Just when I think I can’t come up with another awesome pumpkin dessert recipe, I do! This is a pumpkin pie meets a crumble meets a gingersnap cookie! What’s not to love? And it’s so easy, has make-ahead written all over it and can be adaptable. There are many twists on this recipe including a graham cracker crust or a chocolate cookie crust and you can omit the crumble topping if you want to keep this simple.Continue reading
I forgot how much I love a NO BAKE recipe! No heating up the kitchen and practically instant gratification! The only problem with these chocolate-peanut butter-oat bars is that they are so tasty and satisfying, I kind of can’t resist them. So after I made this batch, I gave them all to my sister-in-law and she and her family flipped for them!!Continue reading
Something I really hate to do is to waste food. One of the reasons I plan out a week of meals is that I can shop accordingly and only buy what I know I will use. But what about that leftover almond pulp? Despite my best efforts to use up the almond byproduct that results every time I make almond milk, it just doesn’t always happen. And raw almonds are so expensive that it actually pains me to throw the pulp in the trash. It’s perfectly good food, especially since the almonds were previously soaked, making them much more digestible and nutritious!
So what do I do with it? Of course, there’s the obvious — add it to anyone’s smoothie or stir it into a warm porridge or muesli. And almond pulp freezes well, so I can save it for another time. But I am just way too lazy to get out my dehydrator and dry out the pulp to use as almond meal. And then I thought to myself, what if I just tried the almond pulp in a quick bread in place of some of the wheat flour? Well, guess what? It worked! Although apparently, a million other people already knew this and I am extremely late to the almond pulp party!
I decided to take one of my banana bread recipes and tweak it a bit with almond pulp that was leftover from 1 cup of whole, soaked raw almonds. Remember, almonds have a lot more fat than grain flours, so we can cut back on some of the added fat. But almonds have no gluten, so I was reluctant to make an all-almond pulp bread this first time. I know this will be neither Paleo nor gluten-free (although I am confident you can swap the gluten flour for a good GF all purpose mix + a little xanthan gum), but I think we can fix that with a few more tweaks. Using half whole wheat flour and half almond pulp, this bread came out to be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Moist but hearty, not crumbly, and not too sweet. It’s perfect banana bread, in my book. My life changed instantly!! Let’s all imagine the possibilities of subbing some almond pulp for flour in different recipes! Is this exciting or what??
Most of the recipes on my site have been made in my cooking classes and at home about 20 times, but this one I just did once so I haven’t tested all the permutations, e.g. all almond pulp, no bananas, butter for coconut oil, and so on. But you can bet I will! I am planning on making my Millet Blondies today with almond pulp. Check my Instagram for updates! And please share your experiences with subbing in almond pulp in any recipes — I’ll try anything!
One last favor — I love Saveur Magazine and they’re conducting their annual food blog awards right now. If you like my blog, would you kindly take 15 seconds out of your busy day and nominate me for a Saveur Food Blog Award? I think the category of Best Special Interest Blog (healthy cooking) would be great. Thank you so much! Here’s the link (and I promise it takes 15 seconds!) http://www.saveur.com/article/
I teach five recipes in a typical cooking class and there’s usually a dark horse in there — a dish that no one is expected to be wowed by, but ends up being the surprise hit of the menu. Case in point is this recipe for roasted cabbage wedges, which everyone went crazy over and I heard multiple times, “I wasn’t thinking this was going to be anything special, but I love it!”
First of all, no one is ever wowed by cabbage, sadly. I am a huge fan of the whole cabbage fam, and wrote about it in one of my recent Friday Favorites posts. It’s such a nutritious, VERSATILE, inexpensive, and delicious veg which is grown domestically all year round. Most people think cabbage and think cole slaw, which is fine but there are many, many more delicious (and healthful) ways to enjoy cabbage.
