Arugala Salad with Spiced Walnuts, Pears, Strawberries, and Poached Egg

I love this meal for a number of reasons. It certainly appeases anyone taking a stab at a healthier life by combining nutritious dynamos like arugula and fresh fruit while simultaneously quenching the hunger for the "bad for you but oh so tasty" foods with a small portion of candied nuts (and bacon if you so desire). Even better is that it includes that beautifully unctuous runny egg yolk whose reputation, though previously dragged through the mud, is now making a gallant come back in the medical community. Furthermore, as Anhony Bourdain, the man whose persona juxtaposes eloquence and cynical bad ass stated, "you could put a runny egg on just about anything and I'd enjoy it".

Serves 4
Ingredients:
6 cups arugula
2 bartlett pears
8 medium sized strawberries
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
4 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Start with the walnuts, which can absolutely made ahead of time in a large batch and kept in an air tight container. Preheat the oven to 350. Then, place the walnuts in a large bowl and cover with water. Drain the walnuts in a sieve and then return them to the large bowl. Cover them with the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and chile powder and stir until they're completely coated. Take a cookie sheet and cover with parchment paper and then scatter the coated walnuts in a single even layer. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until they're beautifully caramelized and the spectacular smell of candied walnuts has permeated your kitchen and the rooms beyond.

For the eggs, take a shallow pan (I use my Calphalon 10" non-stick) and fill about 1/2-3/4 with water and then pour in the apple cider vinegar. Bring to a gentle simmer and then very carefully place the egg in the water, cooking for about 3-5 minutes until the whites are just set. Using a slotted spoon, remove the eggs from the water and place on a plate.

To assemble the salad, combine the chopped pears, strawberries, and arugula and divide evenly among the plates. Then evenly distribute the walnuts and place an egg on top of each plate. I personally love this salad without much dressing. Simply a squeeze of lemon and drizzle of good olive oil is perfect and allows the assertive ingredients to stand up for themselves rather than being washed over by a tidal wave of pre-made mediocrity.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Instead of the usual post where I include one component of a meal, I've decided to post a few possible valentine's day menus. This first one is spectacular if both you and your special someone enjoy salmon. Ironically, my special someone who I cook everything dairy free for hates salmon so I will not be using this on valentine's day. However, I love this meal so much I'm preparing it for myself! I'm going to post several different possible meals including the one that I am preparing but this is the first and the truly spectacular part of this is that a lot of it can be done ahead! Also, don't think I've forgotten about those dairy free desserts. Those will be coming soon.

The menu:
"Grilled" (winter grilling = broiling for me) Wild Sockeye Salmon with a balsamic port reduction sauce
Wild Rice with red wine poached pears

Okay so the first thing I suggest doing for this meal is making the reduction sauce. Reduction sauces are great for a few reasons. They are extremely easy to make and can be easily rectified if a mistake is made. Since reduction sauces are boiled to evaporate the water and concentrate the flavor, they pack a huge flavor punch. Finally, whereas a good number of sauces have a fat base (such as a roux), reduction sauces are lower in calories and fat.

You need:
Olive oil for the pan
1/2 onion VERY FINELY diced
2 cloves of garlic diced into almost a puree
2 cups port wine
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Balsamic Port Reduction:
Get out a sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat with enough olive oil to coat the pan. Once the pan is hot, put in the onions and cook until golden and translucent. Then, add the garlic, stir, and cook for a minute just until that intense garlic aroma hits you. Increase the heat to high and pour in the port and chicken broth and boil for about 20 minutes or so until the liquid has substantially reduced (about half) and is beginning to thicken. Now, pour in the balsamic vinegar and continue to boil for another 5-7 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Taste to make sure it is flavorful enough. If it is still lacking in intensity, boil a few more minutes. If it is too strong for your liking, you can simply add a little more chicken broth and reduce until it is where you want it. Once it's ready, take it off the heat and strain into a glass bowl. Then, when the sauce has come to room temperature you can cover and refrigerate until ready.

