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Friday’s Fixin’s: The Best Protein Packed Vegetable Soup

When we were playing around in the kitchen last week, Maili waved her magic creative cooking wand and came up with this amazing and fantabulous soup. I happen to think that it’s the best vegetable soup – ever. Oh dear heavens is it ever good. I scorched my tongue because I ate it when it was too hot (and then kept eating it). You may say: Vegetable soup in the spring?  Well, I happen to think that the spring (and especially a rainy day) is the perfect time of the year to have vegetable soup.  The Silver Lining is that you can get lots of the ingredients at the farmers market (well, you can if you live in California or another warm state). I’m a big fan of soup because it’s a whole meal in one (if you want it to be) and will last for about 5 days (assuming that you don’t eat …

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Friday’s Fixin’s: Roasted Cauliflower and Farro Salad

  Happy Friday!  Friday? Already? Wowsy, what a week. It feels like time is moving at warp speed. And the speediness is exacerbated by the fact that I seem to be trying to pack EVERYTHING in. Geesh. Many Silver Linings, though, beginning with the fragrant flowers that seem to be exploding and the omnipresent fruits and veggies at the Farmers Market. I’m super excited to share a DELISH recipe with you: Roasted Cauliflower and Farro Salad with Herbs from Gabrielle Moses of Seasons Catering. Get ready to do a taste-bud happy dance!  This is a seriously easy peasy recipe that is great for a lunch or dinner party. Though I made it last week, I’m still drooling. As Suddenly Seven loves to say: Bon Appétit!

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Bookworm: It’s All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow, you know, the Academy-Award winning actress, GOOP writing, bestselling cookbook author, is back with recipes for the foods she eats when she wants to feel energetic, lose weight, and look good. This is my new favorite cookbook. I love-love-love it! Last spring, after a particularly grueling schedule that included a bit of overindulgence, Gwyneth Paltrow was feeling fatigued and nearly fainted during Sunday lunch with family and friends. A visit to Dr. Alejandro Junger revealed that she was vitamin D deficient, anemic, and that her liver was congested and her stress levels were sky high. Dr. Junger prescribed an elimination diet to clear out her system and help her body heal. This meant no coffee, no alcohol, no dairy, no eggs, no sugar, no shellfish, no deep-water fish, no wheat, no meat, no soy, nothing processed at all which, she admits, are tough restrictions for a foodie to …

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Friday’s Fixin’s: Roasted Beets

Beets are one of my favorite foods. I liked beets before I had breast cancer. The Silver Lining is that there are gobs of anti-cancer benefits of eating beets. One of the great things about beets is that they are available year-round, so whenever the craving occurs (and after you try this recipe, I pretty much guarantee that you’ll crave them!), you can find them readily available. There are lots of Silver Lining health benefits to eating beets, including: Beets are known for their intense red hue, which is caused by betacyanin. This compound is a powerful antioxidant that may reduce inflammation and serve as an anti-cancer agent. When scientists at Howard University in Washington, D.C., tested beet extract, rich in betanin, against human prostate and breast cancer cells, they found that it slowed the growth rate of the cells. Beets are a great source of vitamins and minerals. They contain folic acid which …

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The Value of Vitamin D

The Value of Vitamin D

April 17, 2013

At lunch with an enlightened girlfriend recently, she was touting the transformative impact of Vitamin D. Between this conversation and my doctor’s recommendation that I start taking a vitamin D and calcium combo, I decided that the universe was speaking to me and that it would be a good idea to listen. Why take vitamin D? Vitamin D is required for the regulation of the minerals calcium and phosphorus found in the body. It also plays an important role in maintaining proper bone structure. According to a 2009 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, people with low levels of vitamin D, which helps to regulate the immune system, are more susceptible to catching colds. Additional reasons to take vitamin D include: Promotes calcium absorption and aids in bone growth and remodeling. In fact, the reason to take vitamin D and calcium together is because vitamin D is necessary for calcium use. Modulation …

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Friday’s Fixin’s: Pea Salad

Boy oh boy do I ever have a Friday’s Fixin’s recipe treat for you!  This spring pea salad is beyond delish. I seriously did a face plant in it, as did Suddenly Seven. It is the perfect – absolutely perfect! – spring salad. The recipe comes from Gabrielle Moses of Seasons Catering in Ventura, California.  Gaby is a real whiz in the kitchen and always comes up with the most delightful treats. Please enjoy this as much as we have!

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Flora Farms in Cabo San Lucas

Because I’m not doing any cooking this week thanks to our holiday week, I thought I’d share a great foodie experience that we had at Flora Farm in San Jose del Cabo. Wowsy. Bowsy. What an unexpected Silver Lining of our trip THAT was! Flora Farm is a magnificent  ten-acre organic farm in the foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains. The road to get there is filled with ginormous bumps and “turbulence” as Suddenly Seven described our ride. However, what we learned is that taking the road less traveled can indeed produce magnificent Silver Linings! Patrick and Gloria Greene began ten years ago by founding the Farmers Market and expanded to grow for Floras Field Kitchen, Floras Grocery and the recent Culinary Cottage owners. Farming without pesticides or using genetically modified seeds and working the farm largely by hand yields over 100 varieties of heirloom vegetables and herbs. They are absolutely …

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Friday’s Fixin’s: CreamLess Asparagus Soup

Happy Good Friday! I am super excited to share Friday’s Fixin’s with you today. Chef Maili Halme and I have been in the kitchen again dreaming up some super fun ideas for you (and me!). As Maili told me, “I was working on the menu for a Spring dinner and my only goal was taste.  I wanted something delicious that everyone would love.  I wasn’t worried about calories or health or anything else.  I fully intended to put cream in this soup.   When I cook I taste as I go along.  I tasted the soup before I added the cream and thought it tasted so rich and delicious just as it was that I decided to omit the cream.” Do you see why she is my kind of girl?  I mean, really. As a result, this recipe is shockingly simple with so few ingredients that you’d think that there has …

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Cuckoo for Coconut Oil

Cuckoo for Coconut Oil

March 26, 2013

I’ve always been a big fan of Coconut Oil.  Over the past few years, I’ve started using it liberally – in both my kitchen and in my bathroom.  I wasn’t exactly Einstein, but was definitely on to something.  Turns out that Coconut Oil has proven to be a major Silver Lining that has gobs of health and beauty benefits!  Hope that you enjoy it as much as I do!

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Friday’s Fixin’s: Kobocha Squash Salad

Happy Friday, everyone!  Did this week fly or is it me?  I mean, really. Zippety-doo-daah.  I’m super excited to share this week’s recipe. It is another collaboration with the über talented Chef Mailie Halme. Oh dear heavens is it ever AMAZING.  When you look at this recipe, I know it looks like a lot of steps, but you know me well enough by now to know that I am not going to share anything that isn’t easy and delish. Squash The finished product! I am super grateful to Maili for introducing me to Kobocha squash, a kind of Japanese winter squash.  I had never heard of it until now. Here are a few food facts about it: A single cup of kabocha has forty calories compared to butternut squash’s 60, and has less than half of the carbs of butternut squash (7 grams vs. 16 grams). Kabocha squash is an …

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