Pomegranate Glazed Beets

These pomegranate glazed beets will make a beet lover out of anyone!

Every morning Steve and I take our dogs (Maggie and Sadie) to Central Park for a walk. It’s really an amazing thing to do. Before 9:00am all dogs are allowed off-leash in the park. It’s like a sci-fi movie — it’s the dogs’ world and we just live in it. Literally hundreds of dogs are running around playing and sniffing and all of them get along. It’s really quite incredible and awe-inspiring. It’s an hour of pure wonder.

Today, my plan was to go to the gym as soon as I left the park. But, it was one of those mornings… so, here I am still in my kitchen. In my gym clothes. I mean, it’s just sooooooooo hot outside and it’s so cool in here…

And, it may not be logical, but I really wanted to make …

Berry Fig Yogurt Parfait

Parfaits are fun. And this berry fig yogurt parfait is delicious and energizing!

It’s getting to be the dog-days of summer — but if you’re a dog lover like I am, it’s not a bad thing at all! Yes, I know, nobody likes those ridiculously hot and humid days — the ones where the air is heavy and everything seems to move in slow motion. But summer is awesome! Even when it’s hot! You can go outside with nothing but shorts and a tank. You can walk down the street drinking the hugest iced coffee or smoothie. You can smell that warm, sweet, summery scent of the flowers and trees…

And here, in NYC, where everyone aspires to leave the city in the summer, I am happy as a clam. I’m not crazy though. I don’t turn on my oven much, and I stick to the shady side of the …

Turmeric Chicken

Turmeric is so healing, so why not use it whenever you can? This turmeric chicken is a crowd-pleaser… it’s so good!

Every year there are a few foods that just seem to show up everywhere. Last year it was kale. There were kale salads, kale pestos, kale smoothies… And while I was starting to feel a little “kale-ed out”, I do still make some of these recipes, because, well, they are just plain good!

This recipe has no kale in it… It’s an organic, grain-free, dairy-free, gluten-free meal that will reduce inflammation in your body. And, the colors are bright and vibrant. So, if you eat with your eyes first like I do, you will be smiling even before you take the first bite.

This year, turmeric seems to be the “it ingredient”. And it’s an awesome ingredient at that! For years, I’ve been using turmeric to heal inflammation …

Slow Roasted Salmon With Smoked Salmon Rollups

Salmon helps fight illnesses… and this slow roasted salmon with smoked salmon rollups is a double dose of salmon!

This is truly a simple recipe. It only looks a little fancy because when I was done with my go-to simple slow roasted salmon, I rolled up some smoked salmon and put it on top. One of my favorite sushi rolls at our local Japanese restaurant is a fresh salmon roll with smoked salmon inside. So, when I opened my fridge and I saw a package of smoked salmon, the lightbulb went on over my head…. hmmmm….. this has got to be good…. And, it really is!

My son just graduated from college and is back in New York with us, which makes me very happy. Ever since he was a child, I have made sure to always have a package of smoked salmon in the fridge for him. It’s no …

Chopped Broccoli Salad

This chopped broccoli salad is delicious, can be customized with your favorite ingredients, and can be made in advance!

Almost every time I buy broccoli I end up roasting it in the oven until it is nice and charred — burnt broccoli is awesome! Now that I’ve said that, this chopped broccoli salad has nothing in common with burnt broccoli… but it’s my new favorite side dish.

So, while I was making this recipe, I kept thinking to myself that if there’s no burned edges and blackened stalks, how good could it be? Well, let me tell you, it’s excellent. What this chopped broccoli salad does have is lots of fruit, nuts, and seeds. And a delicious creamy dressing. This is so good, you have to try it instead of cole slaw or potato salad the next time you need a quick side dish.

I even chopped up some Chinese …

Pineapple Turmeric Smoothie

There are so many healing ingredients in this pineapple turmeric smoothie… you can feel the energy as you drink it!

It’s Memorial Day and it’s raining. To many people this would be an unhappy turn of events, but I have to say, for me… not so much. The last 3 days were gorgeous. They were filled with beach, BBQ and friends. So, a rainy gray day is not so bad because I get to do all of the things I would never do if it was nice outside.

Everyone has one of those to-do list to get through. For me, that list is overflowing with the not-so-fun tasks involved in packing up my house and moving to an apartment. Ugh… the packing. Ick… the cleaning… But, I get to procrastinate and instead of getting through these arduous tasks as quickly as I’d like, I end up in my kitchen. A …

Orange Banana Smoothie

This orange banana smoothie will make you think of summer!

Most mornings I wake up and I’m excited for my green smoothie. I know excited is an odd way to feel about a glass of green slush, but it’s really true. Over the years I’ve perfected them, so they taste great and make me feel even better. I truly love the energy I feel from all of the great ingredients in that big green glass.

But sometimes, I’m just not feeling’ the green. But I still want that energy… that’s how I felt a few days ago. It was a rainy day and I just wanted something that would make me feel like summer was coming. I created this smoothie, and it fit the bill perfectly. I mean, just look at the color of this orange banana smoothie… you can’t not smile and think of summer.

If you have …

Roasted Salmon Sheet Pan Dinner

This roasted salmon sheet pan dinner is delicious, healthy, and so easy!

I think if I had to pick a cooking method that is my favorite way to cook, it would be roasting. Roasting is the most idiot-proof method of preparing food. When in doubt, roast it. You can roast meats, vegetables, fish, fruit… and if you season the food properly, it will almost always come out good.

A few days ago, my real estate agent told me she was showing my house around dinner time. What this meant to me was that the salmon in the fridge that was waiting to be cooked, would have to be cooked in the morning so as to avoid potential buyers thinking my house smelled bad. I’m not usually a big fan of cooking fish in advance, but I figured I’d try the sheet pan method, and to be honest, I was just …

Sweet Potato Strawberry Arugula Salad

This sweet potato strawberry arugula salad has everything your body needs to feel awesome!

We are in the process of trying to sell our house so there are strangers walking through at all times. It’s hard to keep the house perfectly clean for all of the potential buyers stopping by! Especially the kitchen! Now, when I cook I try to be mindful of the cleanup, which is a real challenge for me because I use a lot of equipment and ingredients when I create recipes.

I went to the market the other day with absolutely no idea of what i was going to prepare when I got home. So many things looked so good… this might have been because I was hungry when I got there, which is probably not the best time to food shop…

It’s much more of a challenge to put my food together into a cohesive …

Lemon Pesto Fish Fillets

Dinner doesn’t get easier than these lemon pesto fish fillets!

Sometimes I want to make fish but I don’t want all of the fuss that sometimes comes with some of my seafood creations.  I don’t know what it is about fish that triggers something in my head that says I have to make a sauce or lots of sides, but it really doesn’t need to be that way. I created this recipe  on one of those nights that I was hungry and wanted to eat fast. It was mid-week and the cod at the market looked really good, so I bought it. When I was deciding what to do with it, I stood in front of my open fridge and peered inside. This is a bad habit of mine — I just stand there hoping for ingredients that don’t exist to appear…

But, on this particular day, I saw a …