Red wine poached pears:
3/8 cup red wine (6 tablespoons)
1 bartlett pear
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Peal and halve the pears and remove the cores. In a small pot, add the red wine, cinnamon stick, and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium and add the pear halves. Simmer for about ten minutes and then turn and simmer for an additional ten minutes.

Remove from heat and put the pears in an airtight container with the poaching liquid and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble dinner.

Wild Rice:
Cook your rice according to package instructions. When the rice is cooked, dice the pears and stir into the rice (about 2/3 cup of rice for two people). Add a little of the liquid for taste and keep warm until dinner.

Salmon:
I love grilled salmon but since we have had an impressively aggressive winter, I'm going to refrain from brushing the ice and snow off the grill and stick to broiling. Place a rack about 6 inches from the broiler and heat the broiler. Place the salmon filets on the broiler pan and brush with the balsamic port reduction. Depending on the size of your filets, cook until the fish is just firm basting once again in the middle of the cooking.

Chile Rubbed Tilapia

This is my own version of a spice rub for fish. Those of you stuck inside from this colossal winter storm would enjoy this recipe because it'll certainly warm you up from the biting cold outside. Keep in mind though that there is no salt in this recipe because I'm on a very low salt diet but if you are not, you can add 1 teaspoon of salt to this recipe.

This mixture will make a lot but it keeps well so store it in an airtight container at room temperature. When you're ready to cook the fish, liberally coat both sides and cook like normal.

3 tablespoons ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspon ground ginger
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For my meal, I paired this with the sweet and sour rice with green apple. It's a nice culinary vacation when you're getting especially tired of baked chicken and rice.

Quinoa Salad

Serves 6-10

1 1/2 cups red quinoa
1 sweet onion
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 medium apple, diced into 1/2"
1 medium pear, diced into 1/2"
3 celery stalks, diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup diced strawberries (about 5 medium)
4 ounces spinach

Dice the onion. Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat with a little bit of olive oil. Once the pan is hot, stir in the onion and cook until lightly brown for 5-7 minutes. Then pour in the balsamic vinegar and cook until most of the liquid evaporates (no more than a minute or so). Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the white wine vinegar and the dijon mustard. Stir in the diced apple, bear, celery, cranberries, and strawberries. Stir in the cooked onions as well.

Now it's quinoa time. Rinse the quinoa with water, running your fingers through it for a few seconds. Strain out the water and put the quinoa in a large pot. Pour in 2 1/2 cups water and to a boil over medium-high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium low and let simmer, covered, until the quinoa is tender but still has a little bite to it, should take between 10-15 minutes.

Take the quinoa off the heat, pour the spinach in the bowl with the vinaigrette and then pour in the still warm quinoa and stir to incorporate everything. The heat from the quinoa will make the spinach soft and make the other flavors come together. You can eat this salad warm or cold because it's great both ways.

If you're a fan of a little extra heat, I like to put some thai chile sauce around the plate and then mound the salad in the middle of the plate so when you start eating, you get a little chile sauce in every bite.

Crêpes

This is a basic sweet crêpe recipe. However, crepes can also be used in savory dishes such as manicotti (fill with ragu and cover with tomato sauce). If you are making a savory dish leave out the sugar when preparing the crêpe.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dairy free milk
1/4 lukewarm water
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter replacement, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 pinch salt

The best way to prepare this batter is either with a blender or a stick blender. Simply place all the ingredients in a bowl or blender and blend until the mixture is smooth. When the batter is done it should lightly coat the back of the spoon.

Now, take your batter and either leave at room temperature for 30 minutes or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

When you're ready to make the crêpes, spray a non-stick pan and heat on medium. Ladle the batter in the pan and quickly swirl the pan to make sure the pan is evenly coated. Cook for about 30 seconds and carefully flip and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Remove onto a plate and continue with the remaining batter. You will probably end up throwing away the first one or two while you get your pan to the perfect heat. This is absolutely not something you want to try for the first time when you're having guests over.

Sweet Potato Soup

This is a spectacular cold-weather meal that is both healthy and satiating. It's also great to prepare for dinner parties because it can easily be made ahead of time and then simply reheated prior to serving.

