YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentil Soup for Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight at sundown. High Holiday foods tend toward the sweet and the circular: sweet to represent our wishes for a sweet new year, and circular to symbolize the seasons that run one into the next, round and round, year after year.

So it is traditional to eat many different kinds of fruits, especially apples, prunes, pomegranates, dates and apricots; and sweet vegetables such as beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and leeks (sliced into rounds, of course), as well as black-eyed peas and lentils. And lots of honey, especially for dipping bread and apples. Continue reading



The Illusion of Variety

Like many people who have been holed up in their homes for the past 15 months or so, this past week I entered a supermarket for the first time in more than a year. Omg. I left with one package of granola bites (treat), one cabbage (food), two kinds of beer (treat), and tonic water (treat–Fever Tree, the best!). Hopefully, I’ll do better next time. The whole experience got me thinking once again about what a supermarket really is, and I decided to share something I first posted a very long time ago. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTH PLATE: Coffee Nice Cream

Inasmuch as it’s going to be around 90F out there tomorrow, I am sharing a recipe that will be perfect for the weather. It’s like a smoothie but a lot thicker. You can eat it as is, or as the base for a smoothie bowl. It’s not ice cream; it’s “nice cream.” And it is delicious. Continue reading


Gratitude for the Harvest 2020

At this time of year, I often have the privilege of receiving a large number of food gifts, and I make it my goal to share as many as possible, forwarding the depth and breadth of the bounty that arrives on my doorstep as the season of harvest arrives. Here is what is possible. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Watermelon Sunshine Drink

My kids have all grown up to be great cooks. Adventurous, inspired by simple ingredients, and willing to try unusual combinations of ingredients at least once. Here’s a little something my youngest (now grown and married) invented on the spot last Friday afternoon, inspired by some slightly mushy watermelon in the fridge.

By the way, if you’ve noticed that things seem a little different around here, it’s not your imagination. Comfort food (of all kinds) wins. The main goal of each day is to get to the next. Deep breath. You’re gonna like this one. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Grain Bowl

For obvious reasons, most of my friends, family, and coworkers are leaning pretty heavily toward comfort food these days. So I figured maybe we’d take a break from kale salad and spicy chickpeas and share a couple of strategies for grain bowls. The nice thing about grain bowls is that you can be reassured that they are super nourishing even if it might feel like you’re eating a bowl of coffee cake. Continue reading



Plums, Poetry, Public Transit, and William Carlos Williams

If you look up as you walk through the back door into my kitchen, you will see a poster written in Swedish, a translation of a poem written in 1934 by the great William Carlos Williams. In addition to being a pediatrician, Dr. Williams, from Rutherford, New Jersey, was a great poet. Here is the story of how the poster and poem, below in the original English, ended up in my kitchen. Continue reading


Faux Fruit Foods

If I had just ten seconds to share advice on improving your nutrition, this is what I would say: Eat more fruits and vegetables. And I don’t think that would surprise anyone. We all know these are nutritional powerhouses, and we all know that it’s a good idea to eat more of them, especially since most of us probably don’t eat enough produce to begin with. Continue reading