A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness.
—ELSA SCHIAPARELL
MOST GIRLS WHO GREW UP IN NEW JERSEY LOVE THE MALL. Me? I love grocery stores. I love the sight of ripe produce, the smell of baking bread and pastries, the taste of local dairy and fresh eggs. In our family, cooking was all about experimenting, remaking, and reimagining with total freedom to achieve maximum taste from wholesome ingredients. I rarely saw my mother and grandmother consult a recipe. With them, there was a dash of this and a splash of that. If you weren’t present in the kitchen, peering over their shoulders into the pot, you’d miss the magic. So the kitchen was where I came to play. I made myself a fixture at the stove and never left.
Today any kitchen at all, really, is my happy place—especially if somebody else is doing the dishes. When I visit someone’s house for the first time, the first thing I ask to see (okay, fine, the first place I snoop) is the kitchen. You can learn everything you need to know about a person by peering into their fridge and pantry and understanding how he or she likes to eat. Is their kitchen a temple or is it a closet? Do they have food in their fridge or just a few beer bottles? I’m not judging, I’m just saying that, for me, the kitchen is the most basic source of creativity in a home. If you’re treating it as a large shoe box, you’re missing out. And it’s one of the only places where it’s okay for us to make messes as adults! Don’t squander that opportunity.
My adventure with eating has taught me many things, but chief among them is that food can always surprise and excite you. Just when I think I’ve mastered a recipe, someone teaches me an easier, healthier, or tastier way to do it. We develop family favorites, cherish secret ingredients, crave our version of comfort food, discover somebody else’s—but somehow the unknown is always just one bite away.
Man, woman, or child: If you rely on a box to feed you, you’ll never know the full taste of life. (I’m here all night, folks!) The fanciest restaurant meal cannot compare with the satisfaction that comes from enjoying a homemade supper. Once you learn a few basic techniques, every cookbook, food blog, and meal becomes a source of inspiration to take you to new heights. Refuse to settle into recipe ruts and you’ll never be bored—how could you, with all the dishes left to try! And know this: If you know how to cook, you will never be lonely.
People flock to good cooks. Preparing good-quality food creates warmth in a home, and sharing a meal creates an immediate bond. Unless you’re a sadist, you should break bread only with people you like and want to get to know better—and yes, cooking will make you friends! The intimacy of offering someone a plate that you spent time creating, or receiving one from them, is about as primal as it gets. You can’t help but feel all warm and rosy.
If you want to be truly happy, knowing how to cook for yourself and others is absolutely essential. And understanding how to eat healthfully and well is the basis of the best cooking—the kind that nourishes while it delights and brings us back to the table for more.
I grew up in a huge Irish, Italian, Swedish, and Turkish clan in which food has always been at the locus of family communing. Family dinners brought us together around long farm tables laid high with generous helpings of homemade deliciousness. We had whole spice bazaars in our cupboards, racks of unusual teas, and random condiments cluttering our shelves. Anytime I wanted to explore, it was all right there in the kitchen just waiting to be discovered. Talk about a coinciding of culinary cultures! Weekly menus at our house were like an eating tour at Epcot.
We ate perfect pomodoro sauce over delicate strands of angel hair; a lentil soup spiced with cumin and cardamom, served with dried dates and garlicky yogurt with dill; homemade bread spread with fresh butter and jam or loaded up with smoked salmon, capers, and cream cheese; whole baked fish stuffed with rosemary, garlic, and lemon wheels; pickles and stews and chowders out my ears; and the very occasional meatball that jumped between Swedish, Turkish, Italian, and soy/seitan/tempeh (my mother raised us almost entirely pescatarian, with rare exceptions made for when we visited family or foreign countries or somehow procured gifts of meat from friends who were hunters and gatherers of the modern age). And that was just Monday.
Photograph courtesy of Daphne Oz
Me at my prom: Seventeen and 180 pounds
Though we ate mostly healthful food, the quantity of my portions did not stop at adequate. Instead, I would happily steal bites from the cutting board, sampling from every dish and pot on the stove, snacking my way through an afternoon of homework on the kitchen stool conveniently within arm’s reach of the refrigerator, and then tucking into a heaping helping of whatever delicious meal I’d been sneaking tastes of all afternoon. I spent every free moment thinking about either what I wanted to eat or how I shouldn’t be thinking about eating.
