New things happening!!!

Well the time has come to move this blog over to  my new website… at least for now!  So please check out   www.dorinaskitchen.com where you can see all the new stuff I’m doing as well as start re-following my blog page on that site!

Thanks to all of you who have followed here and read my posts!  LOVE YOU ALL!

So many things going on in this life!  Gotta love it!

Ciao for now!

Dorina

I sold the restaurant and checked it off the Bucket List!

Well, I’m so sorry I never wrote here on my blog since I opened my restaurant but unfortunately there wasn’t time!!!
SO…. I sold it!
Now the time has come to get back to me and my writing!
My next chapter begins!
See you all soon!
Dorina
XOXO

Dorina’s Kitchen….finally some progress!!!

Well, my last post was all about me wanting to open a restaurant and now it’s happening!
Now, I finally got electricity day before yesterday and today we started painting… well actually my friend Jack started painting! Best part was my dear Hubby Pasquale actually went to Home Depot to buy the paint for me and even though he sounded like he feared for his life while on the phone with me describing the color I wanted he got a GREAT color!!! As I was at home in the kitchen, cooking what I am hoping will be my LAST catering job from home, I was describing on the phone that I wanted a “peachy kind of terra cotta kind of color but not too dark and not too red and not too yellow or too much brown tone in it!” LOL!!! I guess I would have been afraind too! Well he got a color called Cantaloupe something and it is beautiful! Truly a cantaloupe color which just looks soooo cheerful and bright and not too red, yellow, dark or brown!!! YAY!!! Well I’m off to bed so I can be ready to get back there early in the AM to scrub the kitchen walls and the stove!!!
Today I am thankful for Pas picking out great paint and even more, allowing himself to try to get what I wanted!!! and for our friend Jack who just came over this morning asking for the key and went over and started prepping for the paint before we even had it! Wow, it just doesn’t get much better!!!
OH yes it does…. The catering job went PERFECTLY! Got everthing done on time, done well and they LOVED it!!! I am soooooo happy!
Good night and God Bless!!!
Dorina

Dorina’s Kitchen…COMING SOON!

Well, I started this blog about food and life a couple of years ago. I love food, I love to write… yes and I love alot of other things too but that’s not what I’m gonna write about right now!

Over the years, I have worked with food one way or another. I grew up in a restaurant from the 8th grade on….
tI was called Roseto after my Papa’s home town in Italy. Just for background, Roseto is the most beautiful place on earth…(according to me anyway!) It sits on the side of a mountain in Puglia which is the heel region of the boot of Italy. Roseto is in the top inside corner of the region. I have never seen more stars at night than when I have been there. I always attributed that to the fact that Roseto was the closest to what I imagine heaven to be. Of course being high up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere where there were no lights to drown out the stars didn’t matter. It was just that it was heaven!
Well… anyway, back to food! So at our restaurant growing up, I did every job imagineable in that place. I washed dishes. (which was actually fun cuz you are the BOSS in the kitchen when you own the sprayer!!! LOL!!!) I made salads and prepared desserts for the waiters, I was an “assistant” to the busboys and then I bussed tables myself. I waited, bartended, hostessed and yes… even cooked!!!
We had the most amazing chef. His name was Luigi and his food was wonderful. My aunt from Italy, Tettina also worked in our kitchen. They never really officially taught me anything…but I learned how to make every dish on our menu just from watching… (amazing what you can learn by paying attention!)
Since those days, I have continued to be an avid student of FOOD… Of course even before the restaurant, my mother was a good cook and HER mother… well sorry Mom, but no one could beat out Nonna in the kitchen! Her meatballs and ravioli that she made one by one, stuffed artichokes and ALL those Italian cookies!… well… enough said!
I made it my mission to learn all of Nonna’s recipes-so I would go over her house and learn and then I would call her every 10 minutes whenever I was making something just to make sure I was doing it right! I really think she loved those phone calls!
So now on to my life since those days… I got married 24 years ago to a guy whose first question was “Are you Italian?” and then… “Can you cook?” —SO…. do you think I could have ever gotten away with NOT cooking????
He would ask me if I knew how to make something and of course I would say YES.. and then I’d call Nonna!
We proceeded to have 6 kids and the first 5 are boys so you can imagine how much they eat! Well, for 22 years since my first boys were born I have been cooking for THEM… yes I have done some catering and cake making and now more recently cooking lessons… but my most consisten audience has been my family of 8 and all their friends!
Well… the time has come to open up my own restaurant. It happened like God’s hand was moving the game pieces…
Just before Tino’s (son number 4) graduation party, my sink decides to back up. (isn’t timing lovely?!) SO I call my plumber Steve. He didn’t answer. I’m getting frantic. So my friend told me she used 2 other plumbers and I know them both but I know Mike much better so I called him. He came, fixed my sink and proceeded to tell me about a little Deli/restaurant that was for rent! BAM! Wrong plumber… good job and GREAT info! (my plumber called shortly after! But HE didn’t have the info on the restaurant for me! )
There really are NO coincidences because funny little things just kept happening…
So NOW I am opening my own place hopefully by September. It’s going to be called Dorina’s Kitchen…because… well because that’s what it will be! My friend Jean from high school said it best that made me feel so good… she said people feel warm and fuzzy in my kitchen! (Thanks Jeani!!!) But I also believe this is more than being just about food. I believe that LIFE happens in the kitchen. All of life’s joys and pains and big decisions all happen in the kitchen at the table over FOOD. So YES I guess it is about FOOD…but it is about LIFE. I guess as my card says… LIFE IS ALL ABOUT THE FOOD -MAKE IT GOOD. When I wrote that I was talking about food. But really its all about making LIFE good.
In my place you will eat good food, relax, not feel rushed, and hopefully connect with the people you love. Of course I will always be there to pass on some of the Kitchen Wisdom that I learned from Nonna and Mom and Luigi and Tettina and Mamma Grazia and Zia Angelina…and from my husband and kids who I do all my best cooking for and love more than anything on this earth. THEY are why I’m doing this. Because they have given me the motivation and inspiration and support and love of my food to make me want to share it with others too.
Just know one thing though… I will not hesitate to put a sign on the door and close up for an hour or an afternoon if my family needs me. They will still come first!

