I wrote about my daughter's grain-free / dairy-free (essentially "paleo") diet in a previous post here.  This meant our beloved weekend pancakes became a fond memory.  Until NOW.

I'm so happy to kick off the new year with a recipe I'm rather excited about as it uses an amazing and wildly flavorful ingredient that is a relatively recent discovery for me - tamarind.   I didn't grow up with tamarind, but I have made up for that lost time by how much I love it now.  Are you thinking what even is tamarind anyway? 

Like, am I even allowed to call a double chocolate muffin 'healthy' when it is this chocolate-y good? But truly, these muffins are naturally sweetened with dates and ripe bananas (no processed sugars), are gluten-free, has fiber and heartiness from rolled oats and has only healthy oils from ground up pecans and extra-virgin olive oil. The chocolate-y goodness comes from a combo of raw cacao powder and melted dark chocolate.  Because sometimes we just need a little chocolate at 7am, don't we?   

Sweetened black sesame paste is a mega-superstar in desserts. This is well known in east asian countries like Japan and China where it is a quintessential staple in sweet treats like ice cream, pastries, cakes and glutinous rice balls. In western culture we know how well nuts like pistachios, almonds and pecans work in all sorts of sweet applications, too many to list really. Black sesame lends a similar nuttiness to desserts although for some reason has not enjoyed the same ubiquity. The color maybe? Perhaps now is the time to give yourself to the Dark Side!

In Korean, this is called Galbijjim.  Since I am not Korean, I do not have a "mom's best" recipe passed to me for these Korean-style braised shortribs.  So I did the next best thing and adapted my recipe from David Chang's mom's recipe posted on the GQ site.  After I made his version a couple of times I wanted to simplify the ingredients and cooking method for more practical home cooking, so I can make and enjoy it more often of course!  

Almond flour makes a most delicious and fragrant gluten-free tart crust. I have long been a devotee to the buttery cookie crust. Still am, really, but I heard somewhere from someone it is good to diversify and I'm pretty sure they were talking about cheesecake.  Even when gluten intolerance is not an issue, I love to make this crust because it is super yummy and also because I can rationalize that by eating 2 or 3 of these tarts I am loading up on heart-healthy monounsaturated fats and antioxidants and other nutrients from the almonds. ;)

I generally abhor salad prep. I love to eat salad. But the prep, no. So much washing and spinning and trimming and seeding and cutting. But these rolls and the dipping sauce. Oh I'll do it for them. They are one of my favorite ways to eat a load of vegetables in one sitting. The filling can be quite versatile. The only 'formula' (for me) is the inclusion of buttery avocado + crunchy carrots + refreshing cucumber + something leafy. Beyond that, almost anything goes. 

Che vey! That's shanghainese for "eat rice" which is like saying "bon appetit" before you begin a meal. These words were most frequently uttered around my grandmother's dinner table. She was the one who created the shanghai wonton loving monster that I am. Sometimes when we are feeling decadent (not lazy), we also add a tiny morsel of raw white shrimp in with the filling. Homemade dumplings are a labor of love but so very worth it.  Put some great music on and make them asap!