Recipe for Asparagus and Tomato Frittata with Havarti and Dill

I mentioned how the the abundance of low-priced asparagus in the market had inspired me to make Roasted Asparagus Wrapped in Ham, and it was that same bargain asparagus that inspired this frittata with asparagus, cherry tomatoes, Havarti cheese, and dill. Even though cherry tomatoes aren't a spring food, the asparagus and dill flavors in this made me think of spring, and this is another dish that I think would be great for an Easter brunch or lunch if you're cooking for a small group. It would also make a great weekend breakfast any time you have a little bit of leftover asparagus and some cherry tomatoes. If you've never made a frittata, it's basically an omelet that's not flipped, and often frittatas are browned a little under the broiler once the eggs are set. This was my first time using the broiler on my new stove, and the broiler turned out to be super-powerful compared to the old stove, but luckily I managed to rescue the frittata barely in time, even if it did get a tiny bit well-done on top!

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Recipe Favorites: Forbidden City Chicken

(Updated and added to Recipe Favorites March 2010.) This recipe is one of those I made back in 2005 when I first started blogging, and when I looked at the old version recently I decided it was overdue for new photos. Once I got started, I gave the recipe a little update too, because hey, I hope I'm a better cook now than I was in 2005! I'm using brown sugar in the new version instead of Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, but even if you're a faithful South Beach Dieter, I wouldn't worry much about the amount of sugar that clings to the chicken when it's marinated like this. You could use agave nectar instead, which would also make a nice glaze on the chicken. (I'm keeping the original version of the recipe on the printer friendly page, just in case someone has it bookmarked and loved that version.)

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Five Fun Things on Friday (3-26-10)

It's Friday, the day when I like to share fun things I've found around the web and sometimes give a peek into what I've been doing at my house as well. Keep reading to hear about the fun and find out what I'm trying to grow in this photo. Of course, you can never have too much fun, so if you spotted something fun this week somewhere online, please share with a link in the comments!

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Recipe for Italian Sausage and Kale Soup with Whole Wheat Spaghetti Pieces

I've mentioned before how cooking ideas sometimes just pop into my head and I have no idea where they came from, and this idea of using broken pieces of my favorite whole wheat spaghetti in soup was one of those. I've always been a fan of soup with pasta in it, and this recipe is one I came up with a few weeks ago when I was having fun experimenting with kale chips and sauteed kale and I had a small bunch of kale left over. The soup also had turkey Italian sausage, one of my favorite ingredients. Sausage, kale, and whole wheat spaghetti; doesn't that sound like a combination that could inspire a lot of good recipes? This soup was definitely a winner.

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Crockpot Recipe for Pork and Green Chile Stew (Nefi's Green Chile Stew)

It was more than a month ago that I posted the Friday Night Photos of the Superbowl Party food from the Denny family Superbowl party and people asked for the recipe for Nefi's Pork and Green Chile Stew. When I started tracking down the recipe I discovered that Nefi is the kind of cook who doesn't follow an exact recipe, but Nefi's sister (and my sister-in-law) Lisa got the list of ingredients from him, and I came up with this recipe, which is close to what he made. I tested it out on a couple of people who dropped by, and they all agreed it was good, but a little on the spicy side (!) so next time I'd use a smaller can of diced green chile peppers. Of course, if you like the heat, go ahead and use the large size when you make it. We ate this with some sour cream on top, which probably isn't traditional, but it did taste good.

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Friday Night Photos: Back in San Francisco, Good Friends, and Frances Restaurant

I shared earlier about the dinner at Contigo, but here's more about my trip to San Francisco in February. Pictured above are my gorgeous friends Mary and Jacque, who I've been on many memorable trips with. The three of us have vowed to try to go on at least one trip together every year. Besides the fabulous dinner at Contigo, we also had a fantastic meal at The Slanted Door the first night we were there, but it was so dark I didn't get any photos. I did love the food at The Slated Door, especially the perfectly cooked Baby Bok Choy with Shitakes and the Vegetarian Spring Rolls, and I'd definitely try to visit there again. The last night in San Francisco, Jacque managed to get a reservation at Frances, Melissa Perello's new restaurant featuring seasonal California cuisine, and it was an amazing dining experience. Keep reading for more photos of the trip, and some shots of the food at Frances (with two table-top candles used for lighting and taken with my new Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1, which I'm having lots of fun with as a purse camera.)

