It is Mediterranean Week…

Every once in awhile, I choose a theme for our week of eating. Sometimes, when we have eaten a lot of heavy meals, I choose recipes from my cookbook, “The Mediterranean Table” – available on Amazon. I have written about the Mediterranean diet before and I have found it to be the easiest diet to follow. In order to be healthy, you have to overhaul your attitude toward food and physical activity and indulge in meals that include the vital nutrients your body needs to thrive. This is a diet that is about what you can and should do, rather than what you “can’t” do. I can honestly say that I ALWAYS feel good after eating Mediterranean “style”.

Eat a plant-centered diet – fresh fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes.
Choose whole grains – brown rice, oats, corn, quinoa, millet – all gluten free
Eat foods that contain healthy fats, including olives, olive oil, nuts, and seeds.
Eat fish and/or shellfish at least twice weekly.
Limit dairy consumption to moderate portions of cheese and yogurt.
Eat red meat occasionally in small portions.
Drink wine (especially red) in moderation.
Moderation is key – keep portion sizes in check.
Take time to enjoy life and be physically active.

Your Mediterranean Kitchen embraces:
– chickpeas and other beans
– fresh herbs
– garlic
– nuts and seeds
– oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sardinesm trout, fresh tuna – sole, cod, haddock, hake, halibut, sea
bass, mussels, shrimp, crab and lobster, turobt, whiting, mullet
– olive oil
– olives
– peppers
– tomatoes
– whole grains (gluten free for us)!!

This week’s recipes included:
Puttanesca Sauce with gluten free quinoa spaghetti
garlic, anchovy fillets, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, pasata, cherry tomatoes, green olives, capers and basil….yum

Tonight, we enjoyed Lamb with pine nuts, mint and garam masala with tzatziki – I served it on corn tortillas.
I fried 1 lb of lamb with chopped red onion and two cloves of garlic and 1 tablespoon of garam masala (or ras al hanout), I added 1/4 cup of pine nuts and 1/4 cup of chopped mint leaves. We ate them with tzatziki, cilantro and chopped cherry tomatoes