Sometimes all it takes is a simple object to inspire a dinner menu. We found this lemon printed table cloth and matching napkins and knew we had to have them for our outdoor table. The table came first, then came the pasta! In the summer we love adding lemon to transform traditional dishes. This pasta features ricotta, lemon juice, lemon zest and toasted breadcrumbs — the ultimate summer dish! It’s light and perfect to eat while dining outside. Keep reading below to see pictures of our lemon themed table and menu!

Pasta Limoné with Zucchini

Ingredients:

-1 pound pasta (pictured: malfadine)

-2-3 zucchini

-1 lemon (juice and zest)

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-lots of olive oil

-kosher salt

-fresh cracked pepper

-1 tbsp fresh parsley

-1/3 cup Pecorino Romano (plus more to top)

-1 cup Ricotta

-1/2 cup reasoned breadcrumbs

Instructions:

1. Wash and thinly slice zucchini. We like using a kitchen mandolin for uniform thin slices (click here for our favorite one!)

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and minced garlic to pan. Let simmer. Add sliced zucchini to pan. Season with salt and pepper. You may need to re-season with more salt and pepper as the zucchini cooks, go by taste! Approx. 15-20 minutes. You want your zucchini to cook down and change color.

3. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once bubbling, salt water and toss pasta. Reserve 1 cup pasta water.

4. Mix ricotta in small bowl with half of the Pecorino and parsley. Set aside.

5. Put a small pan over low-medium heat. Put seasoned breadcrumbs in, moving occasionally, toasting. They should get golden brown, approx. 5 mins. Remove from heat and set aside.

6. Strain pasta and put directly in the skillet with sautéed zucchini. Add lemon juice (start with half and adjust to taste), red pepper flakes, remaining Pecorino Romano, 1/4 cup ricotta, and reserved pasta water. Stir over low heat. This should combine so your pasta has a glossy, garlicky, cheesy coating.

7. Once thickened, remove from heat and serve. Top pasta with a sprinkle of Pecorino, dollop of ricotta, lemon zest, and breadcrumbs!

7. Enjoy!

As a side we tossed fresh asparagus with olive oil and our favorite grill seasoning, garlic and parmesan. Simply grill and serve!

And finally, our show-stopping dessert…a deliciously simple olive oil cake!

This cake has underlying hints of fresh lemon and orange. It’s topped with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar and a sprig of rosemary. Perfection!

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We hope this inspires you to take advantage of warm weather and fresh fruit — it is the perfect way to take a simple Summer dinner to the next level! 🍋

Don’t forget to follow us on instagram for more behind the scenes looks at our daily cooking! 📸: @allinaandmarreana

Happy Cooking!

When you think of meatballs, you probably think of them over pasta, today we want to share with you a different and delicious way to enjoy meatballs!

There are countless ways to make meatballs, from different ground meat combinations, to cheeses, to every seasoning in between. We promise once you try this meatball recipe you will want to serve them any time you make sauce!

This is an all pork meatball, with a special addition of ricotta cheese that makes them irresistibly moist and flavorful! We serve over arugula tossed in a lemon vinegarette…perfection!

Ingredients:

Meatballs

-1 pound of ground pork

-1 egg

-1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs (gluten free)

-3 tbsp milk

-1/2 cup ricotta cheese

-1/2 cup Pecorino Romano

-1/2 tsp kosher salt

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

-1/2 tsp onion powder

-generous amount of parsley

-1/4 cup olive oil

Sauce

-A jar of your favorite marinara, or whip up a quick sauce of your own! (one of our favorite ways to make a quick sauce is listed in our Baked Ziti Melanzana post!)

Salad

-1 bag baby arugula

-pinch of kosher salt

-fresh cracked pepper

-olive oil

-white balsamic vinegar

-lemon juice

-fresh shaved Pecorino Romano

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl combine panko, milk, egg, ricotta, and Pecorino Romano. Stir to combine, letting the breadcrumbs soak up some of the liquid.

2. Add the mixed wet ingredients to the ground pork. Add salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley. Gently mix the meat with your hands.

3. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Roll meatballs using 1-1 1/2 tbsp of meat.

