fig and arugula pizza on naan bread

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We have learned from my "what I ate last week" posts is that I love using whole-wheat naan bread as a base for mini lunchtime pizzas, and that I love my fig jam.  Fig jam is incredibly thick, rich, and sweet, and pairs really well with nuts, cheese, crackers, and fruit. I love pairing it with almond or walnut butter for a scrumptious PB&J.  Below is a picture of the fig jam I love so much. 

Naan bread is awesome because you can do so much with it.  You can heat it up with just a splash of olive oil and pair it with your favorite salad, or use it as a base for a mini pizza like I did above. 


I love to play around, and throw different toppings on the naan bread to see what I can create.  It's a bit like painting and very therapeutic.  I threw this one together on a whim one day as I was craving some fig jam, and noticed that I didn't have any bread in the house (which was very odd).  I thought, "Why not throw it on the naan bread and heat it up?" Needless to say, I loved the end result of this creation, and if you like fig jam, you will as well.

fig and arugula pizza on naan bread:

• 1 slice of whole-wheat naan bread
• fig jam
• mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced or shredded
• arugula
• extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put a slice of naan bread on a rimmed baking sheet.  Brush the bread with a bit of olive oil, and then spread some fig jam on top. 

Next, add some thinly sliced mozzarella cheese. Fig jam and mozzarella go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Pop it in the oven and bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crust is crispy and brown.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, toss together a handful of arugula with a splash of olive oil.

When the pizza is out of the oven, throw the arugula on top.

Slice the pizza into 2 to 3 pieces and enjoy!

I was trying to be good here and just eat the two smaller pieces below, but it was so good that I went back in the kitchen and ate the rest! 

This is a super easy pizza to throw together for lunch or light dinner. 
Come to think of it, I could even see this being a great appetizer.  All you need to do is cut the naan bread into smaller pieces.  
See, there is so much you can do with a little fig jam and some naan bread.
Did I mention that figs are good for you?

vegan kale caesar salad with multi-grain croutons

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Happy Memorial Day everyone, and Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, John!  The kids and I love that John's birthday falls on a Holiday weekend because we always get to spend a full day celebrating with him.  Zoe and I made his favorite coconut cake (recipe soon) while he supplied the homemade coconut ice cream.  What a man!

what I ate last week

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Here's the third installment of what I ate last week.  If you are interested in checking out week's one and two click here.  This week you will notice that I ate dessert, lots of it.  Last week was not normal for me in the dessert department.  I love a sweet at the end of the day and this week proved it.  Last Monday was National Chocolate Chip day so I celebrated by making my FAVORITE chocolate chip cookies.  You seriously have to try these cookies folks.  They are the bomb!  Em, I thought of you this week with a few items I ate, let me know if you can figure out what they are!  OK, lets get this party started!

couscous cakes

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Did you ever have one of those Mondays where you get so much done and have tons of energy?  I had that day yesterday and it was an amazing way to start up the week.  I accomplished more in 2 hours then I had the whole weekend.  Whoo hoo!  I even had some extra time to write up this post, so you're getting 2 posts already this week and it's only Tuesday.  Bonus!  Who am I?  I don't know, but I like this new me (don't get too excited as this is not normal for me).

So I cooked up some salmon last week and whenever I cook up salmon my kids ask for couscous as their side dish.  Basically my kids equate salmon with couscous.  Anyway, I was getting bored of the traditional couscous fare.  Couscous reminds me of white rice, just plain and unassuming, so I was excited when I saw this recipe for couscous cakes in Fine Cooking magazine. These cakes sort of reminded me of my chickpea veggie burgers.  

These patties are so easy to make and require a few simple pantry ingredients, AWESOME!  I even made the patties ahead of time and then sauteed them up right before dinner.

roasted asparagus

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Sadly asparagus season is almost over, so I wanted to make sure to post my family's favorite way to enjoy it, and that is roasting it.  Roasted asparagus is so tasty and it's a perfect healthy side to any spring meal.  We have been eating so much asparagus these past few months that if  you look closely at the photos below you will see that its everywhere in our household.  I kinda think my kids are glad that the season is coming to a close.

Have you ever roasted asparagus before?  If you haven't, you have to try it.  It has converted me and many of my friends from asparagus haters to asparagus lovers!  It's so easy to prepare.  All you do is rinse it, throw on some olive oil and salt, and bake for 7 minutes.  I mean, how easy is that?

what I ate last week

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I'm back with week two of "what I ate last week."  Aren't you excited?  Come on, I know some of you enjoyed seeing all the exciting things I showed you in last week's post of "what I ate last week."  If you read last week's post then you know that I eat the same thing for breakfast every day.  I am therefore not going to post breakfast again till I change it up a bit.  Life was hectic this week so I honestly did not have the energy to create a new breakfast plan, but I thought about it though!

strawberry, mango & banana smoothie

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I swear May should be re-named May madness.  It's almost worst than December.  This month has been non-stop and it's only the middle of the month.  I seriously can't wait for summer and this is the first year that I can truly say that.  I can't wait to sleep in, kick back with the kids and just chill at the pool.  I may even chill out with one of these smoothies. 


Anyway, amongst all this madness of racing to and from everything, I want to give my kids a healthy snack where I can.  The weather has been warm and summer-like lately so smoothies are back in my kid's radar.  They love this spinach smoothie as well as this spinach one, but sometimes they want a good old-fashioned creamy smoothie.  Who can blame them?


This is an easy smoothie to throw together and is perfect this time of year as strawberries are at their peak!

marin mama's two favorite recipes

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Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there!  

