Broccoli Bacon Salad

Once upon a time I went vegan for a few years.  During that period green vegetables made up a large component of my regular diet.  I fell in love with them all, except for raw broccoli.  This salad definitely changes that.  In the winter I like to use raisins for this but since it is summer, grapes make a very good substitute.  This can be made the day before serving because it is even better after some time in the fridge to marinate. Continue Reading →

Steak with Bourbon Bacon BBQ Sauce


Most commercial BBQ sauces are filled with artificial sweeteners and cheap fillers.  This is a very decadent homemade alternative.  It still has lots of sweetness but none of the ingredients come from a laboratory.  It does take a lot longer than opening a prepared bottle but it is so worth it!  You can make it the day before serving and store it in the fridge. Continue Reading →

No Peanut Pad Thai Salad

This is a more western version of Pad Thai, without the usual fish sauce and tamarind paste but it makes a satisfying summer salad.  Don’t get me wrong, I love peanuts even though they are nut imposters- they are actually legumes.  Now I don’t have any qualms with legumes either, but I try to avoid peanuts because they are highly prone to developing aflatoxin.  As scary as it sounds, aflatoxins are naturally occurring but carcinogenic mycotoxins produced by a fungus that likes to contaminate peanuts.

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Iced Coffee Cubes with Fresh Vanilla Almond Milk

This is my idea of heaven in a glass.  Sweet, refreshing and delicious, a nice treat on a lazy summer weekend morning.  Of course you could use store bought almond milk but I suggest trying homemade because most off-the-shelf varieties contain preservatives and stabilizers such as carrageenan, a red seaweed derived thickener.  Even the organic brands use this, a vegan alternative to gelatin, but many recent studies have shown that it is inflammatory and linked to a range of gastrointestinal cancers.  On a larger scale, the increased farming of this specific red seaweed is invading and ravaging entire colonies of coral reef, which are already severely endangered.   Continue Reading →