Maybe Jon and Kate's Tomato and Onion Salad plus a few Variations

So I am on this lime kick lately. Then I start watching my usual Monday night show Jon&Kate Plus 8. Kate is making something she says that she and Jon can eat everyday if they could. Something looking like Tomatoes, White Onions, and maybe parsley. So I go online after the show and look for the recipe. Nothing. So I put a search for Tomato, Onion salad. I find a recipe on Sunset Magazine that incorporates my favorite ingredient LIME!!!!!. Kate if your out there, let me know if this is it? The recipe goes as fallows:

1 medium sweet onions (such as Walla Walla or Maui), cut in half and then into thin wedges
1 pound grape or small cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 can (14.5 oz.) hearts of palm, drained and cut into thin disks (optional)
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Juice from one squeezed fresh lime
one pinch of kosher salt
four or five turns of your pepper grinder
Two bowls
One cup of ice
four cups of water
Chefs Knife
Cutting Board

After you chopped the onions put them in a bowl of ice cold water and soak for 5 minutes. Drain and put in large bowl, toss tomatoes with onions, hearts of palm, parsley, lime juice, salt, and pepper. This should make four servings double recipe for eight and can make one day in advance before serving. Should last in the fridge for about three days.

My Version (because Trader Joes was out of Tomatoes and I thought I can make this without them i just have to substitute)



What you need:) almost the same stuff from above.
one White Sweet Onion, chopped in half and sliced into thin wedges and separated
one cup of celery, cleaned and chopped
one cup of fresh parsley, cleaned and chopped (Italian, or Curly is fine)
one can of canniall beans, drained
juice of two to three limes
1 tsp of sea salt
fresh ground pepper about eight turns of your pepper grinder
Half of a can of hearts of palm, sliced thin
One tbsp of olive oil
Two bowls
One cup of ice
four cups of water
Chefs Knife
Cutting Board

Chop up your onion and soak in ice cold water for five minutes and drain and put in bowl. Add all other ingredients after properly prepped and combine with pepper, lime juice, salt and olive oil. Can make six servings and hold up in the fridge for about four days.



Both of the variations are great alone or put about a cup of the salad on top of salad greens with more Olive oil and Lime Juice drizzled over. I also like to put either a piece of grilled Salmon on top of the salad, or if I am running late in the morning to open a can of Wild Alaskan Salmon from Trader Joes and throw on top as well. Tuna could also work like a nice Tuna canned in olive oil of Grilled Tuna steak would be another great addition.

The third spin on the recipe is to add mini Heirloom Tomatoes or Cherry Tomatoes to the recipe above. Cut Tomatoes in half and you should have about 1 cup. Juice four limes instead of two and two tsp of salt and grind as much pepper as you can handle. The recipe will grow to feed eight to ten people. This should last in the fridge four three days until you have to re-season.

My forth spin is to chop up cubes of Mozzarella cheese about 1/2 cup. If you can buy Italian salami slice into thin slices and cut into halves or quarters, abut a half cup. I know Trader Joes sells it pre-sliced so that saves some time The possibilities are endless which is half the fun of cooking in the first place:)

All the best,
Shara

Bethenny Frankel's Skinny Girl's Margarita with a Twist

Ok so I watch New York Housewives on Bravo. One of the house wives is a Natural Foods chef named Bethenny Frankel. So I have been watching this show and see Bethenny always drinking the same drink. I am thinking Natural Foods chef=no alcohol, but maybe red wine. So as I watch the show as the season goes on I see her having some interesting drinks. I am thinking she is really thin so how does she drink almost every night and keep a good figure. One she eats so well, two she is very active, three she knows how to dissect a alcoholic drink to reduce the calories by half!!!!!

So like I said, I see her drinking this clear drink with a wedge of lime when she goes out. At first I thought club soda with lime. Nope think again. Clear Tequila on the rocks with Lime juice, and the Skinny Girl's Margarita is born. It was like the skies parted and the sun came out for me. I LOVE MARGARITAS!!!!!! But drinking them is quite another issue. They are loaded with calories. So what Bethenny says on her ediet.com UTube segments and says on the show "Only drink clear alcoholic beverages with the exception of wines. Clear liquors have a whole lot less calories over the darker ones."

Back to this Skinny Girl Margarita. She gives a run down of the recipe on the show, but I went on line to look up a more absolute recipe. So I find Bethany on UTube giving a lesson on how to make it. So excited. I watched it and I was off into Margarita bliss, dreaming about it all night and thinking about it all day at work. On the way back home from work I stopped at Trader Joes to get some limes and mentally inventoried my liquor stash if I had the necessities on the way home. So I made the drink for one person because it is just me. Bethany's UTtube recipe is for four to six people depending on how strong you like it. Since I had to work the next day I made it average strength. So here is the recipe. I altered it a bit from Bethany's.

One Serving Skinny Margarita

Two Limes (I use three or four but I LOVE LIME!!)
Two counts of clear silver Tequila (Three or Four for a strong drink)
One splash of triple sec (1/2 tsp)
Lime zest from the limes above (I zest almost every lime I squeeze)
Five drops of liquid stevia
crushed ice about half of a cup
Club soda (maybe a half can or one cup)

So pull out your favorite glass cut the limes in half. Take a fork and twist it in a circle to get every bit of juice. Do this to all your limes directly in the glass. Put aside your squeezed limes. Take your Tequila bottle and poor and count to two slowly or three or four, but not too slowly. Bethenny gives a great tip with pouring alcohol. When you are pouring it you just count as you poor. Two counts is one serving. So when you are making a batch you should always end on an even number. So your done pouring the tequila add your ice about a half of a cup and the drops of liquid Stevia. Then with a very fine grater zest both sides of the lime's rind into the glass. The more zest the better for sure and add your club soda at the end. Stir with a spoon and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!! So GREAT!!!!!!!!!

So if your making this for a party and want to make enough for twenty drinks you should squeeze forty limes, and zest the rind until you can't do it anymore, ahahahah:) I would invest in a electric juicer to be kinder to your hands and wrist if you going to attempt this for a party though. You could also buy canned organic lime juice concentrate, but don't water it down keep it as a concentrate, or Odwalla makes a Limeadee by the liter. One can of concentrate should be enough for twenty drinks. If you use the Limeade from Odwalla don't add any extra sweetner to the drinks and use six cups of the Limeade. If you use the concentrate or the Limeade don't forget to zest some limes to add to the drinks when you get ready to serve them. Add about 1/2 tablespoon of liquid stevia and store in the refrigerator if your going to use fresh squeezed limes. So when the party starts you can either mix your tequila, triple sec and zest together with the juice or let your guest mix there own one at a time. I think twenty servings would be 40 counts of Tequila and twenty to fifteen counts of Triple Sec or Cointreau. Then all you have to do is pour over ice and add the club soda if your quests wish. So pretty easy and really good.
Enjoy

This is a staple in my drink recipes for now on.
All the best,
Shara

More about Bethenny @ www.bethennybakes.com