5-6 medium sweet potatoes (enough for 3 cups purée)
3 chipotle chiles packed in adobo sauce + 1 teaspoon of adobo sauce
2 cups soy or almond milk, divided
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter replacement
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 fresh ground nutmeg
apple slices for garnish and several sprigs of fresh rosemary


Start off by cooking your sweet potatoes whichever way you're most comfortable doing so. Once they're cooked, wait until they cool slightly and then scoop out the flesh of the sweet potato into a food processor. With it, also put in your chipotles, adobo sauce, and 1 cup of the soy or almond milk. Purée until smooth and set aside.

In a large stock pot, heat the butter replacement until melted on medium heat and then whisk in the flour. Continue to whisk and cook until the roux becomes fragrant and light brown (about 5-10 minutes depending on whether you have a gas or electric range). Once the roux is ready, slowly pour in the chicken and broth and vigorously whisk to make sure the roux is incorporated. Then, you want to bring this to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it's boiling, add the sweet potato mixture that you set aside, the spices, and remaining milk and bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce to a simmer and simmer for 8-10 minutes to let those flavors come together and become friendly.

When you're ready to serve, take an apple and thinly slice and immediately place the apple slices in acidulated water (cold water with a few teaspoons of lemon juice). Ladle the soup into the bowls and place a few apple slices with a sprig of fresh rosemary and serve.

Maple Glazed Chicken

This recipe is mentioned in the mashed sweet potatoes and is extremely easy.
This recipe serves 4

2 tablespoons maple syrup
4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper to season

Heat a pan to medium high heat and place a little oil to coat the pan. Season the chicken breasts and place them in the pan. Depending on the size of the chicken breast, cooking times will vary. For the medium sized ones I used, it takes about 3-4 minutes per side. Once the chicken is cooked, brush the tops with maple syrup and flip and brush the other side. Then flip, cook for 5 seconds and remove from heat. If you wait too long and let the maple syrup cook, it'll burn fast. No more than 5 seconds a side. I served them with the mashed potatoes and a nice salad.

Wasabi Chicken Pastries

The pastry dough for this recipe is from Rachel Allen and it is spectacular. Not only is it wildly easy to make, but it can be filled with anything you want and can be used for both sweet and savory applications. The only thing to remember is that if you plan on filling it with something that has a decent amount of liquid in it (therefore producing condensation while it cooks), make sure to make a few slits in it so the dough doesn't pop.

If you need to clear your sinuses and love wasabi, this is a great recipe but like I said, you can fill it with whatever you want for a wonderful dinner. I provide the measurements for flour and water by weight because when you're making something like a pastry dough, accuracy is vitally important.

6 tablespoons earth balance butter (I prefer the stick kind because it's easy to measure)
8 ounces flour
4 ounces water
1 egg
2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon wasabi paste
1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
1 tablespoon kethup
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced pepper
extra egg for the egg wash
For the pastry, sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Place the butter (cubed) in the 4 ounces of water in a sauce pan. Heat gently over medium high heat until the butter has melted and bring the mixture to a boil. As soon as it comes to a rolling boil, take it off the heat, scramble the egg and pour it in the well in the flour, and aggressively stir as you pour in the hot liquid until it comes together as a dough. Spread the dough out onto a large plate and let rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a half hour.

While the dough is refrigerating, season and cook the chicken breasts on the stove top on medium high heat (cooking times vary depending on size). Once the chicken is cooked, remove them and place them in foil. Then reduce the heat to medium, and saute the onions and peppers until they're soft and cooked (about 5-6 minutes).

In a bowl, place the wasabi paste, ketchup, and mustard and whisk together. Then dice the now cooled chicken and place in the bowl with the sauteed onions and peppers and mix together until fully incorporated and let cool. You don't want this mix to be hot when you put it in the dough. WARNING - when the wasabi paste comes in contact with the hot onions, the steam will burn your eyes and be wildly uncomfortable (I found out first hand). Keep your head back when you mix all of these.

