Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is just around the corner and what better way to welcome the New Year but with sweetness? In the Jewish religion, we tend to celebrate holidays and life cycles surrounded by food. For Rosh Hashanah, typically we eat apples with honey to symbolize our hopes and wishes for a sweet and healthy new year for loved ones and ourselves.  So when life calls for celebration and indulgence, it’s important to do so with real ingredients.

Holidays shouldn’t be an excuse to binge on the “bad stuff”. What’s the fun in that if you are going to spend the next week (or more) fighting your sugar cravings back under the rug?

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour

½ cup rolled oats, blended to flour consistency

¾ cup unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons ground flax seeds

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup cocoa powder

½ cup water

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup agave nectar

½ cup brown rice syrup

½ of a 3.5 oz dark chocolate bar (I like Green & Black 70% dark chocolate), chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease 8’’ x 8’’ pan

Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl, except for chopped dark chocolate

Combine wet ingredients in separate mixing bowl

Combine bowls and use electric hand mixer to blend thoroughly

Hand stir in chocolate chunks

Pour into greased pan and bake until cooked – approximately 45 minutes

Allow to cool completely and place in refrigerator to solidify

Enjoy your creamy, fudgy dessert!

You don’t have to say it. I know I have been slackin’ on my bloggin’ lately. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but the last couple of weeks have been flying by, packed with lots of activity including a trip up north to celebrate milestones with close friends and family and moving into a new house.

During all the hustle and bustle, I received a complimentary box from Eden Foods of their Mung Bean Pasta that I was happy to dig into as soon as my new kitchen was up and running. When it comes to pasta I usually stick to brown rice pasta since it is one of the few gluten free options out there.

As I quickly learned, mung bean pasta is another great option and is a lot lighter than brown rice pasta so it’s perfect for summer. It is a thin translucent noodle used in many Asian dishes and cooks in less than four minutes. How easy is that?

I found a recipe on the Eden Foods website, but changed some of the ingredients based on what I had in my refrigerator and what my sister had in her garden. Dinner was ready in less than 20 minutes and all of the vegetables are in season now.

These wraps make a great appetizer or side dish. Place each component into a separate bowl and let your guests make their own personal wrap.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 bag (2.4 ounces) Eden Foods mung bean pasta

1 medium squash, chopped into thin slices

1 medium zucchini, chopped into thin slices

1 medium carrot, chopped into thin slices

4 – 6 cabbage leaves

Directions:

In large pot, place steamer basket in bottom and add 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil.

Add cabbage leaves and cover with lid for 3 minutes. Add remaining vegetables.

Steam until tender – about 3 or 4 minutes.

In another pot, bring water to a boil. Add mung bean pasta and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until tender. Strain. Rinse with cold water and drain.

Fill cabbage leaf with mung bean pasta, vegetables and sauce and wrap!

Sauce:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1-2 teaspoons onion powder

Directions:

Combine in bowl and mix thoroughly

The other night my sister, Arielle, and her boyfriend, Jeremy, came over for dinner. They love to cook, as do I. They planned the menu; all I had to do was supply the greens, beans and mushrooms. Really? That’s it?  Ok!

When cooking dinner, most people bring their ingredients from a grocery store in a shopping bag – not Arielle and Jeremy. Arielle came in with a woven basket filled with dandelion flowers and nettle. Jeremy carried a few containers filled with different vegetables and one bag filled something covered in dirt, but I wasn’t sure what.

Once they unloaded all of their goodies onto my kitchen counter, I was able to see that I had a really exciting meal ahead of me. They brought dandelions and violets picked from the wild, and horseradish, asparagus, spinach and nettle from their garden. The horseradish was what was covered in dirt.

These pictures are nettle. You can see that they have little stingers on them, and if you aren’t careful, the plant can sting you. Actually, the stinging is a good thing – not like being stung by a bee or jellyfish. Nettle is effective in treating arthritis, joint and muscle pain and inflammation. It also increases circulation and contains vitamin C and iron. You can drink nettle as a delicious herbal tea. We cooked it in a stir-fry with black beans, onions and mushrooms with some spices. Very yummy!

