Rosie's Cozy Kitchen: Three-Bean Salad

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Instructions:

  1. Prepare dressing in jar with lid and shake well. Set aside.

  2. Drain and rinse all beans.

  3. After chopping red onion, place in small bowl of ice water and a splash of vinegar.

  4. Mix beans, pepper, celery, and cilantro in large bowl.

  5. Drain onion well and add to bean mixture.

  6. Remove garlic clove. Pour dressing over salad and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. This gets better after marinating, so can be prepared a day ahead.

While I’m a fan of all things grilled in the summertime, some hot nights you just want what my mom used to call “a cold supper.” Though this dish is fine as a side—and one I often bring to family BBQs—I like it as a main with a green salad or another vegie on the side. Feel free to swap out the beans and herbs with those of your choice.

Salad Ingredients:

  • —a 15 oz. can of black beans

  • —a 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans

  • —a 15 oz. can of small navy beans

  • —a red bell pepper, diced

  • —2 stalks of celery, diced

  • —1/2 red onion, quick pickled

  • —1/2 cup cilantro or parsley, roughly chopped

  • salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:

  • 1/4 cup olive oil

  • 2 tbs. fresh lime juice

  • 2 tbs. apple cider vinegar

  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and bruised

  • 1 tsp. of salt/fresh ground pepper

Rosie's Cozy Kitchen: Tortelloni with Pancetta and Greens

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Today’s offering from the kitchen features tortelloni, a larger and somewhat softer version of the more well-known tortellini. The recipe may be made with either kind of pasta.

Tortelloni with Pancetta and Greens

A 16 oz. bag of good quality frozen tortelloni or tortellini

4 to 6 oz. of pancetta, cubed

1 tablespoon of olive oil

5 oz. of baby spinach, or leafy green of your choice

1/4 cup half and half

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated parmesan cheese for serving

 

1) Set the pasta water to boil in a large saucepan. Use olive oil spray to coat another heavy bottomed pan—one large enough to accommodate the pasta— and set the heat to medium high. When sides of pan are hot, brown the pancetta to a crispy golden brown. Set pancetta aside in a bowl.

2) Pour off excess fat, but leave a nice coating in the pan, as well as any brown bits of pancetta that might be left behind. Heat a scant tablespoon of olive oil in the pan, and add spinach. Once spinach is wilted, about two minutes, season with salt and pepper, remove from pan and set aside.

 3) When pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander and pour into the pancetta pan, which should be set over low heat. Add spinach and pancetta. Pour the cream over the mixture and quickly stir it into the pasta until all ingredients are well-coated and cream is thickened and heated through.  Serve immediately with freshly grated cheese.

A Word'll Do

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Each morning, I start my day with a healthy breakfast, two cups of dark roast coffee, and a leisurely game of Wordle. Not sure there’s anyone out there who hasn’t heard of the game sensation, recently bought by the New York Times, to the chagrin of many, but I am happily and irrevocably hooked by this sweet little word game.

For the uninitiated, Wordle is all about five-letter words, and figuring out which is the correct word on a given day. (And no looking them up, cheaters.) There are lots of strategies endlessly discussed on the Internet, but my own is pretty simple: Start with a word that has two or three vowels and a typical consonant blend. A gold letter turning up means it’s somewhere in the word; a green letter shows the correct positioning, and a gray one indicates it’s not in the word at all. Here’s the game board of a recent puzzle I did. It took me all 6 tries—the only time it’s happened to me.

I often start with a word like “ROUSE,” because it’s got three vowels—love those dipthongs. In this game, TRAIN only gave me the T, and not in the correct place. Since “TE” is a common ending in English, I went with a word that had a different vowel, U, and tried a different consonant blend, CH. All that did was gain me an E, and again, not in the right place. This is generally the step in which I take out my paper and gel pen and start scribbling. I started with the idea that the T could likely end the word and also assumed that the E was possibly the only vowel. I got lucky with the next choice, SPENT, which gave me the skeleton of the word. Once I tried the double E, I got very close.

