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



YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tsimmes

Preparing for the holidays with my mom was a major highlight of my childhood. Like many other special dishes that we ate on dedicated holidays throughout the calendar, we made tsimmes twice a year, in the fall for Rosh Hashanah (it is traditional to eat sweet foods on Rosh Hashanah), and in the spring for Passover. My mom never used recipes, preferring to combine ingredients as her grandmother and mother-in-law did, but, truthfully, tsimmes is one of those dishes that probably doesn’t really need much of a recipe anyway.  Continue reading


The Origin of “Granola”

It will probably surprise you to learn that the term granola was coined way back in the 1870s by one Dr. John Kellogg, late of Battle Creek, Michigan, where he ran a famous health sanitarium to which patrons flocked in pursuit of health and wellness. Among his many prescient recommendations was one that should be familiar to you, dear reader — that food be prepared the old-fashioned way, using whole grains instead of stripped ones like white flour or corn syrup. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Celebrate Summer with a Green Smoothie!

It’s the beginning of August, it’s a hot and sunny day, and nothing tastes as good as a freezing cold smoothie on a hot summer day! Make it green with spinach, and sweet with tropical fruit, and absolutely wonderful to share with everyone who comes through the kitchen to see what’s going on when they hear the blender whirring away. The color of this smoothie is gorgeous, the spinach is invisible, and the children will love it as much as you do. Enjoy! Continue reading


When it’s Not Really Fruit or Vegetables

If I had just ten seconds to share nutrition advice, I know exactly what I would say: Eat more fruits and vegetables. And I don’t think that would surprise anyone. We all know that fruits and vegetables are nutritional powerhouses, rich in not only fiber but also phytonutrients, and everyone knows it’s a good idea to eat more of them. Especially since most of us don’t eat enough produce to begin with.

Now, the brand managers in the food industry know that we know we should eat more fruits and vegetables. This is why there are so many processed food items containing fruit-related words, or some version of the actual word “fruit.” Vegetables, too, to a lesser extent. Like vegetable oil. And which “vegetable” would that be, please? Continue reading


Fruit: Friend or Foe?

Here is how this all got started:
Last month I received an email from a friend asking about whether it was okay to eat a lot of fruit every day. She had seen an article in the NYTimes, “How to Stop Eating Sugar,” in which she read that fresh fruit is a good way to satisfy a sweet tooth without resorting to processed items with their excessive (absurd even, I would say) amounts of added sugar. Without specifying exactly how much was too much, the author included a warning… … Continue reading


The Box-of-Real-Food Diet

I write Your Health is On Your Plate because there are a couple of things that I want everyone to really understand. First, I want you to understand that there’s a big difference between real food and manufactured calories. A huge difference, really. Real food nourishes; manufactured calories entertain (at best). Manufactured calories also cause a lot of very serious medical problems. Like diabetes and obesity, for starters. And strokes and heart attacks. Continue reading