BellyHealthy

A friend of a friend is reputed to regularly eat a mango with her hands on the streets of London, much to the amusement of the male pedestrian community. She is tall, slender, beautifully tanned and tends to wear gorgeous exotic colours (that I tried to mimic once, but just ended up looking like a frumpy beach lizard). With that image of a model (really, Charlotte, if you aren’t, you should be), standing on a bustling street corner, literally making cars swerve as she eats an exotic juicy fruit with her bare hands, let me bring you down to earth. Eating a mango is messy business. And for... 

Recipe below! So I had to wait a while to post this one so I wouldn’t spoil the gift-giving surprise, but this homemade vanilla extract was super easy (and super economical) to make. You could probably still make it now and have it looking decent by Christmas, too. My sister in law liked this idea so much, she took it a step further and made three times as many as I did. Plus, it keeps for about a year and just gets better and better the more you let it steep. I got the idea from the Dalai Mama, Catherine Newman, so I can’t claim that this was all me. But her original article and links... 

Hooray!!! After only a couple dozen dairy free cookies coming out of the oven and sliding directly into the rubbish, I’m getting the hang of baking, and these turned out much easier than the last big batch (which is why they weren’t included in the Dairy Free Thanksgiving Cookies post). I guess the trick was really to watch them brown and take them out immediately to finish ‘cooking’ on the racks. You’re going to need a cookie gun to make them look like this, and given the negative reviews on most cookie guns online, I’m going to vouch for a cheapo Wilton one,... 

Artichokes get a bit of a second wind in the fall. They tend to be harvested mid-spring and again in mid-fall, as the plants love the ‘changing’ climate. Usually served warm or at room temperature, the fiberous leaves are perfectly shaped to scoop luscious sauces up and provide the satisfaction of a very primal way of eating: with your hands, digging your teeth into the leaves and being rewarded with an abundance of flavour. The “sauce” is usually melted butter, but for us lactose-no-no’s it’s just as good using one of the sauces below. You’ve got to figure...