everyone’s got a STORY…..

So today I had a friend call me due to the question I posted on Facebook about possibly buying a restaurant. We haven’t spoken in probably a year and she lives 5 minutes from me! She said I should post more questions like I did the other day…. it got interesting back and forth comments and it made her call me…. Then I found out her son had spent a semester abroad LAST YEAR and when I asked “How come I didn’t know that????” She said “Because you have a life! ” …. I DO… she is right on one hand…but I’m sorry I didn’t know. I’m sorry we havent gotten together more. I miss you.
Names shall be anonymous because this could be a number of my friends and actually IS…. especially some….right now. I miss you.

The thing is… that I am TRULY BLESSED. I have a lot of wonderful friends and family that I actually like!. Most of my friends are on my Facebook list. I’m glad you are there. At least once in a while even if we can’t talk all the time we can keep up with each other in some fashion because we care… I have friends and family on here from DC/MD/VA=home….who are from grade school, high school and college…co workers, roommates and neighbors. All across this USA including NJ(current home), NY W.VA, DE,RI, FL,AL,GA,NC,CA, AZ,TX,IL, IN, PA, OH, CT, MA….There are some from Roseto (my Italian hometown which I love more than any place on earth) Italy and England, Germany, Belgium, South Africa, Iceland, Austalia, Venezuela, Colombia and Canada.
As I look at this list, I realize how far reaching my life has been. If money were no object and days had more than 24 hours I wish I could have all of you in my life all the time. The reality is that as my friend who started this thought process working today said… I have a life… we all do. I want all of you to know that I care about people. Especially MY people. YOU are my people. If you don’t hear from me– msg. me, call me, knock on my door or just walk in for that matter. I wish you were all local to me or me to you…but we aren’t. I wish I had a private jet! I’d be in Roseto every other week and in other places in between. The fact remains that times are tough. Not just for me but for all of us I am sure. One thing I have learned in this life… EVERYONE HAS A “STORY”. Among my friends and family there have been deaths by accident, illness and suicide. Some have been older and lived long lives and others were taken way too soon. Some suffered some didn’t. I miss them all. They all affected my life and touch my life still today by the lessons I learned and compassion I grew through it all. Others have dealt with A.D.D., A.D.H.D, Tourettes, O.C.D, Anxiety and Depression. I have friends who suffer from PTSD who were in the military. Others in the military suffered physically. I have friends who have suffered abuse and others whose spouses were less than honorable. I have friends who have kids with all kinds of issues and others who have lost their kids. And I have people who are in financial ruin/distress. Some have lost jobs and others lost houses.
We all go thru some kind of pain in our lives. What is most important is that we all realize that we DO all have a story…. that we all have a LIFE. BUT in the meantime, one of the joys in life is having people who we love and who love us. Whether we live next door and see each other every day or we live across the world and haven’t seen each other in 20 ages. I have a friend I hadn’t seen in 30 years(since Jr Hi) then we reconnected a few years ago and we are very close today, even tho we still don’t live nearby. SO, everyone… if you have any peeves about who didn’t call today when they said they’d call you back in 5 minutes… to hell with it call THEM.
I know I haven’t always been the best friend or cousin or daughter or sister or mother or wife… but my heart is in the right place and it bursts with love for the people I have chosen to keep in my life in whatever way possible.
Think about it people. Think about it in terms of the people on YOUR list of people you love. If you haven’t told them recently, tell them….and remind them that even when you aren’t seeing or speaking often that you are always there. I’m sure they know but reminders are nice now and then. And don’t assume that if you haven’t heard from them that they don’t care. Because if you do, I’m sure they do. And remember that they have their own story they are trying to write, deal with or erase!
Afterwards say a little prayer and instead of whining about who has left you in your life…. thank God for the people who are still THERE. THEY are the ones who help you get thru all the issues life will throw at you. Your family and your friends -all over the world.
I wish you all Peace and Love and as much Happiness as you can muster up! because after all you are in charge of your own happiness… the rest of us are just here to come on your ride and invite you to come on ours.
(I had to define “muster” for Angelina tonite as a vocaulary word! ..good word! LOL)
By the way… i cannot even begin to tell you(without writing an entire book) how many of the above “issues” are MINE…LOL… but through it all…with the help of God and all of you…. I’m still here.
All my love,
Dorina

