Petrale Sole with homemade chimichurri sauce...

...butter mashed potatoes, baked kale & onions, and Michael's glutinous garlic bread 💖

Three part perfect Brunch party lineup... Gluten free, healthy, delicious

Seasonal Vegetable Frittata:
For a 9-inch skillet (either cast iron, or a regular caserole dish)
Preheat oven to 400
4 or 5 medium russet potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped asperagus
fresh dill
3 oz fresh goat cheese
1 cup shitake mushrooms, or other mushroom you like
1 dozen eggs
1/2 cup milk, any kind

Spray or oil your skillet and put all the potatoes and onions evenly around the bottom. Then place the mushrooms and dabs of goat cheese evenly on top. Next comes the eggs... Separate the egg whites and yolks and beat the whites for about 5 minutes so they become a little fluffy. Its not necessary to whip them completely, but if you are short on eggs, whipping the whites is a great way to create more volume. Also, if this step seems too arduous, you dont have to separate and whip the eggs at all, you can just beat them in a bowl. Fold yolks into whites and add milk. Pour the eggs into your dish, then put the asperagus and dill on top...It will all sort of blend together, and thats OK, its just important to have the potatoes at the bottom so they cook.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 15 minutes, then check -- the middle should still be jiggly but the edges should be cooked. Now remove the foil and cook another 15 minutes until the entire frittata is cooked through. Test with a fork in the middle -- it should come out clean.

I served this with homemade pesto, which is super simple as well! Just blend 1 cup (or more) fresh basil, 1/2 cup pine nuts, 1/2 cup olive oil, 5 cloves of garlic and 3 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese. Pesto is super easy, and there are a million ways to make it. Sometimes I add jalapeños when I have spicy guests at my table.

Also, the above recipe includes seasonal vegetables, but you can use anything you like. I often do this with leeks and carrots as well, or broccoli and gruyere cheese... basically anything will work as long as you cut everything into same-size pieces. Don't be afraid toe experiment, and tell me all about it!


Baked Apple Quinoa or Oatmeal:
1 cup dry quinoa or oats
2-4 cups vanilla almond milk
2 or 3 apples, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon agave
chopped nuts and coconut for garnish
steamed milk for garnish

Mix quinoa or rolled oats with 2 cups almond milk, cinnamon, salt and chopped apples and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add agave, stir. Keep stirring and adding milk as needed until the quinoa sprouts and becomes the consistency of porridge. Undercooked quinoa is a big tred, it seems -- restaurants dont wait until it sprouts enough, in my humble opinion. Its pretty hard to overcook it, so when in doubt, wait a few minutes more. The apples should get nice and soft. Serve warm with freshly steamed milk, chopped nuts, coconut or other fresh fruit.


Shaved Fennel & Pear Salad:
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly shredded.
2 anjou or other soft pears, thinly sliced
3 cups arugula
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup organic olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon agave
fresh dill or thyme

I use a mandolin slicer for most of my dishes -- it allows me to quickly and evenly slice potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, fennel, pears, apples, etc. I have the handheld Zyliss one for the road, and a bigger stainless steal one at home. Both are available at William Sonoma. Start with the Zyliss or other easy handheld mandolin slicer.


With your mandolin slicer, shred the fennel and pear into a large bowl. Add the arugula and pom seeds and mix. In a recycled jar, combine olive oil, vinegar, mustard, agave, dill and salt & pepper, and shake until blended. Pour the dressing over the salad and gently toss. You can save any leftover dressing for several weeks in the fridge. Enjoy!

Baked apple cinnamon oatmeal

In a saucepan on medium heat, combine:
1/2 cup organic rolled oats (whole, not "quick")
1 cup milk (to make this vegan like Beyoncé, use almond milk)
1/2 or 1 chopped apple (I like Fuji)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until oats become soft and blended with the milk. Turn off the heat, cover, and leave on stove for 5 minutes. Serve with a tablespoon of maple syrup, or plain.

So delicious, healthy, full of protein from the milk and oats, carbs to give you energy from the apples and oats, and good fat to keep you full from the almond milk. Enjoy, my loves!

Out of town guest visit San Francisco

Local spots are best, not fancy spots...try Radius in SOMA, back patio, deviled eggs are a must...

Then find a farmers market and hit it hard.

