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Hello IFF Friends!

It has been a few weeks since I have sent out a newsletter and after getting a couple of emails this past weekend asking if I was okay I thought I had better get busy and send one out today. After having my blog online for over 12 years now, I have met some lovely folks who are loyal followers of the blog and they do get concerned when I take a break without warning. It has been a busy month though as I have been away in Orlando for a week, took a quick trip to Key West, and have had family visiting.

The photo was taken from our room in Key West as we watched the gorgeous sunset. We try and take a quick trip there every winter to visit our favorite restaurants and enjoy the crazy atmosphere Key West is known for.

In just 6 weeks we are returning to Umbria, and we have one more trip planned up north to visit family for Easter before we leave to open up our two farmhouses in Umbria for the season. I am now really getting excited to return to Italy now that our departure date is getting closer!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who celebrate!

Pasta With Zucchini & Caldarello Sausage
My husband recently had a long bike ride planned…… in fact it was a 200 mile long ride. A friend who was turning 70 years old wanted to celebrate his Birthday by riding 200 miles and my husband decided to join in the fun. Though I frankly thought anyone wanting to ride 200 miles in one day was a little crazy, it just goes to show you how fit these cyclists are! In planning this ride my husband requested pasta, LOTS of it in fact, so he could carb load in preparation. He did in fact eat pasta for both lunch and dinner a couple of days before his ride, so I needed some quick and easy pasta recipes to prepare for him. Get The Recipe......

Tropical Fruit Quinoa Salad
On our recent trip down to Key West, we drove through a south Florida agricultural region that had one market stand after another selling tropical fruit. Just looking at the piles of papaya, mangoes, and avocados had me dreaming about all the amazing dishes I could create with them when I got back home. Florida has amazing fresh produce including tropical fruit that is grown locally in south Florida year round. Since we will be heading back to Umbria in less than two months where these types of tropical fruits are very difficult to find, I realized recently that I need to enjoy this local fresh produce while I can, and I quickly planned some upcoming meals utilizing these tropical fruits in the next couple of weeks. Get The Recipe.......

Cranberry Brie Bites
This is another easy to put together snack to serve when entertaining that goes really well with a nice glass of wine. This is an easier option than that fancy round of Brie en Choute that folks top with fruit and nuts and then wrap in puff pastry and bake. Though Brie en Choute is delicious when you cut into it and all the cheese oozes out, it is a little tricky to serve if you are entertaining a large group, especially if your guests are standing around holding a glass of wine. These easy brie bites offer the same flavor and texture as Brie en Choute, but are just easier to serve. Get The Recipe......

Creamy Avocado Pasta
This is another new pasta recipe that I prepared last month after coming across it in a health magazine. When I first thought about pairing avocados with pasta I just couldn't imagine it. I kept thinking about this pasta dish however, and when I considered the fact that we love both avocados and pasta, I reconsidered, and added this recipe to my weekly menu plan. Everyone now knows that avocados are a very healthy fat, and fat accounts for around three quarters of the calorie count of an avocado. Most of this fat is monounsaturated fat, in the form of oleic acid. Monounsaturated fat is considered to be a "good fat" which reduces levels of bad cholesterol in your blood and lowers your risk of stroke and heart disease. Get The Recipe......

Roasted Beet, & Warm Goat Cheese Salad
This is a variation of a salad I have been making for years. Soft goat cheese is shaped into coins and then these are rolled into breadcrumbs. Once my salad has been assembled and just before serving, I bake the goat cheese coins and then serve them warm on the salad. The combination of fresh, crisp greens and warm goat cheese is wonderful, and the goat cheese wrks well with just about any type of greens although I prefer baby spinach, or a mesclun mix. I had this salad on my blog years ago, but somehow when I had a redesign it was lost so I decided recently that I needed to include it again. Get The Recipe......

Pasta Puttanesca With Cauliflower
It seems February is pasta month in my house as I have been making pasta multiple times a week recently. We bought a few types of artisan pasta over the Christmas holidays, including an amazing whole wheat pasta from Benedetto Cavalieri called pennuce, which is basically simply mezza penne pasta. Ari of the famed Zingerman's in Michigan and online, highly recommended this brand of whole wheat pasta and his recommendations are always great so I decided to try it. Trying to eat healthy is an ongoing journey and although I will never give up my pasta, I am all for trying to choose healthier varieties and topping them with healthy sauces. Get The Recipe......