I love this holiday. Such permission to enjoy food thoroughly and make it extra special, and to think about the deeper questions of our lives in a positive light.

I’ve been struck the last few days by the core gratitude I have. Gratitude that actually led me to create The Cook Awakening.

My oldest boy, who will be 11 years old on Christmas day, is in a band called Wallpaper – five 5th graders with tons of talent, sweet crazy kid energy and not enough sense and experience to be at all daunted at the prospect of being on stage. They sound pretty damned good for 10 – 11 year olds. They even sound okay for adults!

Last weekend at a benefit where the band was performing, a memory surfaced. I was five years back in time, sitting in Jesse’s Kindergarten classroom with his teacher.
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Published in New Connexion Journal.

Can you feel the pull? Just as the earth is winding down into darkness and cold, there’s an equal and seemingly opposite invitation to mingle and celebrate. It can feel burdensome at times, welcome at others. There’s a good reason for the festivities, as humans we need support when nature deprives us of light and warmth. We have to generate our own. Community is a beautiful means to help us through the dark times.

Having food sensitivities or health challenges that require a strict avoidance of certain foods can be difficult at this time. (more…)

Just a quickie – seems to be what I have time for these days.

I designed the following recipe for a client who needs to eat a grain-free diet to support her in healing from some severe gastrointestinal difficulties. She’s missing her comfort foods, in particular a rice casserole dish. I tested it out on some friends, and there were no leftovers 😉

Let me know if you try it!

Cauliflower Rice Casserole

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I write this on Labor Day evening, a cap on a quite perfect summer. The pace was well thought out, a balance of activity and rest, work and play.

It’s difficult to strike that balance in this culture of ours. We are inundated with opportunities, work situations that pressure us, and ideas of accomplishments. To resist this is indeed like swimming up stream.

This pell mell pace of life we’ve become accustomed to living has led to chronic adrenal fatigue in our culture. Our nervous systems are not designed to be “on” at all hours of the day and night.

I lived in India some years ago, before family life. I was single and focusing on my spirit, and I went over to sit a meditation retreat in Bodhgaya, the town where the Buddha was enlightened.
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If you buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself, not only are you more connected to your food, you’ll save money! Keep the pieces the butcher might normally discard or turn into pet food, and use it to make broth.

You can do it.

Whatever change you’re bringing into or maintaining in your kitchen, whether it’s eliminating gluten, dairy, sugars or carbs in general, the stumbling block often seems to be “what’s for dessert?”

Simply not having dessert is always an option. But, as I’m fond of saying, deprivation is not a great way to approach health. Nutritionally we don’t need sweets, but that doesn’t mean they don’t satisfy an important need in our lives. To go from eating dessert every day to never having dessert is likely to leave some part of you in distress.

Be kind to that part of you. It’s that part of you, me and my family that I’m loving when I create everything-free desserts. (Okay, almost everything-free. Some cross sensitivities are hard to cover in every dish.)

This recipe is GAPS and SCD friendly, low carb, gluten and dairy-free, chemical-free, and free of all sugars. It has nuts in it, but could be made without the nuts, too, if they make you react. You’d just miss the crunch.

Enjoy!

Paleo Rhubarb “Crisp”
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