I got a head start on Mothers Day yesterday as Eli made me this wonderful bouquet at the farmers market, and I got to see Zoe perform in her jazz band concert.

What I ate last week

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Here is my new post as promised. I thought this would be a fun series to add in addition to my weekly recipe posts, as it's a view into my day-to-day eating habits (for those of you that care or are interested).  Welcome to my food diary.  This so called food diary may give you some new lunch or dinner ideas, show you how I portion up my meals and give you a bit if insight as to who I really am.  You will see that I am a big fan of leftovers and a creature of habit, especially when it comes to breakfast.  I will post Monday through Friday's meals from the prior week. I may occasionally post a weekend meal, but I like to have my weekends off from photographing food, so maybe not.  

turkey burgers with cilantro-lime mayonnaise and kale slaw

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You're all in for a treat as you're getting 3 recipes in one post here.  You heard me right, 3 recipes in one post!  I treat you well, don't I?  BTW, I have some fun blog news to share with you at the end of the post.  Let me know your thoughts.  


Lets start the talk with turkey burgers.  To be honest with you, I have never been a big turkey burger fan because most of the ones I've tried have either been dry or lacking in the flavor department.  What's the point of eating a meat burger if it tastes like cardboard? When we do eat a meat burger, we use buffalo meat because it has 70% to 90% less fat compared to beef and 50% less cholesterol.  It's also higher in protein, iron and all the omega and amino acids, so you actually feel a bit better about eating meat.  Anyway, I decided to give turkey burgers a shot after this recipe from Real Simple magazine jumped out at me.  

This turkey burger is not dry at all and it's full of flavor.  Now, I must admit that the cilantro-lime mayo and the kale slaw help to knock this burger out of the ballpark.  I have sort of become a cilantro-lime mayo addict lately, which is probably not a good thing.  I have been substituting Greek yogurt in place of the mayo on occasion just to make myself feel a bit better. 

tomatillo and avocado salsa

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OK, I tried to make this salsa look attractive and exciting, but hey let's face it, it's salsa.  It may not look enticing, but it tastes great.  I'm posting this salsa recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, (which is this Saturday in case you forgot) and I'm including links to my 2 favorite taco recipes as well.  Are you celebrating Cinco de Mayo?  We're not exactly celebrating it, but we're definitely going to consume some Mexican fare and have ourselves a margarita or two.

This is the perfect salsa to bring to a party or to serve up at home with your favorite chips and Mexican fare.  It's got a bit of a kick to it, but not too much where your kids won't enjoy it.  Eli kept dipping his chips in it, so I know it wasn't too spicy for him. 

Below are my two favorite taco recipes that are perfect for any Cinco de Mayo celebration. They are both easy to make and are family and friend approved. 

Click on the title below the pictures to link over to the full recipe.

chipotle shrimp tacos

beer-braised chicken verde

roasted red pepper and arugula whole-wheat pizza

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So remember on Friday when I mentioned that because I can be a perfectionist with this blog that I sometimes make a recipe 2 to 3 times before I post it?  Well, this recipe was one of those recipes.  I actually only made this 2 times, but still, it was 2 times within the course of a week.  I figured it was OK since it's a pretty healthy meal and my kids always are happy to eat pizza, even if it's on a whole-wheat crust.

This pizza is super easy to make, even easier than my sausage skillet pizza.  I know a lot of you wanted to try that pizza but either did not have a skillet or were a bit intimated by the thought of cooking a pizza in a skillet.  So, here is a pizza that everyone can make.

It's your basic run of the mill cheese pizza except that you are replacing the tomato sauce with a roasted red pepper puree and topping it all on a thin and crispy whole-wheat pizza crust.  Isn't that genius?  Red peppers are so good for you and this is an easy and delicious way to get them into your diet.  I even think that if you had picky kids they would love this pizza (maybe just add a bit more cheese to disguise the red pepper sauce a bit more).

grilled skirt steak with herb salsa verde

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For those of you that are vegetarians, I apologize for these photos.  They are really in your face kind of photos.  I am not a fan of photos of meat, but I had to take them to so show the recipe.  My friend Wendy asked when I was going to post the steak and salsa recipe that I raved about in my Monday post.  I told her I wasn't sure I wanted to post it because I didn't get great photographs of the meat and I forgot to take a photo of the completed salsa.  She told me it's the recipes that she comes for not the photographs (though they do help her to see what the finished product is going to look like).  So I am posting this recipe for you Wendy, as I know it's going to be a perfect weekend for grilling out!  Yaay for that!

my kid's favorite weekday dinner and dessert

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Wondering what to make the family for dinner and dessert tonight?  Look no further, I've got you covered. No, I'm not offering to make you dinner tonight, sorry, but I have two great recipes to share with you.  These two recipes are kid and grownup approved and not just by my family, but my kid's friends as well.  I wish my blog had some sort of ticker symbol that I could click every time I made a recipe from here.  If it did, these two recipes would be in the double digits.

wheat berries with charred onions and kale

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Am I turning into a health nut or what?  I have eaten more kale in the past 6 months than I have in my whole lifetime, seriously. This blog is working wonders for my health and waistline (as well as my hubby's).  It was actually John that picked out this recipe, can you believe it?  We received the recent issue of bon appetit on Friday.  John opened it up, pointed at two recipes, looked at me and said, "honey, we're making this for dinner on Sunday."  I  then took a look at the two recipes and happily agreed.  Did I mention that John is an amazing cook, even better than me?  I'm such a lucky girl.