by Martha on November 1, 2008
There is a great article by Peggy Hall in the Fall 2000 Issue of Clean Eating magazine that explores the power of ending the food battle and befriending it instead. It is a message being paralleled in the Psychology of Eating teletraining with Marc David that I am currently taking, and is supported by my personal life experience.
Peggy relates what happened to her diet of deprivation, processed diet foods, and diet coke when she joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Morocco. Diet coke was only available at the US Embassy snack bar, six hours away from the small town where she was assigned and low fat, processed foods were non-existent. With no other choice, she decided to accept her situation and began eating the locally available food - real homemade food. She ate bread, fruit, yogurt, soups, cookies, and delicious tangines (meat and veggie stews). Putting aside her fear of losing control and gaining weight, she ate what she wanted when she wanted - effective waiving the white flag and ending the food battle.
An amazing thing happened - she lost weight and felt great. She was forced into a situation that allowed her to develop a healthy, pleasurable relationship with real food. She stopped struggling, stopped dieting, started enjoying real food and lost weight!
[click to continue…]
by Martha on October 29, 2008
by Martha on October 26, 2008
Whoopie Pies are an old-time favorite from my childhood. They are definitely regional treats - common in New England. For those unfamiliar, whoopie pies are homemade chocolate cookie cakes with a creamy vanilla filling. Recipes for whoopie pies vary considerably. My mom has collected several versions through the years, often using the cake from one recipe and the filling from another to come up with her perfect combination.
[click to continue…]
by Martha on October 21, 2008
This is one of those special banana nut muffin recipes that will jump start your day—a moist subtly mocha-flavored banana muffin enhanced with macadamias and semi-sweet chocolate mini chips. It’s made healthy with white whole wheat flour, bananas, and yogurt, and contains only 1/4 cup of butter, which equals only 1 teaspoon per muffin.
[click to continue…]
by Martha on October 17, 2008
by Martha on October 15, 2008
This salmon cakes recipe is perfect when you need to get dinner on the table in a hurry. Salmon cakes are a great example of the power of the well-stocked pantry, containing just a few common ingredients including canned salmon, a decades old American staple. Canned salmon comes in two varieties - sockeye or red salmon, and chum or pink salmon. I used pink salmon, which is less expensive and milder tasting, in this salmon cakes recipe. [click to continue…]
by Martha on October 14, 2008
If you could only have one cookbook, what would it be? Which cookbook do you consider your ‘go to’ cookbook. I love to cook and have lots of cookbooks, but if I could have only one, which one would I keep?
[click to continue…]
by Martha on October 13, 2008
This recipe for hamburger goulash with elbow macaroni is an old stand-by straight from Mom’s recipe box. She learned to make this ground beef and macaroni skillet dish by watching her friend’s mom back in the 1950s in a small town in rural coastal Maine. It’s how we learned to cook once upon a time long before the Food Network - at the sides of our moms, grandmas, aunts, and friends’ moms.
[click to continue…]
by Martha on October 1, 2008
by Martha on September 29, 2008
I love cooking classes. I love giving cooking classes. I love taking cooking classes. I took my first cooking class back in California more than 20 years ago and I have never stopped. My last major culinary learning adventure was a five day culinary retreat in Sedona I attended with my sister in April. Diane Carlson, Founder of The Conscious Gourmet, taught us to prepare all kinds of dishes - breakfasts, soups, salads, appetizers, main courses, and desserts using wholesome, natural ingredients.
We worked with expellar pressed oils, sea vegetables, and natural sugar substitutes like agave, rice syrup, and maple sugar. It was a total mind-body-spirit immersion that included yoga and taught us how to fully experience food and its effects. We left this culinary retreat with a notebook full of information and delicious recipes.
That was more than five months ago and my desire to continue my culinary education has returned. Fortunately there are lots of cooking classes in Arizona to indulge my culinary curiosity. If you are like me and love cooking classes or are looking for a fun way to get more comfortable in the kitchen, here are a few cooking class options to check out:
[click to continue…]
by Dorie Greenspan. They are based on the pumpkin muffins made by 
