YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Good Brownies

We are going to a neighborhood holiday cookie party this afternoon, and so I decided to share an idea for something sweet and delicious.

A lot of people think that the only sweet food I eat is fruit. While it is true that I almost never eat items containing ingredients that I would categorize as “food-like,” such as high-fructose corn syrup, white flour, or maltodextrin, I definitely enjoy my share of desserts. For example, I have made peanut butter cups from quality dark chocolate and organic peanut butter (one ingredient — peanuts) that are sublime. And this past week I stopped in at Fantasy Candies to buy some holiday gifts, and I picked up some pecan chocolate bark for myself. That was also pretty yummy.

So yes, I, too, love recipes like these. The ingredients are all real food, all nutritious, and the results turn out way more delicious than any product wrapped in cellophane. Besides that, you can feel really good about feeding this to people you love. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Potato Kugel, Lebanese style

My dear friend Judith, an exceptionally talented cook, has once again outdone herself. This recipe is her version of potato kugel, loosely translated as “pudding,” though more Yorkshire than chocolate. Potato kugel was a mainstay of my childhood.  Continue reading


Real Breakfasts for All You Champions

Last week I wrote about the sorry story of how boxed cereals came to predominate morning choices for breakfast; this week I’m sharing some of my own breakfast choices. The first thing I am going to point out is that my breakfasts do not differ significantly from other meals I eat through the day. That is to say, I don’t keep a separate list of breakfast options from lunch and dinner options. While I would say that I probably eat less spicy stuff at breakfast time, it’s more of a suggestion than a hard-and-fast rule, as you will see.

A major category of breakfasts in my house is the leftovers I find in the refrigerator, with or without a little extra something. So it could be that I heat up a bowl of leftover stir-fried vegetables, and that might be enough by itself, but I might also add some leftover rice if there is any. Or maybe I will fry an egg and slide it on top, or melt a slice of cheese (vegan for me) on top.  Continue reading


Grandma Rosie Hits a Home Run (the holidays are coming!)

Today I want to share a recipe that is a wellspring of memories. The women, the teamwork, the heavenly aromas, the busy kitchen, the arriving family, the great big table, the special dishes, the silver. And the food. Simple recipes with amazing flavor. Here is my Grandma Rosie’s recipe for vegetarian chopped liver, which she made the way her own grandma did, with a wooden bowl and mezzaluna. If you’ll be using a food processor instead, which is probably the case, read to the very end for those instructions.

I have exceptionally fond memories of sitting at the kitchen table with the grownups while they worked to prepare the food, listening wide-eyed as they debated the relative merits of various ingredients and their provenance, chattered about errant siblings, and bragged about their above-average children and grandchildren. I remember feeling very grown up when I was finally old enough to take a place in the lineup. When my chopping arm got too tired to continue, I would pass the bowl, usually to my mother, an aunt, or one of my grandmothers. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentil Soup for the New Year

This coming Monday evening, as the sun slips below the horizon, we will begin our celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah dishes traditionally tend toward the sweet and the circular: sweet for a sweet new year, and circular to represent the seasons that run one into the next, year after year, around and around. Instead of the usual braid, even challah is twisted into rounds at this time of year.  Continue reading


Garlic Scapes

Since I’ve been hanging out in Jerusalem with my kids, I’ve had a chance to enjoy the huge CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes that arrive regularly to their front door. This past week they received what Israelis call “green garlic,” and they enjoyed using it in salads like they use green onions, but otherwise weren’t sure what it was or where it came from. So I thought it might be nice to talk about green garlic, also known as “garlic scapes.” Garlic and the entire family of Allium relatives (leeks, chives, scallions, onions) begin their underground lives as soft bulbs. As the bulbs begin to harden, a shoot rises up, breaks through the soil to the air, and curls above ground. This shoot, or flower stalk, is called the scape, and it supposedly appears on only the finest hardneck varieties of garlic. Continue reading


Toast and Jelly Waste Your Insulin

You probably already know that diabetes and obesity in the United States have reached epidemic proportions, but you may be surprised to learn that many, if not most, cases of diabetes are preventable. How? The best strategy for preventing diabetes and obesity is to learn how to conserve your body’s insulin supply. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Haminados (Eggs) for Passover

Haminados are one of my all-time favorite Passover recipes! Simple, sublime and delicious, they have been a staple at the Passover tables of Mediterranean Jewish communities for millennia! Check out this recipe and you’ll see why. Whether you make this dish in your crockpot or oven, it takes just a few minutes to toss it together and get things cooking. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Avgolemono (Lemon-Egg Soup)

Avgolemono (ahhv-go-LEH-mo-no; avgo is egg, and lemono is lemon) is Greek chicken soup, but you don’t need chicken to make it! Its simple combination of a few basic ingredients creates a deep well of comfort to satisfy your senses and soothe your soul. Even though avgolemono is about as simple as it gets, it’s an elegant recipe whose brilliance comes as much from the technique as the ingredients. As usual, the better the quality of the ingredients, the better the finished product. Also, you don’t have to use arborio rice, but it does confer a particular creamy texture that other kinds of rice do not. Continue reading