My son loves the vegan scones from the Whole Foods bakery and I wish I could eat a whole one too.  I can take a bite here and there because of the flour, but I wanted a more digestible scone and perhaps not as sweet.  One of my go to baking books, BabyCakes NYC, has a great recipe that I adapted by adding raisins.  Gabriel loves anything raisins so this was the way to go. I bet that if I gave Gabriel this triple deck of scones...

Some store-bought hummus are not bad but nothing like making it at home.  I find that I can taste more of the tahini in the homemade version and I can always adapt it to add a bit more of this and a bit more of that to get the exact flavor I want. Hummus is really nothing more than chickpeas/garbanzo beans, garlic, tahini (or sesame paste), olive oil, lime or lemon and whatever else you want to put in it to give it a kick such a...

My favorite part of the fall holiday includes the crisp cool air of the season, beautiful orange pumpkins displayed everywhere and delicious apple picking days in the New England fields.  And who doesn't love the comforting smell of scrumptious baked goods that makes for a cozy home?  One of my favorite fall recipes (pumpkin-spice muffins) comes from the first BabyCakes NYC books, which I have adapted for this recipe to make a bre...

Most weekends we go to an Indian buffet that we love in Cambridge.   I always salivate over the creamy  kheer in the large bowl being scooped generously by the patrons into delicious globs held by tiny overflowing cups.  Finally I decided to make a kheer that I too could enjoy.  Many may disagree and it's all good but white rice has little nutritional value for me so I used quinoa instead for my  recipe.  Plus I figured Gabrie...

My Philippine friend Tony turned me on to mung beans a few years back.  Tony said I should take a shot at making them so that he could eat them given that mung bean dishes are not a staple in the U.S.  Being Latin and all I wasn't shy to trying a new bean and going through the soaking process etc.  Instead of using the typical spanish cumin, onion and tomato paste sauce I used a curry one instead and the dish was fabulous.  I rememb...

I promise this is not a cheap way out of a blog post, I just honestly love roasted asparagus and it is a dish I make often.  And simple, simple, simple. The thinner the asparagus the less fibrous they are when you cook them.  Chop about an inch off the bottoms to get rid of the hard stuff. Drizzle with olive oil. Add some fresh cracked pepper and sea salt and toss around to cover asparagus well. Roast and here you have...

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 think that a healthy breakfast can taste like dessert.  Or dessert anytime of day can be healthy in general if made with the right ingredients.  I am almost certain you will agree with me when you see what this parfait is made of, especially since it is completely sugar-free but sweetly satisfying. You can make this parfait with blueberries or strawberries. And you can also make it in any glass or dish instead of a jar. Ma...

I have been home under the weather for a few days and really wanted something special for breakfast. Saturday was rainy and we were all hanging out in the loft so it was a perfect time to bake.  I had all the  baking ingredients I needed and a couple of fuji apples, all perfect for what I had in mind. I thought an upside down cake would be perfect because I wanted the top to be caramely and gooey.  We all know about the pineap...

I am crazy about dark chocolate, nuts and coconuts.  So why not put them all together?  My local Whole Foods makes chocolate covered clusters that you can buy in bulk for about $18.99 a pound.  I know it's expensive but this is because the mix includes sprouted nuts, raisins, blueberries, coconut bits and chocolate.   I figured why not try to make my own home version with a good dark unsweetened chocolate and about two cups of w...