If this is a long holiday weekend for you, I hope you are enjoying it so far! I wanted to give you a heads-up to save the date in your calendar – if you take my online monthly cooking class, my live office hours will be this Wednesday at 12:00 pm PT/3:00 pm ET.  Even if you haven’t viewed the February class, you are welcome to join the zoom and ask me anything or just hear what other students want to talk about.

ALSO, if you live locally, I am hosting a discussion with best-selling author Rebecca Serle at Pages Bookstore in Manhattan Beach on Tuesday, March 7th at 6:30 pm.  Her book One Italian Summer will be released in paperback so come join us for prosecco and a lively chat! Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Check out last week’s dinner planner for Super Bowl ideas!  I’m doing loads of vegan queso, nachos, carrot pigs in a blanket for the first half, and then I’m changing it up and doing an Italian theme for half-time this year! This week’s newsletter will have my new favorite soup which I made last week on IG live. It’s an anti-inflammatory chicken and vegetable soup which can be made vegan or paleo, as you wish.  I will also give you ALL the details of a super last-minute Galentines lunch I hosted and it involved take-out.  I know!  I’m such a rebel!  Subscribe to my free newsletter here.

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My newest online cooking class has been uploaded and it’s fabulous!  I have included so many interesting ingredients, great techniques, and favorite product recommendations. If you are not part of my monthly cooking class, I’d love to have you!  I promise you will learn so much in each class which you watch on your own and then you can join my live monthly office hours if you like.  I am confident you will start cooking more with ease and you will save money and be healthier.  It is 100% worth the price!! 

For those of you hosting a Super Bowl party and making guacamole, don’t forget to buy your hard avocados on Tuesday or Wednesday and refrigerate once they are perfect. Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Monthly Cooking Class Students, the new February class will be uploaded this week!  It’s fabulous!  I also had “office hours” this past week on Tuesday at noon PT and it proved to be an excellent time. Check your email for the recording if you want to have a listen to what we chatted about.

Also, I am hosting a very exciting event in March at Pages Bookstore in Manhattan Beach.  The best-selling author Rebecca Serle will be in the house with me on Tuesday, March 6th at 6:30 pm for the paperback launch of her book, One Italian Summer, which is such a fun read and a great escape to Positano if you wish you could be there right now LOL. I’ll be having a discussion with Rebecca about the book while we sip Prosecco!  Tickets can be purchased here and I hope you can make it! Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Happy Weekend!  Never mind my thin skin and that I am wearing four layers to pickleball in the morning and it’s 50 degrees. I went out for my morning walk in my full-length puffer coat and gloves and I can’t stop making spicy hot chocolates and soup, soup, soup! For my lovelies who subscribe to my monthly online cooking class, I have live office hours on Tuesday, January 24th at 12:00 pm PT/3:00 pm ET.  Check your email for the zoom link and bring all your kitchen questions.  Or we can chat about anything – beauty products, happiness, kids, life, nothing is off limits!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

The holidays may be over but I love entertaining this time of year!  Game Days, Valentines Day, and cozy dinners in are all my jam.  I hosted a birthday luncheon for a good friend this week and it was a gluten-free and vegan menu (because she is GF and vegan) and wow!  If you didn’t catch the details on Instagram stories, I will be sharing it all in this Monday’s newsletter with all the recipes and prep ahead tips. If you don’t subscribe to my free newsletter, you can sign up here. Thanks for all your great feedback!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week:

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I am finally back in town after being away for over two weeks and the thing I missed most of all was my KITCHEN. What I missed second to most was my way of eating.  I am actually tired of overeating.  Pasta, bread, and desserts have lost their appeal for the time being.  I need a salad for lunch and a bowl of soup for dinner for a week straight please.  I am also looking to get back to finishing dinner at an early hour, like 6:30. I sleep better and my digestion is happier!  In other news, my new January cooking class is UP.  Reminder, I have no plans to return to in-person cooking classes, so this is it! My monthly classes are great – 1 video with 5 all-new recipes (which I do not publish for at least a year) peppered with product advice, techniques, substitution suggestions, and nutrition information. Plus I offer live “office hours” every month for additional support.  There are two ways to participate – $29 for the class + access to the entire library of classes or $25 for the single class.  Join me and I’ll make you a better, healthier cook!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Happy New Year!  I hope your new year is off to a good start! My January class will be up soon.  The last couple years I have done a “Dry January” theme, ie NO dessert recipe!  It’s not a punishment, but instead I try to get back to eating desserts in moderation and not twice a day like I may have done in the last week (or two.) The menu for this month’s class is Blistered Green Beans, Firecracker Tofu, Hot and Sour Soup, Shrimp Lo Mein, and Spicy Salmon Sushi Bake. Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading