This sweet, exotic, crunchy spice topping is the sweet tooth’s answer to its savory counterpart from Egypt. Regular dukkah is a wonderful topping for labne (check out my Coconut Labne here), salads, soups, and main dish items while sweet flower dukkah can be sprinkled over dessert or crowning your favorite yogurt or hot cereal, at the start of the day. Be daring and use it on a savory dish. It’s packed with protein and antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. I love adding dried edible flowers to this dukkah as they add a pop of color. This is the thing I will be bringing with me everywhere this summer. Make a double recipe and keep some on hand for a last minute gift.

Strawberry and rhubarb make the perfect marriage of flavors, the juicy sweet meets the tart. Add on a crumbly topping and you have yourself the perfect summer dessert.

A version of these cookies was first featured in my Chronicle Books 2009 book I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas. They were super tasty but full of gluten and sugar. Here in the Amalgam Kitchen, we decided to turn the recipe on it’s head and make them not only Paleo but almond free, I explained in my last post, I recently became aware I am allergic to almonds. We developed this new version with my ultimate grain-free baker’s blend and added some dried cranberries and boy, am I telling you, we have a winner here. It’s half way between a short bread and a chewy cookie and packed with sweetness from the cranberries and crunch from the walnuts with a distinct maple over tone. This cookie is a must add to your holiday baking and dare I say it should stick around until winter’s end, guilt free.

I recently took a blood food sensitivity and allergy test (the Dunwoody) at my doctor. Here is an at home version, if you are feeling like you need to know about your potential food allergies. I sadly learned I was allergic or had a high sensitivity to some of my most favorite foods. Coming in first place was almonds, the precious nut I (seriously) eat every day of my life in some form or another. Almond milk, almond pasta, almond bread, almond creamer, almond crackers, you get the picture.

Fall brings cooler, crisper weather and shorter days as well as a beautiful host of seasonal fruits including pears, apples, pomegranates and my favorite, persimmons. This bread uses Hachiya persimmon, which are great for baking because as they ripen, their flesh turns very soft and purée-like, which is great for incorporating sweetness and adding a rich darker color to your bread batter. Dates and walnuts are perfect companions to the persimmon in this delightful fall quick bread, perfecting suited for with an afternoon cup of tea.

The winter months bring an abundance of mushrooms. The health benefits of mushrooms are no longer a secret. The supplement aisle in your natural food market is robust with medicinal mushrooms for the immune system, the brain and beyond.

I have always loved the crumbly and buttery shortbread-like texture of a Mexican wedding cookie, the melty and soft sensation of the powdered confectioner’s sugar in my mouth, has carried me to new heights. The reality now is I can’t really eat flour, sugar, butter, as a combo deal, not if I don’t want to feel crummy later. Behold the challenge of how to achieve this mouth sensation dairy, gluten and sugar free. I am certain we have achieved an as close as you can get to the real thing cookie and maybe even better then the real thing.

I like making this easy frittata ahead and having it as a grab-and-go lunch option when I am between meetings, school pick up, recipe testing and holiday shopping and may sometimes forget to eat. This is filling and super tasty with a side salad, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

Last year I lent this recipe to the lifestyle site Flaura Wellness, so many of you missed seeing it. And with the growth of Amalgam Kitchen I have decided to post it here on the site for you to enjoy this year, because it is just so darned good.

Nothing speaks to the holidays more than pumpkin pie. I am a sucker for a good pumpkin pie. And now that I don’t really do gluten flour or refined sugar I have struggled. What to do when one does not want to bake a pie? When one craves a grab and go pumpkin pie kind of situation? A sweet treat days before Thanksgiving? Well you bake pumpkin pie bars.