At seventeen, I weighed 180 pounds. The food I loved was making me fat, not because it was unhealthful—almost everything was homemade or procured from local, conscientious producers, and my mother and grandmother were way ahead of the game with an eye for organics and limiting excessive animal products and processed foods—but because I let food have control over me.
As the only heavy girl in a family full of health nuts, I was constantly aware of the fact that food could be a force for healing or a force for harm, a force for feeling totally empowered or desolately insecure. Somehow I kept finding myself landing on the losing side of that coin.
I associated the sensation of enjoying wonderful food with the feeling of belonging and love I got from cooking and creating a meal as part of a shared social experience with my family, but I also feared food and its power over me. I knew that once I got into the kitchen, surrounded by loved ones and caught up in the moment of enjoying time and food with them, I would not be able to resist the charms of so many delicious dishes. The eater had fallen prey to the eating.
GET A GREEN THUMB
With a row full of green plants on a sunny windowsill, you can add cheer to your kitchen and help recycle carbon dioxide in your home into fresh oxygen, and you’ll never find yourself without that essential addition of fresh herbs in your next meal. These five favorites are easy to grow and maintain, and just a snip of your kitchen shears will offer garden-fresh flavors to any dish or libation year-round. Not to mention, it’ll give a little life to your living space—feng shui bonus points!
It looks pretty to grow your herbs all in one pot, and you can certainly figure out an easy pattern to make it possible. But since different herbs like different sunlight and watering conditions, I find it’s easiest to contain them in individual pots. It’s also a good idea to start each pot with a layer 1 to 2 inches deep of small planting pebbles or rocks under the layer of soil. This will help ensure good drainage—mold will kill your herbs fast!
Basil
Care for it: Basil should be kept in full sun and watered when it begins to wilt. Stress is bad for you, good for basil. When the plant is stressed from not enough water, it produces more essential oils, which give it more basil-ness when you eat it. And here’s another tip: Don’t water basil on a day you plan on using it, because it dilutes the flavor in the leaves.
Devour it: Tear it into green salads, tomato sauce, or with fresh mozzarella and tomato.
Chives
Care for it: Chives are really hardy, so you can grow these onion relatives in partial shade or partial sun. Water only when the soil feels slightly dry. Choose a pot with good drainage so you don’t get fungus buildup. As a bonus, chives blossom into beautiful flowers you can eat, so you get to enjoy the taste and sight.
Devour it: Chives work well in herb vinaigrettes, mixed greens, egg dishes, potato salads, pastas, and as a colorful garnish.
Mint
Care for it: Mint should be kept in partial shade or partial sun and watered often; the soil should stay moist to the touch. Make sure you keep it well drained, though, because too much water will rot the root system. Mint will grow like a weed if you let it, so prune it back and use it often—not hard to do considering how easy it is to use! It also dries well, but remember that dried herbs have twice the flavor of their fresh counterparts, and this is especially true of herbs that have a lot of water in them when fresh (such as mint and basil), so cut back quantities in recipes if you’re going to go the dry route.
Devour it: Julep, anyone? Mint is also lovely in summer salads—think watermelon and feta!—and in iced tea, steeped in hot tea, with fresh fruit, and paired with lemon, rosemary, and garlic for flavorful fish.
Parsley
Care for it: Parsley should be kept in the sun, and the soil should be kept moist but not soaked. Flat-leaf parsley is a little bit hardier, and I think it’s prettier and has more flavor, so choose that if you have the option—otherwise, curly parsley is fine!
Devour it: Just chewing a leaf will freshen your breath after meals! Plus it’s a natural diuretic, meaning it helps the body flush toxins plus is chock-full of powerful antioxidants itself. Parsley is a staple in Mediterranean dishes, where’ll you find it chopped finely into tabbouleh with bulgur wheat, tossed with lemon and pine nuts for a beautiful garnish, or added on its own to give a dish a boost of color.
Thyme
Care for it: Thyme flourishes in bright sunlight and needs minimal water, so keep soil well drained and only slightly damp. Give it a couple months of growing time (if you’re planting from seeds) before you start snipping—if you can resist! The pretty buds are also edible.
Devour it: Cut the stems and dry by hanging upside down in trussed bundles to use all year. Store it in airtight containers away from bright sunlight and heat or freeze. Use it fresh for roasting veggies and proteins, flavoring vinaigrettes and soups, or infusing delicious cocktails! Just make sure you get rid of the woody stem ahead of time—not fun to bite into.
