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Category: Food

Red Hot Sauce from The Ranch at Malibu

Posted on by Admin General

The Ranch at Live Oak Malibu has been my go-to annual stop for a hard reset. My visit is generally post-season in Palm Beach, after I have imbibed a few too many cocktails and indulged in way too many hors d’oeuvres. The Ranch offers a results-oriented, immersive health and fitness program that is centered on daily hikes, something us Floridians do not have access to without travel, and a big draw for me. The hikes are beautiful, challenging, and intense calorie burners. There is guided exercise, including yoga and two wonderful chefs that serve up a delicious and completely plant-based menu. 

This year my trip was CANCELLED, like so many engagements and forays I look forward to.  I did receive my 30-day pre-itinerary of detoxifying recommendations that include cutting out sugar, alcohol, and caffeine, which I adhered to for about a week. There were just too many temptations in the house, and family requests for my Banana Bread and Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake.  

When I received my copy of the newly released FOOD FOOD FOOD cookbook I jumped for joy! The first recipe I tried was the Sweet Potato Hash.  It’s a great cookbook featuring more than 100 plant-based recipes, some using The Ranch olive oil (perfect for my olive oil cake) and honey, sourced directly from the retreat’s bees. It is helping me get back on track and is available for purchase on the Ranch’s website.

When I visit the ranch, I practically drink the delicious hot sauces they offer with each meal: Carrot Habanero ‘very’ Hot Sauce, Green Hot Sauce, Orange Hot Sauce, Ranch Sriracha, and my favorite, the Red Hot Sauce. All the recipes are in the FOOD FOOD FOOD cookbook, and the one I’m going to share here is slighting different than what is in print, but it is the recipe Chef handed to me several years ago and I’ve been making it this way ever since. 

This hot sauce is made with chipotle peppers that can vary in heat from pepper to pepper. I learned to monitor the spiciness of this recipe by adding the chipotles one at time and tasting as I go.  Chipotle peppers are jalapenos left on the vine to ripen into a vibrant red pepper before they are smoke-dried, and they can pack a punch. 

Yield: Makes 1 Quart

Milk, Mylk and Homemade Oat Milk

Posted on by Admin General

Is it milk or mylk? For many, it does not seem appropriate to call a non-dairy creamer milk. After all, almonds do not lactate. Mylk, however, elicits a myriad of well-meaning readers to point out the typo.

In fact, “milk” may refer to plant milk, at least in terms of common usage, and includes creamers made from almonds, coconut, oats, hemp, macadamia, and other nuts.  While we can wrangle about semantics, let us stop instead to question if milk alternatives are actually good for you.

I gave up dairy milk quite a while ago and fell in love with macadamia milk—it perfectly balanced the flavors of my Apple-A-Day Cereal, and it is so easy to make. Then, I found almond milk readily available at “trusted” sources like Wholefoods, and that became my go-to milk, until I had a wakeup call. I read the labels more carefully and discovered that most almond milk was only 2% almonds, and included other iffy ingredients. I quickly decided to make my own Almond Milk, and used the precious pulp to make almond meal.

Lately, I have become obsessed with oat milk. At my local coffee shop they use a brand called Oatly , the barista edition—really wonderful in cappuccinos, and macchiatos. When I purchased it to try at home, I had the same success as my local barrister frothing the milk. However, the ingredients are not as pure as Oatly would like you to think. There is rapeseed oil in this milk, a bit of misleading advertising, and so much sugar, it caused one writer to suggest Oatly is the new Coke. 

Bottom line, if you are buying any non-dairy milk, avoid these ingredients:

  • Canola oil – a/k/a rapeseed oil often found in oat milks.
  • Carrageenan – This thickener is a potential carcinogen. 
  • GMOs – One reason, of many, I suggest skipping soymilk.
  • Gums such as guar gum – Suspected of causing and aggravating GI issues.
  • Sugar – Why avoid cow’s milk, which has no added sugar, only to consume something that has 16 grams (4 teaspoons) of added sugar per serving.

If you are purchasing non-dairy milks, here are a few of my favorite brands:

  • Aroy-d Coconut Milk – A BPA-free little box of coconut milk, sold on Amazon. While these are great for making cold or hot soups or to cook with, avoid using coconut milk as your go-to dairy substitute.  According to Dr. Willet and the folks at Harvard it falls into the saturated fat category and therefore should be used sparingly. 
  • Elmhurst – Elmhurst uses more nuts than any other brand. Their almond milk has two ingredients: almonds and water.  It contains 5 grams of protein. I only wish it were organic. Their oat milk is equally pure and delicious. They offer milked cashews, walnuts, and hazelnuts.
  • Malk – An excellent organic option, it contains no soy, gluten, GMOs, carrageenan, or binders.
  • Milkadamia – For purists.  When it comes to taste, devotees rave about it.

