If you love sweet, and who doesn’t?!, then you are going to love this recipe! Roasted Brussels sprouts and fennel actually become sweet by a process called caramelization, which happens during the roasting process. That sweet flavor continues to linger in your mouth in a delicious and satisfying way, and it makes this a fantastic dish for a special occasion like New Years Eve. All the work of this recipe is in the vegetable prep, by the way, and after that it’s relatively hands-off. So if you can find a partner to help get the veggies ready, it goes even faster. Continue reading
We Are Family
Hope springs eternal. No matter how unsuccessful their efforts to “lose weight,” people continue to try. Laudable. Applaudable. And respectable. But, for the most part, unsuccessful. Continue reading
#Mindful Being
A few words today encouraging you to be mindful, to be kind to yourself, to help yourself to remain centered, especially in the spinning vortex of ceaseless activity that will characterize the coming weeks of nonstop celebration. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Pasta, Pignola, and Butternut Squash
One of my favorite things is a one-pot meal, placed right in the middle of the table. This gorgeous dish, with its range of deep colors, is good enough for company, but don’t feel the need to wait for such an occasion. It also makes a wonderful dinner for two, or three, or four. If you need to get organized, you can roast the squash and toast the pine nuts one day prior, like I did. Continue reading
Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables
If I had just one chance, a single opportunity to share one small bit of health advice, I would say “Eat more fruits and vegetables.” That’s all. Continue reading
Let’s Go For a Walk
This is a good week to talk about taking a walk. When it comes to health care, I consider mobility a goal of the highest priority. The one other goal about which i feel this way is blood sugars; I’ll pay any price to keep patients’ blood sugars normal. And I’ll pay any price to keep a person mobile. When my kids were growing up, and they were feeling crummy (I’m cranky; I don’t feel well; I’m bored; I have too much homework), I would always say, “Go for a walk!” It got to be a joke in our house. They took it to the next level. Fever? Go for a walk! Migraine? Take a hike! Broken leg? Walk it off! Appendicitis? “Very funny,” I said. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Cranberry Slaw
Here’s a sweet little recipe, something to do with cranberries that I am sure NEVER occurred to you before! It makes a perfect appetizer or salad course for a Thanksgiving meal. Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours… Continue reading
A Commodity-Based Diet
A few months ago Michael @Ruhlman lent me a captivating new book written by Chef Dan Barber and called The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food. In 2009 Time Magazine named @DanBarber one of the 100 most influential people in the world. I’m a little bit chagrined to admit that I am still reading this book, primarily because it makes me think so hard that I can only get in a chapter at a time before I have to set it aside and think about what the author just said. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Apple-Walnut Oatmeal
Late last week, somehow, while no one was looking, autumn flew by and winter blew in. It’s an achingly beautiful look — trees still completely covered with gold or red leaves, shivering in the foreground of a white crystalline landscape, the lake dark grey in the distance. And it’s really cold, unexpectedly so, so here’s what I’m having this morning. It’s a lot of flavor for breakfast, and they’re all the right kinds. You might smile while you’re eating it. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Lentils & Collards Soup
I’ve posted this recipe on these pages once before, but I thought it was worth repeating. I love how the aromatic cumin and cinnamon and lemon flavors in this soup are so different from the spice combinations I usually use.
The box of vegetables I picked up a couple of days ago contained two huge bunches of collard greens, and I could see that they were just aching to be made into this warm, aromatic soup. It took a day or two, but I finally gathered up all my ingredients, and started chopping. Well almost all. Because most unexpectedly, after I’d rinsed and chopped all the greens, I discovered, for the first time in probably decades, that we were completely out of onions. So I did the only thing I could think of, which was to increase the garlic to 10 cloves. Or maybe 15. There were a lot. Continue reading