Italian Summer Dinner Recipe - Roasted Italian Chicken, Organic Peas, Followed By Lavazza Coffee

Author - Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar
'Extra Virgin'

Summertime is the best time to experiment with cooking especially since you can use fresh ingredients from your garden or farmers market.  This month I decided to try a Tuscan version of roasted chicken, which myself and mother made. We used a version of the recipe from the new cookbook from Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar called 'Extra Virgin.' 
In the book, they actually grill the chicken with a lemon juice, rosemary, arugula combination. 

My version was a roasted chicken lightly brushed with olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper --really quite simple.  

For a side dish, my mother peeled fresh peas from the garden and fried them with caramelized onions, along with sliced potatoes roasted with the chicken. 

Here's the recipe - Roasted Chicken with Fresh Peas

Wash chicken thoroughly. Put a drop of lemon in water, cut pieces of chicken to liking.  In roasting pan, put 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add your salt, pepper, or chicken spices of your choice. Add onions and potatoes in cubes next to chicken.  Put in oven at 450 degrees for more than 30 minutes.  Turn with wooden spoon about two times to get potatoes and onions roasted evenly. 

For the peas - 

Cut small pieces of medium onions, cook for about one minute.  Add peas, cook for about 10 minutes more, gently move in pan about two times till peas are cooked.  Cover the pan while you wait to serve peas.

To end our perfect meal, we have coffee once we've digested, we've been trying the new Lavazza drip coffees, our version to try was the Perfetto blend, which you can find here http://www.shoplavazza.com/ 

The coffee is our end to our perfect meal, if you want a great coffee to try and know that Lavazza is great in espresso, get the new drip coffee, my favorite now. 

You can follow Lavazza on Twitter as well for some delicious ways to accompany new drip coffees and traditional Lavazza products.  

***This post was sponsored by Lavazza *** 

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Organic Foods and Why Italians Are Ahead of the Health Game.

Here in the states, we are plagued by bad health caused by stress, work, and most importantly bad food. The food standards in the United States are probably the worst in the world. (my opinion)-OK..maybe not the world but you get the idea. The reality of a healthy lunch here is packed full of preservatives and fillers. Where is the fresh food and why is it so hard to buy? Meaning why is it so expensive to be healthy in the United States?

There is no real education in the school systems for children to understand that fresh food is what they should be eating and not prepackaged or frozen junk served at lunch. Some schools here in the states have taken initiative to bring in lunch from outside healthy vendors but this runs into an expense and not many parents are able to budget for expensive lunches per week, per year.

In Italy, many schools bring in and serve organic foods, not all do but a lot participate. This was actually a mandated law by the Italian government in an effort to help keep and educate their children, their future on remaining healthy, I say kudos to this plan.

In the United States we are brainwashed to believe that cutting fat and calories via a label that says so, makes you healthy. When in fact, its not the fat or label, its the actual basics of the fresh food you consume, lifestyle and exercise. We have all fallen victim to the Internet, as I sit here and write this article, but I make it a point to exercise daily and eat healthy. Our children are growing into these machines and not understanding that exercise and organic foods are the keys to healthy living. I will say, Wii has put in an effort to create an interactive exercising program but I don't think that's enough.

We need education on the basics of food consumption, higher FDA standards on our incoming food supplies and less preservatives in everything. When you get sick you immediately run to a doctor hoping for a pill that will help you, instead why don't we say, "what am I doing wrong, and how can I improve my health?" In the USA, we are trained to believe that going to a doctor and requesting pills is the way to maintaining health, in my opinion its NOT. Be proactive in what you consume, research organic foods, consult with your doctor about coming up with a healthy plan for you.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/italy062804.cfm Tweet

New Year, New You, Finally Happy 2009! Watch Oprah This Week!

A small note this morning to wish you all a Happy New Year Day. I am particularly happy to be moving onto 2009. With each new year, gives us a new chance to start over. Start over and work on positive things like your health, career and overall well being. Being healthy is probably the most important, without your health there is basically nothing.

Next week, I will be tuning into Oprah when she starts her "BEST LIFE," series. It includes, health, money, happiness and yes even your sex life. These elements are the essential ingredients in leading a good life. Some things you will see and hear being discussed are types of food and ways to cook that can help you keep a healthy diet. If you have all your ducks lined up, life becomes better and your attitude miraculously changes. You know, take it from the Italians, they make it priority to eat right, live well and do in essence out live many other cultures disease free.

If you have time and can watch the Oprah show starting January 5th, then you will be doing yourself a favor. Its great to have positive reinforcement when it comes to our lives. Unfortunately, we get sucked into the negative vortex of the media brainwashing of a bad economy, disease, pharmacy pill commercials and all kinds of medical replacements. As Americans if we were just educated on being healthy then maybe we wouldn't be so far gone in bad health. I wish you all the best this year and especially a healthy lifestyle. Tune in to Oprah, give it a chance, remember here's your new chance...its never too late to start.

http://www.oprah.com/

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Why Red Wine Can Help You Live Longer.

Yes, as we all know the Italian diet and all its parts like red wine are definitely good for you. But ever since that Oprah show where they talked about Sardinia, Italy being a blue zone and how people lived longer and healthier..everyone is on the quest to find out why and how they can get a piece of it.

As Americans we are definitely unaware of how unhealthy are food and it sources are, when you shop in the grocery store you think that when you buy low fat, fat free, only 100 calories, that this is the idea of healthy. We are under a great misunderstanding. Preservatives, fake food this is what we are consuming. Its a combination of our diet, lifestyle and food sources that contribute to our unhealthy American diet.

So, getting back to living longer..yes, Italians are on the right track when it comes to fresh food and wine. The type of wine you drink is also an important determining factor on contributing to your overall health. I think talking about eating healthy is an important subject and I will post more on the topic as I go, but for now..here is a continuation of the information on RED WINE and its benefits.

http://tinyurl.com/67ejlk




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Oprah & Dr. Oz Talk About Sardinia, Italy As A Blue Zone.

On today's Oprah show, she and Dr. Oz along with author, Dan Buetter of "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest" talked about blue zones, which included Sardinia, Italy. (doesn't surprise me) In his research he discovered areas called blue zones, where people live the longest, healthiest and happiest. Dan and Dr. Oz visited a few local people in Sardinia to learn their secrets on longevity and health.


Turns out their diet, lifestyle and overall happiness contribute to their success as healthy people. Their consumption of natural organics such as goat milk, plant based meals and wine were the important food contributions to their daily diets. Now, if you're like me you find this type of information extremely fascinating and want to know more. I guess I know the basics of eating healthy because that's what the Southern Italian diet is made of and pretty much how I grew up eating. Today, I posted an article about the Mediterranean diet, so this really coincides with that same idea. Please go to Oprah's site for clips from today's show and further links to books and information.

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081009_tows_bluezones/8
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The Mediterranean Diet Can Help Your Sex Life.

Yes, this is the top news out of Italy today. Only in Italy is the headline about either love, money or food. I love the Italians. So, a new study done by Italy's sexual medicine society claims that the Mediterranean diet can help boost your sex life for both men and women. See, for those of you who eat poorly, not only is good food great for your health but its also good for your sex life. The picture to the left is Sophia Loren cooking pasta on a talk show showing how to cook well and talking about eating right. I'll listen to whatever she says, look at how fabulous she still looks. Like I always say, we can always learn from the Italian.

For more on this article, please go to:
http://www.italymag.co.uk/italy/food-drink/mediterranean-diet-boosts-sex Tweet