This vegan soup is a tasty and satisfying meal all on it’s own. I like to serve it topped with croutons, roasted pumpkin seeds or lightly salted popcorn.* Sometimes I even mix in some chunks of seared tofu, too. This seasonal soup can be a delicious addition to your Thanksgiving table, too. (It will be one of my contributions to my family’s dinner table). Before the recipe, there are a couple tips and ideas I want to share with you. 1. Don’t be afraid of salt. Unless I’m following a new recipe, baking or refining one I haven’t yet perfected,
Read More »I’ve been really busy getting ready for my return to the world of teaching this coming Tuesday. No, not back to my little peeps in the NYC public schools, but to a new audience of grown-up peeps who want to cook for their Little Foodies. What? You didn’t know I’m teaching cooking classes??? I’ve partnered with Taste Buds Kitchen In NYC to offer classes to teach you how to prepare healthy and wholesome food for your baby or toddler. Interested? Click here to register. Later this week, I’ll be sharing some new recipes just for you. So, in lieu
Read More »I teach an after-school cooking club for about 20 kindergartners, 1st graders and 2nd graders. After a recent class during which we used different types of chocolate, I was left with a variety of chocolate chips that we didn’t use. Since I’d been having my own craving for cookies anyway, I decided to make a batch using the leftover milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate chips. Thus, the idea for the Triple Chocolate Chip Cookie was born. The first batch I baked was tasty for sure but there was still work to be done. I felt like the recipe needed
Read More »I’m about to do something I’ve never done before. I’m going to share a “seasonal” recipe ahead of the upcoming season. What??? I know. You’re shocked because I’m never that organized. Before you get excited that I’m so prepared, I must confess that I can do this only because today’s recipe is one I’ve been playing around with for a while. Um, at least one full year. It’s called “The Tacadilla.” The “Taca-wha,” you say? The Tacadilla is part taco and part quesadilla; hence the name Tacadilla. It’s basically a soft taco with a cheese quesadilla as the shell. I’ve
Read More »Sometimes I create a recipe accidentally by throwing together various ingredients I find in the kitchen. This recipe for Purée Grilled Cheese is an example. One night after I’d created a new recipe for a savory purée, I looked into the fridge to figure out what I could prepare for dinner. I saw the purée, some bread and cheese and the idea for making a grilled cheese with the vegetable purée came to mind. So here we are, a few trials and tribulations later and now I’m ready to share the recipe with you. For a while now, I’ve been
Read More »My little lady is a huge fan of pasta and so am I. Both of us love the taste and texture of pasta and we will happily eat it any time. As a busy mom I rely on pasta to assist me in getting a quick and healthy dinner onto the table that pleases everybody in the family. Pasta is such a kid-friendly starch that Eliana will try anything that is accompanied by this magic ingredient. It is easy to mix with many pantry staples I already have on hand or want to experiment with when playing around in the
Read More »Eliana goes to preschool for a full day two days a week. Those are my dedicated “work days” to focus on teeny tiny foodie rather than every other day when I split my time between taking care of Eliana and cramming in some teeny tiny foodie work here and there. To maximize my work time on these days, I try to plan an efficient lunch for myself that consists of heating up leftovers or assembling something in 10 minutes or less. This Green Pizza is one of my go to “efficient lunches”. It’s super yummy and is packed with iron,
Read More »People often ask me how I get my ideas for recipes. Sometimes, I try to recreate a dish I had in a restaurant or that I saw on TV; sometimes I just try something wacky; and sometimes my ideas come from a desire to create a healthier version of a mainstream food. This recipe for Fast Fruity Yogurt is an example of the last type—an attempt to create a healthier version of what one can buy in the store. Many of my friends and family love to eat store-bought yogurt with fruit already mixed into it. I too love to
Read More »I love to add purées to dishes as a way to include some healthy goodness from a fruit or vegetable and for an extra bit of yummy flavor. I also love using purées because they can add a punch of all-natural chemical-free color to your food for an extra bit of fun. Since my little lady is a huge fan of pink, she often requests pink pancakes, which I (or my husband) happily cook up for her. Pink Pancakes get their naturally beautiful color from roasted beet purée. This recipe for Pink Pancakes is a slightly adapted version of the
Read More »Are you looking for that perfect Super Bowl meal that will let you get your prep out of the way early so you can hang out with your guests? Or, are you hoping to wow your hosts with an easy and delicious potluck contribution? Here’s my suggestion for you: Sweet Potato Chili! While it will be delicious the day you make it, chili usually tastes better the second or third day after cooking it and that makes it a great make-ahead meal. For this recipe you can use orange or white-fleshed sweet potatoes. One difference I’ve noticed between these two types
Read More »Months ago, I was searching on the Internet for a recipe for whole wheat pizza dough. I came across this recipe from Martha Stewart that creates one large ball of dough that can be turned into two large pizza crusts or eight individual-sized crusts. After a few months of tweaking the recipe, I’m happy to share my adapted recipe below. Typically, I like to use this recipe to make one large pizza for us to eat for dinner and four individual-sized crusts that I freeze for up to four months. Below the recipe, I explain how to freeze the crusts
Read More »In my experience, the trick to getting my toddler to eat soup is the mix-ins. Often Eliana will exclaim that she doesn’t like soup, even before she has tasted it or knows anything about it. That’s when I break out my secret weapons: tasty mix-ins! Croutons are my favorite item to mix into her soup because Eliana can’t resist carbs and she inevitably scoops up some soup as she digs out the croutons. Plus, the croutons absorb some of the soup so she gets even more of the soup into her belly. Without intending to, she eats almost an entire
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