Roasting cabbage will change your mind about this under-appreciated vegetable. It has become my favorite, and my family’s favorite, way to eat cabbage. Even Mr. Picky, my now 11-year-old son, likes it! That is cause for celebration here because there are very few cooked vegetables he likes. And even more reason for me to share this recipe plus this could not be easier to make.
Even though I call these “wedges,” I know they’re more like slabs. But the word “slab” is really unsexy and possibly a turn-off, so I had to do a little creative marketing here. When cabbage is roasted, it becomes very mild and sweet, almost buttery. If you’re lucky, the edges will get a little crispy and kind of smoky. For my family, I just serve the cabbage roasted as is, but I did teach this in my class with a lemony-mustard drizzle just for fun. I’ve also seen images on Pinterest and elsewhere where people take the roasted cabbage and separate the layers and make it feel like noodles. So clever!
I prefer to use a saturated fat like coconut oil when I cook at higher temps (like 400 degrees) because it doesn’t oxidize and create free radicals like an unsaturated fat does, like olive oil. I don’t think the cabbage tastes like coconut AT ALL, but coconut oil just makes the cabbage taste sweeter. I am in love with coconut oil-roasted veggies like sweet potato, winter squashes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli. Give it a try sometime. If you are allergic to coconut oil or you just detest it, feel free to use olive oil in an equal amount. Roast these babies up and serve them with basically anything — poultry, fish, rice pilaf, cauliflower mashed potatoes and so on. It’s the perfect comfort food that won’t weigh you down and likely to fit into your January resolutions!
Trust me that this cake is so good! It does NOT look like it has white beans in it, nor does it taste like white beans (which may I remind you taste like nothing.) And lest you think I am a genius coming up with blending white beans to make a high-protein, downright delicious cake, I will come clean and tell you this is nothing that hasn’t already been done about 16,7000,000 times, according to google. Even my idol, Martha Stewart, has made cupcakes with white beans! If it’s good enough for Martha, it’s definitely good enough for moi.
I thought this would be such a different, delicious and healthful cake for your Mother’s Day brunch, and what a conversation-starter! It’s always fun to quiz your family and friends — “Can you guess what the secret ingredient is?” I would never suggest making this for Father’s Day because most dads I know would rather have doughnuts than a cake with nutritional benefits. Moms are different. We’re always looking to have our treats without the guilt!
This cake was a huge hit in my classes last year. I first told everyone to open their minds because this would not resemble a classic coffeecake. Most people that come to my classes are pretty open-minded anyway. In fact a few ladies said, “Ah, of course. Black beans in brownies, white beans in coffeecake.” I agree, it makes perfect sense. But I would never make any dessert or any recipe for that matter just because it’s kind of healthful. Of all things, dessert should be enjoyed, and you will love this cake! It’s very moist, just sweet enough and light. I ate quite a bit of this cake last year and I never felt uncomfortable or sick after eating it. That’s an indication of a pretty clean dessert.
I normally encourage you to make your beans from scratch, but for this recipe it is very important that your beans be nice and creamy soft. So if you want to be on the safe side, just used canned. I love Eden which doesn’t use BPA in its can liners. The one ingredient which might throw you for a loop is the coconut flour, although I do have a great muffin recipe on my site that uses almond flour and coconut flour. At my Whole Foods, you can buy coconut flour from the bulk bins, which is nice if you just need a little bit. Most recipes which use coconut flour only call for small amounts of it because it is so absorbent. Don’t go thinking you can substitute regular grain flours for coconut flour! They are completely different!
If you decide you don’t want to make this coffee cake with the faux streusel topping, just make the cake with your favorite frosting or serve it with fresh fruit and whipped cream or whipped coconut cream. Either way, moms deserve a treat on Mother’s Day, so indulge or do something generous for all the special moms in your life! Happy Mother’s Day!
I taught this luscious dessert in my classes two years ago, but I had seen cashew “cheesecakes” all over the place for many years. But of course I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand how blended cashews could be turned into something that resembled cheesecake, a cheesecake that I would actually want to eat. So I put off trying all these recipes that I saw on Pinterest and Foodily. I caught glimpses of vegan cheesecakes made with chocolate, key limes, pumpkin, lemon and lavender, blueberries and so on. I just wasn’t convinced.
