New Obsession

Opening night for the new Twilight movie - what a blessing! All three girls attended the opening with somebody else this time - no midnight theater runs for us! What did we do with our evening alone?

Off we went on the motorcycle!

After stopping at the Fireworks stand and purchasing saddlebags full of "celebration" we ventured into downtown Poulsbo to find some culinary delights. We were extremely successful!

We landed at Sogno Di Vino - a delightful little eatery that boasted wood fired pizza as it's mainstay. We had eaten there before, sitting next to the fireplace, enjoying a panini and some pasta. This time it was the pizza that attracted both of us. When we saw the open table on the patio that has a fire pit in the middle of it we knew it was where we wanted to eat.

Now, here comes the obsession part...

My new comfort food that will heal any emotional or physical ailment... I will not rest until I have mastered it!

Lemon Rosemary Aioli

We ordered a couple appetizers to tide us over until the pizza arrived... the Antipasto Platter and the Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with that glorious wonderful Lemon Rosemary Aioli! Both appetizers were wonderful... the olives on the Antipasto Platter had such a great flavor I wanted a whole platter of those to myself. But that Aioli... that will be served at my 4th of July spread! That gives me 4 days to master it!

I can't close out without at least mentioning the pizza! I had the Caramelized Onion, Chicken, Mozzarella & Gruyere Cheese pizza - the flavors were wonderful. The crust is tender and soft yet has a nice crisp to it as well. Definitely worth returning for and maybe trying some of the other choices. I won't change my appetizer of choice though - that's a permanent selection!

Off to the kitchen I go - some aioli is waiting to be whipped!

Stay tuned for my recipe!

Today's Success

Welcome to my dinner table!

Tonight was a great success! With cheer practice running until 4:00 then flute lessons following the practice and everybody needing rides to somebody's house for something I thought it would be best to throw something in the crockpot. I figured everybody could eat when they wanted to and it would make things easy. Boy was I right!

Before I get into the recipe, I want to explain a couple things. With each recipe I'll put the nutritional values next to each ingredient. I do that with my electronic cookbook in order to more easily modify a recipe. I can add and delete things and quickly calculate the nutritional value with little effort. Since I enjoy being able to do that I figured you would too! I only keep track of calories, fat and fiber (yes, I do Weight Watchers!) so that's all that will be there. I'll total everything at the end of the recipe but I'm not going to put the WW points so I don't get into trouble!

Here's tonights success...

Crockpot Lasagna (Serves 8)
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey (1,014 cal; 55.5g fat; 0g fiber)
1 small red onion, chopped (28 cal; 0g fat; 1g fiber)
2 tbsp minced garlic (30 cal; 0g fat; 0g fiber)
1 cup mozarella, 2% milkfat, shredded (210 cal; 11g fat; 0g fiber)
1 cup cheddar, 2% milkfat, shredded (384 cal; 16g fat; 0g fiber)
1 1/2 cup cottage cheese, low fat, 1% milkfat (240 cal; 3g fat; 0g fiber)
8 oz lasagna noodles (9 noodles) (840 cal; 4g fat; 8g fiber)
1 jar pasta sauce, 26 oz (50 cal per serving) (300 cal; 9g fat; 12g fiber)
1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz (87.5 cal; 0g fat; 3.5g fiber)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced (54 cal; 0g fat; 2g fiber)
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped (30 cal; 0g fat; 3g fiber)
1 cup fresh spinach (7 cal; 0g fat; 1g fiber)

Cook lasagna noodles as directed on the package (or you can use the no-cook variety). Immediately immerse noodles in cold water for 5 minutes. Drain cold water and lay noodles flat on a clean dry linen towel. In a frying pan, brown turkey with the onion and garlic - cook until no longer pink. Add pasta sauce and diced tomatoes, stir over medium heat until heated through. Mix all cheeses in a seperate container. Mix all chopped vegetables in a seperate bowl. Turn crockpot on low heat. Begin layering lasagna: 1/3 meat sauce, 1/3 noodles, 1/3 cheese mixture, 1/3 vegetables. Repeat 2 more times until all the ingredients have been used. Cook on low 4-5 hours.
Per Serving: 402 cal; 12g fat; 4g fiber

That's it! Enjoy with a small dinner salad using fat free dressing to keep it low... or not! It's got a good fiber count already and there's spinach and other veggies so the salad really isn't necessary if you're eating on the run.