Le Blog!
Food and eating solutions without food rules, eating restrictions, eat-like-me-look-like-me diets nor “eat this, not that” food fears.
Instead, I share the best information on balanced, practical ways to eat well and maximize your health through food enjoyment, mindful tasting and cooking food you love. There are also recipes, culinary nutrition tips, and posts on how food culture impacts how and what we eat.
Chipotle and Black Bean Tempeh Chili
Making chili should be an easy, homemade treat, but chili competitions and throwdowns can make it feel like it should be Instagram-ble or worthy of excessive scrutiny. Add to that pressure an assumption that meat has to be...
Go-To BBQ Sauce: Smokey, Spicy, Tangy & Sweet
Creating a BBQ sauce recipe is basically asking for a culinary throwdown. With parts of our country owning different styles and declaring theirs as the best, I tread on hallowed ground. However, when I get a craving for BBQ, these...
Lazy, Lighter Chocolat Chaud—Hot Chocolate with French Airs
Any cold day seems a good day for a hot chocolate break or breakfast treat to warm your body and soul. To help with that, I’m sharing this chocolat chaud recipe that I’ve tested until woozy with cocoa to get it just...
Easy homemade Honeycomb for a Flavorful Sweet Treat
I ate honeycomb for the first time at the Royal Highlands show in Scotland where it was called cinder toffee. I adopted a Scottish accent after the first bite.
I’d eaten honeycomb-covered chocolate bars in London, but fresh-made honeycomb had heady aromas of caramel, toffee,...
Artichoke Puttanesca–Forget its Saucy Reputation
Serves 6 as a complete meal with the pasta option
A delicious mix of tangy, spicy and savory ingredients makes Puttanesca sauce (sugo alla puttanesca) a meal-time habit that can be made from your pantry. This popular Italian sauce commonly pairs with...
Kids in the Kitchen: A little Cooking Competition is Healthy
Parents rarely get to brag that their children regularly make the family meals using lots of new ingredients. However, TV cooking competitions for kids give the illusion that they often whip up complex meals quicker than their parents can google the recipe.
Some cooking...
Marmalade Macaroons or Rochers à la Noix de Coco
Add macaroons to your dessert menu to master a classic French treat with Italian origins that’s surprisingly quick and easy. Macaroons (mac-uh-ruinz) based on coconut, look and sound nothing like the butter-cream filled almond cookies macarons (mac-kaw-rhone except only pronounce half the “n” for...
Pineapple Ginger Salsa Recipe
Tomato-based salsas offer familiar flavors and textures, but bust out of that comfort zone with a sweet, tangy pineapple ginger salsa for a zippy dip and fun side dish or garnish. Flavorful heat from chile peppers, garlic, scallion and ginger are balanced...
Salsa! Dance it or Eat it—Both Burn Calories
Dance it or eat it, but either way salsa boosts your mood, makes you hot and burns extra calories. Chile peppers in salsa contain chemicals that trigger heat sensations and cause your body to expend more energy--a metabolic effect called diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). Embrace...
Corn, Tomato and Spinach Olive-Oil Galette
Olive-oil galette--Is it a tart? A pizza with a folded edge? A pie you eat for dinner?
It’s delicious no matter what you call it and, depending on your fillings, this olive-oil galette works for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
This...
Lentil Mushroom Walnut Pate: Savory Bean-Meat Swaps
Liver is a cheap ingredient that many cultures embrace and adore but can be an acquired taste due to its strong odors, unique and sometimes metallic flavors and texture challenges. My first whiff of liver was thanks to my childhood friend Mary whose father regularly...
Quick Pickled Leeks with Lime
Leeks are versatile, but most often, are cooked until soft or used as an aromatic veggie in stocks. This recipe for pickled leeks lets them maintain a fresh texture and flavor. In less than 10 minutes, hands-on, you have a versatile, delicious garnish and ingredient...
Meaty Walnut Mushroom Ragout: Flex Your Meatless Options
Walnut Mushroom Ragout (Ragoût, for zee French appetite)
This walnut mushroom ragout (pronounced like the Italian Ragù) is a veggie and meat-eater favorite that delivers a ground-meat texture and umami-meaty flavor from toasted walnuts. Walnuts are high in umami...
It's about Making Food First
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