This is what horseradish looks like (below) before it ends up on your plate. Who knew? I didn’t. I honestly had never thought about what horseradish looked like before arriving at the grocery store or my plate, usually during Passover.  Horseradish is a great diuretic and since it is a heat producing food, it is good for muscle stiffness and pain relief. It also contains vitamin C. We made horseradish hummus! That’s right, hummus! Rich and creamy hummus with a little bite – I still have some leftover in my refrigerator and I savor it.

Unfortunately we did not measure anything out for the hummus. We had to taste and tweak as needed, but I can tell you that the ingredients we used were chickpeas, tahini, extra virgin olive oil, horseradish, apple cider vinegar and a bit of water. What can I say? Sometimes you need to put your measuring cups to the side and interact with your food! It felt good to live dangerously!

So you must be wondering, what did we do with the flowers? Well, many flowers are edible, including those weeds most of us try tirelessly to get out of our lawns, also known as dandelions. We used the flower petals to make bread. And it was delicious. Next time you are weeding your lawn, consider baking bread when you’re done! The violet leaves we dipped into the horseradish hummus, which was delicious and refreshing.

Here is the recipe for the dandelion bread.

Ingredients:

1 cup dandelion petals

2 cups flour (we used almond flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

¼ cup coconut oil

1/2 – 3/4 cup honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees

Grease bread loaf pan

Put petals in food processor and blend

In medium mixing bowl, mix ingredients together with spoon

Pour batter evenly into pan

Bake until edges are golden brown

Allow to cool completely before serving

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about eating locally grown food. It is important for so many reasons. To read more click here. However, this is the first time I’ve written about eating foods that grow naturally in the wild. Arielle and Jeremy opened my eyes to foods I never considered eating before, and for that I am grateful. I look forward to our next dining experience.

Passover is my favorite holiday. Period. It’s like Thanksgiving, but with singing and telling stories.

I have vivid memories of Seders at my uncle’s house in Boston when I was young. My siblings, cousins and I prepared for the Seder by rolling tinfoil and masking tape into tiny balls and building origami frogs. When it came time to recite the plagues during the Seder, the dining room became Egypt and our parents (the Egyptians) were subjected to all of the plagues including hail, lice and frogs! We acted out plays, sang songs, and of course read the story of how the Hebrews were freed from slavery in Egypt. It was always a lot of fun, even as we got too old to reenact the plagues.

So why would this year be any different? Now instead of rolling tape into tiny balls, I spent hours in the kitchen with my mom preparing the food we would enjoy for my favorite festival. We made a variety of dishes – both traditional and others to accommodate all dietary preferences including matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, honey chicken, brisket, quinoa salad and lots of steamed vegetables. For dessert we had banana bread, date coconut cookies, chocolate covered macaroons and lots of fresh fruit.

I added about 3/4 of a cup of dark chocolate chips to the banana bread. This made the loaf a little more dense, but still very moist and sweet. It was a big hit!

I used almond flour instead of ground oats for the date coconut cookies in order to make them kosher for Passover. They still tasted great, but if you have any leftovers, make sure you store them in the refrigerator because the almond flavor makes them softer than when using the oats.

Buying premade or canned gefilte fish is common. This year we made it from scratch. Turns out it was pretty easy, and with the compliments we got, I don’t think we will ever use the canned stuff again.

Gifilte Fish

Ingredients: (for 1lb of fillets)

1 large onion

1 carrot, peeled

1 lb fish fillets or ground fish (we used white fish fillets)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon matzo meal

¼ cup cold water

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon sugar

64 ounces fish stock

Directions:

Cut onion, carrot and fish into 2 inch chunks

Process carrot and onion in food processor until finely minced, about 10 seconds

Add fish chunks and process until very smooth, about 35-40 seconds (If fish is already minced, reduce processing time to 20 seconds)

Add remaining ingredients (except fish stock) and process about 15 seconds, until well mixed

Pour fish stock into large bowl pot and add heat

Use hands to form fish batter into small fillets and add to simmering fish stock. It helps if you moisten your hands first with cold water so the fish batter doesn’t stick to your hands.

Cover and simmer for 2 hours.

Remove cover last 30 minutes to reduce the liquid

Cool and remove fillets from broth and transfer to platter

Garnish with the usual and serve

The coconut macaroon recipe is inspired by ElanasPantry.com. This recipe makes 25-30 macaroons.