My mother-in-law and I have an arrangement for Passover — I make all the desserts for both seders and she does everything else. I clearly got the easier, more fun job. However baking for Passover, a holiday which revolves around NOT eating anything with grains or flour made from grains, isn’t as straightforward as baking for any other holiday. But I still have lots of fun coming up with delicious treats that don’t involve a box of Manischewitz cake mix. Every year I make the very traditional coconut macaroons, as well as a lemon ice torte that I have been making since I graduated from college. And no holiday would be complete without something chocolate, so I bake a few mini-flourless chocolate cakes. So delicious.
But I can never leave well enough alone, so one year I decided to give this cashew cheesecake thing a go. OMG. Get out of here. I was blown away! And then super bummed I had let so many opportunities to go by when I could have been enjoying this deliciousness. The texture is so much like cheesecake. Very rich and creamy, and slightly sweet. I really couldn’t get over it. Of course the crust is raw and vegan, consistent with the rest of the cake. But I think you could go with a graham cracker crust and fool everyone into thinking this is cheesecake.
What amazed me about this cake is how digestible it is and how clean the ingredients are. We use soaked raw cashews (read my post about why soaking nuts and seeds is beneficial to your health,) coconut oil (such a good, healthful fat), honey or maple syrup (not going to save your life, but less acid-forming than refined sugar), lemon juice and vanilla. Amazing. Although, I did a little rough math and this isn’t the kind of dessert you can eat very often because it’s really high in (good) fat and calories. Just saying, in case you were tempted to eat half a cake. Not a good idea. In fact, I put on a few pounds in the months I was testing this recipe. True story. But this is a fantastic idea for Passover or Easter and no one will ever in a million years guess what’s in it. Another fun Passover dessert coming soon!
I have been offered A LOT of biscotti in my life. When everyone you are related to is Italian, biscotti appear more often than Oreos. They’re called “biscotti” because they literally translate to “twice baked.” You bake them in logs first, then you slice up the logs and bake them again. They have this tell-tale shape you see here and they are a bit dry and crunchy and not overly sweet. There are infinite flavor combinations ranging from lemon to almond to chocolate chip to raisin to you name it. I remember my parents and all the other grown-ups dunking them in espresso or, if they were really feeling festive, dipping the cookies in a sweet Italian liqueur called Vin Santo.
Now that sounds dreamy to me for sure, but when I was a kid, all I wanted was a normal chocolate chip cookie for goodness sake! Or one with M&M’s or some other junk. I’m all grown-up now and I much prefer homemade cookies, especially ones that don’t contain M&M’s and lots of sugar. Even though I try not to indulge in sweets very often, I do like to bake cookies for the holidays. My favorite holiday “flavor” is gingerbread. Every year in my December classes I teach some sort of gingerbread dessert, two of which have been posted on my site. These gingerbread biscotti might very well be my favorite so far! One of my complaints about the biscotti of my youth is that they were B-O-R-I-N-G. What kid gets excited about orange zest in a cookie or fennel seed? Yaaaaawwwwnnnn. That’s not a dessert. But gingerbread biscotti are something else. These pack a spicy punch from both crystallized ginger and powered ginger and a double crunch from the whole almonds. Even Mr. Picky loves these. He just walked by the computer and said, “isn’t it about time we make those gingerbread biscotti again?” I absolutely swear he just said that!
