Desserts

Applesauce Ginger Cake with Maple Glaze

December 21, 2012
Applesauce Ginger Cake with Maple Glaze

Imagine biting into this moist and tender cake. First you breathe in the aroma of cinnamon, and as you take your first bite, you savor the warm flavor of ginger. And then, just when you think you’ve figured out all the secrets of this sweet delight, you bite into a hidden nugget of candied ginger [...]

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Bananas Baked in Phyllo with Date-Sweetened Chocolate Sauce

December 3, 2012
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My daughter and I came up with this recipe one afternoon when we were in the mood for a quick treat and I had some leftover phyllo dough in the fridge. We call it “Wrap Your Banana,” but that sounds more like a public service announcement than a recipe! Normally we just sprinkle it with [...]

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Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate

October 20, 2012
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Welcome to Weekend Quickies–quick recipes that won’t cut into your weekend relaxation time. Today’s ridiculously easy recipe is brought to you courtesy of my last recipe, Mary’s Pumpkin Walnut Muffins, and more particularly by the half cup of pumpkin that is left over from a 15-ounce can after you make that recipe. Here’s a delicious [...]

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Mary McDougall’s Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

October 17, 2012
Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

The first time I made these muffins, I was worried because they contain molasses and I thought I didn’t like molasses. Wrong! I love molasses in these delectable pumpkin muffins. It gives them a dark richness and amplifies the spiciness of the cinnamon and nutmeg. The second time I made them, I was confident that [...]

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No-Bake Vegan Strawberry Pie

August 20, 2012
No-Bake Vegan Strawberry Pie

My mother’s strawberry pie is the one dish I remember from my childhood with so much love that I’ve never tried to veganize it for fear of messing it up. The recipe is simple–spread a layer of sweetened cream cheese in a pie crust and pour over it a layer of strawberries in a cornstarch [...]

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Carrot Cake Bars

July 2, 2012
Carrot Cake Bars

I love getting recipe ideas from readers! Next to traveling and dining at vegan restaurants, it’s my favorite way to discover new foods. So I was thrilled to receive an email recently from Sharon Starr in San Francisco asking me to figure out the recipe for Whole Foods’ Vegan Carrot Spice Cake, which she described [...]

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Chocolate-Cherry Ice Dream

May 3, 2012
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Warmer weather has arrived, bringing with it my craving for ice cream, which seems to go into remission over the winter but comes back with a vengeance when the temp goes over 80. I don’t own an ice cream maker, and I when I get near the vegan ice cream section of the grocery store, [...]

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Strawberry Mini Muffins

April 5, 2012
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Easter is a few days away, and if you’re as concerned as I am about the amount of sugar your children are eating, you may be looking for healthy alternatives to the jelly beans and vegan chocolate the Easter Bunny usually leaves (at least that’s what he usually deposits in my daughter’s basket). These tiny [...]

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Chocolate Chia Pudding and Other Sugar-Free, Flour-Free Desserts

January 23, 2012
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I come from a long line of dessert lovers. When I was growing up, my family ate dessert every night after dinner, and my parents still end each day with a bowl of ice cream (though my mother opts for an artificially sweetened one now). It’s a hard habit to break and one I’m afraid [...]

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Chocolate-Almond Nuggets of Joy

November 1, 2011
Halloween Joy

I didn’t intend to post a recipe today, but my daughter and I had so much fun making these natural “Fauxmond Joy” candies that I couldn’t resist sharing them with you. The photos are Halloweenish because yesterday was Halloween (I’m always behind the times), but the treats are good any time of the year. Before [...]

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Cherry Snack Cake and a Non-Recap of Vida Vegan Con

September 2, 2011
Cherry Snack Cake

Overwhelming. When people ask me how Vida Vegan Con was, the first word that comes to mind is “overwhelming.” Imagine a room filled with over 200 people who, at first glance, seem to be total strangers but who over and over, one by one, are revealed to be people you know, whose lives and words [...]

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Gluten-Free King Cake Cookies (Cinnamon-Pecan Cookies)

January 20, 2011
Gluten-Free King Cake Cookies (Cinnamon-Pecan Cookies)

Mardi Gras season officially began on January 6, and though the parades don’t start to roll in New Orleans until mid-February, I already have Mardi Gras–or more specifically King Cake–on my mind.  I haven’t had a piece of King Cake in years, but that doesn’t stop me from craving the sugar-laden, gaudy confection.  Even more [...]