It is so easy to make your own non-dairy milk. You can use macadamia nuts,  brazil nuts, (excellent for thyroid and brain health) walnuts (packed with omega 3’s!) or almonds, and it is equally as simple to make oat milk, my family’s new favorite. Great for those with nut allergies and it is said to have heart-healthy properties, just like oatmeal. 

Yield: Makes 1 Quart

Karmakazi Hot Sauce

Posted on by Admin General

If you love eating chili-rich spicy foods, there is evidence that adding a kick to your meals may be linked to longer life. That is a refreshing thought given the amount of hot sauce my family consumes. In our home you will rarely find a saltshaker on the table, instead there’s a jar of homemade hot sauce; and I have been known to carry a small bottle in my bag (I’m in good company, so does Beyoncé!). Store-bought hot sauce can be chock full of additives, cancer-causing dyes and artificial ingredients topped with a heaping amount of sodium, which is why I love finding great hot sauce recipes like this one from Anamaya, a resort in Costa Rica.

Anamaya is Sanskrit for “good health” and at the core of the Anamaya diet is lots of raw food, plenty of protein and healthy fats, minimal processing, lots of fruit, veggies, and whole grains—so much like my own diet, including their commitment to include only a minimal amount dairy and seafood. They do not use white sugar, ever, and are 100% gluten-free.  Those are two items I am still working on at home.

Anamaya grows much of their own produce and when chef Jeffrey Horton is cooking, he loves working with organic and local ingredients, and takes pride in his made-from-scratch meals, no shortcuts. When we visited, chef Jeff put out a squeeze bottle of his Karmakazi Hot Sauce every day on the breakfast and lunch buffets. Guests, our family included, poured it over eggs, added it to stir-fries and tacos, and just about everything else. It is perhaps the most requested recipe at Anamaya!

Yield: Makes 3 Cups

Almond Milk

Posted on by Admin General

Almonds are a precious food that offer a crunchy bite of complete protein, healthful fats, vitamins and minerals, and deliciousness. They have grown in popularity both as a snack and nut butter, and are being used widely to produce nut milks, replacing dairy and outpacing soy. Many are concerned about almond’s intense ecological footprint, as their production uses a lot of water and pesticides, but according to the Food Revolution Network almond’s carbon footprint is 10 times smaller than that of dairy milk. According to Harvard’s School of Nutrition Almonds have been suggested to reduce heart disease risk and to exert anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.

At home I make almond and oat milks, and alternate between the two. Non-dairy milks are so easy to make and when done at home have no added preservatives or sugar.  You can, of course, add salt, Medjool dates, agave or vanilla extract for flavor and sweetness.

Yield: Makes 3 Cups

Watermelon-Cucumber “Martini”

Posted on by Admin General

As the heat of summer hits, I start dreaming about the delicious fare served at Hamptons gatherings—dishes that are inspired by an abundance of fresh, local produce.  Foods that are nourishing, perfectly ripe and crave-worthy.  Even cocktails are influenced by what is fresh and fragrant in the nearby farms, and when watermelon is in season, it takes center stage in a variety of lemonades and cocktails.  One of my favorites is a crisp, cold Watermelon-Cucumber blend I discovered at Sebonic Golf Club.  It is summer in a glass.

A martini is a pure cocktail that consists of two main ingredients (gin or vodka and vermouth—with the option of two supporting acts, bitters, and your garnish), and there are endless variations on the theme. Sebonic served a Watermelon-Cucumber Martini that honored the classic recipe and included vermouth. It was delicious, but I enjoy simple, super clean cocktails, and I do my best to stay well hydrated in the summer, so I asked the bartender to pass on the vermouth and add more watermelon juice. She indulged me and after a few attempts we created this Martini-inspired drink.  It is fresh, cold, light and so rejuvenating—one of my favorite Saturday night summer sippers. 

When hosting gatherings at my home in the Hamptons this is my welcome drink.  There, I have access to wonderful produce, and gladly purée and strain a fresh watermelon, then chill it before adding to this blend. Any leftover juice goes into my watermelon lemonade for Sunday’s BBQ.  For this cocktail, a store-bought, cold pressed organic watermelon juice is just as delicious. 

Yield: Makes 1 Cocktail

Coffee & Cacao Smoothie (Inspired by The Bee’s Funky Buzz)

Posted on by Admin General

The Island Bee is sorely missed. The vegan café and market that was here on the island of Palm Beach, was an offshoot of The Bee in West Palm, a lifestyle space to support healthy habits. Both locations were creative, fun, and welcoming, with terrific food, nourishing shakes, healthful juices, and healing elixirs. Especially now, during the pandemic, my family and I are craving The Bee’s healthful offerings—there was and is nothing like it for miles. 

Both locations were on my daily route and I looked forward to stopping in. It was a great place to meet friends and family for an organic, vegan breakfast or lunch, and I loved going by in the afternoon for a Funky Buzz—a healthful coffee and cacao pick-me-up.  What made the Funky Buzz so delicious? The cold-brewed coffee. Cold brew tends to be less acidic than hot brewed coffee, and it’s sweeter and milder. If you like coffee, then you will love how flavorful and aromatic a cold brew can be.