I tried fad dieting over and over and failed miserably (as nearly everyone does). The result was that all throughout high school I accepted being overweight—and gave myself permission to underachieve, because I felt held back and incapacitated by being so heavy. I would get picked for varsity sports teams and then sit the bench for the season because I didn’t have the endurance to play. I was lucky to have lots of friends, but I didn’t feel socially secure. I felt stuck—and just a bit underwhelmed by myself. I needed a change.
I became uncomfortable with how comfortable I’d become settling for a second-rate me, and it was a wake-up call. I wanted to get my health back and regain a body that felt empowered to achieve anything. Most important, I wanted to do it in a way that also allowed me to rediscover my love of food, so my food could start loving me back.
When I went off to college, I developed a healthful lifestyle that let me shed over 30 pounds permanently and without having to give up any of the foods I craved. How did I do it after all those years of trying and failing to strike a healthful relationship with food? I decided to shift the balance of power so that the eater—me—could get back in control.
The whole premise of this lifestyle shift was to quit thinking about some foods as good and others as bad. The truth—and a much simpler categorization—is that the difference between healthful and unhealthful is the difference between moderation and excess. This meant learning how to pay attention, savor bites, and portion appropriately—and it also meant never feeling deprived.
We seem stuck on the idea that to be healthy, we have to be struggling, deprived, and constantly absorbed by our pursuit of the size 0. This is just not the case! As with everything in life, balance is key. I can eat whatever my little heart desires—freedom!—as long as I quit chomping once I’ve had enough rather than keep indulging a guilt-fueled binge. I had to learn how to get back in tune with my body, listen to what it was telling me. And I had to keep reminding myself that every bite after the first tastes the same.
Being able to eat whatever I wanted came with the responsibility of also needing to moderate myself. If there are no rules, what I say goes. If something is out of bounds, it’s because I put it there—and I have the power to bring it back if I want. To have that freedom, I had to trust myself to be able to make the smart choice, the one that would serve me best long term. I had to stop eating based on instinct or emotion and start eating with awareness.
Once I stopped letting it have control over me, food and I could get back to loving one another.
Out of this love, I developed my very simple, very successful, very balanced approach to eating well for life: Eat happy! For me, this means eating food that gives me vitality, experience, joy—or all three! Whether it’s a gorgeous fresh veggie juice loaded with phytonutrients, a rare house specialty at a fabulous restaurant or my favorite ultra-decadent glazed Coconut Pecan Pound Cake that’s a Christmas staple, my food now serves one purpose and one purpose only: to enrich my life. And the best part is that happy eating sets up the foundation for a happy home, which makes it possible to have more fun and a happier life overall. Sound simple? It is!
When I eat happy, I’m making health a priority, not an obsession. I’m letting go of all the neuroses, confusion, and anxiety that plague people who think about food in terms of isolated nutrients or specific numbers (grams of fat, calories, sodium). I’m also letting go of being controlled by food, the way that people who are addicted to fast, processed junk food become slaves to the caffeine, sugar, and simple carb fix. I’m letting go of the desperation of being “stuck” in a situation where there’s “nothing I can eat” because of how restrictive my eating guidelines are. I’m letting go of the “need” to have meat (or soda … or dessert) at every meal. But I can totally have these things if I want!
In sum, I’m getting to truly enjoy food as part of my life rather than letting it define my life. And you know what? It’s working.
Guess who loves to eat? Me! Guess who gets to eat whatever she wants? This girl! Guess who never has to worry about saying, “No thanks, I’m on a diet,” ever again? That’d be moi. And guess who knows when it’s time to have one less bite of pie because her pants are a little snug—but still gets to have a taste if she thinks it’s worth it? Me, again. And it could be you! Now, doesn’t that sound fun?
Yes, there are healthful habits that take getting used to. But the idea behind long-term health is that it should be something you settle into, like a favorite sweater, not a painted-on dress you need a shoehorn and a tub of Vaseline to get into. It should be easy, confidence-building, and fun!
The irony is that the more healthful living becomes second nature for you, the more likely it will be that you’ll be wearing that painted-on dress, looking (and feeling!) like a million bucks, reaping all the benefits of an eating plan that fits you like a glove. Okay, enough with the clothing metaphors for now.
Every bite you take becomes part of your biochemistry. In other words, you really are what you eat. The more you learn, the more you’ll find yourself naturally making healthier choices every time your mouth waters. The effortlessness is the best part. Okay, I lied: The best part is finally, truly, freely loving every tasty bite. And that painted-on dress looking so freaking awesome isn’t bad either.