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Apple-Cranberry Strudel Pie

December 8, 2010
Apple-Cranberry Strudel Pie

I have two modes of recipe development: carefree, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and methodically planned.  When I’m working with everyday ingredients that I know are hard to mess up, I’m likely to get into the kitchen with only a vague idea of what I expect the final outcome to be and add seasonings and ingredients on instinct; most [...]

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Pumpkin, Squash, or Cushaw Bake

October 22, 2010
Pumpkin or Cushaw Bake

One Sunday a month throughout my childhood, my family would attend Family Night Supper at our church.  It was a time of community, of fellowship…and of competition.  Because Family Night Supper was a potluck dinner, the ladies of the church showed off their cooking skills by bringing their signature dishes–their congealed chicken salads, artichoke dips, [...]

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Blueberry Breakfast Cake

October 8, 2010
Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Confession: My freezer is full of bulging gallon bags of the blueberries that we picked this summer, and rather than feel grateful that I’ll have blueberries all year round, I often feel pressured just to eat the darn things up so I can have my freezer space back.  I want to be making Octobery desserts [...]

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Chocolate-Blueberry Cake

July 15, 2010
Chocolate-Blueberry Cake

There’s something peaceful about picking blueberries, even when you have to stand on a ladder to do it.  If you get up early enough, before the sun has a chance to set itself on Broil and the air still has a hint of morning cool, you can enjoy the bird songs as you hunt for [...]

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Low-Fat Plum Cobbler

June 22, 2010
Plum Cobbler

I don’t make a lot of other people’s recipes, especially if they’re already fat-free and vegan.  Frankly, I wouldn’t have the time to develop my own recipes if I were also cooking my way through the bazillion cookbooks and magazines that blanket every horizontal surface in my home.  But a recipe for Plum, Apricot, or [...]

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Banana-Cashew Balls

June 4, 2010
Banana-Cashew Balls

Summer’s here, and my daughter is spending large parts of her days swimming instead of sitting in a classroom.  E’s on two swim teams, one that practices first thing in the morning and another that practices late in the afternoon.  During the middle of the day, she’s constantly in the kitchen trying to replace the [...]

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Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies

February 14, 2010
Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies

What can I say about these cookies? Should I start with the fact that they contain no white flour, only oatmeal and whole wheat? Or is it more important to note that they’re sweetened with pure maple syrup? Or should I remind you that since this is the FatFree Vegan Kitchen, they contain no added [...]

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Microwave Baked Apples Two Ways

January 27, 2010
Microwave Baked Apple

In the winter, I suddenly find all of my favorite fruit desserts—smoothies, sorbets, frozen yogurts—completely unappealing; just the thought makes my teeth hurt and makes me want to curl up in a blanket. So besides just eating fruit as nature intended, well-rinsed and with a napkin to catch all the juices, I rely on a [...]

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Skinny Figgy Bars

December 20, 2009
Skinny Figgy Bars

I hope you enjoy this “rerun” of a recipe I associate closely with Christmas. It’s my low-fat, veganized interpretation of the fig-filled cookies my husband’s grandmother always made for Christmas. D looked forward to those cookies every year, and once he married a vegan, his grandmother often made a special egg-free batch just for us. [...]

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Pumpkin Pie Bites

November 9, 2009
Pumpkin Pie Bites

My daughter and I go kind of pumpkin crazy this time of year. It starts when we see the first small pie pumpkins in the grocery store and she convinces me that we just have to have one. She takes it home, decorates it with permanent markers, and then refuses to let me cook her [...]

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Almost Instant Frozen Fruit Yogurt

September 1, 2009
Almost Instant Frozen Fruit Yogurt

It’s not often I get to have dessert for breakfast and consider it a healthy meal, but that’s exactly what I did yesterday. A sudden craving for something frozen and sweet got me thinking: Why are some foods considered breakfast and others dessert? What’s the difference, really, between muffins and cupcakes, pancakes and dessert crepes, [...]

