Lactose-Free….Or Not

Pepper Jack & Vegetable Chowder   You don’t have to be on a low-lactose diet to enjoy lactose-free milk.  A good friend introduced me to lactose-free milk in coffee because it tastes sweeter than regular milk.    Recently my nutrition students made the same discovery during a sampling of lactose-free and regular milk.  The word […]

Searching for Summer

  Apricot-Almond Crumb Bars   I take a lazy, low-tech approach to DIY (Do It Yourself), but by February I’m glad I made a little time last year to preserve one of the best parts of summer – fruits.    I don’t bother with a canner or dehydrator, but do task my freezer with storing […]

What does “Diet” Mean?

Indian-Spiced Shrimp En Papillote   This is an excerpt from a “Fresh Bites” guest blog posted January 11, 2013, I wrote for Allrecipes.com at the request of Senior Communications Director Judith Dern.  Allrecipes.com is the  largest digital food brand in the world, averaging more than 30 million unique visitors each month and posting double-digit growth […]

Leafy Greens Get Trendy…and Convenient

  Greens have trickled into the mainstream.  In the Allrecipes.com food trends report for 2012, Kale Chips were one of  the top eleven “What’s Hot” recipe searches (up 133%). Allrecipes.com Senior Communications Director Judith H. Dern called Kale Chips, “the gateway drug to adding this leafy green vegetable to every meal!”    What consumers do […]

Holiday Gifts – Homemade and Healthy

Spiced Nut and Cranberry Mix Since childhood, I have made gifts, mostly edibles, to offer as Christmas gifts to family and friends.  Something homemade is a gift from the hands and heart, offering more than what comes from a purchased gift – or so I was taught early on.   Always one to experiment, some […]

Holiday Stress and Holiday Eating

Rolled Sugar Cookies  I read a statistic recently that only 40% of people enjoy eating, down from 50%. (Reference 1) It’s probably lower during the holidays because it’s such a stressful time.  Everywhere you turn is a plate of cookies, an eggnog, or a party. Every time you open the front door there’s another tower […]

Slimmed-Down Pork Carnitas – Hearty and Easy

Carnitas-Style Slow Cooked Pork and Mexican-Spiced Sprouted Beans   It’s time to bring out the slow cooker.  Temperatures have dropped and the hectic holiday season is here, calling for hearty, healthful and easy-prep meals to balance the fancy party food on the way.    The slow cooker is a device I shunned until a client […]

Craving Chocolate?

  Double Chocolate Almond Cookies “I’m craving chocolate. That sounds wonderful!  Can you send me the recipe?” That was my sister’s response to my description of the chocolate cookie I was eating when she telephoned.   Chocolate is a fact of life – it’s the most-craved food in North America (Reference 1) and is an essential food […]

Super-Squash for Fall Cooking

Red Lentil Dal with Winter Squash and Tarka Winter squash is often called a “super food” because of its excellent nutrient profile.  A cup of butternut squash cubes, baked, has a mere 56 calories, 4.5 grams of dietary fiber, over 300% of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin A, 35% of the DV for vitamin […]

Tasty Tofu

Tofu Planks with Chinese Barbecue Sauce     One of my favorite foods for a meatless dish is tofu, and I’m not alone – tofu is the most widely used soy food in the world (Reference 1).   In East Asia, tofu is as important as meat and dairy products in the western world.   Tofu, […]