When the Island Bee closed, a friend of mine gifted me a beautiful Yama Glass Cold Brew Coffee Maker for Christmas so that I could make the Funky Buzz at home. Made of hand-blown glass and a beautiful wood tower, the Yama has been sitting in my kitchen to be enjoyed more for its artistic presentation than it’s lab-like functionality—which landed it on Forbes Finds’ 2019 list of best cold-brew coffee makers.  

It looks like a complicated apparatus, and for the longest time I could not find a coffee worthy of the effort; after all it is an 8-hour process with the Yama. Recently my husband discovered Chik Monk coffee at Amici Market, and has been making us the most fabulous nut-milk cappuccinos. When he grinds the coffee in the morning everyone in the house is immediately drawn to the kitchen. The aroma inspired me to clean the Yama, learn how to use it (which is not complicated at all!) and start brewing. My daughter, Gigi, who also loved this smoothie helped me create our version of The Bee’s Funky Buzz, and it is as delicious a pick-me-up as we remember.  

The most popular way to make cold-brew coffee without a specialized carafe is the immersion method. This involves pouring coarse grounds in a glass mason jar, filling it with water and letting it sit overnight, either at room temperature or in the refrigerator. After it has infused, you then pour it through a filter to clean out the grounds. According to Food52, the optimal cold brew coffee ratio is 3/4 cup coarsely ground coffee to every four cups of cold water.

Yield: Serves 2

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes

Memorial Day Breakfast Parfait

Posted on by Admin General

Fruit is always a part of our breakfast routine, and oftentimes, it takes centerstage. When there is an abundance of fresh, farm stand berries available, I love making a simple, pectin free jam that can be used to slather bread, serve as a gooey filling in Hamptons Entertaining oatmeal bars—or to add a beautiful and delicious layer to a parfait. Inspired by Memorial Day, these red, white, and blue breakfast parfaits are a fun way to celebrate.

Make the jam the night before so that it is chilled when you add it to your parfait and be sure the berries you layer into the parfait are completely dry.  I am also sharing an easy flag fruit bowl that needs no recipe and looks lovely with the parfaits—it is perfect to scoop over oatmeal or to be enjoyed on its own.  

Yield: Serves 4

Broiled Cinnamon-Scented Grapefruit

Posted on by Admin General

When Florida Grapefruit is at its sweetest, from January through May, my favorite way to enjoy it is to simply slice it in half, cover the cut sides with orange blossom honey and wheat germ, and dig in with a serrated grapefruit spoon—once I’ve enjoyed all the fruit, I raise the emptied shell to my lips to drink any remaining juice. With only 80 calories, fiber and no fat or cholesterol, I often eat both halves. 

Broiled grapefruit is a deliciously addicting way to enjoy the fruit when it is a bit tarter. It is much like eating a crème brûlée, only the hot caramelized topping gives way to cool, tart-sweet segments of citrus fruit rather than a chilled custard.  The best broiled grapefruits have a lustrous caramelized topping covering sections of the warm, juicy citrus. 

This recipe has a little ginger and cinnamon, adding a warming fragrance, along with a touch of sea salt creating a lovely balance of sweet, salty, and bitter, that will have you craving this dish often. While any grapefruit will work in this recipe, Star Ruby and Pink Grapefruits make for the loveliest presentation.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a crème brûlée with a dollop of cream then you will want to add a dollop of Greek Yogurt and Honey to the center of your broiled grapefruit—this option elevates both the presentation and the flavor profile.

As a note of caution, some medications interact with fresh grapefruit and grapefruit juice. To find out about specific medications, ask your doctor.

Yield: Serves 4

Umami Broccoli Spinach & Quinoa Salad

Posted on by Admin General

Main course salads are a refreshing change for an easy meal. My family has become accustomed to gourmet 3-course meals, and after 60 days of cooking, I needed to add something easy to my repertoire: easy, healthful, delicious, and satisfying.

Miso is considered a superfood because it is packed with healthy probiotics and vitamin B12, and we love the umami flavor it imparts on any dish. The warm broccoli soaks in the miso flavor creating a light but savory and satisfying dish.  The quinoa is protein-rich and filling. Cook the quinoa in a flavorful vegetable broth to give this salad an extra boost of flavor.  

This is truly a healthful, deliciously satisfying, and beautiful main course salad.  

Yield: Serves 4

Parsley Scented Celery-Leek Soup

Posted on by Admin General

My little herb garden is filled with fragrant parsley, and I have an abundance of celery and farm-fresh leeks on hand. Last week my family loved my potato leek soup, so I thought I’d make a refreshing take on it by adding parsley.  This is a terrifically bright and light soup; a great starter to whet the appetite before a savory main course or enjoyed as a light lunch with a slice of warm, homemade bread.  

Yield: Makes 8 Servings