Sweet Potato Apple & Swiss Chard Stew

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The second that it started to feel like fall was finally in the air, I started clicking through all of my favorite blogs and sites and I happily flipped through my favorite beautiful cookbooks looking for inspiration for what kind of soup or stew to make. This sweet potato apple & swiss chard stew was the perfect choice.

I can sit on the couch with cookbooks surrounding me and lose all track of time. Same thing with sitting with my laptop perusing food blogs and recipe sites. Yup, I can be a couch potato to the max — it’s one of my best talents!

But, whoever said couch potatoes are not productive, has not seen some of the results of my expertise in this area. Because I come up with my best recipe ideas when I’m in full-on couch potato mode (maybe even with a cheesy romantic movie playing in …

Flat Beans And Potatoes

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I love going to the farmers’ market. I’d rather do that that almost anything else. There’s just something about all of the smells and colors and people, especially during autumn that makes me happy… it feels like home. Last weekend, when I was walking through all of the beautiful stalls filled with vegetables, the vendor with the beans caught my eye. There were just so many different types and colors, so I had to buy some. It was a hard choice, but I chose the most beautiful, huge, flat beans I had ever seen. I didn’t know at the time, that they would become the root of this deliciously homey pot of flat beans and potatoes.

So, I put some in my canvass bag, skipped merrily on my way, and tried to think about what else I would need to make these beans delicious.

This was on Sunday. Earlier that …

Peruvian Chicken With Green Sauce

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Roast chicken is comfort food. Kick your comfort up a notch with this Peruvian chicken with green sauce…

I am a huge proponent of eating whatever works for your particular body and circumstances at this particular point in time. Sometimes I eat vegan and at other times of the year, I feel my body does best with a little grass-fed organic meat. That’s how I roll… I feel a plant-based diet coming on, so before I go all veggie on you, I want to post one of my all-time favorite chicken recipes. This Peruvian Chicken With Green Sauce is amazing on so many levels…

There’s an awesome little Peruvian restaurant a few blocks from my apartment. It’s so good… and reasonably priced… and the chicken is cooked perfectly. But, their green sauce is way too spicy for me — and I am a spice-lover…  So, when I saw a recipe …

Chocolate Banana Dairy-Free Fudgesicles

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These chocolate banana dairy-free fudgesicles will take you back to your childhood…

Summer may be almost over, but ice pop season never ends. At least not in my house. Every few weeks, I make a new batch of ice pops. I love to try out new flavor combinations and new textures, mix them up, and pour them into my retro ice pop molds. These chocolate banana dairy-free fudgesicles were an experiment that came out great!

Do you have any foods that when you taste them bring you right back to your early childhood? For me, food is responsible for a lot of deja vu moments. And fudgesicles are one of those foods. I’m right back on the lawn under the fireworks on the 4th of July. Or at a BBQ, running through the sprinklers and laughing.

I will admit that sometimes when I experiment, the end result is… well… ummm… …

Crispy Smashed Potatoes With Pesto

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I am always testing new recipes and playing with different preparations of foods. I love to create new dishes — this experimenting has always been what de-stresses me. There’s just something about the kitchen itself and the fresh ingredients and all of the possibilities that puts me in my happy place.

While this sounds good to many people, it makes my family crazy. Even if they love a dish, they rarely see it again the same way because I’m always tweaking and changing and experimenting.

But, this recipe for crispy smashed potatoes with pesto is different. I make it the same way every time. Because it’s awesome. And, it it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

There’s no better side dish than these potatoes. They are the perfect compliment to chicken or fish or steak. But honestly, I love them best served alongside a great bowl of soup. And, last week …

Tomato Pomegranate Salad

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Salads don’t have to be boring! Try this tomato pomegranate salad for a change of pace…

Last week I had a counter filled with tomatoes. You know how it is… I went to the farmers market and there were tomatoes everywhere. I mean everywhere. Red ones. Yellow ones. Purple ones. Teardrop shaped ones. Oval ones. Round ones. Big ones. Little ones… you get the picture… This tomato pomegranate salad was the perfect use for this gorgeous variety of tomatoes.

Back at the market, I just started filling my bag. It was like I was possessed. But, in my defense, they were so pretty — like jewels.

I made a lot of dishes with these beauties. And there were still more.

Sometimes the universe just provides you what you need. I opened my email inbox one morning that week, and there were my weekly recipes from The New York Times, …

Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

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Sheet Pan dinners are all the rage. They are like last year’s kale recipes. Remember when every recipe seemed to have kale in it? Everything has it’s time, and for one pan, oven-baked dinners, that time is now. And nobody is happier than I am! I mean, really, what’s better than putting everything on a single tray, plopping it in the oven, and ending up with a flavorful, well-seasoned, spiced-up, healthy dinner? Nothing. Well, at least that’s how I feel now… I can’t wait to see what the next “in” thing is. So, if you want to jump on the sheet pan dinner bandwagon, you have to try these sheet pan chicken fajitas.

I love Mexican food. But, I try not to go out to eat it too much. It’s dangerous! All those chips… and margaritas… ugh… I have little self-control when it comes to this kind of deliciousness……

Creamy Mint Avocado Pasta

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Avocados are good for hot flashes!

I’m going to be honest: most of my life I was not a big mint fan. I could never understand how people liked mint chocolate chip ice cream so much — to me, the mint ruined the deliciousness of the chocolate chip. Mint tea?… ewww…. And, I would always choose any other candy over the pretty red and white candy canes of winter. Funny how things change. And boy have they ever! Mint is awesome! And it’s recipes like this creamy mint avocado pasta that make me wonder what was wrong with me all of those years ago…

When I first started studying Chinese medicine and I fell so in love with all of the herbs, Mint (Bo He) quickly became a go-to healing herb for me. It is amazing in it’s abilities to fight colds, boost the immune system, and settle your stomach. …

Buckwheat Ramen Soup

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What is it about ramen that makes it so good that I will eat it even on a hot summer day? I mean, usually, if you told me I was going to have hot soup for dinner in August, I’d run the other way. But not with ramen. It’s just so good! And this buckwheat ramen soup is one of my all-time favorite recipes.

I like to eat grain-free whenever possible. I also love pasta and noodles of all kinds. Now, I could make this soup using all different types of vegetable noodles, like zucchini, carrot, parsnip, etc. This recipe from feedfeed is awesome if you want to give the veggie noodle ramen a try. The buckwheat ramen noodles that are available in stores now are amazing, so I say give this a try! It’s close to real, authentic ramen noodles.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, buckwheat (despite its …

Sauteed Squash Blossoms

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Before this season, I had never cooked squash blossoms before. I’ve eaten them, but not cooked them. I think the delicate nature of them had me in a kind of awe. They are so pretty, and so dainty that you can almost see through them. But after making these sautéed squash blossoms, I will be buying them each and every time I see them.

I was at my local farmers’ market when I finally jumped in and bought these beauties. There were so many containers of these gorgeous yellow-orange flowers. They were stacked up in a big floral mountain. It was like a country meadow. They were calling me name.

It’s such a short season for these blossoms, that I recommend that if you see them, you buy them. Don’t make the mistake I made of waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Ugh… so much lost time…

Oh, and the lovely …