Simple Poached Salmon With Yogurt Sauce

This simple poached salmon with yogurt sauce will keep you healthy inside and out…

I don’t think I’ve poached salmon since I was in cooking school. I don’t really know why I don’t do it more often though, because this salmon is awesome. It’s perfect if you are serving a crowd and it’s an easy dish to make ahead and serve cold or at room temperature. This simple poached salmon with yogurt sauce really is just that: simple.

What’s better than a dish that is made for leftovers? The salmon that’s leftover here makes the best cold salmon salad. And it makes a terrific filling for omelets. Oh, and topping a salad with some big chunks of this moist salmon and then using the yogurt sauce as a dressing… well, just… yum!

I made this a few weeks ago when I was asked to bring a main course to a …

Zoodles With Raw Tomato Basil Sauce

These zoodles with raw tomato basil sauce can actually help calm your mind…

Honesty time. I don’t love zucchini noodles. I really want to, but I just don’t. I know everyone, everywhere, is saying that noodles are a great substitute for spaghetti. Yeah, right. Not so much for me. BUT, they are so good for you — especially these zoodles with raw tomato basil sauce — that I made it my mission to figure out why I don’t love noodles as much as everyone else seems to.

This is what I figured out: I just don’t love them when I think of them as spaghetti. When I’m expecting a big heaping bowl of satisfying pasta, any kind of vegetable, no matter how good it is, just isn’t going to cut it. So, here’s my trick. I serve them with a cold sauce (and this one is delicious), so that it …

Sprouted Grain Chicken Cutlets

Seeds can be your best friend. Many of them are great for digestion and are considered longevity foods. This chicken’s got a bunch of ’em…

This is my number 1 go-to recipe. Everyone likes it. Everyone. Ok, well, not my vegetarian and vegan friends. But everyone else. And, I’m going to be bold and say that about 90% of all those who eat it, ask me for the recipe. This recipe for sprouted grain chicken cutlets is that good. I know, you may be dubious, but don’t roll your eyes until you’ve tried it.

This chicken is crispy. The outside layer actually crunches in your mouth, but the chicken itself stays so moist. This is due to a combination of things. First, I highly recommend using boneless chicken thighs, not breasts — these are more flavorful and they don’t dry out like breasts can. Also, I use olive oil, not …

Buckwheat Sweet Potato Arugula Salad

Sweet potatoes are great for your digestive system!

In my mind, the best salads have 5 components: fresh greens, something chewy and substantial, something sweet, something tangy, and something unexpected. This Buckwheat Sweet Potato Arugula Salad has got ’em all!

When I lived in the suburbs for many years, I would go to the supermarket and stock up for the week. I was always a pretty good planner and I would have some idea of what I would need for the whole week and I would make a list and go buy those very things. That kind of planning was a necessity then. I mean, I had kids, a full-time stressful job, a long commute… it was the only way to get it done.

Oh, how things have changed. Now, I live in the very city I used to spend hours commuting to. I have a small kitchen, and, my …

4 Ingredient Vegan Potato Salad

Potatoes can actually be great for your digestion…

I have a fickle relationship with potatoes. Sometimes I love them and sometimes I hate them. Well, really, I always love the taste of them, but I don’t always love the way my body reacts to them. That being said, when I use really good quality organic potatoes, I’m usually a happy camper. And, in my book, there is nothing better than a good potato salad as a side dish. For everything. And this 4 ingredient vegan potato salad is the easiest side dish ever. And just to sweeten the pot — it stays delicious for many days in the fridge…

My favorite food of all times is french fries smothered in brown gravy. Yes, I really said that out loud. I don’t know why, but it feels kind of cathartic to release that info…

So, when I say sometimes I’m afraid …

Roasted Turmeric Cod

Cod is good for your heart and low in calories!

This recipe is idiot-proof. This is perfect for me because, even though I’m a chef, I love to make easy recipes. I learned many moons ago that I am incapable of having a glass of wine while I’m cooking because, well, everything just goes wrong — I forget ingredients, I burn things, you name in and it will go wrong if I have wine while I’m cooking. But, this roasted turmeric cod recipe is easy enough that I can have my wine and cook fish too!

I’m making myself sound like a lush, but in truth I’m quite a lightweight. But you know how it is, when you really have a taste for something…

So, last week when I wanted fish AND I wanted wine, this was the answer. And, not only is it simple, but it’s deliciously awesome. And …

Simple Fresh Vegetable Soup

This soup has lots of garlic and scallions to keep your immune system strong!

This soup is dedicated to all of my over-40-women-friends… those of you who want all that you deserve: inner health, outer beauty, youthful insides and outsides, a healthy immune system, balanced hormones, weight loss, radiant skin… I know, it sounds like a tall order, but this soup really does have ingredients to heal you inside and out and make you feel and look younger. It’s not magic. Well, actually, it kind of is a little like magic… This simple fresh vegetable soup is the complete package for every woman over 40.

And, it’s really easy to make, so it won’t mess with your work schedule or your busy life.

And, it can be made with whatever fresh veggies you have in your fridge.

And, the base is made with packaged broth.

And, you can just put …

Paleo Eggplant Meatballs

Here’s a meatball that can reduce inflammation… really!

Food in “ball” form is just fun. But, then again, I think finger food and appetizers just taste better than big portions of food. It just tastes does. It’s like food on a stick — when my kids were young, I’d cut up whatever I was serving for dinner and stack ( the bites on toothpicks; it worked like a charm. Meatballs are awesome (and don’t require any sticks). These paleo eggplant meatballs have no meat in them. They taste like little bites of eggplant parmesan. But, this recipe contains no grains and no cheese. And no, they don’t taste like air or like cardboard (as I have been asked by some doubter-friends).

I served these meatless balls for dinner the other night on top of my favorite grain-free fettuccine and my favorite marinara sauce.

The next day, I ate some for …

Pineapple Protein Smoothie Bowl

The first time I made this pineapple protein smoothie bowl it was a bright summer day.  Ah, I remember it well — shining sun, warm breeze, still daylight when it was time for dinner…  Today, it’s much different.  It’s cold and dreary. And raining. And it’s dark at 4:30. And everyone around me has a cold and a sore throat. I mean, there are tissues everywhere… yuk.

So, I did what I love to do — try to make everything and everyone better with food. That means making dishes with turmeric and ginger and some of my awesome Chinese and Ayurvedic supplements.  But honestly, I was starting to have a hard time making the sickies eat so much soup.  I figured if I went in the opposite direction, maybe it would work.  I took my original recipe for this smoothie bowl and I added some magic.

And, by magic I …

Paleo Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant reduces pain and inflammation… I know that my over 40 body (okay… waaaayyyy over 40) needs that… don’t you?

Eggplant parmesan is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. I have tried, and failed, to make a delicious, healthy, paleo, vegan, grain-free version for so long that I can’t even remember when this obsession started. But today, I can finally say: TA-DA! I did it. This paleo eggplant parmesan is perfect. For real. And not just by my ridiculously healthy standards. But by everyone’s standards.

And now I feel unstoppable. Because I am going to be making zucchini parmesan next. And who knows what will follow.

I think the artwork hanging in my kitchen helped me with this recipe. I mean, when you look at a colorful canvass of The Hulk smashing rocks, it kind of makes you feel all-powerful. Or, maybe it was the awesome paleo wine that …