August Cooking By Color – Red As August comes to a close summer in Texas still burns on. My diet this summer has been high raw, maybe about 50% on most days. I’ve been crazy about fruit. We get beautiful berries at the beginning of summer and then stone fruits like peaches, plums, nectarines, pluots, apricots, and other hybrids start popping up later. When these two types of fruit come together in a fruit salad it’s pretty magical. Wouldn’t you agree?… Read more

February Cooking By Color – White, Brown, Black Today’s Cooking By Color food is ONION! Though it isn’t my favorite food in the world it adds a punch of flavor to any dish. I prefer them cooked thoroughly rather than raw. Do you like white, yellow, or red onions best? This dip uses cashews to give it the creamy texture you are used to in a dip without the heart-clogging dairy. Love it! Rawkin’ Ya Back to the Stone Age Onion Dip by Alyssa The winter months have me craving white foods like potatoes and creamy soups and dips.… Read more

Cooking Tool of the Month – Dehydrator Hey folks! I'm still waiting for my dehydrator to arrive. It's taking longer than I expected. As soon as it arrives I will be experimenting and bringing you some delicious dessert recipes. I'm thinking lavender ice cream sandwich cookies? We'll see what happens! Today we have another delicious guest post from Amber Shea Crawley. If you haven't picked up her book Practically Raw it's time to get on it!  Sopes (pronounced "SOH-pehs") are Mexican corn cakes that can be topped with just about anything you please.… Read more

Cooking Tool of the Month – Microplane  The stuffed avocado saga continues! Last week I went to Sundown at Granada with my friend Jamey. The head chef is vegan and has gone to great lengths to feature vegan items on the menu. This is very exciting because there are very few places to eat in central Dallas. And very few with a hip ambience. We started our meal with a trio of stuffed avocados. Since I’m a sucker for avos I had to create my own for my next book.… Read more

I grew up in Texas and lived here until after I graduated college and moved to Los Angeles. Mexican food is sort of my favorite food group. I distinctly remember spending a summer at FIT in New York my junior year of college and searching for Mexican food. I wasn’t vegan at the time so I would eat anywhere. I stumbled upon a place in the Lower East Side that was pretty darn close to the Mexican I had at home.… Read more

I did something really fun for class this weekend. I dressed up in costume and transformed my usual hands-on cooking class into an Alice in Wonderful tea party. One of my students suggested it and wanted to dress up and bring props for her birthday party. I happily agreed since I didn’t have a chance to do anything for Halloween and dressing up is fun! The menu for the day was Lemon Lavender Scones, Fresh Fruit Skewers with Mint and Lemon Glaze, Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches, Lentil Walnut Crostini (which I share below), and organic tea of your choice.… Read more