Hello everyone! As you know, I am a native Manhattanite. Growing up in the City (that would be NYC), I have had my fair share of celebrity sightings. Never have I been as star struck, however, as when I got to say hello and introduce my daughter (also a big fan) to Judy Blume herself. She spoke at the Montclair Film Festival because her son made a movie out of her book, Tiger Eyes.

If you have read anything by Judy Blume, you know that she was WAY ahead of her time regarding  openness about sexuality. She was/is a pioneer in discussing taboo subjects like when a girl first gets her menstrual period, loses her virginity, or when a boy  first has a nocturnal emission (that would be a wet dream for the lay people).

She is the consummate mother and I think we all thank her for what she has given our generation.

We need to communicate about all subjects, even uncomfortable ones, if we are to improve the quality of our lives. Feeling incompetent or insecure can lead to throwing our hands up in the air when what we really need to do is to work toward feeling more comfortable to succeed. In life and in the kitchen…

By the way, judging by her incredibly fit body at the age of 74, I imagine she is a very healthy eater. For this reason, I dedicate this healthy breakfast or lunch recipe to Judy Blume.

What’s YOUR favorite Judy Blume book? Mine is Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself….

Also, please enjoy all of the links and videos below that I have recently written and performed in for CBS. You can get some GREAT ideas for Mother’s Day purchases.

Posts:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/05/01/mothers-day-recipes-for-breakfast-in-bed/

http://chicahttp://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/mothers-day-local-offers/go.cbslocal.com/2012/05/01/special-activities-for-mom-on-mothers-day/

Videos:

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/mothers-day-local-offers/

Toast with Almond Butter and Dates:

Hi everyone! Although it’s technically Spring, it is cold out there in many parts of the country! This comforting Greek dish created by my friend Kara that I modified slightly will make you want to just stay home in the warmth and eat all day.  I ate it at her house for lunch and begged her to verbally tell me how to make this dish. Everyone at the table was swooning. Seriously, it was that delicious.

I am forever grateful that she shared her recipe.

Remember that a great way to learn a recipe is by simply asking your friends who cook. Unless they are mean, they will share them with you.

Enjoy!

P.S. I have some really great events for you going on locally with a worldwide vegan bakesale  benefitting animal safety.

Also, there are opportunities to volunteer at our local YMCA. Our Y  provides scholarships for summer camp, after school programs and physical fitness for families who cannot afford these important programs.

Please check out the Take Back the Kitchen Facebook Page for more details by clicking here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Take-Back-the-Kitchen/132788611808

Enjoy your weekend!

Vegetarian Moussaka:

2 sliced medium sized zucchini, brushed with olive oil
2 large sliced eggplant, brushed with olive oil
roast at 350 degrees until wilted, about 20 minutes or more
In a large saucepan, combine:

1/2 cup tomato paste
2 cans chopped tomatoes (15 oz. cans)
3 15 oz. cans chick peas
4 chopped cloves garlic
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS agave syrup
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tsp salt

Cook for about 20 minutes and then pulse to a coarse mixture.

In a glass pyrex or casserole dish, layer chick pea puree, eggplant, chick pea puree, zucchini and repeat until ingredients run out.

Cook at 400 until mixture begins to bubble, about half hour and then add bechamel on top (recipe below). Let cook until bechamel is golden, about 10 minutes.

Bechamel or White Sauce (1/2 this recipe for the moussaka or save the rest in fridge):
6 TBS butter
4 cups whole milk
4 TBSflour or Matzoh meal if making during Passover
1/4-1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg (adjust it to your liking)
1 tsp salt (adjust to your liking with more, a little at a time)
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

In a medium sized sauce pan, heat up the butter over a low flame until melted.
Stir in the flour with a whisk until fully incorporated with the butter.
Slowly add in the milk, whisking all the while.
Keep whisking now over a low to medium flame. Whisk every minute or so until the mixture becomes thick like pudding. This may take about 10-15 minutes.
Add in the nutmeg, salt and pepper and add more of each if you need to.

 Hi everyone. I performed with the No Rehearsals this Sunday but I knew I wanted a nice dinner  that night to end the weekend right.

Knowing I would be busy until 4PM, I marinated chicken the night before, cooked some rice in the rice cooker and chopped up tomatoes and beet greens when I returned.

I am not trying to boast. I just want to show you that with a bit of planning , we can still enjoy ourselves outside of the house without having to sacrifice a healthy and delicious meal with the family.

Hoisin Chicken:

10 chicken legs

Marinade:

1/4 cup Hoison Sauce

2 crushed garlic cloves

1/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

2 TBS Soy Sauce

1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice (optional-not everyone likes this flavor)

Stir marinade together, pour over chicken in a large bowl, stir to coat chicken and cover. Refrigerate over night or at least a few hours.

When ready to cook, bake on a rack at 350 degrees fro 25 minutes, turn over with tongs for another 25 minutes and that’s it!

