YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Stuffed Pepper Fireworks!

I love heat, so this is the perfect recipe for me. But if your tastes tend more toward the gentle landing, you can skip the jalapeño and reduce the red pepper flakes to 1/2 teaspoon, or just forget them altogether. The chili powder will still give you a little bit of excitement. For me though, I’m all in, which means that if my batch of jalapeños isn’t particularly hot I’m happy to use two. And that is why I’m just gonna recommend that you try this gorgeous fireworks of color all landing on your tongue at the same time. Your tastebuds will sing! Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: ButterNutmeg Soup with Ginger

Chef Ira brought me a big bag of ginger, and I found something wonderful to make with it. The color of autumn, it’s made with butternut squash and nutmeg, which is why I decided to call it “butternutmeg” squash soup. Take some to work for lunch, try a bowl for breakfast, or start dinner with a cupful. It also makes a beautiful addition to a special celebration. You can enjoy this recipe any time!

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YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Grains and Greens

This is one of those wonderful recipes that works no matter what’s in your kitchen. It gives you the opportunity to use whichever grain you feel like eating today, whichever greens are in season, and whichever other vegetables you are in the mood to sautè. I chose bulgur, red pepper, asparagus and spinach here, but you should feel free to use whatever is in the veggie bin. The onions and garlic are important, as are the herbs and spices, but everything else is flexible. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Joe Gardewin’s Ginseng Chicken Salad

My friend Joe recently invented a recipe that he calls “Ginseng Chicken Salad.” It all started with a recipe called Korean-style Ginseng Chicken, from Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen,* which he says is by far the best Korean cookbook he has, and I think that’s saying a lot (!). He especially likes it because the recipes are very similar to recipes his wife used to make. If you don’t happen to have a copy of Joe’s special cookbook, which I do not, you can use the leftovers from a boiled or roasted chicken recipe. I am proud to share this recipe here with you. He’s invented something good. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Summer’s Caramelized Corn Salad

This beautiful and elegant recipe, with its mix of so many different colors and flavors, will certainly make your tastebuds sing! The sweetness from the pepper, sour from the lime, heat from the Sriracha, brightness from the parsley, all come together to form an absolute culinary orchestra. And sauteing the corn in olive oil? Well that’s what gives it that little bit of sweetly caramelized late summer magic. Enjoy! Continue reading




YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Stogie’s Belize Hot! Sauce

When I was a kid my parents had friends, Ted & Frieda, who grew hot peppers on their farm in Muncie, Indiana. When we stopped in Muncie for a visit, on our way across the country to the Twin Cities, Ted laid out an array of peppers on the kitchen counter. I tried every one. They were spectacular, and I was hooked. Forever after, he called me “Hot Pepper.” I’ve never met a hot sauce I didn’t like. Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: If You’ve Never Made Charoset…

I’ll be whipping up a second batch of this truly extraordinary charoset (kha-ROE-set) for dinner tomorrow night. In addition to the good old-fashioned, European-style, apples-and-walnuts charoset I make every year, I’ve been rotating through a series of Middle Eastern-style, dried-fruit charoset recipes every year for at least a couple of decades. But I never found one I liked enough to make it again until this year, when I served a bowl of this charoset, which was passed around and around the table until it had been almost emptied! Continue reading


YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Strawberried, Blueberried Salsa

The Free Dictionary defines salsa as a spicy sauce of chopped (usually raw, but not always) vegetables or fruit, especially tomatoes, onions and chili peppers. You may not have realized, however, that salsa doesn’t necessarily mean tomatoes. In Spanish, salsa means, simply, sauce, and salsa comes in lots of different versions, such as negra (black, with dried chilis) and verde (green, with herbs and tomatillos), not to mention, of course, roja (red, with plenty of tomatoes, onions and garlic). This particular salsa features berries to grand effect! Continue reading