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Strawberry-Blueberry Tapioca Parfaits

June 28, 2009
Strawberry-Blueberry Tapioca Parfaits

Red, white, and blue and good for you too! Silly as they are, those are the words that popped into my head as I sat down to write about these luscious parfaits. I had the Fourth of July on my mind when I started planning a dessert with strawberries and blueberries, but it occurs to [...]

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Blueberry-Banana Bread

June 9, 2009
Blueberry-Banana Bread

Q: What’s black and yellow and soft all over? A: The bananas on our kitchen counter when we got home from the beach on Sunday. Of course, when we left on Thursday, the bananas were firm and yellow, even a little green. I’d meant to take them with me, but in the rush of packing [...]

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Fat-Free Mini Donuts

April 10, 2009
Fat-free Mini Donuts

If it weren’t for my daughter, I probably wouldn’t post this recipe. Cute though they are, mini donuts, even if they’re fat-free and made with whole wheat flour, really aren’t the healthy kind of food that I want to advocate. But my daughter couldn’t get enough of them and insisted: “I rate them 6 out [...]

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Strawberry Snack Cake

March 19, 2009
Strawberrry Snack Cake

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Sherry Lucas, the food writer for our local newspaper, who asked if I’d like to be the subject of an article. Though naturally camera-shy (as well as people-shy), I agreed, and when she suggested that I cook a dish using something seasonal, my very first thought [...]

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Chocolate Covered Cherry Pudding Cake

February 9, 2009
Chocolate-Covered Cherry Pudding Cake

A few days ago I challenged you to come up with delicious Valentine’s Day dishes that contain vegetables, and now here I am offering up a V-Day dessert that is completely devoid of vegetables. How hypocritical is that? What can I say? With all of you (15 bloggers so far) handling the vegetable dishes, I [...]

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Lower-Fat Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

December 23, 2008
Lower-Fat Peanut Butter Cookies

Every year around the holidays, I like to post a recipe (or two) that’s a little higher in fat than my normal fare. Last year it was Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake and the year before it was Eggnog Cheesecake. This year I’m departing from the cheesecake theme to bring you a treat that’s higher in [...]

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Fall Harvest Fruit Cake (Persimmon-Apple Cake)

December 16, 2008
Persimmon-Apple Cake

I came home after Thanksgiving with a bag of persimmons from my parents’ garden. As my father pointed out to me, these were fairly small fruits and still hard at the time, so I’d have to wait for them to soften up before I could eat them. If you’ve ever bitten into an under-ripe Hachiya [...]

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Apple-Pumpkin Delight

November 11, 2008
Apple-Pumpkin Delight

What if you love pie but don’t like crust? Strange as it sounds to me, I have a daughter who doesn’t like crust–on bread, on pizza, or on pie. Her aversion is not a big deal because she can always eat around it, but since I have my own reasons for avoiding pie crust, I [...]

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Pumpkin Cookies

October 30, 2008
Pumpkin Cookies

What I love most about sharing recipes online is the conversation that follows, when readers share their tips and variations. I’m constantly getting ideas from you: ingredients I haven’t tried, short-cuts that make a recipe faster, substitutions I’ve never thought of. Case in point, this email I received earlier this week from Emily Findley in [...]

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Okara (or Tofu) Coconut Cookies

September 26, 2008
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It’s a hard job, but somebody had to do it, and I hope you all appreciate what I went through for you today. I mean, it’s bad enough having to make one batch of cookies, but to make another batch of them the next day? And to have to test these little morsels of coconut [...]

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Blackberry-Lime Tartlets

July 26, 2008
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Can we talk about the weather? I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but here in central Mississippi it’s officially sweltering. I was just out watering the garden and between the heat and the clouds of hungry mosquitoes, I couldn’t get inside fast enough. In this heat, I don’t really feel like doing [...]

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Blueberry-Oat Bars

July 15, 2008
Blueberry-Oat Bars

Sometimes I really miss living in the country. When I was growing up, acquiring fresh blueberries was just a matter of walking outside and picking them from one of the bushes in our yard. Getting my blueberry fix these days takes a little more effort. For the past few summers, E and I have visited [...]

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Ridiculously Easy Pineapple Sorbet

June 26, 2008
Pineapple Sorbet

Please stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A can of pineapple walks into a freezer…. Sound familiar? If so, I apologize for wasting your time on an oldie but goodie. But, if you haven’t tried this ridiculously easy summer treat, you might want to stay tuned because it’s a delicious way to beat [...]

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E Cooks: Banana Coffee Cake

May 5, 2008
Banana Coffee Cake

It’s been a long time since my daughter has helped me out with a recipe, so yesterday when E volunteered to assist me with breakfast, I eagerly set her to work measuring and stirring. I had the recipe all worked out on paper, so I didn’t think there’d be much opportunity for her to contribute [...]

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Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

April 19, 2008
Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

It sounds a little pathetic, but these days the only dinner guests in my house are of the 11-year-old girl variety, so I never get the opportunity to pull out all the stops and make a five-course dinner and blog about it. Not that I’m complaining. No, I’m more about feeding my family than impressing [...]

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Cherry-Chocolate Mousse Pie

April 16, 2008
Cherry-Chocolate Mousse Pie

E had a wonderful birthday yesterday and appreciated all of your comments. She spent the afternoon playing with her new basketball goal, the present that she asked for and got early because it took D and me two weekends to put it together. After eating the dinner she requested (Mac and Cheese), she opened her [...]

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Fat-Free, Gluten-Free Gingerbread Biscotti

December 14, 2007
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First the good news: Baking these biscotti made my house smell magical, like being inside a gingerbread house (without those nosy Hansel and Gretel or that mean old witch). Furthermore, my daughter loved them, which surprised me because I’d always considered biscotti a grownup cookie, hard and crunchy and meant for dipping into grownup drinks [...]

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Chocolate-Orange Cake

December 3, 2007
Chocolate-Orange Cake

It’s citrus season in the Deep South. All along the highways of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, vendors are setting up stands selling local satsumas and oranges. I noticed them when D, E, and I were driving back from New Orleans at Thanksgiving, but I didn’t need to stop because we were already en route to [...]

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Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

November 21, 2007
Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

[Insert standard "this is not a fat-free recipe" disclaimer here. Geez, what was I thinking when I named this blog!] I know most of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have already figured out your menus. I’m probably the only slacker who still doesn’t know what she’s cooking! I’m lucky, though. I’m going to my in-laws’ celebration [...]

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Fresh Cranberry Sorbet

November 8, 2007
Fresh Cranberry Sorbet

I have an addiction. It affects me during only one season of the year, but still it’s a problem because I spend way more money than I should on it and then wind up stuffing my stash in the freezer and hoping that it will last me the rest of the year. I’m talking about [...]

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Vegan Magic Cookie Bars

October 17, 2007
Magic Cookie Bars

Warning: This is not a fat-free recipe. In fact, there is absolutely nothing healthy about this recipe except, perhaps, the nuts. This is definitely the most fat-filled, junk foodish recipe that you’ll see on this blog, ever. I just want to make that clear right from the start or else I’ll get letters. I’ll probably [...]

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E Cooks: Banana-Coconut Bars

September 17, 2007
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The bananas were growing more spotty and fragrant by the hour, and my daughter E was experiencing a rare social slump (in other words, she was at home). I’m not a believer in signs from the universe, but I can spot a good opportunity when I see one, so I knew that if I was [...]

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Peach Upside-Down Cake

August 7, 2007
Peach Upside-Down Cake

No long introduction to this recipe, folks. I could talk about how it’s peach season and the sweetest, juiciest, not-quite-local peaches come from Chilton County, Alabama. Or I could travel down memory lane and plague you with childhood stories of how I used to gorge on peaches in my family’s orchard until the fuzz burned [...]

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Mini Doughnut Muffins

June 20, 2007

Dieters, avert your gaze. I shouldn’t have done it. I need these muffins like I need another 10 pounds on my thighs. But in a moment of motherly guilt, I made a rash promise to E. to make “donut holes,” and she was with me when I bought the mini muffin pan, so I couldn’t [...]

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Strawberry Shortcake

May 17, 2007

When my parents visited this past weekend, they came bearing a box full of the last Louisiana strawberries of the season. (My parents never visit anyone without bringing a sample of whatever fruit is in season. This makes them very welcome in my house.) I’m a little prejudiced about strawberries, but I think that late [...]

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Southern-Style Banana Pudding

May 8, 2007
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A few weeks ago, E. and I had lunch together at a local restaurant that serves “Southern Style” food. At the end of the meal, E. spied the dessert cart, which contained, among other tempting dishes, banana pudding. E. had never seen banana pudding layered between vanilla wafers before, but I told her that my [...]

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German Chocolate Birthday Cake

April 16, 2007
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What a non-stop weekend we had! It began on Thursday, with E’s friend J. coming to stay with us for the weekend while her parents were out of town, continued Friday night with an emergency trip to the optical shop to replace E’s glasses (which the dog chewed up), followed on Saturday with an overnight [...]

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Strawberry Whip

March 29, 2007
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Recently, after I posted about the lovely strawberries that I brought back from my weekend trip to Louisiana, several people left comments saying that they couldn’t wait to see what I was going to make with them. I was a little embarrassed to admit that my plans were pretty boring: freeze most of them for [...]

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St. Patrick’s Day Zucchini Muffins

March 18, 2007
Low-Fat Zucchini Muffins

St. Patrick’s Day is a pretty big deal here in Jackson. There’s a big parade, featuring a phenomenon called Sweet Potato Queens, which I won’t even try to explain, especially because being a newcomer I don’t really understand it myself. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of big-haired, gaudily-clad women with artificially [...]

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Chocolate-Peppermint Pudding

March 11, 2007
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Spring is springing and school is breaking here in the Deep South, so I’m going to be taking some time off from blogging for a few days. But I thought before I go I’d leave you with an old favorite recipe for easy, microwave chocolate pudding, all gussied up with soft peppermint sticks.

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Valentine’s Treat: Chocolate Cookies Two Ways

February 14, 2007
Chocolate Cookies

As soon as I saw the recipe for Balsamic Chocolate Drops at Habeas Brûlée, I knew I had to try it. Not only was I intrigued by the use of balsamic vinegar to enhance the chocolate flavor, but these fudgy drops were also easily veganized and already lower in fat than most cookies. So I [...]

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Naked Orange Mousse

January 11, 2007

I should have left well enough alone. I had a perfectly acceptable photo… But then I had to try to get fancy… ..and wound up making a mess! Actually, I made the same mistake twice. After cleaning up the second spill, I decided to give up. I’ll just have to accept the fact that a [...]

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Vegan Eggnog Cheesecake

December 23, 2006
Eggnog Cheesecake

You know a dessert is good when your photo shoot is cut short because you started eating it! But it’s no wonder I gave in to temptation; I decided to combine two things I can’t resist—eggnog and cheesecake. (Vegan versions, of course.) And the combination was just as delicious as I expected. But enough from [...]

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Pumpkin Spice Bread

December 19, 2006
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Reading other food blogs over the past couple of weeks has made me think a little about how being vegan has influenced my gift-giving. While lots of cooks, vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike, merrily bake and pack up goodies to give as gifts, I’ve become a little hesitant about giving gifts of food. It’s not that [...]

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Calamondin (or Lemon) Pie with Oatmeal Cookie Crust

December 15, 2006
Calamondin or Lemon Pie

I started making this pie years ago, while visiting my parents for the winter holidays. In November, their citrus trees start producing more fruit than my parents can use, so by December they’re giving fruit away by the bagful. And since my father has a big sweet-tooth (which E. and I have inherited), he’s always [...]

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Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

December 11, 2006
Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

I’m going to be honest with you and admit that I’m not a big fan of holidays. Stressing over some arbitrary date on the calendar–to cook certain foods, travel long distances, buy token gifts, and so on–has never been my idea of fun. For a long time, I felt the same way about the traditional [...]

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Ambrosia

December 10, 2006
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I’ve been feeling kind of guilty about not telling you what happened with the Thai eggplants and citrus fruit that I wrote about after Thanksgiving. I’m afraid I made up a new, very successful recipe for the eggplants but didn’t write it down or photograph the dish. You see, it was late and we were [...]

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Kiwano, Banana, and Pineapple Sorbet

December 1, 2006
Kiwano, Banana, and Pineapple Sorbet

Let me start off by saying this: Do not feel that you have to run out and buy a kiwano to make this recipe. Okay, let me back up and re-start by saying, do not buy a kiwano unless you just like its spiny shape and swirly orange color scheme. Hmmm…let me try one more [...]

