Valerie Bertinelli's Go-To 4-Ingredient Meal Is So Easy

It’s no-cook, too!

Don’t you just love it when someone who writes cookbooks and hosts cooking shows lets the rest of us know that sometimes, they don’t feel like cooking either? It’s such a relief to know that even the pros have those moments.

When Ina Garten buys store-bought dessert (and passes it off as her own!), we feel a bit less guilty about serving something from the store. When Jennifer Garner—who does real cooking on her Pretend Cooking Show YouTube channel—throws a can of tomatoes and some olive oil in a blender and calls it pizza sauce, we think it’s genius.

Valerie Bertinelli, who previously hosted the Food Network show “Valerie’s Home Cooking” and has authored several cookbooks, recently shared a favorite no-cook, 4-ingredient, quick meal with Eating Well. it’s so simple and fast to make, and it uses some of our favorite Trader Joe’s ingredients.

Valerie Bertinelli’s Lentils, Tomatoes, Mozzarella, and Basil Recipe

The “Hot in Cleveland” star said that when she doesn’t “feel like cooking at all,” she whips up a dish using lentils, bruschetta mix, and marinated mozzarella or feta from Trader Joe’s. (Trader Joe’s sells ready-to-eat steamed lentils in the refrigerated section, and we assume these are the ones Bertinelli uses.)

The store also sells bruschetta sauce in the refrigerated section, as well as jarred bruschetta that’s shelf stable. Either option seems like it would work for this tasty, throw-together meal. The marinated mozzarella—small balls of mozzarella cheese in olive oil and seasonings—is in the store’s well-stocked cheese section. Valerie throws the three items in one bowl and adds one more ingredient, torn basil leaves from her garden. If you don’t have fresh basil at home, Trader Joe’s sells it, too.

The yummy meal, she says, “actually lasts in my fridge three or four days, and the flavor is so good. It’s super-easy stuff to put together and takes five minutes.”

Valerie has a tip for what to do with the leftover oil from the marinated mozzarella, too. If you add some red wine vinegar to the already-seasoned oil, it makes a “great salad dressing,” she says.

While you’re grabbing that container of marinated mozzarella, we suggest you grab a second one. It comes in handy when you’re making this easy and delicious 4-ingredient Pasta Salad, working as both the dressing and the cheese in the summer staple. We think Valerie would approve.

Read the original article on All Recipes.