Once the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 425 and lightly flour a surface and roll out to 1/16" and cut in 4 1/2" circles (this dough will make 12 pastries each being .75 ounces of dough). On one half of the circle, put a tablespoon of the chicken salad mixture down. Then, use the egg wash to fold over the dough to make a crescent and seal this with your fingers. Then use the fork tines to close the seal and make a nice pattern. Brush the pastries with egg wash and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are beginning to brown. If you're not sure if the pastry is cooked at 15 minutes, place a toothpick in and if it comes out clean, you're good to go.

You can serve them while they're hot or room temperature.

Homemade Pasta

So if you have a pasta machine, this is a pretty easy thing to accomplish and it absolutely tastes better than dried pasta from a box. It is definitely more labor intensive than opening a box so if you're not going to have time to do it right, go with the boxed stuff because it's better than poorly made pasta.

Here's a wonderful rule of thumb for pasta making that I learned from Jamie Oliver. For every 100 grams of flour use 1 egg. To make enough pasta for a few people to have reasonably small portions, you could make dough with 100 g of flour and 1 egg. However if you're making a large dish or you just want to make a decent amount of pasta for 4-6 people, I'd double it. Also, if you make too much you can always hang the fresh pasta until it dries and then store it.

100 grams of flour
1 egg
dash salt

Here's the classic way to make pasta. Place the flour in a large mound (if you want to be really authentic, throw the flour mound directly on your counter top but you can certainly do this in a bowl). Make a well in the top and pour in the egg. Carefully whisk up the egg being certain that you don't get the flour everywhere and then once the egg is scrambled, slowly begin incorporating the flour until you have a cohesive dough.

Then, flour a board or your counter and pour out the dough. Now to be quite honest, you have to knead the hell out of this. You will have to knead this for at least 15 minutes by hand (No shortcuts). You'll know when this is done because miraculously, it will be a smooth and elastic dough.

Brush the dough with olive oil and then wrap in plastic wrap for at least a half hour (but I usually do an hour so I have time to clean up and sit for a few minutes).

Then when you're ready to roll this dough out, break it into sections and then re-wrap the remainder until you're ready to use it. Follow the instructions for your pasta machine and remember that when you cook this stuff, it cooks REALLY fast. Like in 2 minutes so watch it.

Shakshuka

Shakshuka is one of my favorite Israeli dishes. I can still distinctly remember eating this wonderful dish on the roof of a Jerusalem apartment looking out toward the West Bank on a hot spring day. This is a really easy recipe to make and yet it's fun for dinner parties and is a nice and healthy filling dish. I served this in individual souffle ramekins but you can easily serve this in a baking dish or cast iron skillet.

This recipe serves 4 so alter it based on the number of people you want to serve

2 cups tomato sauce (homemade is absolutely best but you can use store bought)
4 eggs
Fresh thyme and parsley for garnish

Preheat your oven to 350.

If you're using the souffle ramekins, pour 1/2 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of each ramekin and then carefully crack an egg over each being very careful not to pop the yolk because then this will just be messy. If you like runny yolk (which is really how this should be eaten because it adds a wonderful richness to the dish), bake for about 20 minutes. Start checking around 15 minutes because essentially, once the egg white has set and there is no longer any liquid whites, you're done. If you are like my girlfriend and do not like runny eggs, you'll need to cook this closer to a half hour until the yolk is fully set.

Garnish with fresh chopped herbs and serve immediately, just beware of the dish because it's really hot.

*If you're using a baking dish or cast iron pan to make this, simply place the tomato sauce in the bottom and crack the eggs around the pan.

Fall Vegetable Stew

This is a fantastic recipe for a few reasons. First of all, it's extremely healthy and yet warm and satisfying making it a wonderful cold weather dinner. Also, you can substitute different vegetables if you don't like what's in this recipe and customize a stew to perfectly please yourself and your guests. This recipe serves 4 at 300 calories a serving.

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup sliced leak
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup water
3/4 cup dark beer
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
3 chopped jalapenos (seeds and all. You can remove this if you're not a spicy food fan).
1/2 cup chopped parsnip
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup uncooked pearl barley
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons cream sherry (more or less depending on your taste. I personally think sherry adds a wonderful richness to soup)
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium high heat. When the oil's warm, sautee the leaks for about 2 minutes. Then add the water, beer, and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Once it's boiling, add the celery, carrots, parsnips, dill, barley, thyme, bay leaves, and sherry and return to a boil. Then cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Then stir in the lentils and cover and cook for 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes, throw away the bay leaves.

