In California it is very common to enjoy all of the many delicious recipes and foods of Mexico. I first ate this soup in my 20’s, it was prepared by a friend who was not of Mexican decent but being from Southern California she always loved a good Taqueria! We were always on the look out for the best nachos or those huge burritos stuffed with carnitas, beans, rice, cilantro, onions and chili.
The Classic American Turkey Dinner…comfort food at its best. a Turkey dinner can be a huge hurdle for Keto eaters because of the carb heavy side dishes like stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams and cranberry sauce. Basically it’s a hard “No” all around leaving you with a few pathetic slices of turkey sadly looking up at you totally void of his faithful side kicks.
So I am back home in California after living in Italy for a year and a half. We will only be home for three months, working and visiting with friends and family before we return to Italy again. As a side point I am enjoying such novelties as a good heater in my house, a powerful shower head in a roomy bathroom and a dryer to dry my clothes!
We are finally back “home” in Italy after two days of traveling and three days of jet lag. It’s been a whirlwind of getting our cell phones running, updating our Permesso di Sorggiono (Permission to stay in Italy filed at the local commune) and checking on my Citizenship documents. We have eaten the pizza, sipped the cappuccino’s, devoured the Cornetto (breakfast pastries) and slurped the gelatos. We reunited with friends over apperetivo and pasta.
When we first arrived in Italy we were invited to a young couples house for dinner in San Felice, by the sea. The husband lives to dive, surf and fish in the ocean and he had caught an octopus and it was featured on the menus that night. It was strange for us to see an octopus being cooked with its strange suction cup lined tentacles and bulbous head. It was even stranger to eat one. But his octopus salad was fresh from the sea and served in a cold salad with celery, lemon and parsley. My husband who is not usually a seafood guy, absolutely loved it and dove right in. You can read the story of dinner that night on my article “Dinner for Six”.
The most common way I have eaten artichokes in Italy is the “Roman Style”. This is reasonable since I am living in the general area of Rome and all cuisine in my area is influenced in the Roman Kitchen . Roman Artichokes are trimmed of all tough parts, with most of the Artichoke discarded. Each leaf is snapped off in such a way that the tough fiberous parts are removed.
During a recent dinner party I felt bad serving Tiramasu to our guests and leaving out my Keto crazy husband. So in an act of solidarity I got busy looking for a dessert he could have on the Keto diet. He had already bought a sugar substitute in the form of Erythritol so I was ready to create something delicious for him.
It’s Wednesday night and you’re asking yourself what your going to make for dinner tonight. This is something many of my friends dread, they hate the monotony of cooking night after night. They tell me they like to cook when they have time and are making something special but to think of something every night is daunting.
Persimmons are a fruit you either love or hate. In the Central Valley of California where I grew up, Persimmon Trees were plentiful, yet mostly unloved by most people. But how can you not admire a fruit that dares to sport a bright orange color during a time when all other fruit trees are shedding their leaves barren of fruit? In fact, I have memories of the bold, plump, orange persimmon fruit dangling on bare branches in the cold months of winter. I remember looking at this strange tree in a field of fog, barren of all leaves but the orange fruit still clings tight to its branch.
I am always so impressed when I see a large Paella pan filled with red rice, succulent pink shrimp, black mussels opened up, sausage and chicken, topped with parsley and lemon wedges. There is something so romantic and festive about cooking this large dish over an open fire in a special pan with a large group of friends.
