Seeds of Hope

Seeded Waffles with Coconut Sugar Yogurt

Another season has come and gone. And, spring started with a flurry of snowflakes that gifted me a snow day from work. It was an opportunity to get ahead of work deadlines. Instead, I slept in late, made a late breakfast and an early dinner was served. Against a bright snowy day, during an early evening hour, I sat down to work pass sunset. The snow continued to fall as if winter decided to catch up from the lack of snow days in New York City this year. The second day of spring was a warm winter-type of day, in which purple crocuses bravely grew in patches of snow as fresh grass with daffodil and tulips leaves continue to grow from bulbs planted two seasons ago.

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Super Green Pasta Salad to Talk About

Super Green Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad

Have a story about your favorite pasta salad? Talk to me in the comment section below. In my experience, pasta salads truly are the side dish to a barbecue or special event. Sans meat, it’s a classic vegetarian dish. Meanwhile, we attempt to serve vegans — who don’t eat dairy — a mayonnaise-based pasta version. It’s often an “oops… we spent hours rubbing down ribs with spices and marinating chicken — let’s quickly make a vegetable” dish. As an afterthought dish, pasta salads often taste like no love.

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Disconnect to Reconnect

Baked Shrimp Risotto

My neck is less sore these days as I walk without looking at a smart phone. Up until last year, I had a couple android tablets for reading digital magazines, newspapers and books on the subway. Since that time, I’ve rediscovered how print books not only allows my mind to escape into another world, but they allow my eyes to rest from electronics. Instead of staying up late at night working on food blog posts, sleeping thru the night allows my mind to rest. In turn, my writing and my focus at work is better. A friend called to express her dismay at our lack of communication. It was a touching and confusing conversation, because I thought Facebook told me all what’s needed to know about her daily life. These day’s I’m trying to call more people to say hello and listen to them. 

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Not a Bland Chicken Soup with Farro

Chicken Soup with Farro

The doctor said to eat bland food for about one to two weeks. Hopefully, my minor stomach ailment will work itself out in that time period. She recommended rice, pasta or bread while avoiding spicy, heavy protein and/or dairy-based meals. After all, the goal is to eat easily digestible food, such as chicken soup.

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What Makes a Happy Meal

West African-Inspired Salad

We initially didn’t eat want the healthy options on fast food menus, because it wasn’t going to be a happy meal. Today, chefs are creating healthy meals into exciting options. Such as Panera Bread announcing plans to eliminate chemical preservatives and artificial ingredients from their meals by 2016. It was an 11 year process of working with chefs and nutritionists to change how fast food corporations offer healthier options with tantalizing ingredients.

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