To help make the best eating choices possible, I keep a supply of certain pantry and fridge essentials on hand at all times. These are the items that let me live my daily life better by giving me everything I need to make delicious everyday recipes like the ones in this book. From healthy staples to decadent indulgences, readily available ingredients are the ultimate must for on-the-go menu planning. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned through many years of figuring out how to eat happy, it’s to set yourself up for success and go from there!
The list below shows my favorite fresh foods, staples, and specialty items, all of which are used throughout the recipes in this book. It’s not a short list, but don’t worry—you don’t need all of it right away. Some of the staples you might invest in right now—things like oils and vinegars that will keep well for a while. The fresh produce items you’ll purchase as you need them. And as you try more of the recipes in this book, you’ll accumulate the specialty items I use to add a ton of flavor to dishes without much work at all. So don’t fret about having to go out and fill three shopping carts immediately!
There are some things that are absolutely indispensable in my kitchen, and you’ll see them pop up again and again in the following recipes. These include sea salt, olive oil, vinegar (of all kinds), organic coconut oil, yogurt, maple syrup, and honey. As you read through the list of pantry items, you’ll see that some of them are printed in bold, like the ingredients I just listed. That’s because this is two pantry lists in one: a preview of what you’ll be seeing more of coming up in the recipe chapters, and my kitchen staples that I think every happy home cook should have on hand, all the time, no matter what the season or meal might be.
DAIRY AND EGGS
Butter
Buttermilk (or see my trick)
Cheese (feta, cheddar, pecorino, Parmesan, low-moisture mozzarella, Monterey Jack, mascarpone)
Eggs
Heavy cream
Milk (whole or 2%)
Sour cream
(full fat or low-fat)
Yogurt (Greek, regular, goat’s milk)
FRUIT
Apples (Gala, Pink Lady, Granny Smith)
Bananas
Blueberries
Grapefruit
Grapes
Lemons
Limes
Melon (watermelon, cantaloupe)
Oranges
Pomegranate seeds
Raspberries
Strawberries
VEGETABLES
Artichokes
Asparagus
Avocados
Beets
Broccoli
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chile peppers
(habañero, jalapeño)
Corn on the cob
Cucumbers (Persian, English seedless)
Garlic
Ginger
Green beans
Haricots verts
Kale
Leeks
Lettuce (romaine, mesclun greens, iceberg)
Onions (Vidalia, yellow, red)
Potatoes (russet, small new red)
Purple cabbage
Red bell pepper
Scallions
Shallots
Shiitake mushrooms
Snap peas
Snow peas
Spanish olives
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes (plum, heirloom, cherry)
Turnips
Yellow squash
Zucchini
HERBS
Basil
Chives
Dill
Mint
Parsley (curly, flat-leaf)
Tarragon
Thyme
THE REFRIGERATOR DOOR
Capers
Ketchup
Mayonnaise or Vegenaise (vegan mayonnaise made from oil)
Mustard (Dijon, grain)
Olives (Niçoise, green, oil-cured black)
Sriracha hot sauce
Tahini (sesame paste)
Wonton wrappers
BEVERAGES
Almond milk
Apple cider
Coconut milk
Ginger ale
Pineapple juice
Seltzer
Tomato juice
FREEZER
Bananas, peeled, in zip-top bags
Blueberries
Cookie dough (roll as a log for convenient slicing and baking)
Organic chicken breasts/ thighs
Peaches
Soups/stocks/sauces, for easy weeknight meals
Spinach
Strawberries
Whole grain or whole-wheat bread, sliced
COOKING AND BAKING BASICS
Active dry yeast
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Brewer’s nutritional yeast
Brown sugar
Cornstarch
Good-quality cocoa powder
Granulated sugar
Pure maple syrup
Pure vanilla extract
Raw honey
Salt (sea, kosher, flavored)
Whole-wheat flour
SALT
I’m a big fan of salt—it wakes up your taste buds and actually helps you enjoy all flavors better, which is why salty and sweet makes such a nice pairing. Some people—especially those with hypertension—need to be wary of having too much, but for most, salt is a vital part of a healthy body and, when used correctly, a happy mouth. I use iodized salt for most of my cooking and baking, because iodine is absolutely crucial for thyroid health and iodized salt is one of the few places North Americans can get it (seaweed is an even better source, but not quite as versatile).