4. Add the rolled meatballs to the heated olive oil, browning each side. Keep them moving for an even color. About 8-10 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and set aside.

5. Either make your sauce or heat your marinara. Once heated, add the meatballs to the sauce. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes.

6. For the salad, toss the arugula with olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. This is all preference for how you prefer your salad to taste!

7. Finally, separate the arugula onto plates, being generous. Top with 2-3 meatballs and shave fresh Pecorino Romano to finish.

8. Enjoy!!!

See below for more photos of the steps that went into making this twist on traditional Italian meatballs!

Ingredients ready to go, all pre-measured!

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Meatballs coming together!

Browning the meatballs! Wish you could smell how amazing these did when they hit the pan!

Arugula, olive oil, kosher salt, fresh lemon, and a big hunk of Pecorino Romano.

Shave the Pecorino, it looks beautiful and really adds to the taste!

Buon Appetito!

Please let us know if you try this recipe!

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@allinaandmarreana 📷

Happy Cooking!

(Recipe inspired and modified by Giadzy.com)

This is the perfect dinner when you are craving something light and want to utilize your grill in the Summer months!

We love doing dinners where we can be creative and make our own personalized dishes tailored to our tastes!

Here we make our own version of greek grilled chicken bowls! See below for our favorite toppings and how we like to construct this dinner!

We like to start our bowls with rice! This can be white rice, greek rice, or rice pilaf (as shown here). We prefer our mom’s famous rice pilaf when making our greek bowls! It adds another dimension of flavor that is second to none!

We then like to add lettuce (here we did chopped iceberg), grilled chicken (marinated in our favorite greek dressing), roasted red & orange peppers (with olive oil and garlic), chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, mozzarella, and feta!

We always top off our bowls with extra greek dressing!

Here is a photo of our dad’s finished creation! Some additional toppings not pictured above were: banana peppers, cherry peppers, and Allina’s homemade tzatziki! Keep reading for the recipe!

The homemade tzatziki is the perfect addition to these bowls!

This truly is a delicious dinner to have with your family on a warm Summer night! We hope you try this one at home and add on your own twist with different toppings…the possibilities are endless!

Tag us on Instagram if you try this:

@allinaandmarreana 📷

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We think we all can agree that there is nothing better in the Summer than getting to eat all your favorite “grilled” dinners. Whether it’s steak, hotdogs, hamburgers, kabobs, or BBQ chicken, this salad is the perfect add on to any Summer-time dinner!

This watermelon salad is the perfect combination of savory and sweet — it’s a staple in our house as soon as the weather breaks!

We start by cutting our watermelon into bigger chunks –here we did two wedges per dish.

We then prep our salad –using arugula for this is our favorite! We season with salt, pepper, olive oil, and regular or white balsamic! You can use any dressing you like, but balsamic is our favorite.

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Candied walnuts!! This is an extra step that totally makes this salad. It’s super simple, just a little bit of butter and sugar in a skillet — toss around your walnuts until caramelized. Then lay out on parchment paper until you are ready to use!

Finally, we assemble! Watermelon on bottom, followed by a generous serving of arugula salad, topped with candied walnuts, and we like to do a drizzle of balsamic glaze!

Lastly, an optional addition is a sprinkle of feta cheese to finish it off!

We paired our salads with filets and parsley potatoes. The perfect Summer meal!

Please let us know in the comments your favorite dinner to serve a special salad with!

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Happy Cooking!

“Focaccia art” is an unexpected take on traditional focaccia bread. Our mom planned an afternoon that we could take on this project together, the three of us! This project not only tastes amazing, but is so fun to do, brings out your creative side and can be a wonderful group activity. Our mom took the reigns on the design and we prepped an assortment of toppings for the focaccia canvas! Read below to see how we made the homemade focaccia dough and the process we took to complete our mother-daughter masterpiece!

The Dough

We started early, by making our homemade focaccia dough, leaving enough time for it to rise!