Now this part is great because it's an extremely healthy way to thicken a soup. Remove 1 1/2 cups of soup and put it in your food processor. Make sure you remove the plug on top to let the steam out but put a towel over it unless you want to redecorate the walls in your kitchen. Once it's pureed, return it back to the soup. Bring it back to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Then, you're ready to eat.

Noodle Kugel

I have never met a kugel I don't like. The noodles, cream cheese, raisins, and cinnamon are the hallmarks for the most incredible Jewish comfort food. That being said, not only is it difficult to make dairy free, but it is also a caloric nightmare. In my opinion, this version is just as good as the traditional versions but it is incredibly slimmed down.

1 tablespoon bestlife margarine
12 ounces egg noodles
2 cups silk live yogurt
2 cups tofutti cream cheese
2 eggs
2 additional egg yolks (and if you're making souffle for dessert, those remaining whites come in handy)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup raisins

For the topping:
1/2 cup corn flakes
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 and coat a 9"x13"x2" baking pan with baking spray. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and cook the egg noodles for about 6 minutes because you want them a little al dente. When they're finished, strain them, rinse them, and stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter. Set aside to cool.

Put the silk live plain yogurt and cream cheese in a mixing bowl with a paddle and mix on medium high until smooth and combined. Then mix in the eggs, sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest and mix to combine. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the raisins. Then pour in the noodles to the bowl and stir to combine and pour the entire mixture into the greased pan.

Then, crush up the corn flakes and mix them with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour the mixture evenly on top of the kugel. (**If you wanted to prepare this ahead of time, you should do everything but put the topping on and refrigerate for up to a day). When you're ready to cook, put the kugel in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the top is golden.

Enjoy!

Cider Glazed Chicken with Horseraddish Apple and Pear Salad

This amazingly light yet filling dinner came from an article I was reading in Cooking Light about a cider glazed chicken breast with rice and stuff. My issue with the recipe is that if you're going to use cider as a deglazing liquid, don't hide the apple, make it shine! So then I started thinking about what I like to eat with apples - horseradish, pears, and cheese (but this is dairy free so no cheese). So with this recipe, the chicken is browned in the pan, splashed with cognac (yup... Brandy also goes well with apple), and then the cider and horseradish is reduced to make a sauce to finish off the chicken.

Here's what you need:
4 Chicken cutlets
1 cup apple cider
1/3 cup cognac
1 tablespoon grated horseradish
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 pear
1 apple

First, take 4 chicken cutlets and make sure they're an even thickness (I prefer between 1/4 and 1/2 inch for quick pan cooking). Season your chicken, light on the salt if you're concerned with heart health, and begin heating a non-stick pan over medium-high heat with a little olive oil. Once the pan is lightly smoking, place the chicken cutlet in and don't touch it for at least 3 minutes (my chicken cutlets were pretty thin so I cooked them 3 minutes a side but you might need to cook them longer depending on thickness). Turn and cook on the opposite side and then when it's ready, take the pan off the heat and pour in the cognac.

**IMPORTANT - If you've never flambeed anything, there are a few things you need to be extremely careful of with this. If you pour the cognac in the pan from the bottle and the pan is too hot, the pan can ignite and sent the flame right to the bottle blowing up the bottle in your hand (that's not good). Aside from that, make sure you pour in the cognac in off the heat and swirl to cook out the alcohol. Then remove the chicken and place in a foil tented plate.

Next, pour in the cider, mustard, and horseradish and cook on medium heat until the mixture is thick and syrupy. Once it's reduced, put the chicken in the pan and reduce the heat to low to warm the chicken in the sauce.

As far as the salad, chop up the pear and apple and warm them in a small sauce pan very briefly. You don't want them to caramelize, just warm and soften slightly. Place them at the bottom of the plate and then put the chicken on top with a nice pour of sauce.

