A simple yet deeply flavorful roast chicken coated in a tangy sumac rub and slow-roasted on a bed of onions that caramelize beautifully as it cooks. The result is tender, juicy meat with golden, crisp skin and rich, savory undertones.

What do you have to be thankful for? Family, friends, a warm house, a cozy fire, delicious food? There is so much to be grateful for; just stop and think about it for a minute.

This morning I slept in until 10am! Now that is something to be grateful for. The babies woke up quite a bit last night leaving me quite sleep deprived early this morning. Tom took all the kids downstairs, and, with the shades wide open and the sun shining in, I slept for an extra 2 1/2 hours!

A velvety, anti-inflammatory soup that captures the essence of autumn with its creamy texture and warming curry spices. Made from roasted sugar pie pumpkin and blended with coconut milk, it’s nourishing, aromatic, and perfect as a side dish for fall gatherings or part of a holiday meal.

These quick and easy shrimp tacos make the perfect weeknight meal—fresh, flavorful, and ready in minutes. Tender wild shrimp are paired with a creamy avocado-lime crema and tucked into warm tortillas for a satisfying, nutrient-rich dinner. Serve with your favorite salsa or pico de gallo for an extra burst of freshness.

This recipe will be a delicious addition to your next holiday feast. If you do not have a sensitivity to dairy, then try replacing the olive oil with organic butter. 

This dairy-free and refined sugar-free vegan buttercream frosting is not overly sweet and perfect for frosting a layered cake or a dozen cupcakes! To make it pink, add in one tablespoon of organic beet juice powder. I also like to add 5 to 6 drops of lemon essential oil to brighten the flavors. 

Food sensitivities can contribute to chronic inflammation, which disrupts the communication between your gut, immune system, and brain, Over time, this ongoing inflammation can affect everything from your mood to your sleep to your overall well-being. Unlike a food allergy, which triggers an immediate and often severe immune reaction, a food sensitivity creates a slower, more subtle inflammatory response. Certain foods—often ones eaten regularly—can irritate the intestinal lining, increase immune signaling, and release cytokines that circulate through the body and brain. The effects may appear hours or even days after eating, showing up as fatigue, joint pain, skin issues, anxiety, or poor sleep.

This vibrant salad captures the essence of the Mediterranean—bright herbs, juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, and tender grilled chicken drizzled with a lemon–red wine vinaigrette. Every bite feels alive with flavor and nourishment. Packed with antioxidants, polyphenols, and heart-healthy fats, it supports both cellular vitality and mood balance. Serve it on a warm summer evening or as a meal-prep favorite for the week.

In my last post, High-Protein Breakfast Ideas for All-Day Energy, we explored how starting your day with balanced macronutrients sets the tone for steady blood sugar and focus. This Blueberry Protein Smoothie puts those principles into action. It’s a quick, nourishing breakfast that delivers clean protein, healthy fats, and antioxidant-rich plant compounds to fuel you from morning to afternoon. A truly balanced smoothie is so much more than fruit and liquid, it’s a carefully composed meal in a glass. When you combine high-quality protein, healthy fats, and fiber with antioxidant-rich, polyphenol-dense plants, you create the foundation for steady energy, smooth digestion, and clear mental focus. This berry protein smoothie is a perfect example of that harmony.

I created this recipe very late the night before one Thanksgiving. It was perfect for our large gathering of 20 plus gluten-free friends. They all enjoyed it and I am sure you will too. You can vary the ingredients in the filling. Try replacing the cranberries with dried cherries and the almonds with hazelnuts or cashews. The filling is dark and rich and not very sweet. If you would like a sweeter filling, then add a few more tablespoons of maple syrup.

This vibrant blueberry-vanilla-orange smoothie is packed with protein, healthy fats, fiber, and antioxidants to keep you feeling balanced, nourished, and energized for hours. It’s designed to support lean muscle and collagen synthesis, stabilize blood sugar, and nourish beneficial gut bacteria for optimal digestion and immune health. Blend up a batch in the morning and store any extra in a glass jar for a ready-to-go breakfast or post-workout replenishment.

This comforting autumn soup is earthy, aromatic, and deeply nourishing. Wild rice adds a nutty texture and beautiful contrast, while a medley of mushrooms brings layers of umami and immune-supportive nutrients. Use all cremini mushrooms for a simple, hearty version, or combine whatever varieties are available locally. Chanterelles, shiitakes, oyster, or maitake mushrooms each add their own unique flavor and texture.

Today I am going to share a favorite recipe for the holidays. It is a rich chocolaty tart meant to be shared among many.