Ingredients:

-1 cup warm water

-1 1/2 tsp yeast

-3 to 3 1/3 cups flour

-2 tbsp olive oil

-2 tbsp Honey

-2 tsp Kosher salt

Instructions:

1. Mix warm water in a bowl with yeast, set aside and let bloom for at least 5 minutes.

2. Combine olive oil, honey, salt and water/yeast in large bowl. Slowly add in the flour.

3. Knead with hands or dough hook on stand mixer for 10-15 minutes.

4. Transfer dough ball into a well-oiled bowl and let rise for at least 1 1/2 hours. It should double in size! Always tightly cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to rise.

5. Once risen, stretch on oiled baking sheet, and let rise a second time for another 30 minutes. Cover with greased plastic wrap one more time!

6. Finally, use your fingertips to poke the top, use a generous amount of olive oil on top, decorate, and bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes!

(Recipe modified from tasty.com)

Toppings

We then prepped all of the toppings we were going to use to create our focaccia art creation!

Our toppings: fresh parsley, fresh rosemary, dried oregano, red onion, capers, black olives, orange, yellow and red baby sweet peppers, grape tomatoes, and roasted red peppers!

Before decorating, be sure to use a generous amount of olive oil on your dough! We also prepped with some garlic powder and Pecorino Romano cheese sprinkled evenly over the top.

Before going in the oven!

Finished result! See more detail shots below! Special shout-out to our mom for helping with the design! How perfect is the butterfly she made!

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We highly recommend you grab your friends and family and make a night of this!

Don’t forget to show us your creations! Tag us on Instagram: @allinaandmarreana 📷

After a long day in the sun, we were eager to whip up something quick for dinner that our whole family would love. We had eggplant to use up, which made us think of this dish!

This dish is so great because it can be easily prepped in advance, and thrown in the oven for as little as 20 minutes when you’re ready to eat!

If you love baked cheesy pasta, please keep reading to see the recipe and instructions below for this twist on a classic baked ziti!

Ingredients:

-Olive Oil

-Salt

-Pepper

-2 cloves of garlic (and garlic powder)

-1 can crushed tomatoes

-1 small onion

-Basil

-1 lb. Ziti pasta

-Eggplant (one medium sized, or two small)

-Mozzarella

-Pecorino Romano

-Red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Bring a big pot of water to boil, salt and add ziti, cook until al dente. Reserve 1 1/2 cup pasta water. Strain pasta and set aside.

2. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Dice eggplant (with skin) and put in skillet. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder and toss. Keep moving around until it softens and develops a golden brown color. Take off heat and set aside.

3. In another large skillet heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add half an onion (finely chopped), and two cloves of garlic (finely chopped). Stir and cook until onion becomes translucent. Add one 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Add the pasta water slowly, to create a smooth sauce. Simmer until satisfied (about 15-20 minutes). *This is where you can add some crushed red pepper flakes if you prefer a sauce with a subtle kick!

4. In a large bowl mix cooked pasta, eggplant and sauce until it’s evenly coated. Fold in 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella and 3/4 of a cup of Pecorino Romano.

5. Pour mixed pasta into a greased casserole dish. Top with 1/2 cup mozzarella and a sprinkle of Pecorino (really however much you want for a cheesy topping!) Bake for 20-25 minutes until sauce is bubbling and cheese is fully melted.

6. Serve and enjoy!!

Please see below for additional photos of the steps to create this baked ziti with eggplant.

Eggplant starting to get the golden brown color we love!

Keep cooking those onions and garlic until they are translucent. Don’t forget to keep them moving around the olive oil to avoid burning the garlic!

Making your own quick sauce for this dish is well worth it in the end. It makes all the difference!

Best part! Mixing everything together! (Our pasta was still warm here so you can see the mozzarella starting to melt)

Top it off.

Serving hot is crucial!

Plate & enjoy!!

Let us know in the comments below if you tried and loved this recipe as much as our family did!

The perfect breakfast, rain or shine! We have been testing pancake recipes for as long as we can remember, but this one is definitely our favorite! This recipe works with any toppings or ingredients you like — chocolate chips, bananas, strawberries & more!

One of the best parts of this recipe is that it works perfectly with gluten free flour as well!