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Persimmons and Frozen Persimmon Sorbet

November 17, 2006
Persimmon Sorbet

[Looking for vegan Thanksgiving ideas? Scroll down or click here!] I’ve been eating persimmons my whole life, but I never bought one until a couple of weeks ago. I grew up in southeast Louisiana, where my father, a horticulture professor at a research branch of LSU, kept (and still keeps) a garden full of interesting [...]

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Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie

October 9, 2006
Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Most of you who guessed yesterday’s mystery food were right: Pumpkin or Squash Pie is a good enough answer on this test. But, if I were the kind of teacher who demands exact answers (and I used to be), you would have had to have written “Impossible Fat-Free Gluten-Free Vegan Cushaw Pie” in order to [...]

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Easy Apple Pie Wontons and Peach Chutney

September 27, 2006
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I was finally going to do it. I was going to follow someone else’s recipe, this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Wontons, exactly as written and see how it came out. Then I noticed that it called for pumpkin pie spice, but I figured I could use my own seasonings and it would still be the [...]

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Surprise Gyoza

September 23, 2006
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What surprise lurks in the heart of this Japanese gyoza dumpling? Surprise! It’s peaches and pluots. And it’s my entry in the Sugar High Friday Surprise Inside event, which Alanna was sweet enough (get it?) to let me enter late. This one’s easy; in fact, taking the photos took much longer than making this simple [...]

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Fruit Gel Babies

August 31, 2006
Fruit Gel Babies

School started for us in Mississippi about four weeks ago, but I know that in other parts of the country and world, parents are just now preparing to send their kids back to school. For vegan parents, that means we start looking for good foods to put into our children’s lunch boxes. And while we [...]

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Poached Pears in Raspberry Sauce

August 25, 2006

I’m going to share this elegant-looking dessert with you even though I’m the only person in my house who will eat it. My husband, apparently, does not like pears. He’s told me that before, but I guess it just didn’t register because I can’t imagine anyone not liking pears–or any other fruit. (I can’t think [...]

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La Peche en Rose (Rosy Peach Cake)

August 20, 2006

There will be two morals to this story. Moral #1: You can’t judge a cake by its photo. People seem to enjoy seeing the photos of the dishes on this blog, and I certainly enjoy taking them, so much so that last week, after a lot of research, I bought myself a much better camera [...]

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Pineapple Coffee Cake

July 31, 2006
Pineapple Coffee Cake

“This recipe was tested on animals.” That was my daughter’s way of admitting that she had been feeding the cat pieces of cake under the table. I laughed so hard I nearly choked on my own cake. E. has picked up enough from me to know that I think animal testing is a bad thing, [...]

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Red, White, and Blue Fruit Terrine

July 5, 2006
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Here’s a light, summery dessert that will dress up any picnic table and not blow your diet. I used a white grape/peach 100% juice blend and added agar to create a healthy, updated “Jell-O” mold. The red, white, and blue layers are also 100% fruit–and 100% adaptable. Use your favorite combination of fruits, though some, [...]

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Cherry Date-Nut Balls

May 28, 2006
Cherry-Date Balls

This is one of my family’s favorite snacks, based on Dr. Fuhrman’s Pop-Em’s . I love serving treats that are full of healthy fats and contain no refined sugar, and my daughter eats them like candy. We make several variations, but the cherry ones are my personal favorite. I rolled half in coconut flakes, just [...]

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Strawberry-Banana Sorbet

May 19, 2006
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I’ve been whipping up frozen desserts ever since I got my first Cuisinart food processor 22 years ago. Back then, the instructions in the owner’s manual were to put frozen strawberries and a whole bunch of sugar into the processor and trickle in milk or cream as the processor worked. These days, I skip the [...]

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Chocolate a l’Orange Mousse Pie

May 12, 2006
Chocolate-Orange Mousse Pie

Special Mothers’ Day Fat-Full Edition! Even vegans watching their diets deserve some chocolate decadence every now and then–and this goes doubly for mothers. Most of us watch not only our own diets but also our children’s and significant others’. So I say, give your mom or your children’s mom or your partner’s mom or your [...]

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Almond Jelly with Grilled Pineapple and Mango Puree

May 2, 2006
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This light, elegant-looking dessert is much easier to make than you would think. The heart of the dessert, an Asian jelly, is basically almond milk boiled with agar-agar, a type of seaweed that acts as a vegetarian gelatin. If you can boil water, you can make this dish! Asian jelly is similar to Western gelled [...]