Chocolate Covered Macaroons

Ingredients:

6 egg whites

¼ teaspoon Celtic sea salt

½ cup agave nectar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups shredded coconut

Optional: ½ of 3.5 ounce bar of organic dark chocolate (70% or higher)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In mixing bowl use electric mixer to mix eggs and salt until stiff and fluffy

Use spoon to mix agave, vanilla and shredded coconut

Use spoons to place 1 inch size balls of batter onto parchment lined baking sheet

Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned

While macaroons are cooling, melt chocolate in small pot. Make sure it doesn’t burn.

Remove pot from flame

Use hands to dip tops of macaroons into liquid chocolate

Place macaroon back on baking tray with parchment paper

Place tray in refrigerator to allow chocolate to harden

Serve

You just finished working a full day – whether that means back-to-back meetings at the office, studying for midterms or carpooling your kids around town – and you’re tired and ready to sit down, unwind with your favorite TV show while you fold laundry and pay bills. But before you can do that you need to figure out what’s for dinner. You haven’t been to the grocery store in a few days and are feeling tempted to order takeout from your favorite restaurant. Sound familiar?

Before you reach for the menu and your phone, consider this: You don’t have to be Bobby Flay to make a delicious meal or Rachel Ray to do it in 30 minutes or less. Besides, eating clean, real, simple food is one of the easiest ways to feel your best for the long haul. All it takes are a few basic foods in your pantry, freezer or fridge and you have a delicious healthy meal in no time.

So let me show you how this works in real life…

Now that I’m back in school and working with clients, my time in the kitchen is budgeted (on time and pennies). I spent most of the day studying for an exam, well actually two exams, and my sister called to make plans for dinner. She had spent the day on campus and was tired too. Sometimes you just aren’t in the mood to cook a 3-course dinner.

Step 1: Get a grain going. Brown rice, quinoa, kasha, whateva – pour it into the rice cooker, hit the switch and let it do its thing. This usually takes the longest to cook so it’s a good idea to start this first.

Step 2: Decide on a protein. Beans are my typical go-to so I always keep a supply of canned beans in my pantry for these “I don’t wanna” days. Just remember to check the ingredients listed on the back of the can to make sure there aren’t any surprises. Experiment with new beans to keep your meals fresh. There are so many to choose from. On this particular evening, my sister came over with tempeh so that was our protein. We chopped it into cubes and tossed it with some spices (paprika, tumeric, etc.) and a little olive oil and popped it in the oven.

Step 3: Veggies, veggies and more veggies. Seriously, you can’t make enough vegetables. We steamed kale, cabbage and carrots. Frozen or fresh, it doesn’t matter. Just eat ‘em!

Step 4: Get saucy. Sure you can eat your rice, beans and veggies plain or you can add a little something on top to spice things up. The right sauce will not only add flavor, but more nutrients to your already nutrient-dense meal. We used split pea soup as our sauce that I had made earlier in the week. The soup is delicious and thick – makes for a perfect topping or is great all by itself. No time to make soup? Try some hummus or a few avocado slices instead. Or try my favorite avocado spinach sauce (pictured below).

Avocado Spinach Sauce

Ingredients:

1 avocado

2 tablespoons tahini

Juice from 1 lemon

Parsley – small handful (optional)

Spinach

Directions:

Start by blending the avocado, tahini, lemon juice and parsley. Then add a small handful of spinach and water – it’s easier to blend if you add the spinach gradually. Stop to blend after each handful of spinach. Keep adding water and spinach until you get the flavor and consistency that you want.

Now doesn’t that look pretty and colorful!

So there you have it. Clean, simple, real, good food made on the fly. You are what you eat and who doesn’t want to be clean, simple, good and real, right?

Stress can cause a plethora of ailments including headaches, back and chest pain, high blood pressure, decreased immunity, stomach upset, and sleep problems. Emotionally, it can cause anxiety, depression, irritability, anger, forgetfulness, inability to focus and feelings of insecurity. Behavioral problems include overeating, undereating, drug and alcohol abuse, social withdrawal, crying spells and relationship conflicts. If you’ve ever experienced any of these symptoms, than it is likely you have suffered from stress.