If you like a thick, fluffy pancake with a golden brown crisp, keep reading for the recipe & instructions below!

Ingredients:

(Dry)

-1 cup flour (or gluten free flour)

-2 tbsp sugar

-1 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/2 tsp salt

(Wet)

-3/4 cup milk

-2 tbsp white vinegar

-2 tbsp melted butter (+ more butter for the pan!)

-1 large egg

-And finally, a bunch of freshly washed blueberries!

Instructions:

1. Heat a nonstick pan over low/medium heat. We find pancakes work best when you cook them a little lower and slower!

2. Combine your milk and vinegar in a small bowl and stir together. Let this sit for a few minutes, as this will create your buttermilk.

3. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then add the wet and whisk until smooth. Be careful not to over-mix, we just want the ingredients to be combined.

4. Melt a small dab of butter in your pan –this is absolutely essential for that golden brown outside that we love!!! Once melted, pour about 1/3 cup of batter onto the pan. Add as many blueberries as you like! Once little bubbles form on top, flip and cook an additional 1-2 minutes.

5. Remove from heat, top with a little additional butter, syrup or powdered sugar!

6. Enjoy!!! Share with your family, friends, or someone you love!

Please see below for additional photos of the steps to create this delicious morning treat!

Dry and wet ingredients ready to go! We love to pre-measure all our ingredients before cooking to make sure we don’t make any mistakes!!

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Time to combine egg & homemade buttermilk.

Almost time to flip! Be sure to not let your pan get too hot!

Sometimes, a heavy pour of syrup is all your need!

Enjoy!

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do!

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(Recipe adapted from: pinchofyum.com)

One of our favorite things to do once the weather gets nice is to have outdoor pizza nights! We prepare tons of topping options and make our dough in advance. Then we fire up the wood fire pizza oven and each make our own creation! Keep reading below to see the details that go into our perfect pizzas.

THE DOUGH

A major key to creating a perfect pizza is having a great dough. There are tons of local options to purchase pre-made pizza dough but if you have the extra time to make your own, it’s definitely worth it. We do a simple dough that doesn’t take more than an hour to fully rise. We also have perfected a gluten free pizza dough. It took weeks of trial to get it just right… we will share this recipe in detail in another post!

THE TOPPINGS

The best part of our pizza nights is getting to try endless topping combinations. We usually cut up each pizza and share it so we can try more kinds! Our toppings included: homemade pizza sauce, seasoned ricotta, fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, caramelized tomatoes, pepperoni, cherry peppers, soppressata, green olives, banana peppers, grated cheese and basil.

PIZZA’S OUT OF THE OVEN

DESSERT PIZZA

Nutella, walnuts and powdered sugar! A perfectly sweet way to wrap up the night.

This year things were a little different for Mother’s Day. Usually we would be celebrating all of the mom’s in our lives together with our family. Instead this year just our immediate family could be together. Saturday night before Mother’s Day, around ten o’clock we remembered that our dad had just found our great grandmothers cast iron skillets. We immediately had the thought, Dutch baby pancakes! One of our mom’s favorite things.

A last minute brunch was born! We quickly jotted down a menu, paged through Chrissy Teigen’s “Cravings” cookbook for recipes and picked out the linens. The next morning we set the table and prepped the food. We had roasted potatoes, bacon, soft scrambled eggs, fruit and the main attraction: Dutch baby’s! We made a few Dutch baby pancakes, two regular and one gluten free. The pancake rises in the oven and deflates rather quickly when you take it out. The pancakes were served out of the skillet with whipped butter, a lemon wedge, powdered sugar and strawberries. The pancake itself is not sweetened so the toppings compliment it perfectly.

Our brunch was planned in just under an hour but it ended up being the highlight of our mom’s day. We are so grateful for the small moments that are created on a whim. The best times we have usually don’t require much planning and that makes those moments even more special. We show our mom love and appreciation on a daily basis, we respect and admire her each day for being the one who takes care of our family. On Mother’s Day we like to make these things even more apparent and take the time to reflect on everything our mom’s do for us and our families.

To mom’s, Dutch baby pancakes and spur the moment brunches… things we love 365 days a year.