Vegetarian

I don’t typically crave jam. But in the summer, with delicious ripe fruit and berries, it’s more appealing. Right before traveling to Europe, our entire apricot tree ripened at once. Totally serious, the whole tree! I made some coconut-apricot bars using my raspberry-coconut oatmeal bar recipe if you check out my Instagram feed you will see […]

Everyone needs a go-to, easy salad. This is my new one. I love tofu almost as much as I love salads, so I feature it prominently in this one for this easy and tasty tofu cabbage salad. Tofu, also known as bean curd, is cultivated by curdling soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into […]

Jesse Ziff Cool is my featured Changemaker this month. For my non-local readers, Cool is a well-known Silicon Valley chef who has been dedicated to sustainable agriculture and cuisine for more than four decades–long before “farm-to-table” was a catchphrase. To be clear, despite many comparisons, she is not Alice Waters. Nor is she trying to be. […]

Fresh blueberries always remind me of summer.  Well, that and the well-known children’s book “Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey, which I must have read to my boys 1,000 times when they were little.  Blueberries are a wonderful, tasty summer fruit.  Loaded with fiber, potassium, iron, vitamin C, and vitamin B6, they are believed to […]

This is a fun dish and a great seasonal one for warmer weather. I love to serve it with Noah’s cod cakes. I’m a big quinoa fan. I have basically stopped eating rice, and I do watch my carbs–so quinoa and riced cauliflower have become my go-to’s.  Quinoa is a gluten-free, high-protein plant food containing […]

I’ve always loved chilled soups—though I know they’re not everyone’s favorite. Still, on a hot summer day, a cool, refreshing soup can be a lifesaver. My boys ask for my chilled gazpacho year-round (a parent’s dream!), and I hope they never stop. Borscht Along with my love of chilled soups, I’m also a big fan […]

My older son believes that he could live on mozzarella sticks—they are his guilty pleasure.  When I was his age, I loved them as well.  For lunch, my friends and I would often head to Mama’s Pizza on Broadway on the Upper West Side, right around the corner from our school.  We would munch on […]

My family loves Japanese food. Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup based on a stock called dashi. It is believed miso was first introduced to Japan in the 7th century by Buddhist monks.  According to Japanese mythology, miso is a gift to mankind from the gods to assure health, longevity, and happiness. In Japan, […]

I honestly have no idea when I first had couscous, but I love the stuff.  I think my boys were eating couscous before they had rice.  Pearl (or Israeli) couscous is similar to regular couscous in that is it also a whole-grain food made from semolina or wheat flour.  Known as “ptitim“, Israel, pearl couscous, […]

Not surprisingly, I know a few chefs.  Most are in NYC.  One I met almost 20 years ago when we began working together as culinary instructors.  We became instant friends and despite the distance between us, we have remained close.  Rian has a lovable Southern background with a great New York attitude. He is quick, […]

A New Year and, with it, new ideas. This is my first post in what will be my special featured series this year titled “Changemakers.” Our country, our world actually, is a bit of a mess. The news these days seems to be riddled with political chaos, hatred, violence, and discrimination as well as a […]

Vegetable stir-fry is one of the easiest vegetable side dishes out there.  By mixing different vegetable flavors and textures, you undoubtedly get a more interesting side dish.  What I also love about a good vegetable stir-fry is that almost any vegetable can work, so it is super easy to adapt to the likes and dislikes of […]

Let’s talk about chickpeas and how awesome they are.  My older son eats them straight up, a habit he picked up from me.  Also called garbanzo beans, these babies are not only delicious, they are packed with protein and vitamins. Although most people think of them as a vegetable, chickpeas are a legume with a slightly […]

Minestrone is considered one of the cornerstones of Italian cuisine.  Historically, minestrone was a humble soup, made primarily from leftovers with the addition of whatever vegetables were available, often with the addition of pasta.  This soup was inexpensive, easy to make, filling, and could feed large groups.  It was a soup intended for every day […]

I think one of the reasons I love the cooler months so much is because it is beet season.  Beets are referred to as “winter’s sweet treats“. You can find beets throughout the year, but during the Fall and Winter months they are at their peak of deliciousness–and I can’t get enough of them. Red […]