The Magic of Peanut Butter

This week is short and sweet. I want to say that it recently occurred to me that peanut butter is like the trifecta of good nutrition. There is plenty of fiber from the peanuts. There’s loads of nourishing fat, with a variety of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fatty acids. And there is a ton of protein. So if you want to eat something nourishing, but you’re not in the mood to cook, think peanut butter.  Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Cabbage with a Buzz

When I saw this recipe I knew it was for me. Generally speaking, cabbage is one of those foods that is very underrated — especially the red kind. This recipe is a red-green party, lunch for a week with spicy, crunchy, sour power! Make some for you, or your gang, or the office potluck! Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: End-of-Vacation Salad

This recipe reminds me of a tiny little funky restaurant that I once stopped in on my way home from southern Florida, headed home to the Great Lakes.

It was so refreshing and delicious to feel the different textures and flavors of this inspired salad in my mouth after having taken the trouble to uncurl myself from the back of an SUV where I’d sat, folded and crumpled, in a tiny little corner under an ever-shifting pile of boxes, suitcases and children, all of us trying hard not to think about the fact that we had come to the end of a long and happy vacation.

We had been driving all day. Maybe we were in Tennessee, or it might have been West Virginia. A college town clearly on break. It was almost sundown and the streets were mostly empty. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Black-Bean Quinoa Salad

Take this fresh, crunchy crock of BIG FLAVOR  to a spring potluck, or serve it to friends at a celebratory luncheon, or pack a bowl for lunch at work, or fill up a large, colorful pottery bowl for the middle of the dinner table, along with a big bowl of tomato soup. Yes, it has a lot of ingredients, but that’s how you make the magic. You cannot go wrong with quinoa, and you cannot go wrong with this meal-in-one. I’m also sure you’ll be glad to know that it will keep in the fridge for a few days. You can make it as simply (canned beans, quinoa pre-made, store-bought lime juice) or as involved (heirloom beans, red quinoa, organic limes) as you like. It’ll be delicious either way — promise! Continue reading


Beans, Beans, They’re Good For Your Heart

The newest version of recommendations to guide our food choices has one glaring omission, and that is its lack of emphasis on beans. There is a lot to celebrate in it, the ridiculously long way in which they chose to say it notwithstanding, but still. It’s nice to know that the government finally backs my recommendation to eat eggs, for example. And thanks, Michael Ruhlman, for never taking those previous sets of guidelines [which warned us against “the evils of eggs and their concerning cholesterol levels”] seriously. Continue reading