, Dates & Pine Nuts.  Now you have no excuse to not get on the turmeric bandwagon with these awesome recipes!

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/roasted-cauliflower-turmeric-dates-pine-nuts/

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
Roasted Carrot & Turmeric Hummus with Crispy Lavosh
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 5 medium carrots, peeled
  • 2½ Tbsp good quality olive oil, divided
  • ½ C garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 Tbsp tahini
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • ½ medium lemon, juiced
  • 2 pieces lavosh
  • kosher salt & cracked pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle 1 tsp olive oil over carrots and toss to coat. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Roast for 30 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool.
  2. Turn oven down to 400 degrees. Brush lavosh with 1 tsp olive oil. Sprinkle with S&P. Place directly on oven rack for 4 minutes. Remove from oven and break into chip-size pieces. Set aside to serve with the hummus.
  3. Add roasted carrots to a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add garbanzo beans, tahini, garlic, turmeric, lemon juice and remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil. Pulse until completely incorporated and smooth. Season with S&P to taste.
  4. Serve alongside crisly lavish. Drizzle hummus with additional olive oil if desired.

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon and Thyme

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*Featured in the March Issue of Scottsdale Health Magazine*

Once you try our red lentil soup with lemon and thyme, you will wonder where it has been your whole life.  Strong words, but just trust us.  Please say hello to the lightest (yet hearty), most delicious, simple and healthy soup that you’ve ever had!  We are obsessed with this recipe and how darn good it is.  Red lentils are the star of the show here so I’ll just take a quick second to tell you how nutritionally beneficial these guys are.  They are in the legume family so they are packed with fiber.  Lentils also happen to be good for your heart, digestion, blood sugar, energy, and they are loaded with protein.  Are you convinced that they are a winner yet?  You should be.  Think of lentils as the perfect go to when you want a hearty, healthy option.  Check out how easy peasy this soup is to make too.

The list of ingredients is really quite simple.  You start with a basic mirepoix (pronounced mira-pwa), which is a mix of onion, celery and carrots that are cooked down and softened in a little olive oil.  So far, so good right?  This stage always starts the amazing kitchen aromatic process.  You know, the one when the “people” walk in the door and say…”oooohhh, yum, it smells so good in here.”  And you can say, “why yes, that’s the mirepoix you smell.”  You are officially fancy and French and all you are doing is making soup.  Winning!

So once the mirepoix has cooked down a bit, along with the garlic, salt and fresh thyme, you can add the chicken (or vegetable if you prefer) broth, the lentils and the bay leaves.  Now check out that beautiful kitchen aroma.  Holy cow!  It’s so good.  Lower the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes until the lentils are nice and soft.  Then remove it from the heat and add in the spinach and the freshly squeezed lemon.  The lemon is key in the recipe.  It will brighten up the flavor and knock it out of the park.  Wow!  So delicious.


Red Lentil Soup with Lemon and Thyme
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • ½ yellow onion - diced
  • 2 carrots - peeled and chopped
  • 2 stalks celery - chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme
  • 2 cloves garlic - minced
  • ½ C fresh spinach
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 C red lentils
  • 5 C chicken broth
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • kosher salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in a large stock pot or dutch oven to medium heat.
  2. Saute onions for 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Add in the carrot, celery, garlic, salt and thyme and saute for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, lentils and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook for 20 - 25 minutes, until lentils are softened.
  3. Remove from heat and add in spinach and lemon juice. Disgard bay leaves prior to serving.

 

Chicken Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna

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This chicken sausage and mushroom lasagna has got to be one of the easiest, most delicious weeknight dinners you will ever make!!  Holy flavor party going on in this dish!  The secret ingredient that makes this recipe so simple is the no boil lasagna noodles.  Have you ever used them before?  If not, you have got to add them to your next grocery list because your life is about to change!  Literally!  I think people are usually afraid of lasagna because they fear that it’s too time consuming.  Well, I promise you, this dish is not.  I get asked to make it by friends and family all the time and I can’t say no because it’s just too easy!  So, let me just take a few minutes to explain.

