Category Archives: Holidays & Celebrations

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentil Soup for Rosh Hashanah

Posted on by

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 →

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

Posted on by

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 →

Grand Celebration

Posted on by

Our brand new grandson was born into our family this past week, after which my son-in-law named it “Birthday Week,” not only for the fact of his own birthday and that of his newborn son, but also because we celebrated the first birthday of the infant’s newly promoted big sister! Birthday week!! In celebration of this newly expanded family, the week basically consisted of one wonderful meal after the next, all of which reminded me of a post that I wrote once upon a time about the meals at my parents’ small farm in the Watchung Mountains of New Jersey. The years have passed, and my own parents are gone now, but all our beautiful babies have been named in memory of my mother and father, and that has been a gift of its own. Continue reading →

How to Make a Life

Posted on by

Connie and her husband Duane were my parents’ closest of friends for upwards of 40 years. They drove to Cleveland from their home in the hills of northwest New Jersey to crawl into bed with my father in his last days, to whisper their love for him, to share some memories, and to be, as always, the best friends they could be. My parents shared thousands and thousands and thousands of memories with Connie and Duane throughout the years. Their shared love for their Afghan hounds and Belgian sheepdogs, their joyful July 4th celebrations, hundreds and hundreds of weekly Sunday dinners, restaurant meals, New Years Eve parties, Thanksgiving graces, glasses of light red Beaujolais, local and national dog shows, chaffeuring one other, Zooming together, housesitting, and endless games of Trivial Pursuit. How do you make a life? How do friends and neighbors become transformed into family? This is how. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Delicata Squash

Posted on by

We have been roasting a lot of delicata squash this past month, sliced open, seeds scooped away, and sprinkled with olive oil, salt and cinnamon. I can eat delicatas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and still never tire of them. I love the delicate flavor, the gentle skin that doesn’t need to be cut away, and the sweetness of the orange flesh. This way of preparing delicata squash is about as simple as it gets, and somewhat of a contrast to my first introduction to delicatas. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Lentil Soup for the New Year

Posted on by

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 →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Pecan Bread (vegan, gf)

Posted on by
My family gets together for dinner every Friday night, and it’s always like a touchstone. It’s the end of the week, and the start of the weekend. It’s a chance to catch up with everyone, and a chance to kick back. It’s a time to share ideas, and to find out who’s heard from our son and daughter-in-law overseas. It’s an opportunity to drink a glass of wine, to eat my husband’s delicious cooking, including his homemade challah, and to mark and celebrate special events from the week, including birthdays and anniversaries. We are a noisy group, and we range in age from 6 weeks to 88 years, so it takes a while for everyone to get situated around the table. When we can, we eat around the massive picnic table that my parents brought from New Jersey when they moved next door. Otherwise we gather in the living room. And then, finally, it’s time for a taste of Lisa’s pecan bread.

Continue reading →

Celebrating the Fourth of July

Posted on by

Below is one of my favorite posts, posted originally on July 4, 2010:

It’s the fourth of July today, and my family has converged on the family farm for the great annual bash. On and off since yesterday evening, strapping grandsons have been carrying cartons of beer, wine, soda, water, and iced tea up to the deck, where great drums of ice stand ready to receive them all. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PANDEMIC: Walnut Brownies

Posted on by

Some of my friends think I never eat treats, sweets, or anything fun AT ALL. They are so wrong. It is true that I don’t eat what I would categorize as “food-like” products or manufactured calories like corn syrup, white flour, and maltodextrin. But I definitely enjoy my share of desserts, especially this year. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Thanksgiving Weekend Squash Heaven

Posted on by

Here’s another recipe to share around. Even after you’ve eaten all the turkey and stuffing and gravy and mashed potatoes and cranberries and Brussels sprouts and mac+cheese and pumpkin pie and whatever else your family always makes for Thanksgiving, there is often a squash or two left on the counter. Here is something very special that you can do with that squash, a breathtaking way to elevate it to an honored spot at the table.  

Continue reading →