February 2012 – Discover Healthy Food

Recipe: Family Italian dinner

My mother-in-law hosts family dinner nearly every Sunday. That’s a lot of effort! To take the pressure off her, we hosted Sunday dinner… Italian style!

Easy-peezy chicken parmesan. Instead of breading the chicken breasts, we put two layers of croutons and cheese on top of the chicken. Surprisingly good!

Klint tried a new recipe of cheese tortellini, brocoli, bacon, raisins, and sunflower seeds.

No dinner is complete without my signature green salad. Roasted walnuts, tomatoes and blue cheese.

Klint even made some crème Brule from scratch. I usually don’t eat sugar, so I had him just put cinnamon on the top instead of the customary sugar. I really liked it with only the cinnamon. Give it a try some time!

It’s a lot of fun preparing and cooking with Klint. It’s a labor of love, but we enjoy it! OK, family, manga-manga!

Restaurant Review: Wild Grape

Introducing friends to yummy restaurants is one of my favorite things to do. Fun to experience great food – especially organic and locally grown ingredients. This time, we invited Greg and Lindsey to The Wild Grape – located downtown Salt Lake. Of course, they loved it too!

Klint had the Grape salad with grilled salmon. This is his favorite dish at Wild Grape.

Jen had the Steak with lobster and asparagus. Holy cow was

this good!

Lindsey enjoyed the Mushroom risotto. It looked really cheesy and rich. Couldn’t try a bit because mushrooms are evil!

Greg had the Bison burger and fries. That’s a favorite for sure. (sorry, no picture this time)

Dessert was the Bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. So rich… really one bite is all you need!

We always recommend The Wild Grape. Great spot for lunch and dinner. Remember, if you’re going for dinner on Friday or Saturday night, call ahead for reservations. They aren’t open on Mondays.

Restaurant Review: Em’s with friends

Introducing friends to a great restaurant is one of my favorite outings. I first went to Em’s with Marilyn – it was her birthday dinner choice. I’d hadn’t heard of Em’s before – but now after going and mentioning it to others – I find that few people know of this gem. In a way, that is good because the busier Em’s becomes, the harder it is to get a reservation.

For appetizer we enjoyed the heavenly smoked salmon and crab rolls. You MUST try these. Wow. Our friends even ordered another serving to go. Yeah, it’s that good.

Salads were fresh and light. A nice way to clear the palate before the entrées.

I had the lobster and prawn Brazilian gumbo. The coconut milk was a surprising under lying flavor to the seasonings.

Bruce had the pork chop. I didn’t try a bite, but it looked really tender and juicy. Might have to try myself next time.

Carolyn had the salmon with creamed cabbage. I had to taste her cabbage – it was like butter. Devine.

Klint had the short rib. Fall-off-the-fork goodness. Might have been the best entrée of the night.

When you plan to attend Em’s, make sure to call for a reservation a few days in advance. Typically you’ll leave a voicemail and then they’ll call you back.