Without a doubt, mac and cheese is a top three comfort food, if not jockeying for the numero uno slot for a lot of people.  In college I used to make boxed mac and cheese. It was cheap and easy. As a nutrition major I felt it was only right to doctor it up a bit:  add chopped grilled chicken [before I gave it up for good] and add some sort of leafy green like spinach. This was before kale became the superstar leafy green that it is today.  

I just realized that I first started experimenting with a plant-based “raw food” diet almost 18 years ago.  That’s EIGHTEEN as in almost two decades!  Wow, so much has changed in the world of food since then.

Healthy muffins are a staple in my house. I love them as a quick snack with a glass of almond/coconut milk or crumbled into yogurt topped with chopped fruit and other superfood toppings like raw cacao nibs, goji berries or bee pollen.

I cleaned out the refrigerator from top to bottom yesterday and found about a tablespoon of homemade cacao butter I made during the holidays.  This inspired me to create this Hazelnut Spread but you don’t need it to make this.  I tend to throw things in a blender, food processor, or bowl and just taste as I go along.  The Nutella tasted better the next day after the flavors started to meld.

It’s a cold, wet Sunday in Atlanta today.  Quite the change from the gorgeous, sunny Saturday where we hit record high’s of 80 degrees in February.  How ridiculous is that concept of global warming or climate change.  We ALWAYS have 80 degree weather in Atlanta with trees bursting with blossoms.  Hnat at all.

One of my favorite things to do is travel and see the world!  I love to experience new climates, cultures and of course cuisines!  But the actual travel days can really throw a kink in your health plan unless you make planning a big priority.  This is especially true for road trips to prevent picking up from a convenience store, fast food or other heavy, less than optimal options. 

Did you know that last year American’s purchased more than $345 million dollars in chocolate with 58 million pounds sold for Valentine’s Day!  Weight-wise, that is equal to approximately 4,500 African bush elephants or over 330 Boeing 737 planes!  Wow, I think we have a chocolate obsession and with good reason.  It’s both delicious and nutritious, depending on the kind of chocolate you buy and eat.

I just rediscovered my favorite winter squash variety, Kabocha Squash! The last time I was in San Francisco for a wedding we stumbled across a cute Thai restaurant by our hotel. Always up for trying something exotic and new, especially when on vacation, and I was intrigued after spotting a pumpkin curry dish on the menu.  As it turns out, it was sweet and spicy, delicious and top notch, definitely one of my favorite curry dishes to date (btw panang curry veggie is my fav). What I found interesting was they kept the fiber-rich skin ON.  I don’t recall ever eating pumpkin skin and it was indeed amazing, so it was filed in my memory under “recreate this dish!” Unfortunately I neglected to ask or perhaps did and don’t remembered what kind of pumpkin they used and life when on.