Weekly recipe roundup

Frittata with Spinach and Cheese
Last Saturday night we were feeling lazy so we opted for a simple, light dinner. Let me interject here to say Jon was feeling lazy because he'd done a 70 mile bike ride wearing his Crocs since he forgot his cycling shoes, but I was feeling lazy because, well, I'm lazy. Especially when it's 102 degrees outside.

We had a package of baby spinach and an extra dozen eggs in the fridge, so I made the Frittata with Spinach and Cheese out of Batali's Molto Italiano. It's basically the same as his recipe on The Food Network website, except the book calls for two pounds of spinach and eight eggs. I only had a pound and a half of spinach and it was fine. The key to getting this to turn out well is getting as much of the excess water out of the spinach after you blanche it. The book recipe suggests first draining it in a colander, then squeezing it between two plates and then twisting it in a dish towel. It's amazing how much water you can squeeze out of spinach. Anyway, it was deee-lish. And at 220 calories for 1/6 of the recipe, it's hard to argue with.

Yogurt Fruit Dip
I was craving something sweet but I'm trying very hard to steer clear of baked goods and ice cream for a while. To satiate the craving, I made yogurt fruit dip. So good, so easy. There are as many ways to make this dip as there are kinds of fruit to eat with it, but I made a version that includes some of my favorite flavors.

1/3 cup of Greek yogurt (I use Fage 0%)
1 tbsp of ginger syrup (see below)
dash of vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon

Mix everything in an adorably small bowl and mix it all together. Serve with fresh fruit. I like nectarines, strawberries, and pineapple best, but any kind will do.

Ginger Syrup
Jon loves fancy, obscure ginger ales so we are often trying different ways to make ginger flavored beverages at home. We came across a recipe on Whole Foods' website that was just ginger syrup mixed into a glass of carbonated water. It wasn't bad, but I've found that the ginger syrup has even better uses. I especially like to put it in smoothies, pour it over yogurt, or add it to iced tea.

2 cups raw cane sugar
2 cups water
2 tbsp (or more) of chopped fresh ginger root

Put everything in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool and then strain it. Keeps in the fridge for about a week. 45 calories per tbsp.

Weekly recipe roundup

In the interest of our health and various other things, Mister and I have been trying to eat better this summer. That means we've had to get our butts in the kitchen to make our own food instead of answering the front door and tipping the delivery person for bringing the Thai food to us. For the most part these meals aren't worth writing about, but there were a couple that stood out this week. Thank you Internet gods for throwing these into our path.

First, we have the Asian Turkey Burger with Sriracha Mayo, or as the author so truthfully and eloquently put it, A Turkey Burger That Doesn't Suck. We made this one with a leaner ground turkey and regular ol' bread crumbs instead of Panko, but it was still totally nom-worthy.

Our other standout of the week was this Broccoli-Bacon Salad. Yeah I know, this has bacon and we're trying to be healthy, but three slices spread over several plates is not that bad. It occurred to me after we made this that we could have used Fage 0% Greek yogurt for additional calorie savings, but we didn't. This was delicious exactly as is, and a serving or two is plenty filling for a meal.

The official salad dressing of the summer of 2010

I can't stop eating this dressing. I've made it 5 days in a row. It's perfect over fresh chopped spinach, sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, green onions and feta cheese. This was a Martha Stewart recipe that I tried to make healthier. She used 2 tbsp of olive oil and full throttle sour cream. That version was thick and delicious, but I think mine is just as tasty without quite as many calories. Score!

Creamy Vinaigrette

1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp Greek yogurt (I prefer Fage 0%)
3/4 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

In a small bowl, stir the vinegar, yogurt and salt & pepper together until smooth. Stir continuously while slowly pouring in the olive oil. Continue stirring until completely blended. Pour the dressing over your salad and then lick the rest from the bowl.

I'd show you a picture but I always devour the whole batch before I think to grab a camera.