Make a pretty spread and a delicious dinner, serve some local wine (unless you have an extra day to take them to Sonoma) and laugh it up to the sound of fog horns.

Perfect Snack: Egg salad

Hello perfect snack! Have you tried Suzie's Cakes? There are only 35 calories for 3, and I'm diggin the quinoa-corn version today, topped with my egg salad (mix 1 or 2 eggs with Greek yogurt, pickle juice, salt & pepper), the crispy piece of lettuce a pickle!

Kale & Spanish Tuna Salad

No matter how hungry you are, you will not save time by eating crap. No -- that spinach wrap from Starbucks is not healthy, and it will not really save you time, because you'll spend twice as much time working it off at the gym or stressing about it later. Why not just remove all crap from your life and decide to eat healthy, treat your body right, and learn how to make healthy food quickly!

Thats what my blog is all about, you guys, really. Once you are comfortable with your kitchen, your fridge, your pantry, your favorite skillet and your grocery list, you will be able to cook healthy food quickly, I promise.

Here's a classic 10 minute salad (15 minutes if you stop and take pictures along the way :)

Reach into your fridge, and grab something like kale (could be arugula, could be spinach, could even be iceberg but I think you can do better than iceberg). Pull everything out at once: carrots, cucumbers, celery, whatever looks ready to eat.  I have these Brussel sprout leaves from the other day when I made garlic Brussel sprouts. I always remove the outer leaves because otherwise they fall off while I'm grilling and they burn -- so I remove and save them for a salad. See! OK, so its easy: spray or drizzle some olive oil in your flat cast iron skillet, turn to low, and spread the sprout leaves around evenly, sprinkle with salt. 

Take your kale leaves off the veins and rip it into a bowl with organic olive oil. I used about 7 big stalks - lots of kale. Did you know you need to MASSAGE KALE??!?  well, my loves, you do.  You should massage kale with olive oil for a few minutes with your hands... that means kneading it like bread and squishing the leaves with your fingers to smooth out the fibers. It makes it taste better and makes it more digestible. 

Meanwhile I tossed my sprout leaves around in the pan a few times, so that they were over heat for about 5 minutes, then I took them off the heat. I took a carrot and my favorite mandolin slicer and sliced it into the bowl. Add some fresh herbs -- I have thyme in the fridge, but anything will be yummy -- oregano, basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, mint -- so just be brave and toss it in.

One of my new favorite things: Champagne vinegar -- add some, and some mustard, and keep tossing. The key to dressing is:

one base: olive oil, smashed avocado 

one acid: lemon, lime, balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, soy sauce

one or two curveballs: greek yogurt, pesto, mayo, mustard, honey

one or two herbs: any

salt & pepper

You want about 2 parts base to one part acid, and equal parts curveball to base. This is approximate. If you want to really learn, come over and do it with me. I've been making salad dressings since I was about 4 years old in my moms farm kitchen.

I added my favorite protein: Tonnino Oregano infused Spanish tuna, that I get from WFM for $6.99 for 8oz jar.  Tuna is a big fish, so its higher in mercury than other fish, like sardines, which are a healthier choice, but a few times a month I love tuna, salmon or other large fish. Toss everything together, add a few Mary's crackers and enjoy!

Roasted Sole with fingerling potatoes & garlic sprouts

Keep it simple and healthy in about 30 minutes of prep time, $20 for ingredients, all organic and fresh from Whole Foods (Sole was $13 for about 1.5 lbs) and an elegant presentation!

Sole: place in flat cast iron skillet with olive oil, squeeze of half a lemon & fresh thyme. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

Purple fingerling potatoes: boil for about 15-20 minutes until they slide off a fork. Mix with olive oil, butter, salt, pepper and fresh basil & thyme.


Brussel sprouts: slice in half and sauté in olive oil and crushed garlic -- be patient so they brown nicely on each side. I use a cast iron skillet and cover them for 7 or 8 minutes on each side.


Order of operations:
Boil water, preheat oven to 350, add potatoes to water, slice sprouts, prepare fish in flat pan or oven dish, check potatoes, heat pan for spouts and keep on low heat while you sauté the garlic for a few minutes, add sprouts, check potatoes, cover sprouts, put fish in oven, set timer for 10 minutes, toss sprouts, check potatoes, drain them when they are done and mix with evoo & seasoning - set aside, salt sprouts and toss again, remove fish and plate it, add sprouts, potatoes, serve!