Anyone who avoids ingredients like grains, refined sugar, and dairy is pretty familiar with a standard refrain: “Mmm, it’s good…for something that’s grain free!” Or, “Yeah! It’s not bad…for sugar free!” In other words, living with dietary restrictions is sometimes like living in a world of caveats and conditions. In my case, I’ve not been […]
I can still remember the first time I ever ate at a barbecue restaurant. I was in Massachusetts, of all places, and while the restaurant may have been north of the Mason-Dixon Line, the flavors were as down home as they come. From the plastic tablecloths and honky-tonk jukebox, and from the plethora of succulent […]
My neighborhood, like many here in LA, marks each weekend with a pretty spectacular farmer’s market. For much of every Sunday, the sidewalks are glutted with mums and dads pushing strollers whose handles are laden with canvas totes bulging bright bunches of carrots and dark, leafy greens. Yet week after week, I don’t avail myself of the market’s […]
I have a confession to make: I have a secret passion for corned beef and cabbage. I’d eat it by the bucketload if you let me. But I never feel quite as happy after consuming it as I do while shoveling into my mouth, thanks to the gargantuan quantity of sodium in the beef. So I’m […]
My grandma was the queen of salads. She could turn even the humblest assortment of veggies and garnishes into a preparation worthy of a royal banquet. She even had special dishware for each of her creations, from the wide, flat wooden platter onto which she’d assemble a fancy composed salad to the big yellow stoneware bowl […]
I’m a total creature of habit in many ways, and food is one of them. I have a small rotation of favorite meals that I depend on during the week. Having a routine makes it easier to shop, easier to prepare when the days get hectic, and easier to make clean-eating choices when temptation arises. In fact […]
During the holiday season I went on a quest to find new, interesting, clean, and easy recipes to offset all the indulgences of the season. After scouring Pinterest without much luck, I looked farther afield and stumbled on a healthy cooking Instagram feed that I’ve been returning to ever since. The account belongs to Jill Fergus and is […]
For the past two months I’ve been tackling a pretty significant health project. I’m on a Candida cleanse, which means I’m trying to rid my body of a chronic yeast overgrowth by starving it out of my system. While it’s not a restrictive diet in the caloric sense, the list of foods I’m avoiding is quite extensive […]
The unofficial last weekend of summer is upon us, and grills across the nation are firing up in preparation for three days of last hurrah feasting. As a healthy eater, the summer BBQ gathering has been known to cause me significant anxiety, since the spread rarely features foods that aren’t the color brown. I’ve learned over […]
Italians are very serious about lunch. Well, admittedly Italians are very serious about every meal, but they’re especially passionate about a long, lingering midday repast for which all other activity screeches to a halt. Their approach to this meal is wholly different from the one we take here in the US, where a sandwich at our desks or a smoothie in our […]