Edamame Succotash and a bat mitzvah ‘shrink down’

My cousin Dana and I were close growing up – two suburban girls doing normal suburban things – but couldn’t have lived more different lives. Now she’s a yummy mummy with 3 gorgeous kids, a handsome banker husband and a ski house up north. Me, well… I am me and have done my life. When Dana called to say she wanted to look her best for her oldest daughter’s Bat Mitzvah and perhaps shrink down a bit, and could I ...

Gluten Free Banana Muffins

It’s taken 2 years, 3 continents, 6 hotels, 5 apartments, countless transcontinental flights, something about a wedding, something about a TV show, 1 visa, 1 red list, several lawyers enormous amounts of luck, love, the best friends, lots of family,  and a very good sense of humor, to find myself in the place I am now. I never thought I’d live in Miami but I’m here and it feels right so I’m going with it. I’ve lived in stranger places ...

Spicy Chocolate Fondant and a Cyber-crush

My friend  has a cyber-crush. This must be a common occurrence these days, with Facebook, Twitter and all the social networking we do. It’s so easy to develop a relationship with someone you’ve never met, or perhaps not even spoken to. One afternoon she and I were chatting about food, recipes and recipe re-creating, as we often do, and she was telling me about her crush. Then she posed an interesting question: If you sort of know someone, but don’t ...

A Peculiar Pasta

I find pasta very comforting – it’s comfort food. But I don’t eat it very often, as I haven’t found a gluten free pasta I really like. The quinoa varieties are satisfying, but I find they must be cooked perfectly or the noodles get messy.  I’d much rather pour my sauce over a big bowl of steamed broccoli rabe, or over a crisp buckwheat-and-cornmeal-crust pizza covered with roasted vegetables. That is, until recently, since I rediscovered Kelp noodles. I shamefully ...

Tastes like cookie dough, but it’s not…

I can become mildly obsessive about a new ingredient. I will eat it every day, and this can last for months, even years. I ate the same artichoke purée with fennel and celery slices for lunch almost every day for two years! Lacuma powder has been one of these. I bring it with me almost everywhere and experiment by adding it to just about anything, to see how it blends. Lacuma, a South American fruit of Andean origin, is sold ...

Another Type of Risotto

I have been asked a lot lately what program I recommend to my clients. I can’t really answer that, since all programs are custom creations. However, there are a few things that hold true for all of the cleanses, all of the programs and all of the recipes. I am a firm believer in a veggie-centric regime, gluten free grains and unrefined sugar. Gluten free does not mean “no carbs.” In fact, carbohydrates are necessary and very good for us. ...

Living a Total Re-Set

Icy Lacuma-Cacao Smoothie. I often get asked what it is I do. It’s a good question in that I do a lot of things. I make people healthy and I do this in many ways. One of the ways that I do this is I create custom programs for my clients with menus and recipes. Sometimes I go on-site, spend some time with my client and cook the meals and literally make the program come to life. I love this ...

Missing Paris, Missing Carrot Cake

I have been in Miami one week now and I miss Paris. Miami is lovely but it is not Paris. I miss so many things about Paris it would be silly to start listing them but one thing I am craving is Rose Bakery. If I ever was to open a café, Rose Bakery would be my role model. I took my friend Pierre there once and his comment was “zis is so bobo” (bohemian-bourgeois). In fact, it is. But ...

Potato Pancakes, Parades and Brunch

We don’t have Thanksgiving dinner in my family. We have Brunch. Sixty+ people gather at my mother’s house to watch the Parade and break the morning fast on a scrumptious spread that (for the most part) my brother prepares. One of his specialties, much in demand, is his potato pancakes topped with smoked salmon and a dollop of crème fraiche.  Many years ago he had a restaurant, which featured a potato pancake sandwich!!  The Ruben Sandwich was the most popular ...

A Different Type of Pumpkin Pie

Gluten-Free-refined sugar free pumpkin pie? Yes! And it’s SO good that even my toughest critics (my brothers) like it!  This is one of the very first recipe re-creations I ever created I literally just made it up as I went along using whatever gluten free non-refined sugar things I could find. The goat milk was also a guess. True it is a strange flavor and it is not for everyone, but I happen to like the tanginess of the goat ...