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Recipe for Sauteed Kale with Garlic and Onion (Melting Tuscan Kale)

It's St. Patrick's Day so you might be cooking Corned Beef with Vegetables, Roasted Cabbage with Lemon, or 100% Whole Wheat Brown Soda Bread, but I still thought this was a good day to feature kale, since it's certainly the greenest of all the leafy green vegetables. Dark green kale was a vegetable I was slow to warm up to, and until recently I'd mostly cooked Red Russian Kale that I grew in my garden. Then I tried Roasted Kale Chips and realized how much I liked the flavor of dark green kale. This recipe for cooking kale until it's so tender it seems to be "melting" is adapted from The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, one of the cookbook authors I'd most like to meet. Lynne says home cooks all over Italy saute their greens using this method, and this kale was a delicious side dish for some fish that I cooked on the grill. I served my kale with a sprinkling of Spanish Sherry Vinegar which is definitely optional; you could also sprinkle the cooked kale with balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, or even apple cider vinegar which is what my mother always used over cooked greens when I was a kid.

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Once a Year Recipe Favorite: Slow Cooker Corned Beef with Veggies and Horseradish Sauce

This Slow-Cooked Corned Beef with Veggies and Horseradish Sauce is something I make every year for St. Patrick's Day!

(Updated and added to Recipe Favorites March 2010.) Corned Beef and Cabbage is something that's a bit of a stretch for the South Beach Diet, due to the high fat content in the meat. That's why this is only a once-a-year recipe favorite for me, but I do make corned beef in the crockpot every St. Patrick's Day. The last few years I've been cooking it for my slightly Irish father, who isn't on a diet and would love to have corned beef any time of year.

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Friday Night Photos: A New Stove at Chez Kalyn Part Two (Tile, Hood, Pan Racks, and Hardware)

In A New Stove at Chez Kalyn, Part One, I shared details about the features that made me choose the Thermador Pro Harmony 36" Gas Range for my new stove. Now I want to show what a gorgeous job my contractors have done with the stove installation. I completely love this stove and how it looks in my kitchen. Here's a view of the stove now that the tile, hood, pan racks, and new hardware are all installed. If you want to see the steps to getting to this finished result, keep reading.

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Recipe for 100% Whole Wheat Brown Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread is one of those dishes that everyone in America associates with St. Patrick's Day, and here you'll find many variations on the recipe, even though soda bread in Ireland traditionally contains only flour, baking soda, salt, and sour milk or buttermilk. Probably we should be calling our bread Irish American Soda Bread, but no matter what you call it, this bread is easy to make and delicious. For this version I've used a combination of white whole wheat and whole wheat flour with added wheat bran and wheat germ to make it relatively South Beach Diet friendly, although the recipe does contain a small amount of butter and brown sugar.

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Kalyn's Kitchen Picks: Brummel & Brown Natural Yogurt Spread

It's been a while since I added something to my list of Kalyn's Kitchen Picks, where I share my recommendations for food or kitchen products I'd happily buy over and over. This Brummel & Brown Yogurt Spread was recommended by a reader named Alan, and I'm loving it on my whole wheat toast dipped into Eggs Fried in Olive Oil. No one likes the flavor of real butter more than I do, and turning butter into an occasional indulgence was one of the hardest changes I had to make when I started cooking the South Beach Diet way. This spread made with vegetable oil and yogurt is the best-tasting butter alternative I've found. It does have water as the first ingredient, so this isn't something I'd use for sauteing food, but for spreading on toast or melting over vegetables, the flavor of this is great.

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Five Fun Things on Friday (3-5-10)

Photo of Winter Tomato Soup 

by Lydia of Soup Chick

Friday night again, and it's time for another round-up of fun and news items I thought were fun this week. If you have something fun to share, we'd love to hear about it in the comments.

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Recipe for Roasted Kale Chips with Sea Salt and Vinegar

Countless other food bloggers have started out their post on kale chips saying "Why did it take me so long to make kale chips?" so I'll spare you that lament and just say that now that I've finally made roasted kale chips myself, I certainly see what all the fuss is about. Not only are they full of nutritious goodness, but roasted kale chips are delicious. If you don't believe these roasted crispy kale leaves can be that special, just check my list after the recipe to see how many other bloggers have raved about them.

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South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-up for February 2010 (Low-Glycemic Recipes)

Kalyn's Favorite Phase One Recipe for February 2010 was
Quick and Easy Spicy Broiled Shrimp.

Once again it feels like the previous month has passed by in a blur, and it's time for another South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-Up featuring the phase one recipes I've posted on Kalyn's Kitchen this month or found on other blogs, and once again I managed to accumulate a good collection of tasty looking dishes. Of course, I'll never find every phase one recipe that's posted in a month, so if you're a food blogger who posted a recipe in January that you think might be phase one friendly, see after the links for how to submit it.

(You can use the label Low-Glycemic Recipe Round-Ups to see all the posts like this one.)

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