Biscotti are fantastic to make for the holidays because they last a good long time (a week or more?) without getting stale, so they’re perfect for gift-giving! If you need to accommodate gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan folks, read through both recipes because there are options. If you’re not sure how to do this, please leave me a comment below and I will help you out. I’ll tell you the truth — I like the gluten-free biscotti better than the wheat flour ones. I think they’re lighter and crispier, although both have that great gingerbread flavor. I love the extra boost from crystallized ginger, but if you can’t find it, don’t worry about it. And if you’re feeling extra naughty, you can go right ahead and dip these cuties in some melted white chocolate and let them harden before you store them or wrap them up. Are you feeling the holiday spirit now??
makes about 24
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup cane sugar
½ cup muscovado or firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs or ½ cup unsweetened smooth applesauce
½ cup almond flour
¼ cup sorghum flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup potato starch
¼ cup sweet rice flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup whole raw almonds or chopped, if desired
½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped (optional)
Daughter #1 is lucky enough to be attending a great high school summer program at an East Coast university for the next 6 weeks. My daughter, Mr. Picky, and I are currently en route to get her there and settled before he and I spend a week on Long Island with my family. Because Daughter #1 had finals up until yesterday afternoon, there was no packing done until…last night. So not my style to do things at the last minute, but I needed to supervise what went into that bag. I love the idea of letting the kids take responsibility for themselves, but there is a certain amount of guidance that I needed to impose offer in this situation. Clothing that looks like something I use to mop the floor should stay home. Outfits can most definitely be repeated during a 6-week time period. Not every single pair of underwear that one owns needs to be packed. Repeat after me, “I can do laundry.”
It’s a huge contrast to when I will prepare Mr. Picky for 2 weeks at sleepaway camp next month. Most of the clothes we pack him will come back unworn. And even though he showers every day at home, I doubt he will shower at camp more than twice. “The lake gets me clean, Mom.” Whereas my daughter brought a separate carry-on bag just for toiletries, including her straightening iron, hair dryer and several brushes, Mr. Picky packs a toothbrush and toothpaste and a body wash that doubles as shampoo, which, like I said, he probably won’t use.
Both scenarios make me chuckle and say something about each of them. I was thinking about that late last night when I finally got around to packing for myself. It seriously took me 15 minutes to pull my personal items together for my week at my parents’ house. I need very little as I keep some basics there and I do laundry regularly. But I do spend A LOT of time packing food.
First there’s the food I bring to my parents’ house, like homemade granola, dried persimmons from the farmers market for my dad, truly raw almonds and my nut milk bag so I can make almond milk, and a few ginormous lemons from my tree just to show off a little, among other things. And then there’s food to eat on the airplane because I just cannot deal with boxed “snack packs.” Cannot deal.
I always pack a lot for long flights because I am a total crankypants if I get hungry. So I swear I spent more time yesterday prepping for a hot breakfast at home, as well as lunch and snacks on the plane than I did packing for all three of us combined. No joke! I made pancake batter and fresh blueberry sauce for breakfast. Then I put together containers of raw veggies and cut fruit, sushi rice and edamame for Mr. Picky, quinoa, roasted vegetables and salad dressing for my daughter and myself, as well as trail mix and these awesome beet green crisps.
Can you believe it took me all this time to get to the fact that this post is about beet green crisps? Anywaaaaaay, I was having lunch at my friend Marta’s last week after I had a Panchakarma treatment which I promise to tell you about soon. Lunch was dal, basmati rice, roasted beets, green beans and these crispy greens which I thought were Swiss chard. You’ve heard of kale chips, so think that but with Swiss chard leaves instead of kale. SO AWESOME!!!!! Light and crispy with a little sea salt and not quite as strongly flavored as kale. Addictive. I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Then it hit me that the leaves were much smaller than Swiss chard and she had made beets for lunch, so they were obviously beet greens. By the way, beets and Swiss chard are related and the leaves from both taste very similar. I use them interchangeably, but normally if I buy a bunch of beets, the greens aren’t enough to make a side dish for all of us for dinner. I just found my new favorite way to use them!
You know you should be eating more dark green leafy vegetables, as they are among the most healing foods on the planet. This is a great way to enjoy your greens and these crisps would have made the perfect snack for traveling if I literally had not eaten the entire platter after I photographed them. Literally the entire platter.