Another secret ingredient is the sweet Italian chicken sausage.  Using sausage is a game changer in the flavor department but so are fresh herbs but we’ll get to that in a second.  Start by removing the sausage from the casings and browning it up in a skillet then set it aside because it’s going to be added into the sauce.  This is a time saving move.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, oregano, fresh basil, flat leaf parsley, parmesan and salt and pepper. Stir it up and set it aside for the assembly process.

Then you can cook up the mushrooms, onion and garlic in a large saute pan.  I say large because you are going to be adding the sauce and sausage into this pan to make a delicious meaty sauce.  We don’t even use a homemade sauce for this recipe.  We absolutely love homemade sauce but we don’t always have time for it.  There are lots of delicious, clean marinara sauces available these days.  Just pick your favorite.

Once the mushroom mixture is cooked, add the sausage and the sauce to your pan and stir to combine.  Now you are ready for the layering process.

Spoon a little of the sauce onto the bottom of a 9×13 pan.  This ensures that the pasta doesn’t stick to the pan and adds more flavor as well.  Then put down a layer of the noodles followed by a layer of the ricotta mixture, then the sauce, then sprinkle the shredded cheese and repeat.  Noodles, ricotta, sauce, cheese, etc.  Your last layer will be noodles, sauce, then shredded cheese.  No ricotta on the top layer.

Pop into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is deliciously bubbly and golden brown.  You are gonna love the way your kitchen smells when this is baking.  Oh yum!!!

Once it’s done, ring the dinner bell and the people will come running!!  For an easy side, this would pair perfectly with our simple lemon kale salad

 

Chicken Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna
 
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound sweet Italian chicken sausage - casings removed
  • ½ yellow onion- diced
  • 2 cloves garlic - minced
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 tablespoon good quality olive oil
  • 1 large jar of marinara sauce (we use Victoria White Linen 40oz jar from Costco)
  • 1 8oz. package sliced mushrooms - chopped
  • 1 9oz. package oven ready lasagna noodles - no pre-boiling required
  • 1 15oz. container ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend (or shredded mozarella)
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf italian parsley
  • kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Instructions
For the Sauce:
  1. Heat a large stock pot or saute pan over medium-high heat and cook sausage until golden brown. Break sausage up into small pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula while cooking. Once cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
  2. Add olive oil to pan and allow to heat up. Add onions and saute for 2-3 minutes then add in the mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute another minute, add sauce and stir sausage back into mixture to combine. Remove from heat and set aside
For the Ricotta Filling:
  1. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg, basil, parsley, oregano, parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.
  2. To Assemble Lasagna:
  3. In an 9x13 pan, cover bottom of pan with a thin layer of the sauce.
  4. Lay lasagna noodles in a single layer over sauce.
  5. Cover noodles with a layer of the ricotta mixture then spoon sauce mixture over ricotta layer.
  6. Sprinkle shredded cheese over sauce then add another layer of noodles, ricotta, sauce and cheese.
Continue with these layers, ending with a layer of noodles, sauce and shredded cheese. Bake 30 min. or until bubbly and golden brown.

Simple Lemon Kale Salad

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Okay, so we have to tell you something crazy!  It’s confession time.  This simple lemon kale salad is like one of our favorite, most requested, staples that we make all the time and have been making for years and we literally just discovered that we didn’t have it up here on the site!!  What??  Gasp?!?  I know, we were horrified at this discovery.  We are so very sorry for those of you who have lost sleep over this! How could this have happened?  Ha ha  Well, have no fear, we have fixed the little blunder and well, here it is!  Your life is now complete!!  Phew! You are going to wonder how you’ve made it this far without this recipe.  So, check it out…simple and so so good!

We prefer lacinato or dino kale…also called black kale and it looks like what you see in this picture.  It’s the long flat looking kale as opposed to the really frilly kind.  Don’t get us wrong, we will eat them both but if we have a choice, it’s what you see here.  Simply a texture preference.  So, clean and dry your kale really well.  We have a youtube video here so you can see how we clean and cut our kale.  Yep, we actually take the time to make videos like this for you!  Your welcome.

