We were in Paris last week and I was reminded by how the French prepare vegetables that are simple and beautiful.  These vibrant and opinionated people (whom I love by the way) seem  to effortlessly throw raw or cooked veggies on a plate with a bit of a sauce and voila!  Lunch or dinner is served!   These radishes looked so rich and crispy on the produce shelf that I whisked them up right away to create a French style roasted sa...

I have always loved polenta and in the most traditionally cooked ways.  Polenta is popular in Italy and Latin America where many times it is served with a red sauce on top.  Sometimes I make it in this way too but it is a heavier dish and better left for the winter time.  These polenta rounds are made in a more contemporary way and are lighter as well as easy to make since you can buy a tube of pre-cooked polenta and just cut sli...

When I lived in Buenos Aires I ate palmito (hearts of palm) salad all the time.  I loved it and ordered it in restaurants whenever I could find it.  I hadn't eaten palmitos in a while and then recently I was at a Brazilian restaurant and they had it on the menu!  It was so delicious that I have brought back palmitos into my cooking for the Spring.  You can buy palmitos canned at most local super markets. Palmitos on t...

Spring appears to be committedly here now and I get the fever for all things fruit.  These Bartlett pears were looking pretty and almost ripe at the produce section of the super market and all I could think was about grilling something. That something would be pears.  Grilled pears are great on their own since the cooking process brings out their sweetness. But wouldn't a chilled dill mayo just totally balance out the sweet and...

These beautiful little potatoes have been coming from Oregon to my local supermarket for the last two weeks.  They range in a medley of colors and the grocer has them in baskets where you can just grab and mix whatever hues you want. Seems like I spent more than a few minutes picking out the prettiest potatoes thinking how lovely they would look on my dinner table. Actually, it was probably not more than a minute since G reaches h...

  Have some leftover pesto?  Here is an idea for a quick small plate to snack on or impress a guest on the fly by whipping these out of the kitchen anytime.  These make a great easy canapé for a soiree as well.  I make pesto fairly often and keep some around for a quick pasta toss when I don't have time to cook. Last week I was searching the refrigerator for an afternoon snack but a cucumber is all I saw.  I frowne...

My husband J, a francophile at heart, has been asking lately that I use herbs de provence.  He seems to miss them when I don't use them for a while.   I had to buy zucchini to reshoot a previous post from a few months ago and the greens and yellows looked so beautiful that I bought extra to roast with the herbs.    The morning light brought colors of pale white and faint purple through our side window, so after J took our toddle...

I can whip up this topping quickly and use it on top of any dish like rice, pasta, steamed veggies, quinoa, etc., and it adds flavor and a bit of spice to what otherwise may turn out to be a borish meal. Serve it with crackers for a tasty snack. Save Print Curry Vegetable Topping Prep time:  5 mins Cook time:  15 mins Total time:  20 mins Serves: 2   Ingredients 1 large onion sliced in m...

Colder days are ahead and I crave hearty sandwiches.  Roasted veggies and creamy anything together, with every bite I am warmed right up.  I only use one slice of bread since this sandwich is very rich and there is no need for the second piece.  Also, you can cut these into pieces and serve them as a side dish with soup or salad.  For the bread I  used sesame Ezekiel, which is not gluten-free but the sprouted ingredients make the b...

This recipe is only a variation of many a grilled panini that one can make.  For this recipe I have used a panini machine, which I bought for about $50 on amazon.  It is a luxurious thing to be able to whip up a hot sandwich anytime!  The key to this sandwich is lightly coating both sides of the bread with either Earth Balance spread, or my new favorite spread which is made from coconut oil.  The coconut give is a special sweet and ...