Tomato Beet Green Rice:

2 cups leftover white rice or cooked Basmati or any other kind of rice -set aside

2 cups washed, chopped beet greens or any other green, sauteed over a medium flame in a little olive oil until wilted, about 3-5 minutes

Cook rice and beet greens together, stir.

Add in 2 chopped medium sized tomatoes and stir until the tomatoes are heated through with the rice.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Peel a carrot on the side for an edible garnish.

Add all onto the plate and enjoy!

Hi everyone! What a week, what a weekend. Today I am providing speed dating advice…I mean speed cooking advice at Verona Park in NJ with the YMCA for Healthy Kid’s Day. Come by my table, please! I will also have some dips and some edamame.

Also, tomorrow I will be wearing my other hat , singing with my band at 2PM, The No Rehearsals, at a farewell party for a family who owns a healthy bread store and bakery in Montclair where I live. I do hope we get another healthy cafe in there.  Here are the details fore the party:

113 Walnut Street, Montclair, NJ

Sunday, April 29th

2-9PM

It seems to me that so many healthy stores and restaurants close , at least around here, because they don’t get enough traffic.

We may not think about how important our role is in keeping healthy businesses alive but we can all make a difference.

Anyhoo, here is a recipe for the healthy and easy, delicious snack I will be bringing to the Y event today. Enjoy!

Edamame Snack:

Crack open a 16 oz. bag of edamame in it’s shell, organic , of course. Boil them for 6 minutes, let them cool, sprinkle with salt and serve. Yum!

Hi everyone! I am enjoying a lovely visit with my sister Katy and her family in Northampton, MA.  There are many fantastic places to eat but I mostly enjoy eating at her house because she can cook!

For the tacos:

4 -6 tortillas, flour or corn

1/2 lb tilapia, steamed grilled or baked, salt and pepper to taste

shredded cheese-optional

Black beans on the side

Avocado on the side

Red Cabbage Slaw:

Hi everyone. It’s been a rough week with the passing of my teacher as well as my father’s birthday. He would have been 86.

We spent the evening playing “Grandpa Edward Trivia”.

Unfortunately, my kids never got to meet my father so I thought this would be a nice way to teach them bits about him so they could have a connection. They really enjoyed it.

What I realized was that a lot of the trivia was centered around food. Boy, did my Dad love to eat!

Here were some of his favorites: Blueberries, peaches, grapefruit, plums and cantelope. He also loved  fresh corn on the cob, coffee with sacharin tablets, any and all ice cream with nuts, baklava, bread and butter , Bosco chocolate syrup, lunch meats and eggs with kippers.

As you can see, this list is filled with a lot of pretty unhealthy items so I decided to pull out the ole cupcake holder and turn it into a shrine for some of the healthier items on the Daddy Trivia food list-fruit.

Using this cupcake holder allows the fruit to be prominently placed . Research shows that when fruits and vegetables are visible, they are more likely to be eaten.  Having them separated also allows them to breathe and last longer than if they were crammed up against one another in a bowl.

Lastly, using the cupcake holder for fruit justifies my having purchased it when I actually use it only about twice a year for cupcakes .

Happy birthday, Dad.

What unlikely tools or gadgets do you use in the kitchen?

Hi everyone.

It was no easy feat going to Zumba this morning listening to “I’m Sexy and I know it” but I helped myself along the way by imagining my H.S. teacher, Karyn Kay, next to me smiling and dancing. I read that she took Zumba and had told her Zumba teacher that her son was having anger problems.

Karyn Kay was one of my favorite teachers in High School. She was beaten to death last night. By her son.

This devastating news affects me on so many levels: As a mother, as the mother of a child with special needs, as a student, as a teacher, and as an advocate.

I remember it feeling like a privilege to be in her class, even then. I will never forget how she would read an anonymous student’s story  some weeks and I will never forget the pride I felt the day she chose mine. I wasn’t a writer but she made me feel like I was. She had us write in a journal and hand in the journal periodically. If something was too private, she told us to fold over the top of the page and she would not read it. I believe to this day that she did not read it.

She did, however, contact parents when she read alarming content in our stories that might indicate that her student was in trouble. Ironic, really, after reading that her neighbors overheard her violent fights in her NYC apartment and talked to the doormen about it. Did anyone ever call child welfare? The police? Did Ms. Kay tell anyone besides her Zumba teacher that her son was violent or that they were having problems at that dangerous a level?

Did stigma  or other obstacles keep Ms. Kay from getting help for herself and her son?   Did anyone try to intervene to help?

Ms. Kay helped students for nearly thirty years creatively express themselves so that they could be more artistic, confident, comfortable, successful people in their future. She went beyond what many educators do and she got involved if she saw a problem.  She saw art and creativity in every student and we all truly felt it.

It pains me to think that her death might have been avoided by people intervening in the appropriate ways at the appropriate times.

Today I think of those who have helped me along my journey and who I have helped . Sometimes we don’t need to wait to be asked to help. I will try to remember this.