YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Salmon Soup

I posted this recipe once a long time ago, but it’s such an elegant recipe that I wanted to share it again for all my readers who had not yet seen it. Not only is it a warm and beautiful color, perfect for the cold weather, but it is also a wonderful addition to the menu for friends whose celebrations include the custom of eating many different kinds of fish on Christmas Eve. 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


Gratitude and Wisdom

When I was eleven years old, my parents, always “early adopters” of the latest technology long before this kind of thing had a name, bought a brand new stove with a smooth white ceramic top. It was called a Corning Cooktop, and its most memorable feature, at least to me, was that its elements remained white even when they were hot enough to boil water. Was it really that hot? You had to take it on faith — or not. No matter how long I stared at it, I could not convince myself that the white ceramic stovetop was hot. And that is why I still remember, all these many years later, the perfectly oval burn on the tip of my right index finger. I only touched that hot stove once, but that was all it took. I did not cry, even though it hurt a lot. I just stared and stared. I could not take anyone else’s word for it; I needed to see for myself. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even tell anyone in my family. I just needed to know. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Autumn Recipes for Pumpkin and Onions

If you are starting to think about Thanksgiving, I’d like to offer up these two recipes. I have posted these recipes once before, and made them many times in the past, though not recently to be honest. But they remain lifelong favorites. If you have been looking for a vegan main course, you may be interested to know that not only does the first recipe taste fabulous, but it also makes a very impressive presentation. The onions are just an unusual, beautiful and flavorful side dish. If you have time, I would recommend that you try to make the onions the day before you’re planning to eat them, because as good as they are, they taste even better the next day. And while these are great recipes for holidays and celebrations, you could also prepare them on the weekend, and then have them for dinner on a chilly Sunday evening. Something about this stuffed pumpkin recipe says love, love, love… Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Wedding Delicata Squash

I was introduced to delicata squash some years ago while celebrating the wedding of friends in Santa Cruz. Delicata is a small, lovely squash that looks gorgeous and tastes the same. It’s a little bit sweet, and a little bit not. Plus, unlike most other squashes, you can eat the skin of the delicata! 

This was a wedding to remember. In keeping with an old family custom, and so that we could easily identify the affiliation of each of the guests, those invited by one partner were instructed to wear gold while those invited by the other were instructed to wear white. We were members of team white, and I was thrilled to have an opportunity to wear a knitted cream dress that had been hanging in my closet for a long time. Once we arrived at the outdoor venue, we all joined together in a sea of yellow, gold, beige, cream, and white to form a new, beautiful, extended family. It was very moving, and most memorable. The simple beauty of this recipe will always remind me of the love and joy we helped to create on that beautiful October day.  Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: The Season for Cholent (Crockpot Stew, vegan/GF)

This weekend I made our first cholent of the season for Sukkot, the fall harvest festival. We ate it inside our beautiful sukkah, built mostly by my husband, but this year with the help —for the first time — of our very young grandchildren. Cholent warms you from the inside out in chilly weather, and then, just little while later, it is gone.

I have made cholent (a crockpot stew traditionally served on holidays and Shabbat) a thousand times or more in my life, and no two versions have ever come out exactly the same. But, like riding a bike, there is a rhythm to the recipe, and once you get the rhythm, it belongs to you for the rest of your life. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Soup for the Holidays

In the days when my house was full of school-age children, I used to make crockpots full of soup every weekend, and hope that it would last into the beginning of the following week to provide warm lunches or dinners until it was gone. I don’t make weekly crockpots anymore, but I still love using my crockpot to make soup in the fall, around the holidays, and in the early spring, before the weather begins to warm up.

This time of year, with the nights cooling and plenty of holidays on the calendar, it’s always a great feeling to fill the crockpot and see what develops. And it doesn’t have to be chicken thighs. You can also fill your crockpot with beans! An overnight crockpot fills the house with a sublime perfume, the stomach with a delicious and satisfying meal, and the hearts of those you feed with all kinds of warm and cozy feelings. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegan Cassoulet

Last week we were expecting a whole crowd of people to gather for dinner on Friday night. My husband had been away all week, and we were all looking forward to enjoying good food, good company, and a glass of good wine. 

I was looking for a main course that would serve as a dramatic centerpiece for our meal, a symbol of sorts, and so I decided to try making a vegan version of a cassoulet. Traditionally, the cassoulet, a staple of French cuisine, is made with meats and poultry like mutton, pork, sausage, and duck confit, and different regions of France are known for their own distinctive versions. But I had my heart set on making a new kind of cassoulet that, while plant-based, was still intensely flavorful.  Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Pickled Cabbage Salad (Curtido)

When I was a little girl, I used to “help” my Grandma Rosie pickle cucumbers, green tomatoes, and even garlic, which sometimes developed an interesting blue color as it fermented in the pickling juice. We loved her homemade pickles, and we still do. This post is also a shoutout to longstanding and devoted YHIOYP reader Joe G, who absolutely loves Grandma Rosie’s pickles and has made them on many occasions since I first wrote about them.

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YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Two Israeli Fennel Salads

By the time you read this I’ll be in Israel visiting my son and daughter-in-law, and celebrating the first birthday of my beautiful grandson. The next few weeks will be inspired by the delicious meals and celebrations for which Israelis are famous! First up are a couple of salads using the vegetable fennel.  

Fennel is a very special bulb of a vegetable, with the faintest sweet taste of…what?…licorice(!)…but very faint, so don’t be put off. To me it tastes more like the bergamot that gives Earl Grey tea its characteristic flavor and aroma. If you’ve never eaten fennel before, these recipes are a perfect introduction. Continue reading