There’s a story my mother loves to tell me about a time when I was a little girl.  My mom was in the kitchen, getting dinner ready per usual, when I bopped in and asked her what was for dinner.  “Cobb salad” my mother replied matter-of-factly.  My mother goes on to describe what can only be defined as a full blown melt down.  Not a normal 3 year old’s temper tantrum, more like a complete and utter shattering of a little girls soul.  Incredulous I screamed “SALAD! THAT’S NOT DINNER!!!”  

My mother tried to explain all the delicious and substantial ingredients that went into a cobb salad but I wasn’t hearing it.  I may have been little, but I was firm in my stance that a salad does not make for a dinner.  My mom made dinner for us every single night and it was always delicious, chicken piccatta, black bean soup, tortellini, you name it.  She prepared dinner thoughtfully every night, there was never a “just slap something on a plate” mentally to her meals.  That being said, I have no doubt that it was the best cobb salad I’ve ever had.  Good enough, I’m guessing, to explain why I am a true salad-for-dinner convert in my adulthood.  It is one of my favorite things to make for dinner.  Why?  Let me count the ways.  

• Salad is a great way to ensure I’m eating my veggies.  I’m not just talking about some weak iceberg lettuce here.  I often use spinach, kale, radicchio, and other mixed leaves for the greens.  I almost always add peas to my salad.  Peas in everything.  They add a nice brightness and texture.  Green beans also have a perfect place in a salad.  Sometimes I roast cauliflower or mushrooms and throw that in too.  Delicious and nutritious.  
• Is there anything better in this world than croutons?  I think we’ve established by now how much I love carbs, and a good crusty bread.  When I make a salad for dinner I always make the croutons myself.  I tear big pieces from a loaf of bread (seasame is my loaf of choice), toss the torn bits in olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake until they are crispy, but not hard as rocks.  Then, before I dress the salad, I always lightly toss the croutons in the dressing separately.  With every crispy bite of crouton, you also get a nice burst of tangy dressing.  It’s heavenly.
• It’s a break from the norm.  I was recently talking with a friend about how people eat in the Midwest, with a big hunk of meat on the plate, potatoes and then a side veggie.  That’s the classic dinner for Ohioan and their neighboring states.  But dinner doesn’t have to look like that.  A salad is still substantial without filling you up, or loading you down.  My husband has a hefty appetite, so it’s not like there’s any shortage of protein on our plates, but not every dinner has to come with a heaping side of mashed potatoes.  Salad for dinner breaks up the monotony of your typical dinner.
• Salad is easy to portion.  Most days, I’m only making dinner for me and the hubs, but about once a week I am cooking for my whole family.   For this reason, I love making salad.  It’s super easy to portion out the right amount without their being heaps and heaps of leftovers that often times, will never get touched.  There’s nothing I hate more than seeing food go to waste, and salad for dinner nearly ensures that doesn’t happen!

Last night for dinner I made spicy Caesar salads with whole wheat croutons and served it with flat iron steak.  But my favorite salad to make this autumn season is my oldest sister’s favorite salad, so I call it Liddy’s salad.   Here’s the sort of kind of recipe below.  Did I mention another great thing about salads….you just throw shit in a bowl so you don’t really need a recipe!

Ingredients:

• Kale, Spinach and/or any other time of green you’d like
• Quinoa
• Bacon
• Blue Cheese
• Pears
• Croutons
• Dijon Dressing (I always make my own!)
• Chicken thighs

Preparation:

• Brush chicken thighs with thin layer of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.  Bake for 30 minutes at 375.
• Cook quinoa until light and fluffy, set aside to cool slightly
• Cut or tear bread into small cubes, toss in olive oil, salt and pepper.  Lay out on baking sheet and put in oven for 8-12 minutes, depending on preferred level of crispness
• Before adding croutons to salad, lightly toss in salad dressing.
• In large bowl combine cooled quinoa, greens, finely chopped bacon, blue cheese crumbles, pears cut into small cubes, and croutons.  Pour dressing on top and toss using a pair of tongs.
• Top with chicken, garnish with additional pears or blue cheese crumbles, and serve.

One year ago I did this silly little thing and started a blog.  I was having a quarter life crisis, (can you have that at 30?)  It’s a classic tale of leaving one’s cushy job with a steady paycheck and retirement benefits in order to pursue one’s passions.  Starting my blog was the last step of the process: I quit the job, I took time to process what really mattered to me, then I put pen to paper, or rather fingers to keyboard.

A year of writing has been more fruitful than I could have ever imagined, but it’s also been more challenging.  I promised myself I’d be pumping out content regularly, and that didn’t happen in year one.  I promised myself I’d have 100,000 followers, and yet I’m pretty sure my mom is the only person reading this. (Hi mom!)  But one of the things I also learned in this blogging process is that I have to stop “shoulding” all over myself.  I am my harshest critic and blogging means that my flaws, and typos, and failures are out there for anyone on the internet to see.

I didn’t start blogging to make money, or fame, or get free stuff sent to my house (although that is sort of awesome.)  I started to blog to write and bake and drink and eat, all the things I love dearly in this life.  Blogging has opened doors that I didn’t know could be opened to me, and blogging has led me to self-actualize the life I’ve always hoped and dreamed of having.

Ciao Vella year two is going to be more of the same, but also more.  I’m going to post more regularly, I’m going to hold myself accountable for the content I want out there, and I hope you’ll continue to read with me, friends, readers, and my mom.  Thank you for your support.

Cheers and ciao!

