Really Scrumptious Banana Nut Bread

Take a bite out of this! My daughter came home for spring break last week; and after we exhausted ourselves shopping we decided to get to work! Like me, my daughter loves to cook and when we felt like eating some rich delicious bread, we decided to remake everyone’s favorite- banana bread. We added nuts, cut the fat, and created a delicious healthy treat.

Recipe:

Israeli Haroset

A thick sweet jam used during the Passover Seder, but I eat it any time! 

I have been making this Passover Haroset for years; it is based on a version of my husband’s Mothers’ recipe. He remembers the taste more than the exact ingredients.

Recipe:

Spicy Southern (not!) Fried Bean Cakes with Porter Gravy

Delicious Southern Comfort Food (minus the calories!)

 These amazing little bean cakes are great for dinner or party appetizers. They taste and look scrumptious- but the best thing about them? They’re not fried! Yes, I said it. Healthy and yummy Southern Comfort food! Take them on picnics, to work, or just about anywhere. You can serve it with wonderful homemade Porter-mushroom gravy or, if you really want to taste the South, you can make them into sandwiches topped with onions and pickles, baked potato wedges and cornbread on the side. Yum!
 

Spicy Bean Cake Recipe:

Fresh Pita Bread

Imagine hot -- out of your oven, fresh, steamy, chewy pita bread. Split these open and fill with your favorite things. Or if the smell of hot fresh bread is so tantalizing just take a big bite and enjoy!

Recipe for Pita Bread:

Baked Salmon With Citrus Rhubarb Sauce

Easy baked salmon, with citrus rhubarb sauce; no extra oil or butter needed!

Wild Alaskan salmon! Salmon pink, like a bright Alaskan sunrise above the snowy mountains!

Whatever the season, fresh or frozen, salmon tastes delicious with a fruity menagerie of flavors.

Baked Salmon

Recipe:

Baked Citrus Rhubarb Sauce

My Grandmother had a beautiful, but tiny garden. It was all well planned and meticulously divided into square beds surrounded by white marble stones. Not a weed was to be found. Every variety of flower and fruit that would grow in Bayside, Queens, NY, grew and flourished in my grandmother's garden. Colorful pink and yellow candy tuft, geraniums, begonias, salvia’s and dusty miller strutted their heads next to a small rock garden filled with chicks and hens and other small plants, like strawberries. Gardening and cooking were her favorite hobbies; I inherited my love of cooking from her. Among the plants she grew, my favorites were pie plant (rhubarb) and tart red currants. So here is to the rhubarb plant, with its wonderful tangy tint and sweet allure!

Baked Citrus Rhubarb Sauce

Curry Lentil Soup

Curry lentil soup

Yes, the exotic spices of the Far East 

 India -- the amazing markets with hundreds of amazing colorful and inspiring spices! A cooking nirvana! And here is an Indian inspired dish -- but much healthier without added oils! Down to earth, substantial, nourishing, and comforting -- a delight to the eye and the taste buds! Serve this soup on a cold winter day. Add whole wheat rolls for dipping to turn this soup into a complete meal. It’s visual beauty will turn it into a conversation piece when company comes over.

Leftovers can be frozen and kept in the freezer, so make an extra batch for another day!

Recipe: