I love Sundays! No gym in the morning, no after-school activities to schlep my kids to. Zero commitments… On Sundays, it is ME time from the moment I wake up! I spend most of my ME time either in the kitchen or the art room… Concocting extravagant breakfasts, making cards and jewelry, painting, sketching, photographing
Pot Luck
Low-Carb Paleo Bread
My daughter spent 3 weeks at a sleep-away camp and came back home with lots of beautiful memories and one major stomach upset! After weeks of listening to her camp stories and trying to get her stomach issues under control, it was time for a more aggressive medical intervention. So, in a blink of an
Spicy Coconut Chips
I am all for trying new recipes that are high in good fats. Because when you do not eat carbs, you need to raise your fat intake. And coconut, being so low in polyunsaturated fat and high in antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties, is really my most preferred source of that good-quality fat. That is
Roasted Sesame Peas
Out of all the seasons, my favorite would have to be fall. I love everything about it—from the first prayers of the Jewish High Holidays in September, to the last piece of turkey at Thanksgiving, with many birthday celebrations in between. Lots of entertaining, cooking, and more importantly, laughing. The days slowly shorten, shedding minutes
Oil-Free Paleo Pesto Zucchini Noodles
I’m the type of girl that shies away from trends. For example, way back when every girlfriend of mine was in love with Brad Pitt, I fancied Angelina Jolie. And when everyone was getting diamond earrings for their birthdays, I was psyched about my new shiny design books. So when the whole world went zoodle-crazy,
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup – My Way
In our house, I am defiantly the obsessive health advocate. The person who keeps her kids from spending their lives in front of a computer, with a bowl of something carby, greasy or processed. But the truth is that everyone, even those of us hell-bent on staying healthy, has at least one guilty pleasure. Mine
Lightest Hummus on Earth
I’ve been on a path to heal my achy gut this past year. I’ve tried many different approaches, but none have produced any good (or shall I say “gut”) results. The newest one is all about eliminating foods high in insoluble fiber, which is pretty challenging for someone who’s had a love affair with chia
Peruvian Quinoa Tortilla
I’m about to call it quits! It all started with my husband. He waited until our wedding to casually inform me that he eats kosher. That sent me for a spin, as I really liked my seafood and pepperoni pizza. Then my son was diagnosed with food allergies soon after he was born. So our
Kvass
It was one of those warm middle-of-California-summer nights in a tiny lakeside town near Yosemite. You know, the type where you don’t feel like doing anything but don’t really feel like doing nothing either, so you just kinda slowly walk around in this hazy fog of dehydrated confusion. We were spending a week by the
Brussels Sprouts Chips
I once ordered a side of Brussels Sprouts chips in a little restaurant in Guerneville. They were fried, salty and so SO good! Definitely not something I would attempt to make at home! (I said to myself as I left the restaurant.) Definitely something I tried making minutes after I pulled into the driveway! And my
Sage Gnudi & New Site Design
“If clouds were made of cheese, and naughty, they’d be gnudi.“ Serious Eats This year is off to a good start for Cucee! First and foremost, my blog has been redesigned! Personally, I’ve always liked the design of CuceeSprouts. But ever since the web world went “Mobile First”, my blog started exhibiting early signs of
Tarragon Lemon Summer Squash Soup
Everyone has at least ONE vegetable they CANNOT stand. For whichever reason that may be… For some, it’s that “healthy” vegetable they were force-fed as a child; for others, it is the one they’ve overdone on at some point in life! As for me – that evil cadevil is celery (don’t ask!) For my husband
Strawberries in Minted Honey Syrup
I start my day with a hot cup of Peet’s. Every day. I sip on freshly squeezed lemonade with my kids on the warm summer afternoons. Or bubbly Pellegrino. I drink red wine (the bolder variety) at dinner on non-gym nights, or with friends on weekends. Sometimes on gym nights as well. I reach for
Black Swan Pavlova
My life is full of meringue memories. Slow Sunday mornings, no school, my favorite childhood TV program on, a plate of freshly baked snow-white vanilla meringues next to whichever fruit is in season. Sheer happiness. 11 years old. My friends crowding over a cassette player I just received from my “American” grandma, listening to the
Homemade Matzo
My kitchen often feels like a chemistry lab: bottles of acid, cans of base, containers of coloring agents… Almost like back in college except that I enjoy my home lab a lot more. This new kitchen experiment is pretty basic. Mix flour, water and oil, roll out the dough, rush into the oven and…. try
Infusing Vodka
I spent the first half of my childhood in Moldova, a tiny republic of the former Soviet Union, rich with fruit, vegetables and wine. It is the Napa of the Eastern Europe! Life in Moldova was simple. Eat seasonally, drink year-round. During summertime, my mom would bring home mountains of produce and my dad would
Quick Scallion Kimchee
No personal anecdotes to share this time. Just One Really Good Recipe, from One Good Dish. You know that the cookbook is good when you frantically bookmark recipe after recipe until you cover most of the pages (or run out of post-it’s.) So, I am temporarily putting all of my other cookbooks on hold until
Chocolate and Brie Panini
I am in love. And he is gorgeous! Long soft curly blonde locks. Kind eyes. Unwavering loyalty. He never speaks back. Always by my side. And never leaves his plate dirty. His name is Toby Gennadich Shpiler but you can simply call him Toby. I’ve only been around two pets when growing up, and for
Homemade Vanilla Extract
The following recipe is a no-brainer and only consists of three simple ingredients Vanilla beans Vodka Patience But it produces One very potent vanilla extract and Lots of sweetness and laughter My little girl, an older child, a dreamer, a Taylor Swift fan, came home from school, dropped her bag by the door, gave
New York-Style Bagel
This was my second time visiting Seattle. The design conference was over. The weather was dry. My friend was in town. And I had enough of the city. A trip to Mt. Reiner was overdue. We rented a car for a day, picked up a bag of gourmet bagels and drove through the snowy landscapes
Kimchi
Sometimes I get so frustrated. Just the other day, I was feeling a need for comfort food and decided to make a pot of hearty Korean Kimchi Stew. I drove to Whole Foods, grabbed a pound of beef, a couple of onions and a package of red pepper paste. I reached for a jar of
Sweet Corn Ceviche
I get so excited when I stumble upon a new culinary discovery. I walk around feeling all proud, with a huge smile on my face and a strong urge to share! My latest discovery is corn. No, I’m not talking about having made a brand new grain discovery (that was done for me a long
Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango
As a child, I did not really like geography. I liked poetry and art… Photography… Even math… But not geography. And geography didn’t like me! From cartography and paleogeography to geomorphology and physiography, they all treated me with a contemptuous superiority complex. But it was the political geography, with its locations on the map, names
The Best (though not the healthiest) Chocolate Chip Cookie
If you were a cookie what kind would you be? I would be a maple chocolate chip cookie. Crispy on the edges, soft and chewy in the middle – with pockets of soft chocolate in every bite. A sweet cookie, with just enough saltiness for contrast. An aesthetically pleasing cookie. A creative cookie – with
Algerian Tomato Soup
I was blasting down a steep windy trail over the rock gardens and roots – rocks ricocheting off of my shiny, barely used Target “tricycle.” I was holding on for dear life, in fact so tight that my hands were starting to go numb and turn white from gripping the brakes too tightly. As I
Red Pepper Soup
Work life balance no more. I had been the only designer at a small internet startup for years… until the Big Bang explosion of success had happened and the company began expanding like a mushroom cloud. In what feels like a blink, my design department grew to 5-people, with 3 more open recs, and I
Russian gazpacho Okroshka (окрошка)
Odessa, Ukraine. My husband and I are dressed to go out. Dinner, then a nightclub at a beach. A coral dress and blue heels for me. Hair down. A gray v-neck and faded jeans for the hubby. Leather wrap bracelets. It is Saturday night, the air is warm and smells of summer. It is
Wild Rice Salad Bowl with Miso Dressing
Head over hills, forks over knives, miso over sugar — I am in love with this new salad. Is it a life-changing concept? Not really. A new food revelation? Maybe. A new salad recipe? For sure. A cool dressing idea? Bingo. I recently pinterested a recipe idea that mildly shocked my imagination. Miso in a
Creamy Poblano Chile Soup With Corn and Chanterelle Mushrooms
Cucee loved to cook, Cucee lived to cook. Cooking was a creative outlet, a form of meditation and self expression. In a community, the aspiring chef was well known for amazing culinary abilities and an authentic desire to serve others. But no one ever suspected that even Cucee sometimes dreamt of being waited on, cooked
Caramelized Onions & Mushroom Bake
My 6-year-old son has been known to forget. No, he does not have ADD or ADHD, or any other abbreviated disorder. He is just a happy kid with a condition that I call “selective forgetfulness.” He clearly always remembers: to ask for a desert after dinner, e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e d-a-y to leave a trail of