I’m Back and NOT Going Away Again!!! (oh promises, promises!!! )

Well yes, once I started blogging, it took me a while to get rolling, but once I did, I was writing pretty regularly. Then it happened…. I stopped!!! and then I tried to start up again…. and then…stopped.
Well…. the short story is this-
I got busy with my life that was falling apart at the time. I actually started writing when I WAS REALLY a mess inside… but it gave me some peace and feeling of accomplishment. I have always wanted to write and so I was doing it and for that little snipped section of my life I was happy. BUT… I wasn’t. Everything was falling apart around me and the only thing that kept me grounded was feeding my family. The most basic of chores in taking care of my family. SO… Food kept me grounded. AND it made me gain weight, but that is another story for another time.
So, during the time I wasn’t writing, I got my proverbial “stuff” together and of course just like any thing in life, I am still a work in progress. But I will tell you this- anything worth having in this life is worth working hard for. If all the good things were easy to get would they be as desirable? I am now working towards my dreams -as I always was, but now I’m actually moving and not on the hamster wheel anymore! As I continue to write here, I will share what goes on in Dorina’s Kitchen…. which is LIFE. I just updated the bio on my Facebook page and I think it about sums it up so here it is…
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I love my kitchen. This is where everything important in life takes place. It’s where we eat, it’s where we laugh, where we cry and fight and make up. It’s where we go for comfort and where we go to share joys. It is the heart of a family home.
I was lucky enough to learn from my Mom and Nonna and from all my cousins and friends in Italy as well as the Italian restaurant I grew up in. I am truly blessed.
It is in my kitchen that I nourish my family… it is in my kitchen that I dispense of the wisdom I gained from my lifes experiences and Mom’s and Nonna’s and everyone else I learned from.
It’s where I live.
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So as I start up my writing again, I will continue to share my recipes and my bits of wisdom that I do believe I have gained over these last few years…. all the stuff that I already “knew” but didn’t really! Because I have finally learned that you can “know” everything but unless you use that knowledge you don’t KNOW A THING.
Peace,
Dorina

Taco Taco!!!

Hello all!
I just wanat to share a great book that has so much good stuff in it regarding diet and health and just cool stuff about life in general and how to live it the best…
Please check out Tim Ferris’ book “The 4 Hour Body”
Now because I am reading this and have been really trying a lot of new things diet wise, he recommends the Slow Carb Diet which I am all for… and of course he loves Mexican food with all the beans as the “slow carb” which I love also…
So last nite I made tacos.
Now I think everyone knows how to make tacos, but most people buy the seasoning packet from the store and I think you all know by now that I can’t stand pre-packaged junk!
So I season my meat myself and let me tell you it is SO much tastier–I think so anyway!

So here we go…
Brown your meat (ground beef, turkey or chicken) drain excess grease…
and generously add the following spices…

Cumin, Coriander, White Pepper, Fresh Ground Pepper, Chili Powder, Paprika, Basil, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Salt…add a little olive oil to moisten it all and make spices all stick!
(this is the quickie version… or you can chop up fresh basil, garlic and onion which I do when I have more time.)
Then go about your regular taco making…
make all your bowls of chopped lettuce and tomatoes and shredded cheese and sour cream and i like to have some beans refried or black beans or both like I did last nite!

I like to start with the refried beans on the bottom… it makes eerything stick better!
Then I put in my wonderfully seasoned meat then the black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream then I top with the cheese! Yum.
Fresh, yummy and healthy too!

Then if there are leftovers I save for the next day and make a big taco saled with whatever is left. I just add a little bit of Salsa with the sour cream to make a little more of a “dressing”.

Well, I hope you enjoy, Taco Salads and tacos and burritos… are truly one of my faorite foods expecially in the summer…

Until tomorrow!!!
Peace, Love and Happiness!

♥Dorina

Feeling like some Creative Fish!

