Zucchini Puttanesca

zucchini-putenesca-smallZucchini Puttanesca

Ingredients:
Shave 3 zucchini
Chop 1 head of garlic
12 kalamata olives sliced
1/4 red jalapeño pepper
Saute for 5 minutes
Add to cooked spaghetti

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All-Day Potato Salad

fullsizerenderimg_2774 Garnish with sliced red peppers, egg and olives

Ingredients:
Four large red skin potatoes chopped and boiled until tender.
Remove from water and let cool.
Dressing:
1/2 cup Veganaise
1/3 onion chopped
1 lg scallion chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 stalk celery chopped
3 garlic & 1/2 tsp ginger chopped fine
2tbsp dill relish
1tsp dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1tsp turmeric( for color)
Dash of cardamom
Blend well
Add to potatoes when they are warm but not steamy. Flavor will penetrate rather than coat.
Bon Apetit

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Peppers and Aoli

Peppers and Aoli: A flavorful way to spice up your sandwich or salad dressing is to add roasted peppers to your Vegenaise or mayonnaise. 

Simply lay out your peppers and drizzle olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Bake for one hour at 325.  Remove stems and put into a vessel (stone pestle) and mortar or grind away at it until it is a paste. Add a preferred amount to your mayo and enjoy!

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Now this is a Healthy Dish!!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quinoa Salad:
Make your quinoa
Add 1 shredded carrot
1 minced garlic clove
2 chopped scallion
1/2 sliced beet (cooked)
Microgreens
Balsamic vinegar
Bon Apetit

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The West

 

I’m a west coast girl. Sure, I was born in Boston… but my roots are firmly planted in California. Albeit, Hawaii was home for 15 yrs. This is where it was all happening in the 1960’s. Music, movies, surfing, and the ideal lifestyle. How many people have watched the Rose Parade, seen the sun shining on New Year’s Day and said,” I’m going to move there!” And did!! So, why move West? People have had the Dream of living west of the Rockies since this country was founded.

“Do not misunderstand me, but understand me fully and my affection for the land. I never said the land was there to do with what I chose. The one who has the right to dispose of it is the One who has created it. I claim a right to live on my land and accord you the privilege to live on yours”.  – Chief Joseph, Nez Perce’ Tribe

The West is a Land of Dreams… a Sacred landscape and Sacred realities with infinite horizons.  To the Spanish who traveled up from Mexico, it was North. British and French explorers arrived by coming South. The Chinese and Russians went East. Americans who had settled since the 1600’s after immigrating from Europe named it The West.
It was home to the people who were already there. For the Native Americans it was the center of their universe-home. They had lived there so long that their story of Creation linked them to the land itself. The Comanche said they came from swirls of dust. The Hidatsa, from the bottom of a big lake. Among the secret bundles of the Zuni was a stone they believed within which each beats the Heart of the World.  Myths of golden cities and treasures, waiting for the taking.  Souls in need of salvation. The myth of an illusive Northwest Passage nearly failed to take explorers to the sea. Mountain men and missionaries followed solitary adventurers and wagon trains of hopeful pioneers. It was a mix of pride and shame.  The West would help to ignite the Civil War and witness some of its most savage killing. Union heroes that fought to free the slaves in the East would try and subjugate the Indians of the West. Native peoples would fight their last gallant wars to hold on to their lands. Then to begin a new struggle… simply to remain themselves.

The West is the most powerful Reality in the history of this country. It’s always had a power, an attraction that differentiated it from the rest of the United States. Whether the West was a place to be conquered or the West as it is today, a place to be protected and nurtured. It is the Regenerative Force of America.

There have been and still are promises and competing visions for the land, but in the end, one nation would demand All the land and take it! That ‘nation’, America, would discover itself. When you think of some of the quintessential characters, they’re always somewhere over the horizon. Think John Wayne! The singing cowboys Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were heroes. Hopalong Cassidy was a favorite of mine.
And many more heroes were created on the silver screen and vinyl records. Out West, we still live in the Land of Dreams.

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Frank Lloyd Wright

Some called him Frank Lloyd Wrong. Pioneers generally do have to overcome obstacles and this genius never looked back.

He identified with Beethoven and like the great composer, Frank Lloyd Wright created his own symphonies in the form of architecture.

“Mankind needs both shelter on the humble level, keeping the rain off oneself~also having somewhere to go and offer up a kind of worship and every mystery that exists beyond our lives” – FLW

The concept of a building which has great significance to an individual, in effect, extends the normal limits of one’s life. Photo above: Falling Waters

His were temples; monuments which characterized a place where a man and his family could expand their own creativity within the design features of the building. In Frank Lloyd Wright’s case, attention to every detail was put in place so that if one were attached to a memento, there just wasn’t any place for it. You would have to surrender to the master.

Initially, only wealthy people could be a part of his world but eventually in the mid-30’s he designed 60 houses he called “Usonian”, for $5000. It was a single story built on a monolithic concrete slab and joined to a carport – not a garage. He believed he would pull the masses above themselves by enlightening them and lifting them up.

During troubled times he conceived of the Fellowship program and invited apprentices to learn his ways.

In 1937, he made his annual pilgrimage to Arizona and built Taliesin West for an expansion of his Fellowship program.