When I was 3 years old I never went anywhere without a purse.  Sometimes it was stuffed with toys, sometimes it was empty, but it was always in my hand.  My dad called me the bag lady.  One thing was certain, I was a girly-girl through and through.  My personality has been pretty much cemented since I was 3 and I am still super girly.  Makeup, clothes, purses, they are my thing.  If you want to know why I’m late to your party, it’s probably because I’m doing my eyeliner just so.  I’ve learned in life that the pricier the liner, the better the result.  And I have tried just about every liquid liner under the sun.  Along the same lines, I was on the hunt for the best dry shampoo.  What would give me a fresh look without actually having to shower? What would make me look good, and still allow me to be lazy?  In my efforts I spent upwards of $30, down to $3. I found that my $5.99 Dove dry shampoo is better than those fancy celebrity hair stylist brands that cost a great deal more.  It got me thinking about the other things with which I should be splurging, or skimping.  

When it comes to the culinary world, I have some pretty hard and fast rules about what kitchen items and food items are worth spending the money and what you can get away with for less.

Splurge 

Butter – it makes everything better, this much we know.  But just adding a shit ton of Kroger brand butter to your dish isn’t necessarily going to make a difference.  In my experience, spending a little bit more on high quality unsalted butter can take what you make from meh to amazing.  For my everyday use, I stick to Kerry Gold Butter.  It’s 100% pure Irish butter, hormone-free, and made from grass-fed cows.  Why is that better?  The butter is much richer in nutrients, and omega-3 fatty acids.  Why does it taste better?  This butter makes for a creamier, nuttier taste than your average cheap butter on the shelves. It’s amazing how the base of a good butter can make all the difference in your food, so for butter, I urge you to splurge.

Bread – you know that expression “coolest thing since sliced bread?”  Well, in my household, sliced bread is extremely uncool.  Pre-packaged bread is filled with sugar, frozen for up to a year (!) then put on the shelves, and generally speaking just doesn’t taste that good.  If you’re lucky enough to have access to a fresh bakery, the bread that comes from those ovens (rather than the freezer) is 10 times better.  Packaged bread may taste fine (again, because it’s loaded with sugar) but freshly baked bread’s flavor is more nuanced, pure, and satisfying. Bread is a staple in our lives, so why not feed yourself with something that’s actually really delicious instead of just filling?

Cheese – You cannot get good cheese without spending some money, it’s just that simple.  Those kraft singles are absolute garbage, and should never be consumed, I don’t care how conveniently wrapped they are.  Cheese should not be neon, people!  Even a cheap mozzarella can have little to no flavor, aside from the plastic it’s wrapped in.  It’s worth the money to splurge on some cheese, whether you use it in your cooking, or for a carefully curated cheese board, because the flavors in nicer cheeses are more developed, and can highlight the fruits and vegetables with which they are served.  You don’t have to spend $45 per pound necessarily, but certainly up your budget where it counts.  The cheese I use the most in cooking is Parmesan Reggiano.  This is fromage gold.  Any old cheese may call itself Parmesan, but this is the real deal, the God Father, and a staple in any good Italian girl’s diet.  I may skimp a little bit on the price of cheese for my sandwich, but when it comes to grating over my pasta, or including in my meatballs:  well, pardon my french, but I don’t fuck around.

Skimp

Wine –  A few years ago Timmy and I were gifted a bottle of Dom Perignon.  We saved it for a special occasion and drank it the last night of our honeymoon.  It was….good.  But that’s it…just good.  Was it $250 good?  I don’t know.  I’ve consumed a lot of good wine in my life and it was certainly not the best thing I’ve ever tasted.  One of my favorite sparkling wines is Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc which retails for about $40.  If given the choice between the two, I think I’d choose Schramsberg time and time again.  Sure I’ve had nice glasses of wine that are expensive, and I can certainly taste the difference between a $65 bottle of Chardonnay and some Barefoot crap, but I also think there is a lot of affordable wine out there that you can drink without breaking the bank.  It’s hard to know what to look for in a bottle, what’s going to taste like swill, and what isn’t, but the more I learn about wine the more I recognize that expensive doesn’t always mean better.  

Dry Pasta – Huge disclaimer here: there is nothing like fresh-made pasta.  It will make you rethink food as we know it, so please note that I am only talking about dry pasta here.  There are a lot of great quality, pasta options in the grocery store, but this is one of those items that I don’t think makes a huge difference whether you spend $10 or $2.99.  If you cook pasta well, if the ingredients that go into it are fresh and thoughtfully prepared, you season it well, and use GOOD BUTTER, then the pasta may not be the star of your dish, but I bet the dish will be pretty damn good.  If you want the pasta to be the star, then make it, but otherwise, your store brand shells will suit you just fine.  

Organic Produce – I could write an entire blog post on it’s own about what Organic really means, how it’s regulated, and whether or not it’s just a buzzword leading you to shell out the dough, but I’m going to put that rant aside for now.  I may ruffle some feathers with the 7 readers I have here, but in my opinion there are only a few types of produce where it’s important to buy organic.  A rule for me is: if you’re ripping or peeling anything off the fruit or veggie before it’s prepared, then you don’t have to pay the premium.  A stalking veggie like celery is a good example of produce I’d pay a little extra, but a banana is not.  I’m ripping the peel of the banana off so the part affected by the “organic benefits” is going right in trash.  Your favorite herbs, buy organic.  But things you’ve got to peel?  Put away your purse, they don’t require the splurge.

There you have it, the Ciao Vella guide of where to spend and where to save.  Happy shopping, cheers and ciao!