So I’m at the store and they have beautiful big tilapia filets on sale… So… I got some… but for some reason thinking of all the normal ways I usually fix it were not making me happy… I just got the notion of wanting to make it “stuffed”.  So I decided I was going to make stuffed fish and set about to see what I had here in the house to stuff it with!  It was fun!  AND it turned out great!

I started with some thick Tilapia filets that were thick enough that from the center I was able to slice a flap on either side so when I stuffed it, it was open on top not the side…  the size and thickness of your filets will determine how you slice it to later stuff….any way you do it is fine…

Next I sauteed some

pancetta ( you can get it in little blister packs at Trader Joes already diced up)

some diced up zucchini

chopped sweet vidalia onion

chopped sun dried tomatoes

(all these things were chopped to be rather small and uniform in size)

Then while that was all sauteeing together,

I took about a pint of heavy cream and half a package of cream cheese and beat it together until lightly fluffy (not necessarily to full whipped cream stage) and then I added a hefty dollop of some leftover zinfandel I had but you can use any white or pink wine…and whipped some more.

I then added cream mixture to sauteed mixture and stirred all together and sauteed a bit more.   I added a little white pepper and I am telling you that I added JUST A PINCH of salt…the pancetta added enough saltiness and everything else had plenty of flavor..

Then you just scoop out the filling and stuff inside of fish halves and then pour remaining sauce on top.

Bake in 350 degree oven 20-30 minutes

Serve with some roasted potatoes and another green vegetable and you have a healthy meal with just a little “cream” fat and the pancetta is so little for flavor that it isn’t that bad either… but if you make sure you have some greens it helps the health factor a LOT. 

If you eat a lot of good things like this… with fish, veggies, etc, then a little cream or bacon isn’t horrible as long as you keep EVERYTHING IN MODERATION (and LOTs OF greens!!)

I really hope you enjoy this dish because according to my husband it was REALLY good…

Peace, Love and Happiness!

♥Dorina

Yummy Healthy Cookies!!!

Well, I have been reading a lot about the negative attributes of the modern wheat that has been so genetically modified that I personally wonder if we can even call it wheat anymore! 

It makes us crave it more, has more “sugar” in it than table sugar and is even higher in gluten which makes so many  more people sensitive to it!

I don’t have any official gluten sensitivities, but I have decided to go WHEAT free for a couple of weeks just to try it out.  In the last two weeks the only wheat products I had were a 1/4 of a muffin that was staring at me!!!  and a very small bowl of pasta that I had made a killer red sauce for that I will share another time… so of course I HAD to have some. But in the meantime, I have had no bread or sweets of the wheat based kind at all … and I have to say that the longer I go the less I’m craving… I guess it’s getting out of my system! 

I don’t plan on staying 100% wheat free but I have to say that I feel good enough that I am definitely going to stick to my “moderation” rule and keep the wheat on the lower end of the scale.  ( I have to share tho… I found a website where they sell the “old wheat” of days gone by that has no modern modifications to its genetic code and it’s a little expensive but worth it I think … so I may be ordering some in the near future… I’ll let you know what I think!)

OK… so anyway, last nite I decided to try out some other types of flour and make some cookies… they came out great!!!  I just started mixing stuff and VOILA’!  YUM!!!

Ok start with your mixer and throw this stuff in….

2 sticks butter and 1.5 cups sugar-1/2 white and 1/2 brown and mix together

3 Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Buckwheat flour

1 cup Coconut flour

1/2 cup Tapioca flour

1 cup Oats

5 tablespoons  MILA ground chia seed

1/2 cup raisins

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix all together and drop onto cookie sheet… I flattened them a little because they don’t flatten much on their own (which I figured out after first tray)

Cook til lightly browned on the bottom… about 8-10 min in a hot oven!  (around 350 degrees)

Well I wasn’t sure how they were going to taste, but they were amazing!!!

The kids devoured them and it was all I could do to hide a few for lunches today!

The coconut flour smelled soooo good as I opened the bag … it didn’t give the cookies a coconut flavor but it did add “something” to it…. just good stuff and the kids will have no clue as to what you are putting in their cookies!!! 

Please try this and let me know what you think!!!

Love tons!!!

♥Dorina

Long time….

You know, ever since I wrote about my vow of silence I HAVE NOT WRITTEN!!! Holy Crap… did I set myself up to be silent for over a year?!?!?
Well, let me tell you… there is MUCH to tell and if I try to catch up with you all before I just continue writing, then I will never get started again.
The fact remains that SOOO much has happened to me these past couple of years… even before I started writing this blog but the last year and a half really pulled so many things together for me in my life.
I went thru so many ups and downs and learned so much and as I continue to write I will share some of it so that maybe it could possibly help someone else too. 

So… for now I am going to just get started writing again and am going to start back calmly and quietly with FOOD!!!
My love to you all who read my blog in the past and those of you who are just finding me now!

Dorina