However, in entering my guesses, I had made not one, but two rookie mistakes—repeating both the N and the H, after the game board had already grayed them out. Hence the the six tries. But without them, I may have never gotten to the correct answer, which was SWEET—in more ways than one!

How about you? Any Wordlers out there?

Sneak Peek: Minestrone Mischief

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Book 4 of the Italian Kitchen Mysteries, Minestrone Mischief, is now underway. The main character in my series, Victoria Rienzi, is herself a mystery writer. In Minestrone Mischief, the reader gets a small glimpse of of Victoria’s famous sleuth, Bernardo Vitali, when she does a reading at her local library. Bernardo can best be described as an Italian Poirot. He’s known for his Panama hats, white linen suits, black patent leather shoes, and sharp detective brain. In the following excerpt, Vitali and his sidekick, Inspector Morelli, have discovered a body:

Bernardo Vitali frowned, gesturing at the body lying at the men’s feet. “His ensemble, it is interesting, no?”

“Interesting!” Inspector Morelli exclaimed. “My God, sir, he’s dressed exactly like you: the same hat, the same suit, the same shoes. It’s disturbing, that’s what it is.”

“I agree, Inspector. It is disturbing.” Vitali flicked the cuff of the man’s trousers with a gloved finger. “The tailoring is hideous,” he said, tossing his head and smoothing the lapels of his immaculate white linen suit. “I would not be caught dead in such rags. However, as this man was caught dead in them, we have a task in front of us, do we not?”

Morelli circled the body, noting its position, as well as the large knife stuck in the chest. “Bernardo,” he said thoughtfully, “regarding this man’s imitation of you, I have something of a theory—”

“And do you think the great Vitali has time for your nonsensical theories?” the sleuth interrupted. “My dear Inspector, you do not seem to understand: My notes, my thoughts, my deductions—indeed, my fine mind—are all I need to solve this distressing murder. So, il mi amico, save your petty theories. And now,” he said, glancing at his gold pocket watch, “I sense it is time for the cocktails, as murder always gives one a great thirst.”

  

Throwing Away the Color Box

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The sign below appeared in my hair salon, and it was one I found myself staring at more than once, often while waiting the 45 minutes for my permanent color to take. But each time I read that sign, I ended up following its advice. And kept coloring my hair dark brown.

Then my mom became seriously ill, and in the last weeks of her life, I was far too busy—and sad—to get to the hairstylist for a touch-up. Not long after her funeral, I stood in front of the mirror and noticed that my one-inch roots were a variety of colors—from white to silver to dark gray. They looked kind of interesting, and it was exactly the push I needed to finally throw away that box; it also seemed like a fitting time to do it.

As I wear my hair short anyway, it was fairly easy to take the plunge. My (very talented) stylist used highlights to disguise the brown and help blend the silver. In four months, the dyed color was completely gone. And while it provoked mixed reactions from friends and family at first, strangers seemed to love it. One afternoon I sat at a cafe bar having a quiet lunch alone, reading. Until I noticed the three Gen Z baristas, two young men and a woman, staring at me. The guys exchanged glances; one elbowed the other and said, “Tell her.” The braver of the two then said, “We think you look like Jamie Lee Curtis.”

Seriously? The Jamie Lee Curtis, with her confident swagger and willingness to face down killers? Heck, I’ll take it. I grinned happily and thanked them, but then the girl spoke up. “You know who else?” she said. “Carol, from The Walking Dead.” Because I don’t watch the show, one of the guys pulled up a picture on this phone, of a woman with cropped silver hair who was outfitted with a variety of weapons. “She’s a badass,” he said confidentially.

It was a sweet moment, I was awfully flattered. If I’d had any doubts about going gray, they were dispelled that afternoon. There were other perks as well—I can now wear colors (blues, purples) that I couldn’t before, so it was a lovely excuse to buy new stuff, including new lipstick colors. I’ve long been at peace with the decision to throw away that box.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I really have to go—there’s some zombie butt that needs kicking. . .