Our brains may have a powerful built-in preference for sweets, and it may have gotten worse through habits. Despite this, we can get around it by using fruit extracts to get the sweetening job done without adding empty calories. You can use this “shortcake” with a variety of toppings – it’s YUMMY! Ingredients: 1 packet [...]

These muffins can be made with or without the nuts, raisins, orange rind, and cloves. If you do not use the nuts you can double the raisins; and likewise, if you do not use the raisins you can double the nuts. Be creative — make it your way. In my experience, these are some of [...]

Sweet potatoes meet pancake. And it’s a great combination. Top it off with the apple walnut topping for some hearty, yet yummy, pancakes.

Decades ago, I wrote a bi-weekly nutrition column for the Simi Valley Enterprise. During this time I was one of the judges for the paper’s annual cooking contest. Susan Parks, one of the school principles in Simi Valley, California, won first place in the breads category and went on to also win first place over [...]

Hello to you, meet Rhubarb. Although rhubarb is almost always served as if it were a fruit, it is a vegetable (the edible part is a stalk with no flowers or seeds, which fruits all have). Rhubarb is very easy to grow and is a perennial – it comes back each year. An important bit [...]