I’m in the home stretch, friends.  Manuscript is due on Monday which means that, although I love hanging out with you, we’re going to have to make this visit quick today because I have a boatload of writing to finish. Although if my editor is reading this post, have no fear, I am totally on schedule! 😉
How sad is it that I never had an avocado until I was in college?  Not even guacamole.  I mean, what kind of a life is that? Fast-forward I’m-not-going-to-tell-you-how-many-years later, I eat avocados almost every day.  I am crazy about the texture and flavor, and they go with everything.  Avocados are so amazing for your health — the fats are the best kind, so fresh and pure.  Recently, a few people have asked me to share my skincare regimen.  I am thinking about writing a post about it, but until then, avocados are an incredible beauty food!   Avocados can promote supple skin because they moisturize from the inside out. They are also rich in glutamine, a powerful antioxidant which can help with anti-aging.
Forgive me, but I’ll have to be brief today! We just finished shooting the cookbook this week and I was focused only on that. Over the next few short weeks, I have to finish writing the book. I am really excited to share these recipes with you, as well as all the great tips and tricks I teach in my classes. The book is titled “Fresh Start” because I feel like everyone has moments when they want to reset with a new beginning. The good news is that we are always given a fresh start every day. It’s never too late to take control of your health and take care of yourself. I’ll help you learn what you need to know to be the healthiest that you can be and it all starts with what you eat and cooking your own food.
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Today’s recipe is a version of one of my favorite breakfasts, Bircher Muesli, a very digestible soaked oat and fruit porridge. The texture is wonderful with soft rolled oats, crunchy nuts and chewy bits of dried fruit. I am crazy about this strawberry bircher which is even more delicious than the original. I blended fresh strawberries into the yogurt mixture and swapped dried strawberries for the raisins. It has a bright, berry flavor and is satisfyingly filling. There’s nothing better than waking up in the morning knowing that breakfast is already made and is a good one!
You can eat this right out of the refrigerator or transfer some into a jar and take it to work and eat it at room temp. In the winter, you can even heat the bircher over the stove for a warm version. I went a little crazy on the toppings in these images, but that’s how I like to eat it, especially since berries are so amazing right now and they are antioxidant bombs! The beginning of every day is your chance to wake up to a clean slate. And this recipe is the perfect place to start!
I eat salads all year, but I eat them much more often in the summer when my family finds it perfectly acceptable to eat a salad as a meal.  I have also trained my husband to no longer ask “where’s the meat?” Or chicken.  He has really come around to a more plant-based way of eating.  At least at breakfast and dinnertime.  Wink, wink.
Well, my friends, I have some super amazing news that I have been wanting to share with you and I just don’t think I can contain myself any longer.  It is with great excitement that I announce that my first cookbook will be published in March 2017!  Yippee!!  I so am grateful to the folks at Perseus Books for sharing my desire to help people become healthier by learning how to cook from scratch with whole foods.
The book is currently titled “Fresh Start:  Everything You Need to Know to Start Eating Healthfully Once and for All.”  Since most of  you can’t attend my cooking classes, I am including in this book all the tips and tricks I share with my students, how to prep in advance, the most nutritious foods you should be focusing on, and over 100 incredible, never before published recipes that will make you glow from the inside out.  Details will be forthcoming, but just know I am working hard to create a book that will inspire you to get in the kitchen and get healthy.
I am a very spoiled tomato-eater. Once you have tasted a summer tomato straight from the vine, you can never ever eat one out of season. Tasting a flavorless, hard, mealy tomato is about as disappointing a culinary experience as you can get. I used to go out into my father’s garden with a salt shaker, pick a tomato, shake the salt into my mouth for the first bite (because salt won’t cling to an uncut tomato), take a juicy bite and keep eating until I got a stomachache. All worth it. And if we were in Italy in the summer visiting family, forget it. I was out of control. Because the only thing better than a tomato from my father’s garden is a tomato from a southern Italian garden. The sun and soil do something magical to those tomatoes.
Is “barbecue” a verb or a noun or both or what? Â I have said, “We’re going to barbecue tonight.” Â But not, “I’d love some good barbecue tonight.” Â Although since my daughter started to go to school in Texas, I’m starting to get used to the barbecue lingo. Â And I do love me some barbecue! Â My first meal when I go visit her is either my favorite juice bar (The Gem) or a barbecue joint (I die for Pecan Lodge.)
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I am not a big drinker, but I do like a little something when I am having dinner with friends on the weekends.  I am partial to a class of red wine or rosé, and occasionally I love a fun cocktail.  My husband and I like different kinds of drinks, but one we agree on is a Moscow Mule, especially in the summer.  Have you had one?  It’s a very refreshing drink made from vodka, spicy ginger beer (which is not beer at all, but similar to ginger ale,) and lime juice, and served in a copper mug.  So good!
