These potato pancakes, unlike the typical holiday fare, are a light delight! Sweet potato, zucchini, onion, egg and spices cooked with just a little olive oil make them especially nourishing, and they reheat beautifully. Shred the basil just before adding it to retain its bright green color. Here’s a convenient way to shred it: Stack the basil leaves, roll them into a cigar shape, and snip it with scissors or cut thin slices with a sharp chef’s knife.

“Tahini” sounds exotic, kind of like Tahiti, but if you can get past the name it’s one of the simplest ingredients in this most basic—but delicious, of course—of dressings.

Beets are the power player here; they contain natural nitrates, which the body turns into nitric oxide, which in turn expands the walls of blood vessels and increases blood and oxygen flow to benefit the brain and other parts of the body.

Sometimes I feel more like a mad scientist than a cook. That’s what soup making and a pantry full of ingredients can do to you. Here I’ve created a hybrid of chicken and miso soups. The miso matches well with the garlic, ginger, and shitake mushrooms, and it goes in at the end, when the soup is already hot, so it’s probiotics are preserved—great news for your digestion!

There’s something about a chicken and broccoli stir-fry that screams “Chinese take-out!” But this is a healthier and tastier recipe than your standard MSG-fest, so let’s call it “Chinese take-in.” The dark meat’s slightly higher fat content makes for a flavorful, moist dish, so people with throat or mouth issues may find it easier to chew and swallow (though if you prefer, you can substitute an equivalent amount of breast meat). The sauce is thickened with kudzu root, a phenomenal anticancer plant, which is a lot more desirable than the cornstarch found in most carry-out fare. Plus, the sauce blend of tamari, lime juice, ginger, and maple syrup is so delicious that you’ll be able to take that Chinese restaurant off speed dial.

One of the great things about traveling is that it gets you out of food ruts. When you’re in a different part of the country, or of the world, it’s hard to ignore local fare. When an eighty-year-old nonna puts a strange salad in front of you, what are you going to say—“No?” I remember the first time I saw this salad in Italy. My initial reaction was, “Oranges with cracked pepper? Really?!”

A little song, a little dance . . . this is sweet-and-sour doing a delightful tango on the taste buds, with the intense tartness of the pomegranate molasses magnificently mollified by the orange’s mellow sweetness. This vinaigrette partners delightfully with just about any salad that happens to sashay its way.

How do I love thee? By keeping thee at all times on my refrigerator shelf. Seriously. My husband, Gregg, lives on iced tea, and he loves this green chai in particular. Green tea is a real brain-boosting food, and here we up the ante by adding ginger, cinnamon, and coriander, all of which have top-notch anti-inflammatory properties. In our house, this is a go-to for staying sharp throughout the day.

A foodie friend of mine was in the hospital for leukemia treatments when his caregiver called me. Our buddy wasn’t having a great day, and it didn’t help that his doctors were saying he couldn’t have his favorite pick-me-up food, fruit. This is a guy who can eat a quart of strawberries at a sitting. In a sense, the docs were right; raw fruit can contain bacteria, a problem for people with low white blood cell counts that can leave them prone to infection. But I had a solution. I told his caregiver, “He can have fruit; you just have to cut it up and heat it thoroughly to kill off the germs.” The docs had no objections, the caregiver came in with a beautiful medley of stewed seasonal fruit, and my friend was thrilled. So if you’re concerned about raw fruits, this is the recipe for you. The heat, along with a little bit of lemon juice and a pinch of sea salt, breaks down the fruit’s fiber, making it soft but not mushy. I used apricots and cherries here, but any fruit in season will do.

Frittatas are like a quiche without a crust. They’re a classic Italian egg combination, amenable to just about any vegetable you can conjure. People sensitive to temperature enjoy frittatas because they can be served lukewarm or at room temperature. Eggs are also a great source of protein. Mix in a little Simon and Garfunkel—parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme—and a filling frittata becomes an anytime classic.

Visual appeal is a vital though often ignored aspect of good digestion, as a mouthwatering response to the food on your plate prompts greater production of saliva, which helps break down food from the moment it hits your tongue. When I’m teaching, I like to use quinoa to underscore the importance of appearances. After an unenthusiastic glance at a bowl of cooked plain quinoa, the response is usually “Doesn’t look like much. Kinda tan.” Then we go to work on it, studding the quinoa with tiny green lentils and a blast of color from cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, and mint that gets people excited about this dish. It looks like an edible painting by the time we’re done. Now that’s my idea of art. 

Here’s an example of equal parts observation and inspiration. I went over my friend Wendy’s house because she was testing an apple crumble recipe. I was tasting it, and started dipping my bites into a slowly burbling pot of raspberry sauce and going nuts over the sauce. Wendy silently noted what was going on, and after I left she tried the combination and had her own “aha!” moment. As she pondered how nicely their flavors—tart opposite sweet—tangoed together, she eventually came up with this recipe. It’s a veritable health factory: raspberries help with everything from keeping skin elastic to fighting inflammation, walnuts are high in omega-3s, and apples have pectin for soothing the tummy. Call it serendipity or just a keen eye, but either way this is a sweet bite that was meant to be.

I owe this one to my mom, who taught me all about peaches, in her own inimitable style. Didn’t matter what peach dish she was making—peach kuchen, peach cake, peach you-name-it—Mom had a scrumptious way with peaches. These peaches are simple and absolutely intoxicating; take peaches at the height of their season and toss them with cinnamon, ginger, and just a spritz of lemon juice. You’ll find yourself making excuses to be in the kitchen while these goodies roast, cause they just smell soooooo good. 

Classic slaws usually aren’t much to get excited about. Between their homely appearance and goopy consistency, they tend to resemble Spackle. But that’s not the case here. This slaw is a feast for the eyes and palate. If Pixar ever created a recipe, this just might be it.

Eating a crisp is heaven’s way of saying you must have done something right (or nice) today. My cooking buddy, a serious baker, says crisps need to look “abundant.” All I know is that her nectarine and blueberry crisps, which served as my inspiration here, take abundant to the limit. The smells that suffuse the kitchen as this dish bakes are absolutely intoxicating, nectarines and blueberries blending with coconut oil, cinnamon, and nuts to create an olfactory orgasm. (Can I say that? Wait, I just did!)

Those of you into cool or room-temperature soups will embrace the clean, fresh feel of this blend.  The great shades of green from the avocado and cucumber are like a beautiful, edible watercolor.

I love this salad. I dream about this salad. It’s a variation on fattoush, a fabulously named Mediterranean salad. This is the freshest, cleanest salad I can imagine. It’s like Nautilus for the taste buds: the sweetness of fresh tomatoes, a starburst of fresh mint and parsley, creamy cheese, salty olives, crispy pita chips, and crunchy lettuce . . . like I said, it’s a workout for the palate. Like most workouts, you’ll feel wonderful after you eat it.