Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year starts today at sundown, and man, are we all ready for a new year, a fresh start. We observe Rosh Hashanah by tasting something sweet, to start the new year with sweetness. Traditionally, this means apples and honey. We’re keeping the tradition, keeping the apples, but losing the…
Red Velvet Cake (Vegan Chocolate Beet Cake)
Two celebrations, one dessert — red velvet cake. This year, Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, falls on the 19th, and Father’s Day on the 20th. Red velvet cake is a sweet Juneteenth tradition, and my father went for anything sweet. Enjoy a sweet taste of freedom this weekend, and check out the Netflix series, “High…
Three Reasons to Celebrate – One Great Chocolate Guinness Cake
Hey, kids, watch as I weave together St. Patrick’s Day, Women’s History Month and Whole Grains Sampling Day to prove that Guinness is good for you. Hang in there; there’s chocolate at the end. Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day, the magical day when we all become Irish, so remember — Guinness is good for you…
Sticky Toffee Pudding – Vegan Edition
Start the holiday season with sweetness and tradition with sticky toffee pudding, a beloved Brit dessert. Brit cuisine has suffered from a bad reputation, but sticky toffee pudding is something we can all get behind. Sweet and decadent, it earns its name, but it offers a little nourishment surprise, too. It’s date cake drowning in…
Vote Blue Brownies
In a year of challenges and division, there are two points we can agree on— we’re all against covid and we all love chocolate. These grown-up Vote Blue Brownies are chocolaty and fudgy and the perfect treat for yourself after leaving the polling place. Blame the upcoming election. My friend Marc and I were talking…
Carving Pumpkin, Carving Out Tradition | Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin carving is a tradition worth having and when you are done, you can turn your handiwork into something worth eating. So long soggy pumpkin bread that’s decidedly un-pumpkiny. I’ve figured out how to bake pumpkin into the kind of bread that would make even the scariest Halloween pumpkin smile. This Halloween, like so much…
Calling Forth Morning in America
I originally wrote this Huffington Post piece on the eve of the 2016 election, urging everyone to vote. I even embedded video of Maya Angelou from 1993, reciting her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration. It all seems almost quaint now, with a pandemic, systemic racism called out at last,…
Panforte
Doing Dessert for a Sweet Solstice Originally posted for Huffington Post on 12/21/2015 Howdy and happy winter solstice. Winter officially begins tonight and we continue speeding towards Christmas, Kwanzaa and the finish line of 2015. As usual, I am not ready. In fact, I’m still mulling over something from October. My husband I were visiting Cayman…
Steviva KetoseSweet Lemon Poppy Tea Cake
Happy 2019. I’ve learned two things — 1) The healthiest thing you can do for yourself is to eat more greens. 2) People don’t want to eat more greens, they want to eat sweets. Sweetness wins. It’s a win for everyone when the sweetness comes from a source that doesn’t mess with your weight or…
Apricot Frangipane Tart
Apricots and almonds dazzle in this holiday tart. I’m all about seasonal produce but I’m also for cutting yourself some slack, especially during the rush-rush of the holiday season. Dried apricots magically plumped and revived with an overnight soak take the place of fresh, so you can make it any time of the year. The…