This colorful salad brings together the flavors of autumn with roasted squash, fresh pomegranate arils, peppery arugula, and maple-cinnamon toasted pumpkin seeds. Each bite offers a harmony of sweet, tart, and earthy notes while delivering a boost of antioxidants and detox-supportive nutrients. It’s easy enough for a weeknight dinner, yet elegant enough to grace your holiday table. Serve it with roasted chicken or salmon for a deeply satisfying meal.

Phase 1 is the most restricted and difficult phase of the diet so it is helpful to have more ideas. The green apple salad dressing recipe below is a creation of mine but some of the other ideas and recipes here come from a good friend who recently did the diet.

I know I have been a bit absent here lately. Life is busy with projects, walks outside, and the never ending mountain of laundry! A simple little cake seems to be in order tonight. The original recipe comes from The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book. This lovely little book is filled with all kinds of nutritious, wholesome snacks. Although many of the recipes omit sugar and eggs, they do contain gluten.

The other night Tom began preparing dinner by making his favorite Quinoa Black Bean Salad. I usually like to serve it along side some steamed winter squash for a light meal. However, it was quite chilly out and I was craving something a little denser, with more salt, spice, and fat! I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted. I always try to keep ingredients stocked in my pantry so I can create a recipe on a whim, and luckily I had everything I needed for my new, inspired recipe!

When it comes time for dessert how about celebrating the day with what's perfectly in season....pumpkins! I have a relatively new recipe to share with you that is super easy to prepare and always a crowd pleaser. A Pumpkin Spice Cake, cooked to perfection in a bundt pan.

The past few years I have made a delicious, savory, gluten-free wild rice stuffing for the big Thanksgiving Day turkey. We always use half of it to stuff the turkey, while the other half gets baked in a casserole dish. I have not had a recipe for this until today; I usually just toss it all together until it tastes just right. While preparing this at our holiday cooking class last week, I had a number of people ask me for exact measurements, which I just could not give. So today, I dutifully measured every ingredient before I put them into the skillet. The end result was perfection.

This morning we awoke to a hearty layer of frost on the ground. It was a beautiful sun-lit morning that beckoned me to go for a walk. I bundled the boys up in their fleece buntings and put them in the baby jogger. They fell asleep five minutes into the walk which left me time to daydream as I pushed the heavy jogger up and down the hills.

Today was a house-cleaning day. Lily (6-years old) decided to make a chore chart and put our names next to what needed to get done. She put all of our names (including the babies) on clothespins to attach next to each chore. She decided that Ben (10 months old) would be her helper for the family room and toy clean-up. She soon realized that having him in the room was a bit more work than she had intended. Well, you can only imagine what happened.

It's Friday night and Tom is dutifully doing all the dishes so I can write. Yes it's late, but our twins, now nearly 11 months old, have awoken twice already this evening. They are great at not sleeping, but somehow we survive on what little sleep we manage to get. I am hoping that by the time they turn one we will have them sleeping at least a five hour stretch at night.

You are in for a real treat today! The other night I had an early morning dream of these cupcakes with the recipe clearly spelled out for me. I was in sort of a lucid dream-like state and knew I needed to write it down. But alas, I have been exhausted caring for my children who have the chicken pox (and Tom who apparently did not have them as a child). So I fell back asleep with them playing on the bed. The next time I awoke I had the recipe in the forefront of my now awake mind. I asked my seven year old, Lily, to run and get me a pen and paper.

I received an email last weekend from someone who has our book and also has a toddler about the same age as our twin boys (who are 15 months now). She was asking about snacks to take on outings and play dates. I replied to her and mentioned the obvious for us: green smoothies, nori, rice cakes, fresh fruit.

Although life seems to have eased up a bit now that our twin babies will be 15 months old tomorrow, the pace has begun to ramp up. Most days I feel like I am herding cats! For example, the other day I was out for a morning walk with the boys while the girls were in school. The boys really enjoy walking for part of it and if were up to Sam, he would walk for miles without stopping. As we neared the duck pond on a wooded trail near our house the boys began to merge onto the trail that leads down to it. I stopped the baby jogger and rounded them up like two footballs under each arm.

I like food. I love the contrasting colors, pungent flavors, and good feelings that come from it. And eating these naturally delicious whole foods is really just as wonderful when eating gluten-free.

For those of you who have just begun the process of switching to a gluten-free diet, I offer you these suggestions for making wrap style sandwiches work with gluten-free tortillas.