When it comes to presenting and finishing a dish, though, flaked sea salt is my standby. It’s a little bit more expensive, but way worth it for the delicate, saline explosion it provides. Sea salt comes in beautiful crystalline formations and is rich with minerals. Crush it between your fingertips and sprinkle on everything from salads to cookies right before serving for an extra burst of salty flavor.
SWEET LIFE
Though I do occasionally use cane sugar (dehydrated cane juice), granulated sugar, and brown sugar in my recipes, I typically rely on raw honey and 100 percent pure maple syrup for all my sweet needs. The less refining, the better in my book.
Maple syrup does go through some refining processes, but pancakes call for it and if you opt for Grade B Pure Maple Syrup, it’s still dark and rich with mineral goodness from the tree’s sap. Honey is even better—this sticky-sweet, liquid gold is an antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant-, vitamin-, and mineral-loaded powerhouse. But only if you’re eating the real deal.
The issue is, a lot of honey available at the supermarket is ultra-filtered, meaning it’s been heated and treated to remove the pollen (the only way to truly identify the quality and source of your honey), denaturing enzymes and removing valuable health benefits. The best way to guarantee that you’re reaping all the benefits honey has to offer is to opt for raw, unfiltered versions that have not been heated above hive temperatures and therefore still contain all the potent, bioactive compounds and enzymes you want. You can find the good stuff at farmers’ markets and health food stores, or online!
OILS, VINEGARS, AND SAUCES
Extra-virgin coconut oil
Extra-virgin olive oil
Flaxseed oil
Hot sauce (Tabasco, Cholula, or your favorite!)
Low-sodium soy sauce or Shoyu
Sesame oil
Umeboshi paste (plum paste)
Vinegar (apple cider, balsamic, champagne, red wine)
White truffle oil (I like Urbani Truffles)
Worcestershire sauce
SPICES
Bay leaves
Cardamom, pods and ground
Chipotle powder
Cinnamon, ground
Coriander, seeds and ground
Cumin, seeds and ground
Dried chile flakes
Dried mint
Dried oregano
Fleur de sel or flaked sea salt
Fresh-cracked black pepper
Garlic powder
Nutmeg
Onion powder
Paprika
Powdered mustard
Smoked paprika
DRY GOODS (GRAINS, SEEDS, LEGUMES)
Amaranth
Brown basmati rice
Brown rice
Chia seeds
Flaxseed (keep in the fridge)
Hemp seeds (keep in the fridge)
Lentils (red, green, Puy)
Millet
Quinoa
Raw sunflower seeds (keep in the fridge)
Rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
Sesame seeds (keep in the fridge)
CANNED GOODS
Beans (black, pinto, cannellini, kidney, garbanzo/chickpeas)
Canned tomatoes (whole,crushed, and pureed; I like the San Marzano variety)
Chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
Peaches (canned in fruit juice only!)
NUTS AND DRIED FRUITS
Dried currants
Hazelnuts
Medjool dates
Pecans
Pine nuts
Pistachios
Prunes
Raw cashews
Slivered almonds
Smoked almonds
Sultans or raisins
Unsweetened shredded coconut
Walnuts
BREADS
Baguette
Ciabatta
Corn tortillas
Pullman loaf
Whole-wheat bread (with whole grains)
Whole-wheat pita
SUNDRIES
Almond butter
Applesauce
Barlean’s organic greens powder
Chai tea bags
Chicken or vegetable stock
Chile jam
Dried lavender
Green tea
Italian bread crumbs
Pasta (linguine, capellini, spaghetti, orecchiette, penne, or your preferred shape, made with semolina or alternative flours)
Psyllium husk powder
Semisweet chocolate chips
Unsweetened coconut milk
Wheat germ
THE LIQUOR CABINET
Bourbon
Bright white wine (I like Spanish Verdejos, Italian Verdicchios, and dry Napa wines—most of these are about $10 a bottle)
Champagne, cava, or prosecco
Cognac
Full-bodied red wine (I like Super Tuscans, Chiantis and Malbecs; Pinot Noir if I want something a little more bitter—most of these come in at about $15 a bottle)
Gin
Light rum
Tequila
Vodka
Whisky
Now that you’re armed and ready for a kitchen coup d’état, it’s time to sound the trumpets and tell the powers that be that you’re through settling for overprocessed, overpriced, under-delicious fare.
Long live the home-cooked meal!