Truffle and Vegetable Quiche

Quiche really is a great versatile dish to be used from anything ranging from an informal brunch to an elegant lunch. My biggest issue with making quiche is that I'm definitely not a fan of pre-packaged frozen pie crusts and furthermore, making pie crust can be extremely challenging. If it's too dry, it cracks like crazy when it's rolled out and yet if it's too moist, it's too soupy. Even worse, too often homemade pie crust can lack that incredible flakiness and that problem is even worse when you make a dairy free pie crust. This pie crust recipe is by far the best I've ever used and the secret ingredient is... vodka. Yeah I know that sounds strange and seems like it would add an awful taste but the truth is that the vodka increases the moisture content of the dough making it much easier to roll out but when it's cooked, the vodka evaporates quickly and leaves the crust incredibly flaky.

Crust:
3/4 cup and 1/2 cup flour separated
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons earth balance butter replacement (very cold and cubed)
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (cold and cut into two pieces)
2 tablespoons COLD water
2 tablespoons very cold vodka (please don't use cheap vodka like that crap consumed in college dorms)

Quiche:
6 eggs
4 tablespoons tofutti cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
vegetables of your choice

Topping:
1/2 tablespoon earthsmart butter
drizzle of truffle oil

For the crust, place the 3/4 cup flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor and give it 2 one second pulses. Then add the butter and shortening and blend for about 10 seconds. Then scrape down the sides and add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse about 5 one second intervals. Then remove the dough into a bowl and sprinkle the water and vodka over the dough.

This next part is important. Use a rubber spatula and press down on the liquid into the dough repeatedly until the liquid is incorporated. Then form into a ball and flatten into a 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes and up to 2 days.

Then when you're ready, remove the disk and VERY GENEROUSLY FLOUR your service and roll out to about 1/8 inch and place in the pie pan and refrigerate for about 15 minutes. Heat your oven to 425. Place the eggs in a bowl and beat at least 4 minutes and increased in volume (pale and yellow). Add the tofutti, garlic powder, and salt and beat for another minute until well incorporated.

Line your pie crust with the vegetables in whatever pattern you like best. Pour your egg mixture over top (I brushed my crust with egg wash but that's optional) and cook for 15 minutes. Then turn down the heat to 325 and cook for another 15 minutes until the quiche is set and jiggles very slightly.

Then after letting the quiche cool for about 15 minutes, melt the butter replacement and whisk in the truffle oil and then brush the top of the quiche evenly with the truffle butter. It gives this quiche amazing flavor and since we're not working with flavorful and creamy cheese, we've got to add flavor in other ways.

Balsamic Chicken with Balsamic Pomegranate Sauce

This is a chicken recipe I made today based on my love for balsamic vinegar, marinated chicken, and the amount of flavor this dish has with an incredibly low amount of sodium. The other great thing about this dish is that you can do all the prep work for the marinade in the morning before work (or class) and then come home, saute the chicken quickly, finish it in the oven, and have everything done in less than a half hour. I paired mine with creamy polenta and a summer spinach salad.

Chicken Marinade:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup dry sherry
small pinch of salt
1 diced garlic clove
3 medium sized chicken breasts

Chicken:
1/4 cup grape tomatoes
1 large clove diced garlic
1/2 white onion diced
2 portabella mushroom cups sliced in strips
Balsamic Pomegranate Sauce:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon pomegranate juice

For the chicken, place all of the ingredients in a plastic bag and let marinate for at least 2 hours. Once you're ready to prepare dinner, pre-heat the oven to 375 and then place all of the ingredients for the sauce in a sauce pot and then over medium heat, bring the sauce to a boil and reduce until thick and syrupy (about a half hour).

Once you start that sauce, heat a 10 inch skillet (oven proof) with a tablespoon of olive oil until the oil starts to smoke. Shake the excess liquid and brown each side for about 2 minutes (watch this because the marinade makes it easy to burn).

Then take the skillet off the heat, place the vegetables in the pan around the chicken and put the whole thing in the oven for 12-15 minutes until your thermometer reads 170 degrees.

Then put a little sauce over the chicken and enjoy with your choice of sides.