YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red September Soup

I am trying to keep to a new plan, which is to make a crockpot full of soup every Sunday. My hope is that it lasts far into the week, providing warm lunches or dinners to anyone in need, until it’s all gone. I started the first week with a green French lentil soup, but last week I decided to go red — red beans, red lentils, red tomatoes, red paprika.  Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Rice Pudding

On the day we were married, almost 36 short years ago, my Aunt Gerda showed up with a bucket of the creamiest, most extraordinary rice pudding I have ever eaten, before or since. We even packed up a small container to take on our honeymoon. You might say that rice pudding holds a special place in my heart and soul. Especially Aunt Gerda’s rice pudding. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Huevos Haminados (Slow-roasted Eggs)

Haminados are one of my all-time favorite Passover recipes! Simple, sublime and delicious, they have been a staple at the Passover tables of Mediterranean Jewish communities for millennia! Check out this recipe and you’ll see why. Whether you make this dish in your crockpot or oven, it takes just a few minutes to toss it together and get it cooking. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Chickpeas & Posole

If you have never heard of posole, you are in for a seriously delicious treat. Posole is the same as hominy, kernels of corn that have been soaked in limewater, then hulled and dried. These are whole, not like the ones that are crushed for making grits. You can get some extraordinarily good posole from Rancho Gordo in Napa, or from a Mexican grocery, or from most anywhere that beans, nuts, seeds and grains are sold in bulk. Americans eat loads of grain, including corn, but not like this. Posole is the real deal. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Lentil Soup & Sweet Potatoes

You know how much I love slow cooking and crock pots, greens and sweet potatoes. Put this delicious recipe up to cook on Sunday, and you’ll be all set for days. Consider it your “standby dinner” in case you get stuck in traffic, or at the office, or in a turnstile or a revolving door, or between a rock and a hard place. Or stuck for an idea. Or just plain don’t feel like cooking when you get home. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Another Kind of Magic Bean Soup — Vegetarian Chili

I love my slow cooker. I even have a bumper sticker that says so.

This is something really terrific — it takes 5 minutes to get ready, all day to cook and fill the house with heavenly smells, and no time at all to bring to the table for a satisfying and wonderful meal.  Thank you to Clean Eating Chelsey for her version of Magic Bean Soup. As opposed to this one, from me and Michael Ruhlman. Continue reading