Here you’ll find everything I’m preparing in my kitchen - from veggies, to leftovers and pasta. I eat simply, and I cook for one, but love cooking for others. And no matter what, I always pause to plate pretty.
Most of my meals are often times the result of freestyle recipe free ingredient riffing and a trip to the vegetable market. Produce is my passion, and I hope that you won’t simply come here for a recipe - but that you’ll read, cook and create a new story of your own.
I believe there’s power in a stocked pantry and freezer. From traditional Italian dishes to alternative sweets, vegan and vegetarian swaps - there’s something for everyone.
Let this serve as inspiration and let’s eat!
If you know my cooking and weight loss story, you know I love lentils. Lentil soup was the first meal I prepared in the summer of 2001 as I was forced to cook for myself while I was living on a small working farm in Ashford, CT. Recalling meals of my childhood, I remade my grandmas lentils until I got the pot of soup just right. Packed with fiber and protein they’re one of my favorite meal bases
Read MoreInspired by an epic Friday night meal of branzino, eggplant, zucchini, salad and wine I planned to relive it at home. A kingdom for grilled branzino every day, deboning and picking pins like a professional - but it gets costly … sometimes a lady has to get her wild flounder on because the price is right at the fish market.
Read MoreCooking can seem daunting some days, even to someone who loves it. Trust me. After a day of substitute teaching, then coming home to write, coach, teach health workshops and build a business I often come home hungry and semi-exhausted from the day.
Read MoreGrilling a tray of vegetables and a few chicken cutlets on the weekend is a great way to get through lunches and weeknights, but it can also be done on the fly - taking about 10 minutes on a barbecue or on a grill pan, in your kitchen. Summer is grilling season, we all know, but when you’re not blessed with a backyard, you need to find
Read MoreOne of my all time favorite spring/summer and early fall events is the picnic. There's an art to a picnic, you see. One does not want to pack food that is messy or cumbersome, as proper picnic food should be portable, light and easy to eat. The best picnic baskets, if you ask me, are filled with fresh fruit, nuts, spreads, bread, olives, a
Read MoreCooking on weeknights can be frustrating, tiring, blah, blah, blah. I know, I get it. I work too. But a burger salad could be the solution to all of your weeknight cooking woes. Yes, it's true. 8 minutes to season and saute meat, and while that's happening you can chop your romaine, cucumbers, onions, cube feta and grab some olives.
Read MoreGrowing up Tuesday’s and Wednesday night meals were often Sunday reheats or leftovers. I always say that eating like a peasant never tasted so rich. Often times for dinner we ate stale bread with tomatoes, pasta with potatoes, canned tuna with olives and sauce, fagioli and leftover Sunday dinner bits and pieces. Our meals were home cooked every night of the week and rooted in preparation, leftovers and simplicity. This is how I developed my cooking style once I was able to understand how I was using food to support me emotionally. Now this process supports me emotionally, creatively and in an entirely new way.
Read MoreOnce a week I do a produce refresh for my lunches and dinners and I wrote about it here.
Today I'm gonna go a little more in depth with regard to what landed on my table from that one cooking session. And please don't think this is how you have to cook, not in any way, I'm simply sharing the possibilities that come with making a tray of veggies and how they can have use in your day and meals beyond a simple side eaten as is. This is inspiration. A recommendation. Maybe some motivation.
Veggies can be used to create the base for a multitude of meals (at least in my single lady world)
Read MoreThis spicy veggie powered soup is littered with a lot of goodness and not for the faint of heart in the kitchen.
You can make it as simple or complex as you want and I’m gonna roll out what I did to make this masterpiece in 3 separate posts.
Now … On with the soup …
Read MoreThis week I’m off from substitute teaching, but I’ve still got private and corporate health work to attend to with a No Bake Treats workshop happening at a law firm in NYC on Friday, then one in DC and CT the following 2 Friday’s while I balance sub teacher life. That said, this week promises to be quite busy as do the coming weeks ahead. Filled with teaching, treat making, writing and figuring out how to get new clients and wondering how I'm supposed to date in the middle of so much newness. I digress.
A meal strategy going into a week is key for me and, I’d imagine for you too. And, I’m in the zone when it comes to my own food and time. I know what food I like, I'm committed to eating well (and all within reason, hello, Nutella) and I’ve already prioritized cooking as an integral part of my life that I don’t plan on sacrificing. Cooking makes me feel good
Read MoreA few tweaks to this Sunday bolognese make it not so traditional, but lighter and quick to make. Sure we're losing the pork and beef, substituting for turkey, but we've still got a healthy pour of red wine and finish with a splash of half and half to cut some of the acid and cream up this sauce - all without the ritual of cooking for 2-3 hours.
Read MoreIf a vegetable has a hole or cavity I will stuff it. I should have been a dude, God knows I have the humor of a 17 year old boy. But really, stuffing squashes is wonderful and handy for a few reasons:
As I sat down to my breakfast this morning, I thought about simplicity. How we as humans seek food and life answers in others when they're really inside of us. To truly get well and live our healthiest life, we have to ask ourselves some tough questions about the choices we make every day. We gotta get real about ourselves and our food and move from there.
Read MoreThe one thing I've done most weekends or one weeknight a week for the last 16 years (aside from wake up every morning and have a glass of water and go for a walk) is roast a tray of vegetables, cut up and/or steam - so I'm set for mindful mindless meal prep during the week. And I sort of hate myself for typing that because I sound like the biggest fucking bore - but I love myself - all at once. That's why I do it. The cooking, that is.
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