Sound too good to be true? Here I present to you a fabulous-tasting chocolate layer cake. Moist and delicious. Tender and rich. Chocolate at its best. Allergen-free. No gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, or sugar!

Seriously, you just can't go wrong here.

Love is in the air now, can you feel it? The girls and I have been making Valentine's for over a week now. There is glitter all over the house!

What do you do to celebrate Valentine's Day?

I know for most of us chocolate is involved. Maybe roses, a massage, a nice dinner. These are all wonderful things, but what about love?

So you want to eat nutritious, healing foods AND need to eat gluten-free? Look no further. Having simple, easy-to-prepare recipes like these can make this type of lifestyle very doable.

I have this recipe that I created a few months ago and I thought I would share it with you. It is one of those recipes that is so delicious and so perfect that you don't want to give it away, or share your secret. But here it is! A gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, sugar-free delicious and nutritious little muffin, the Teff Breakfast Muffin.

After a temporary break of much needed spring-like rain, summer is back! We spent the day at the beach. The kids waded in the ocean and found purple and orange starfish in the tide pools. The boys were happy to dig in the sand for a few hours. And me? Well I got to lounge in the sun and talk with a friend while I ate this refreshing summer salad.

Here I used English cucumbers and basil from the Farmer's Market, and local heirloom tomatoes from our food co-op. Add shaved parmesan cheese or fresh mozzarella cheese if you tolerate dairy products!

Summer BBQ's, potato salad, layered jell-o salads, fireflies, and sparklers flashing through the humid July night sky....these are my 4th of July memories growing up in the Midwest.

Since layered jell-o salads just aren't in my cooking repertoire anymore I have devised something even more delicious...and good for you!

Yesterday I was standing in my kitchen at 5pm, with four hungry children underfoot, wondering what to make for dinner. I made the usual rounds to the pantry, fridge, and garden. Something spicy, green, and with noodles was brewing in my mind. A green curry sauce, over noodles, with tempeh, broccoli, spinach and zucchini. Hmm, and how about roasted cashews too? Every now and then I make a simple Thai Green Curry Sauce. Yesterday evening I took note of the ingredient amounts to be able to share it with you.

Just in time for summer BBQs comes an easy recipe for homemade barbecue sauce! It is sweet and tangy with a nice kick from the chipotle chili powder. I don't shop around much for barbecue sauce and therefore am not on the up-and-up with ingredients and allergens commonly found in sauces. Many barbecue sauces contain soy sauce or tamari and, therefore, potentially wheat as well. Barbecue sauces are often also hidden sources for refined sugars or high fructose corn syrup, and some contain other types of processed ingredients that most of us would like to avoid.

What to do when the weather turns warm? Make ice cream, of course. We’ve been making “ice cream” quite a bit lately. Last week, the temperature lingered in the low 80s for days, and this week has been just as beautiful—hovering in the 70s. These early warm spells always inspire us to bring out the blender, freeze fresh organic fruit, and get creative in the kitchen. This ice cream is a favorite with our kids—we love scooping it into bowls and topping it with extra sliced strawberries and fresh mint leaves. Sometimes I pour the mixture into popsicle molds instead of the ice cream maker, which makes it a fun frozen treat for summer afternoons (and an easy way to sneak in more fruit!). However you serve it, it’s simple, luscious, and satisfying.

Last week, I received an email from the President of Omega Nutrition. You’re probably familiar with this company—they’re best known for their flaxseed and coconut oils. He offered to send me free samples of their coconut flour, flax flour, and pumpkin seed flour. These unique flours can be used as gluten-free, grain-free, and nut-free baking alternatives. I was especially excited to try the pumpkin seed flour. It just sounded so exotic and new! I had never seen—or baked with—this type of grain-free flour before. Immediately after reading his email, an image of a rich chocolate cake began to take shape in my mind—right down to the minute details of sliced strawberries and mint leaves for garnish.

It's spring and the salad greens are luscious and sweet. Our garden is filled with as many varieties of greens as we could fit. Spicy and mild salad mixes, arugula, spinach, romaine lettuce, butterhead lettuce, bok choy, kale, collards, cilantro, and more are growing out our back door. We have a hundred or so volunteer sunflowers that I have not thinned out yet. Some of them will make great shade later on in the summer for the tender, cool weather-loving greens.

I have a special place in my heart for this phase of life. This is where it all begins—in utero, and then in those first precious days and weeks spent nursing while gazing into your little miracle. Making milk is truly an incredible process. I remember the first sensations of my milk coming in with my firstborn—the tingling, the fullness—and then the gulping, eyes rolling back... “punch drunk on mommy’s milk,” Tom would say.