Did you love the video?  Did you learn something new?  We sure hope so.  So, now you know how to clean and de-stem the kale so you can quickly chop it up into thin strips.  Now just whisk your lemon juice, garlic and olive oil and pour it over the kale and toss it so it’s all nicely covered.  (FYI, the lemon breaks down the kale and makes it soft)  Many people have issues with the texture of kale but we always tell them that’s because they aren’t eating it right!  Try our salad and you will change your mind! We are feeling really confident right now.

Anyway, toss the salad with freshly grated pecorino romano cheese, red pepper flakes and the toasted panko breadcrumbs and you are good to go!  We are not lying when we tell you that both of our daughters (who are 13 years old) absolutely love this salad and have it in their school lunches on a regular basis.  How cool is that?  As a mom, there is extreme satisfaction with your child eating (and wanting) a kale salad for lunch.  Winning!!


Simple Lemon Kale Salad
 
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Serves: 4 As a side salad
Ingredients
  • 1 large bunch lacinato (Dino) kale, cleaned and chopped into thin strips (approx 6-8 C)
  • 3 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice - approx 1 large lemon
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • ½ - 1 tsp red pepper flakes - can adjust or omit depending on how much heat you want
  • ¼ C good quality olive oil
  • ⅓ C pecorino romano cheese, finely grated
  • 3 Tbsp panko breadcrumbs - toasted in skillet over medium heat until golden brown.
Instructions
  1. Whisk lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil together. Toss kale with dressing and sprinkle with cheese, red pepper flakes and toasted bread crumbs.
Good Thyme Tip - Add chopped avocado, grilled chicken, salmon, etc.

Chicken & Pastina Soup

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They say chicken soup is good for the soul…well we absolutely happen to agree and this delicious recipe is no exception.  This happens to be a family favorite and makes the perfect cold weather comfort food.  With the hearty vegetables and the cute little pastina (star) pasta, it’s a winner for everyone.  We love to make a big batch so we can have lots of leftovers.  The kids love to have this soup in their lunches which obviously makes us happy too!  Chicken and pastina soup is super easy to make too.

The list of ingredients is quite simple.  You just need carrots, celery, spinach and onion, garlic, thyme, cooked shredded chicken, lime, some herbs de provence, chicken broth and the cute little pastina pasta.  If you can’t find the star pasta, you could mix it up with some fun mini alphabet pasta too!  The kids loved that when they were younger.

Simply begin by heating some olive oil in a dutch oven or large stock pot over medium heat and then add the onions.  Saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add in the garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and herbs de provence and saute for another 10 minutes.

Add in the chicken broth and bring to a low boil.  Add in the pastina and boil slowly for 6 minutes.  Then remove from the heat and add in the shredded chicken and spinach and season with salt and pepper.  Add the juice of one lime just before serving.  You can also top with shredded parmesan if your heart desires!  That just adds another beautiful layer of flavor that we happen to love!  We know that you are going to love this recipe.  Check out some of our other favorite soup recipes here:

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/broccoli-cheddar-soup/

http://www.goodthymekitchen.com/roasted-carrot-ginger-coconut-soup/

 


5.0 from 2 reviews
Chicken & Pastina Soup
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 Tbsp good quality olive oil
  • ½ yellow onion, finely diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • ½ C fresh spinach
  • 2 tsp fresh thyme
  • 2 tsp herbs de provence
  • 48 oz chicken broth
  • ½ C pastina (mini star pasta)
  • 1½ C shredded chicken breasts
  • kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste
  • juice of 1 medium lime
** optional - grated parmesan cheese to serve
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or large soup pan over medium heat. Add onions and sautee for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and herbs de provence. Sautee for 10 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a low boil. Add pastina and slowly boil for 6 minutes. Remove from heat, add shredded chicken and fresh spinach, season with S&P to taste. Add juice of 1 lime. Serve immediately, can add grated parmesan if desired to serve.