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Crunchy Vietnamese Jicama & Cabbage Salad with Grapefruit and Fresh Herbs

You will not really find this salad in Vietnam. This is the salad I wished was in Vietnam after I ate a bad grilled banana dessert and decided I would probably never eat (or travel) again. SOmething fresh and living and low on the food poisoning possibility scale.

I love Vietnamese food (and Vietnam! And the Vietnamese! So much!). I love the large amounts of greens and herbs and general freshness. I love how light and clean it all tastes. There would likely be ground pork and lots of fish sauce in this if it was more authentically Vietnamese, but this salad is just inspired by what I love about Vietnamese food.

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Fresh Radish Salad with Mint and Za’atar

When was the last time you bought radishes? Let me rephrase that, when was the last time you bought radishes and actually ate them all before their greens got all slimy and you threw them out?

Before I started studying nutrition, radishes really never happened. I would slice them paper-thin for pretty garnishes (you can’t deny, they’re beautiful) but their pepper-y, stinky-too-soon vibe wasn’t enough to put them too far up there on my grocery list.

They are an amazing digestive aid though, AND appetite stimulant, so they work on both ends of the meal really well. My Mom used to put out a bowl of them before dinner because my Stepdad loves them (raw broccoli too, strange for a guy who isn’t necessarily passionate about healthy food, maybe his body appreciates digestive support?) (I just love learning people’s food quirks and trying to figure out their rhythms).

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Creamy Lemon and Dill Dip

When I first got into Personal Chef work I was cooking for celebrities, the kind of people who can afford to pay the very best people to work for them. As a Chef who had only cooked in restaurants, I totally knew this and it made me nervous. I was confidant in my cooking but this was a different kind of cooking. Many of my clients wanted healthy food that tasted like bad for you food. I mean, who doesn’t?

I had never even heard or raw or macrobiotic cuisine before I started in this line of work. It just happened that my Mom was diagnosed with cancer around the same time, so I had an extra big reason to pay attention to these new, exotic, interesting ways that people were eating to stay healthy (or skinny or like, a good actor or whatever).

I loved the new challenge of this somewhat uncharted territory. After years working in fine dining, I knew exactly what buttery dishes, braised meats and rich desserts tasted like. It was just about finding these flavours within these healthier new parameters.

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High Fiber ‘Jam’ (& Thumbprint Cookies!)

Whether your digestion is on the sluggish side thanks to painkillers or chemo drugs or whether you’re pregnant and your digestion has become a shadow of its former self, this jam is here to the rescue.

Lovingly referred to as poo jam in my family, this is always on the menu for my cancer thriving clients (and was a staple in my house throughout my pregnancy). Sometimes I even make it for fun, just because it tastes so good (it reminds me of fig newtons).

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