Feel Good Guru

Beautiful on a summer table as a main course or as a tasty side, this ancient quinoa salad has it all going on: substance, crunch, flavor, beauty, and pizazz!

Quinoa, a mildly nutty-flavored, nutritious, gluten-free seed, contains an almost-perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids required by our cells. It cooks up in minutes for a low-maintenance grain-like meal that goes with almost anything.

For this light summer salad, I combined black and white quinoa with meaty shiitakes and eggplant in tamari and maple syrup, then added some crisp summer market veggies and organic greens, and drizzled the whole bowl in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Easy-shmeasy. (more…)

My favorite thing about southern California is not celebrities, or the weather, nor is it surfer boys, skateboard dogs, or even Urth’s sustainable shade-grown organic fair-trade coffee. No, my absolute favorite thing about southern California is the magnificent avocado. Creamy dreamy avocados that show up – miraculously ripe – almost year-round, fresh-picked within a hundred miles, at the local farmers’ markets, in six or seven different varieties, each with its own unique sun-soaked avocado-y characteristics.

The variety out in force at the moment happens to be the Reed. These babies are large and full, much moreso than the Haas. They’re rich and smooth, with a decadent creamy taste, and absolutely perfect for guacamole. As cosmic intelligence would have it, August Pride Peaches also happen to be dropping from local trees. I believe that nature intended these two magical fruits to be together… (more…)

Mmmm… Drinking in the mellow goodness of summer with this thick and creamy smoothie that refreshingly fills the gap between meals – or even replaces one… I had this before a workout and was fully energized without feeling full.

Cantaloupe is at its ripest and juiciest right now, and offers us a powerhouse of immune system-boosting nutrients with few calories. Avocados are at their summer best, as well, and deliver high quality essential fatty acids, great for the skin and hair. Coconut water, among its many miraculous health benefits, balances the body’s water content and helps lubricate the digestive system. Peaches give the drink a boost of sweet vitamin C, and bananas add a calming creaminess. Whip it up in seconds and do yourself a world of good.

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If you have a spiral slicer, your summer veggies like squash, yams, zucchini and beets, can be instantly transformed into gourmet raw angel hair “pasta.” Globe zucchinis work best – they’re the perfect size and shape for the slicer, and are soft, which means they’re easily sliced through into beautiful thin linguini “noodles.”

Tonight I tried a golden heirloom beet in the slicer. Though much denser, and a little harder to twist through, it turned out perfectly, and made the most gorgeous golden angel hair pasta bed for some juicy heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, and Whole Foods’ famous curried vegan chik’n salad. Ready in 5 minutes. (more…)

Summertime and the livin’ is easy… Nothing defines summer better than the cool, clean taste of lemonade, and nothing gourmets up your homemade lemonade easier than some fresh organic market strawberries added for a divine blend of sweet and sour.

Pink lemonade? Forget about flavor crystals with artificial color and evil aspartame. This simple homemade version is so light and clean, so good and so good for you, you’ll want to have a pitcher in the fridge for the rest of the summer. Cleansing, alkaline, detoxifying and delish, you can whip it up in minutes and serve it at any civilized summer afternoon garden gathering. The kids’ll love it too – especially if you let them squeeze the lemons. (more…)

I just watched a Penn & Teller episode of “Bullshit” discussing how old people are stripped of their dignity thanks to ongoing stereotypes like old people can’t drive, old people don’t have sex and old people smell bad. It’s shocking to hear the younger generation perpetuate these myths and heartening to see the older generation attempt to dispel them.

It’s no wonder our life expectancy in North America is 15 years lower than the capacity of the human body as science presently knows it. Who would want to stick around much past 75 when you’re closeted away, made to feel redundant, mocked, and largely ignored? But the fact is, if we want to, we can. Watch the vid below to find out how: (more…)

If angels were to come to earth solely to experience the pleasure of the palate, they’d alight creek-side at Inn of the Seventh Ray, and over the next few hours of terrestrial time, would appreciate fully what it’s like for humans to delight in the bodily senses of food and wine of the highest possible caliber.

It’s been called “L.A.’s most romantic restaurant” for good reason. During the day, the light filters through the Topanga Canyon forest and dances shadows in the courtyard while the sun’s purest offerings are nibbled in reverence. (more…)