All posts filed under: Recipes

Dad is great, he gave us chocolate cake!

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Have you heard the infamous 1982 Bill Cosby bit where he let’s his small children have chocolate cake for breakfast? (Yes, I wrote this before Cosby was a bad word, but stay with me here…)  It went something like this: “The child wanted chocolate cake for breakfast! How ridiculous! … And something in my brain thought about the ingredients: eggs! Eggs are in chocolate cake! And milk! Oh goody! And wheat! That’s nutrition! … And their father said, ‘Chocolate cake coming up!!’ … And five children sat at breakfast and the morning music was playing and they were eating chocolate cake and singing songs to me:  ‘Dad is great! He gave us chocolate cake!’” In the story, the Mom, upon arising, did not find this scenario remotely amusing.  And we know why.  The average chocolate cake is not the healthiest thing for anyone any age.  But, there are ways to tweak the recipe, and not only make it better, but make it healthier.  Now, this is NOT a recipe I condone for everyday eating.  I …

Halibut with Spaghetti Squash

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Fish intimidates people.  So, what if I told you that fish is one of the easiest things to master!  The KEY to fish is freshness.  And it cooks so quickly that you can make dinner in a flash!  Although this requires baking spaghetti squash, you can do that ahead of time. This is a recipe from “The Olives Table” Cookbook, by Todd English and Sally Sampson.  It is another favorite cookbook of mine.  The flavors are fabulous.  I made this for Christmas Dinner last year, and it was a hit.  Plus, it stays moist, and unlike a lot of fish entrees, it tastes pretty good the next day! STEAMED TAGINE OF HALIBUT WITH MOROCCAN-SPICED SPAGHETTI SQUASH The Moroccan spices make the spaghetti squash taste marvelous, and it adds an exotic taste that takes it from bland to “I need this recipe”.  So, here it is! SERVES 4 (photo at left is a triple recipe, but I only increased the fish portion, 2 spaghetti squash make a lot of sauce!) 2 medium-size spaghetti squash, halved 1 …

Cucumber Radish Salad

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Radishes were never big on my “have to have list”.  As you can see by the photo above, these are the tiny, spring radishes that you can find at the Farmer’s Market, where I found these one June.  Together with small cucumbers (I buy the mini kind, packaged in 5/6 to a package and fairly symmetrical in size), these make an unbelievably yummy, crunchy salad.  If you can’t get miniature cukes, use english or regular.  If you use larger cukes, cut in half lengthwise and seed them first.  Then cut into moons.  Worth it.  Also, if you have time, sprinkle some salt on them, let them drain for 30 minutes, rinse and towel dry.  The more water you can get out makes them crunchier. Cucumber Radish Spring Salad Ingredients: 4-5 mini cucumbers (or 1 English or 1 large regular) 1 bunch of spring radishes (you can use any radish, the key is slicing them THIN) 2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar 1 tablespoon mirin (do NOT use mirin that contains corn syrup, use REAL mirin — Eden …

Kofta b’siniyah by Yottam Ottolenghi

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These are the middle eastern version of meatballs, and in my opinion, far superior to what we often see in frozen packages in the “big box” stores.  Blech.  Yottam Ottolenghi has two GORGEOUS cookbooks, with his Palestinian childhood friend and partner, and is based in London.  Oh how I wish I was able to drive to his store!  Check out “Plenty” and “Jerusalem” on your favorite book site.  Well worth the cost, if only to gaze at the fabulous photography.  Kofta Ingredients ~ 14 oz  ground lamb ~ 14 oz  ground veal or beef (I used grass fed ground beef) 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed 2½ tbsp  toasted pine nuts, roughly chopped, plus extra whole ones to garnish ½ cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped, plus extra to garnish (this is often called Italian Parsley, you can use regular parsley too) 1 T aleppo pepper or 1 large medium-hot red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 1½ tsp ground cinnamon 1½ tsp ground allspice ¾ tsp grated nutmeg 1½ tsp ground black …

French Lentil Salad

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This salad is a take-off of the Parslied Lentil Salad from Dr. Mark Hyman’s “Ultrametabolism Cookbook”, a cookbook I highly recommend!  If you need a basic cookbook on eating healthy, his two cookbooks are what I recommend you begin with.  Here is a link to his writing on Amazon:  See Dr. Hyman’s books here French Lentil Salad  Makes ~ 4-10 servings (depending on if it’s a side dish or main course!)1 cup French green lentils, dry (smaller than “regular” green lentils)2-3 cups chicken broth* or veggie broth for vegetarians  (use 2 if you have a pressure cooker, 2-3 if you cook on stove)*1 small red onion, diced small2 carrots, shredded (I used a small shred setting on my grater)½ tsp sea salt1 cup minced parsley, FRESH 1 small avocado, diced¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil1 cup chopped green olives 6 tbsp fresh lemon juice½ tsp freshly ground black pepper Cook lentils in chicken broth until tender.  Drain if there’s any liquid left (will probably be some).  Add remaining ingredients, serve on endive leaves, romaine leaves or …