Not too many months after I decided to start a blog and get the things in my head out onto a plate (and into a virtual recipe box!) I started a diet.  Years of good food, having babies and a love of cooking of all sorts… caught up big time and it was time to re-engineer my brain and palate and especially my waistline.

It’s been a good diet… I chose it because it was made for people who like to cook real food.  It has definitely forced me to move beyond my old tastes and standby recipes and branch out to new flavors and lots and lots and lots of fresh veggies.

Though I’ve worked with many of the prescribed recipes in the diet over the last months, following them closely.  Which has cut down on the number of entries here for sure.  I’ve had the opportunity to try to create a few of my own recipes that have fit a healthier diet profile. I hope to do more of this as the summer progresses and add them to this blog.

What I’ve learned…

1. Vegetables do not need to be treated as color on the plate, taking a backseat to an “entree” … they can stand alone and become a frontline dish.  (Thank you Giada De Laurentiis for the healthy inspiration in your cookbooks!)

2. I’ve found that cooking waistline friendly meals for friends and family has surprisingly been met with lots of positive feedback.  The praise has been equal for some of the ‘new’ healthy dishes as they were for my favorite buttery eggy herbed popovers.

3. I feel better cooking in a way that is healthy for every body… and it’s taken me out of a “Protein, Starch, Veg” rut and into looking at more interesting and healthy choices using even more varied ingredients and exploring interesting, new, healthier, substitutions.

And of course… it’s also nice to have to buy smaller clothes!

Summer is coming….I think this year we will appreciate it more, savor it more and experience it with a new appreciation.  After the record breaking winter of 2015 and a February so brutal none of us will forget, the fruits and vegetables of summer will be that much more welcome.   One of my absolute favorite summer pastimes is canning.  I love simmering big pots of berries and concocting new combinations of preserves. And then, there is the prime crop of summer, the ripe juicy tomato in all of its sun soaked summer splendor. I am a picky tomato eater…I can’t stand the waxy, gritty, jellied winter varieties and I really will wait all year for the summer ones to arrive to eat one!  Then to extend some of that summer flavor through the winter, I roast them 20 lbs at a time, crush them skin and all, add just a little seasoning, and can them in a way that would hopefully make my grandmother proud.

20lbs of summer tomatoes from your local farmer

Salt and pepper

Lemon juice concentrate

Canning jars and good instructions from Ball’s book of preserves

A food mill and a helpful 5 year old

Half, sprinkle with salt and pepper and then roast the tomatoes at 450 F for 45 minutes. Crush in a food mill and then simmer to cook off extra moisture and thicken. Can according to recommended Food safety guidelines.