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Tropical Fruit Salad with Vanilla-Scented Yogurt Sauce

April 24, 2006

That title is a mouthful. Try saying it three times fast! This is the simple breakfast that I made yesterday. The fruit is based on what I had in the house at the time, so feel free to use whatever you have on-hand. This makes approximately 2 servings (or one big serving). Tropical Fruit Salad [...]

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Raspberry Chocolate Cake

April 16, 2006
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Sorry I didn’t get E’s birthday cake recipe posted yesterday. It’s been a busy weekend, and I never found the time. Thanks for waiting! Now, to continue where I left off. . . . First a warning: This is not a fat-free or even low-fat recipe. It’s possible to make the cake lower in fat, [...]

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Cherry-Walnut Banana Bread

April 13, 2006
Cherry-Walnut Banana Bread

What do you do when the bananas are so over-ripe that they’re practically inedible? In my house, there are basically two choices: freeze them for smoothies or make banana bread. So I put it to a family vote, and the response was unanimous: Banana Bread! I’ve been making the same banana bread for years. The [...]

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Coconut Black Rice Pudding

April 5, 2006
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Before I get to the recipe, let me share with you my new arrival: A Kuhn Rikon Pressure Cooker! A few weeks ago, I killed my pressure cooker by over-cooking some lentils, forcing them through the pressure valve. I thought I could fix it by taking the cooker completely apart and cleaning each piece thoroughly, [...]

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Sugar-Free Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake

April 2, 2006

I’ve been very surprised that my most popular recipe is one which I just threw together on a whim: Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake. The recipe is actually a complete overhaul of a coffee cake recipe that included (you guessed it) coffee. I didn’t want to use coffee; though I drink it, I don’t allow my [...]

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Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake

March 26, 2006
Coconut Chai Breakfast Cake

I got the urge to bake at about 9:30 last night, so I decided to make something we could eat for breakfast this morning. Of course, we wound up eating part of it last night because it smelled so good in the oven, but there was plenty left for a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast. Coconut [...]

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Can’t Be Beet Chocolate Cake!

February 28, 2006
Beet Chocolate Cake

[Please allow me this one cutesie title, and I promise not to do it again (fingers crossed secretly behind back).] That’s no misspelling you see in the title. I actually made chocolate cake yesterday and put beets in it. And, if you’re asking (as my husband D. did) Why?, then I’ll tell you as I [...]

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Valentine’s Dessert #2: Fatfree and Fabulous Fudgy Brownies

February 13, 2006
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You’ve been so virtuous and faithful. Sure, your eyes have wandered and you’ve had a few impure thoughts, but you made a commitment and plan to stick to it. Yet, there’s only so much temptation a person can take . . . . Well, give in to the temptation and stay true–to your healthy diet! [...]

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Valentine’s Dessert #1: Fruit Medley Cobbler

February 12, 2006
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When you think of romantic Valentine’s Day meals, the words “low-fat” and “vegan” probably don’t spring right to mind. But they might after you try this luscious dessert, designed to feed your romantic spirit without wrecking your diet. The perfect follow-up to a candle-lit dinner, this cobbler contains 4 different fresh fruits–and heart-healthy oats as [...]

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Homemade Soy Yogurt with Blackberries

February 5, 2006

A couple of days ago, I made soy yogurt using Bryanna Clark Grogan’s recipe. Since I follow her directions almost to the letter, I won’t repeat them here. I will say that it took my yogurt a lot less time than she indicates; after just 6 or 7 hours, mine was as tart as I [...]

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Date-Nut Slices

January 29, 2006
Date-Nut Slices

Here’s the other dish that I made for last night’s dinner. These were a big hit with the adults, but not so much with the kids. Well, my kid at least didn’t like the cardamom in them, but that just left more for us adults! This recipe doesn’t make a lot–probably about 12 slices. (By [...]

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Tropical Sweet Potato Delight

January 28, 2006

I was baking sweet potatoes last night, planning to serve them in all their natural glory (i.e. “plain”) when suddenly the pineapple on the counter caught my eye, and this idea was born. I’d already been toying with the thought of putting lite coconut milk on sweet potatoes, and fresh pineapple just seemed like a [...]

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