Many, if not most, things in life are out of our control. We can’t control the other drivers on the road, the slower-than-preferred service at a restaurant, or the weather. All we can do is control how we react to these stressors.

Here are a few helpful tips to get you on your way to a less stressful holiday season and hopefully for good.

Take time for YOU – It’s easy to get swept up in the holiday parties and shopping, but it’s important to find time each day for yourself. It can be as easy as taking 10 minutes to read a magazine or treating yourself to a massage. What have you done for yourself lately?

Accept help from others – Hosting a holiday party? Ask guests to bring something that will shorten your list of responsibilities. Whether it’s extra chairs or a side dish, asking guests to participate in the event makes them feel more involved and makes your preparations easier so you can focus on other things… like taking a few minutes for yourself!

Move your body – Physical activity is a great way to relieve stress. Don’t feel like you have enough time for your usual workout? That’s ok – just make sure you get moving, even for a few minutes. It helps!

Cut the caffeine – Caffeine stimulates the same effects on our body as stress. Jittery, nervous, poor sleep, heartburn and muscle aches are just a few of the side effects of caffeine and symptoms of stress. Take it out of your diet and I bet you will feel pleasantly surprised!

Get some sleep – Ever notice that whenever you’re stressed you’re also exhausted? Make it a point to get to bed earlier or set your alarm for later in the morning. You will feel refreshed and be more productive with the time you have.

Find balance – Athletes don’t play an entire game without a break, so lets start holding ourselves to the same expectation! We can’t work from sunrise til sunset only to rush home and keep running all night long. Balance is important.

Have realistic expectations – Only a super hero is capable of working a full day, then finding gifts for everyone on her list and wrapping them before bedtime. Be realistic about what you are capable of completing in a day, a week, a month, etc. You will feel a lot better about yourself when you go to bed at the end of the day being able to cross off all of your “to-do” items instead of only half of them. 

Reframing – According to David B. Posen, MD, “This is one of the most powerful and creative stress reducers. Reframing is a technique used to change the way you look at things in order to feel better about them.” There are many ways to interpret a situation; the key is to pick the right perspective.  This doesn’t mean changing or denying the truth about what happened. Start by looking for the positive outcomes in a negative situation. Also consider why a person might act the way they do. You’ll feel calmer and less stressed when you choose to “reframe” a certain situation instead of dwelling on the negative attitude of the checkout girl or crabby boss. 

Lentils, in my opinion, are one of the most underrated beans out there. They don’t get nearly as much attention as say, black beans or chickpeas, but boy are they tasty, and very good for you too! They are rich in dietary fiber and folate, plus they provide great antioxidant protection, which we all need. They are actually very similar to black beans in nutritional quality, except you don’t have to soak lentils before cooking, the way you do for other beans.

I was inspired by the “prepared-foods” section in my local grocery store serving their own Moroccan lentil salad that I had to give my own version a try.

Ingredients:

2 cups lentils

1 cup chickpeas

1 small onion, chopped

½ cup carrots shredded

2 scallions, chopped

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Mrs. Dash

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Cook lentils, chickpeas and onions in slow cooker until soft. I like to add onions when I cook beans to give them a stronger flavor. If you use canned beans instead, then drain, rinse and pour into bowl.

In large skillet, cook carrots and scallions. Use a little bit of water to cook. Add lentils, chickpeas, and onions.

Pour red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and stir. Season to taste.

This dish is very versatile. I added mine to a bed of steamed kale with broccoli and avocado for dinner; filling and satisfying! It is a great side dish too! Bring it to your next potluck or holiday dinner!

If you live in the Asheville area and have never experienced Laughing Seed, then you are missing out on an incredible dining experience. I don’t eat out at restaurants very often, but when my friend suggested getting together for lunch at Laughing Seed, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse!

This vegetarian restaurant offers such a unique and eclectic international approach to dining that it is a huge hit for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike! They don’t take reservations and I have found myself waiting for over an hour to be seated at this comfortable local restaurant. Laughing Seed features local products, organic ingredients and original dishes that guarantee a very satisfying dining experience (the super friendly staff and fun drink menu – and I don’t mean only alcoholic – helps too).

