It’s time to get cozy! Â One of my favorite winter smells is gingerbread anything – cookies, cake, pancakes. Â I love the warm spices but lately I have really been cutting back on sweets. Â As I have gotten older, I can’t get away with the eating the same things as I did even 5 years ago. Â One of the food groups that has a dramatic effect on my skin, belly fat, and energy levels is desserts. Â I know, super sad.Continue reading
It’s bananas that I am already planning our Christmas menu! Â I feel like I have barely recovered from Thanksgiving. Â The good news is that Christmas dinner is very low key. Â We start with a small cheese board while we’re opening gifts. Â Dinner commences with chicken soup with tortellini, followed by roast tenderloin and 2-3 side dishes. Â My mom makes the soup and meat and I change up the sides every so often. Â But I always keep them very veggie-centric so we don’t feel bad about indulging in too many Christmas cookies later.Continue reading
Someone asked me in my class today what is my favorite food to eat on Thanksgiving. Â Honestly, I teach so many Thanksgiving classes in the month before the holiday that I am a little over all the food! Â I usually crave salad and roasted Brussels sprouts and a bite of pumpkin pie with a scoop of homemade ice cream. Â But I know that everyone else is so excited about the one-hit wonders of Thanksgiving like sweet potato casserole, turkey with cranberry sauce and cornbread stuffing. Â I truly only make stuffing only once a year and all my guests love it – so much so that I usually make two different types.
I wasn’t sure whether to post this delectable recipe for Halloween or Thanksgiving, because truth be told, I have made these bars for both holidays! Â I am really into desserts that can be made small like bars or cookies, as opposed to a pie which is kind of hard to cut into a small 3-bite piece. Â I try not to eat too much dessert, especially during the holiday season (which starts on Halloween, in my opinion.) Â Desserts are definitely treat foods to be eaten in moderation because they can really spike your blood sugar (even if you’re using a higher quality sweetener), pack on the pounds, and promote inflammation in the body. Â Moderation.Continue reading
I almost fell off my chair when I was scrolling through my Instagram feed this morning and saw all the first day of school pictures. Â Whoa! Â I thought it was still summer. Â Is it just me, or did your schools start the day after Labor Day when you were a kid? Â My girls go back to college this weekend, which is normal for college, but my son’s school is quite traditional (thankfully) and begins September 5th.Continue reading
It has been quite a week! I had a quick trip to New York where I was able to meet some editors, taped a bunch of videos for NBCNewsBetter, and did a cooking segment out on the Plaza for The Today Show. Yesterday, I returned to my favorite local LA show, KTLA morning news to cook from the book, did a fun Facebook Live with my friend Catherine McCord from Weelicious, and spent the evening at Pages Bookstore in Manhattan Beach for a fabulous party celebrating my new book. Pages, by the way, is the only source for signed copies of my book!  Right now I am taping a cooking segment at Hallmark’s Home & Family which will air on Monday. So exciting!
Let me warn you in advance that this skillet cookie has “dangerous” written all over it.  Yes, it contains whole wheat flour (or whatever GF flour blend you want, for that matter.) Sure it’s dairy-free. No refined sugar, either. But I taught this recipe at least 20 times during the month of February and into March and I could never resist a piece after each class.  Moreover, the scene was always the same every time: normally composed and refined women, instead inhaling and quite frankly moaning while breaking off hunks of this oversized cookie standing over the skillet.