John Lautner, the man who but the house I am living in, was one of his apprentices.

Living in a Lautner brings forth an energy that gives me inspiration every day. So it is true! And everyone can make their home a temple with awareness. A simple gesture of a freshly cut rose in a vase or a house plant that speaks to you every time a new leaf appears. A mood change such as adding color to a wall can and will affect your attitude.

This mortal experienced devastation when his mistress and her children were murdered at his first Taliesin in Wisconsin. Horrific story of he being gone while an ex employee burned the house down. What did Frank do? Rebuild it!!! He never looked back, even with a broken heart. When he was laid to rest he chose to be next to her grave.

When interviewed by Mike Wallace at age 88 he said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind”

Frank Lloyd Wright’s final accomplishment is designing and overseeing the construction of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. He achieved his dream of incorporating a spiral design juxtaposition to the ‘law abiding’ buildings all along 5th Ave in 1956. He died 6 months at age 92 before the Guggenheim triumph opened its doors. And so his life is extended through his legacy!

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Lesley Gore Tribute


“You Don’t Own Me” and “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows”, originally sung by Lesley Gore, are my two new videos for the 2015 Unplugged series… the relearning  of 100 songs I sang in the 60’s!

Stunning news rang out when Lesley Gore vanished from our Earth. I sang “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” on Shindig as well as the Milton Berle Show so relearning this Marvin Hamlisch tune was on my to-do list. “You Don’t Own Me” is a whole other animal. I ‘get’ it after singing it as a tribute to her.

My way of expressing emotion in the healthiest way is through singing. It’s wonderful to have been gifted with a tool to communicate. Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” captures that very essence. In her passing I pay tribute to her through song.

Quoting Ms. Gore, “As I got older, feminism became more a part of my life. I don’t care what you are – whether you’re 16 or 116 – there’s nothing like standing on the stage and shaking your finger and singing, ‘don’t tell me what to do'”.

Oh yeah, that’s the spirit! We ALL have issues in this Big, Wide, Wonderful World that are demeaning and extremely challenging. My beliefs don’t necessarily match or harmonize with those who oppose, but the question is: Do we not have the right to express our beliefs without persecution?

When I think of Racial issues that are pervasive today, omg! In my own lifetime, being born a Jewess did not always serve me… especially in grammar school when I was called out in class and asked, ” I thought You were green. Where are your horns?”

Basically, the lies are born from fears taught to us by society and our community; including an intimate home environment. How to separate from this fear-driven way of life is really challenging but in reality, possible… inevitable, if we as a planet are to survive. The only fear that any of us should be focused on, is will we have enough clean air and water to sustain life on Planet Earth? And that initial fear-driven question can transform into a positive action by Unifying over a Cause that we ALL must face. No one is above or below these basic necessities… even though, in the past and unfortunately in some cultures today, a superior attitude prevails.

Like the Beatles song says, “Come Together” and to quote from “You Don’t Own Me”, “Don’t tell me what to say, don’t tell me what to do. Just let me be myself, that’s all I ask of you”.

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Butternut Squash Pumpkin Soup

 

Winter is Here! Better bundle up and stay warm. Fresh from my kitchen today, butternut squash and leek soup; a savory yet sweet tasting combination in a bowl! Roast the seeds you have removed from the center of the pumpkin at 350 degrees until golden brown. Drizzle a little olive oil, a sprinkle of Himalayan sea salt and fresh rosemary, chopped fine. Use seeds as a garnish floating on top of your piping hot pumpkin puree soup!

Recipe:
1 med butternut squash, peeled and scooped out from seeds. Chop into 1″ cubes
2 med leeks, rinse and chop into 1″ slices
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 tbsp fresh chopped ginger

Saute leeks in a small amount of olive oil, extra virgin. After they become a bit wilted add the butternut squash and continue sauteing for 3-5 minutes on low heat. Add 1 cup water and continue cooking until tender. You should be able to pierce the pumpkin with a fork easily. Add 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp pepper. I like to mix my whole peppercorns with cardamon pods and grind them together.

In a blender empty some or all of the cooked ingredients and 1 cup of milk ( I use hemp milk).

Puree the mixture until creamy then back in the pot it goes until ready for serving. Meanwhile, you have prepared the seeds for garnish.

Bon Appetit!

 

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Sensuous Strawberry Pancakes

It’s a short stack that fills up your entire plate! Just add sliced strawberries into your fav pancake batter (mine is Pamela’s) and pour over a puree of strawberries with a tiny bit of water and Agave sweetener.

Bon appetit

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Passionate Peach Bellini

The Bellini is a peachy version of a Champagne Cocktail and makes a great brunch cocktail. The best part is that it only requires two ingredients, so it is very easy to mix up.

The story behind the Bellini is that it was created in the 1930s or 40s at Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy by bartender Giuseppe Cipriani. It was named after his favorite painter, Giovanni Bellini. Originally, the Bellini used sparkling Italian wine and is still made that way in Italy; elsewhere it is often made with Champagne.

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 ounces peach juice or peach puree
  • 4 ounces Champagne
  • Prep Time: 3 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 minutes
  • Yield: 1 Cocktail

PREPARATION:

Pour the peach juice or peach puree into a Champagne Flute.
Slowly add the Champagne.

Thanks to the AboutFoodNetwork for this recipe

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