My favorite dish is called the Harmony Bowl. Everything edible that I love is in that bowl. It starts with a bed of brown rice, then some beans (usually black or pinto), grilled tofu and lightly steamed seasonal veggies topped with their incredible sesame ginger sauce. Does that sound like perfect harmony or what?

Several months ago, before I started blogging, my friend Wendy and I came up with our own sesame ginger sauce. It’s not the same as Laughing Seed, but it’s pretty darn close. Enjoy it on salads, as a dip at your next party, or your own Harmony Bowl!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Tahini

1 tablespoon Sesame oil

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ teaspoon Minced Garlic

½ teaspoon Ginger

1 teaspoon Agave Nectar

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Directions:

Mix ingredients together in bowl.

Hanukkah is one of the best-known Jewish holidays, but not because of its religious significance, but because of its seasonal relationship with Christmas. Gift giving is an American custom than does not exist among Jews worldwide.

Growing up, I loved Hanukkah. As a family, we lit the menorah together each night. I had my own menorah, as did each of my siblings. I made my menorah out of clay one summer at camp (when I was 8 or 9) and used far into my young adult years. As a child, I got gifts, not nearly as many as my non-Jewish friends, but I never seemed to mind. My siblings and I would get 1 small gift each night with one “big” gift on the 8^th and last night.

After we lit the menorah we would play the dreidel game and eat latkes with applesauce. The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top and each side is imprinted with a Hebrew letter. The letters serve as an acronym for Nes Gadol Haya Sham, which translates to “A great miracle happened there”, referring to the miracle of the oil. In Israel they say Nes Gadol Haya Po, “A great miracle happened here”.

To also remember the miracle of the oil, it is customary to eat foods that are fried with oil. Potato latkes are the traditional food of choice, eaten once a year (or really 8 if you eat them each night of Hanukkah), and served with applesauce. The idea of fried foods gives me a stomachache so this year I am trying something different – baking my latkes instead of frying and making sugar free applesauce.

We all have family recipes, traditions and favorite dishes that are not healthy enough to eat year-round, which is why we indulge only on special occasions, but why un-do your hard work of good decision making to suffer weight gain, a stomachache or worse? Getting back to where we were before we made a poor diet or lifestyle decision can takes days, weeks or more before we feel as good as we did before that decision. May be it’s worth it for you, but it sure isn’t for me.

I love revamping recipes to make them healthier. This way I don’t feel like I’m really making a sacrifice to maintain my health.

Have a recipe you want to make healthier? Shoot it my way and I’ll send it back to you healthier, but still tasty.

Applesauce: (serves 2-4 people)

Ingredients:

6 -8 sweet apples (I used Fuji apples)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Remove skin from apples and chop into 10-12 pieces each

Put apples and cinnamon into pot with lid

Stir often until apples are soft – approximately 30-45 minutes

Put apples in blender and blend completely

Put apples back into pot and add vanilla

Stir

Cool and serve

Potato Latkes (makes 12-15)

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato, grated

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs, blended

1/2 cup of flour (I used Pecan flour, but any will do)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Grease baking sheet

Combine all ingredients into bowl and stir well

Use your hands to scoop mixture

Squeeze all liquid out and place scoop on cookie sheet and flatten

Repeat

Bake until latkes are crisp and golden brown

It is after all, the season of giving, right? Party hopping and gifts are what it’s all about. Then why is it that we find ourselves ringing in the New Year exhausted, run down and may be even a few pounds heavier than we were a few weeks ago?

Do you ever find yourself feeling guilty around the holiday season? Specifically about the food you eat and your social obligations and invitations. We tend to overindulge during the holiday season – either by eating too much or the “wrong” types of food, or both.

This year I plan to do the holidays a little differently. This is the season of giving, and that includes giving to myself. I plan to make the choices that are right for me, just like I do every other time of the year. The holiday season is not going to be any different. I can’t spread holiday cheer or get into the holiday spirit if I do not feel cheerful and spirited on the inside.

This holiday season I encourage you to give to yourself and to others. Take care of yourself, both mentally and physically. Figure out what your boundaries are in order to feel the holiday spirit on the inside and stick to them! May be that means declining one or two party invitations, or getting a little extra sleep instead of running to the mall. I promise you will feel better in the long run.

Lets start 2010 feeling refreshed, energized and ready to take on another year!