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It's crazy enough trying to get back into the swing of things, making sure there is a lunch in the hands of every little (and big) one of yours is not enough. Instead of a fight and packing something they'll trade or toss, listen to your picky eater and pack the rare good-for-them things that they will eat - better yet, have them help you! In this week's meals, the only thing I cooked was the brown rice, one package of GF pasta and I steamed a few veggies. That took one hour on a Sunday night. The rest I just cut and packaged and threw in the fridge. A couple of other items worth noting, know that sometimes we just don't want a big ol' piece of last night's lasagna or a really big sandwich. That can weigh us down and yearn for the 3:00 nap. Too, kiddos like to construct and play - let them take these deconstructed meals and eat them how they want. The leftovers can easily be stored in any snappable container. And, a few of these sauces/dressings can be interchanged, so I didn't dress any of the ingredients (plus, dipping is just so fun!). You'll see a lot of ingredients repeated and which helps with budgeting and timeliness in the grocery. These are just the ideas I had - I'd love to see how you make your own deconstructed lunches!

As the summer heats up, lactose allergies and vegan diets can make finding a good sweet treat hard. Gelato is everywhere, but the truly creamy, delicious ice cream (sans dairy) can be more elusive. Thankfully, The New York Times says vegan ice creams is on the rise as dairy consumption decreases. And here in St. Louis, we do have some delicious options.

BJC-West Hospital is growing a garden and they wanted some ideas on what the heck to do with all of their food!

I had an opportunity to sit down and talk with St. Louis Magazine to discuss the challenges I've had adopting a plant-based diet. I'm also happy to share a couple of tips from my Top 10 Plant-based Kitchen Basics.

If you are trying to decrease the amount of oil you use in your cooking, you might want to try a dry saute. The trick of a dry saute is preparing the cooking surface.

I'd like to thank Margarita Restrepo and the entire staff of Naked Food Magazine for offering me a national feature in this Spring 2017 edition! Naked is a continually much anticipated source of education, inspiration and beauty delivered to my mailbox 4Xs a year.

In this month of March as we celebrate National Celery Month (who knew?) with a few new ways to enjoy that crunchy little stalk.

Confidence was instilled because control over health was gained.

Happy New Year! Each year Pantone, LLC, the foremost authority on color, announces a color of the year and 2017 is the year of Greenery! In an effort to create a standard in the graphic arts community where color matching and communication needed to be effortless, the PANTONE system was created and it's now used in hundreds of industries from graphic arts to fashion to home design. You'll start seeing a lot of this color this year, how about also adding it to your plate, effortlessly of course!