Soup is good food. Especially healthy soup made with a mere five ingredients.

This quick and easy Roasted Cauliflower soup recipe is one that I found in a recent issue of Bon Appetit. Except their recipe had butter and heavy cream; I've de-Paula Deened this recipe so that it is the pure delicious essence of a vegetable without all kinds of unnecessary other ingredients and flavors.

Cauliflower is one of my favorite foods. A cruciferous vegetable, it is full of anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds and healthy fiber.

Here are some other healthy cauliflower recipes:

• Cauliflower Rice
• Mashed Cauliflower
• Mexican Chicken and Rice
• No Potato Salad
• Paleo Dirty Rice

Do like cauliflower? If so what are your favorite cauliflower recipes?

If you're in a pinch for time, I have something just for you. Here's a quick and easy gluten free cookie recipe that requires no baking. I really like making no bake (think no hassle) cookies during the hectic holidays. This one works equally well for Christmas and Hanukkah parties --and is a wonderfully healthy snack throughout the year.

For those of you who aren't entirely in the mood for Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls and are looking for a chocolate covered peanut butter ball, be sure to see Nut Butter Cups recipe --it's a delicious no bake, healthier candy recipe that is quite the crowd-pleaser. My husband and children devour them.

This little dessert is my peanut-y version of the raw foods classic Fudge Babies, a recipe created by the wonderful Katie over at Chocolate Covered Katie.

If you like these peanut butter balls you will love my recent list of 10 Healthy Christmas Cookie Recipes!

Tis the season for all things squash and pumpkin. On the menu tonight? Butternut squash apple soup spiced with sweet, warming cinnamon. If you're looking for an easy soup recipe this one is great for beginners.

My younger son loves this soup and I do too --sometimes I even eat it with a little protein (such as eggs or turkey) for breakfast.

Here are some notes on this recipe:

• Feel free to make this soup with other types of winter squash such as pumpkin, acorn, delicata, etc.
• I used a 2 ½ pound butternut squash for this recipe (weight is prior to peeling and de-seeding)
• Experiment with other warming spices such as ginger and nutmeg
• I used Braeburn apples in this soup; feel free to experiment with other types of apples

Squash is a very healthy, hearty, nutrient dense vegetable, full of carotenoids and other beneficial antioxidants. Further, it is thought that squash is both anti-inflammatory and helpful in regulating blood sugar.

In my house we love eating squash because of its delicious, sweet flavor, and are happy to reap the secondary (health) benefits. What is your favorite winter squash recipe?

For more ideas on how to cook squash, check out these healthy recipes:
-Squash Pie
-Squash Fries
-Squash Latkes

Tonight is the start of the season for sugar overload. What to do? Spicy apple cider soda! A perfectly healthy drink that will satisfy your sweet tooth with a variety of delicious and healthy super spices including cinnamon and ginger.

While I love homemade Hot Apple Cider, I find that this naturally sweet, cold cider drink is a festive alternative to the customary hot cider beverage. And since you'll still be mulling your cider on the stove to make this soda, your house will reap the wonderfully smelling aroma.

We all need a good nutritional boost during the holiday season when we are inundated with junk food and an abundance of sweets. I find that if I have something sweet to sip on it is easier for me to avoid the dietary pitfalls that leave me lagging.

Spices can be superfoods and cinnamon is no exception. Cinnamon is a sweet and warming spice that is good for controlling blood sugar; it is also thought to boost brain function and improve colon health. Further, it has antimicrobial properties.

Ginger is spicy and pungent. I like to cook with fresh ginger and also use it in the homemade teas that I brew on the stove top (when the boys are coming down with a cold I make then Ginger Licorice Tea). Ginger has warming properties that make it an effective aid in digestion. It is also anti-inflammatory and immune boosting.

Cinnamon and ginger are two of my favorite spices --they are both healing, flavorful and delicious.

Here's hoping that this sweet drink with warming herbal properties helps to satisfy our sweet cravings during this holiday season. What strategies will you use to stay in balance during the holidays?

Looking for a delicious Halloween snack? Spicy pumpkin seeds tossed in chili powder, olive oil and a touch of salt are a healthy treat during this junk food filled time of year.

These heavily spiced seeds are also great for the change in seasons when everyone seems to be coming down with a cold or sore throat, as chili powder is full of both anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious agents, as well as antioxidants.

If your little ones like chili powder as much as mine (he puts it on everything), they'll enjoy this quick and easy gluten free snack.

With a bounty of squash and pumpkin this time of year, it is wonderful to harvest the seeds and roast them, which we often do here in my kitchen. This recipe however, uses shelled pumpkin seeds, which I purchased at the health food store. I'm sharing this with you as it is my favorite recipe for spicy roasted pumpkin seeds.

While many people toast pumpkin seeds in the oven, this recipe calls for a cast iron skillet on the stove top. If you don't have (or want to use a skillet) feel free to experiment and let us know how it goes. As I often say, if you are making changes to a recipe, the only way for me (or you) to find out if your changes work is to actually test them (I don't have a magic substitution ball at home, I just test a recipe dozens of times until it is exactly the way I want it to be). So don't be shy, get in the kitchen and experiment!

How do you like to roast your pumpkin seeds? With the shell on? Shell off? What spices do you add when you cook up a roasted pumpkin seed recipe?

More healthy recipes with pumpkin seeds:
-Cranberry Almond Loaf
-Granola
-Multi "Grain" Crackers

Here's a lovely seasonal treat --gluten free apple crisp that's simple and easy to make with very few, and very healthy ingredients. This recipe for Granny Smith Apple Crisp is particularly low carb because I use the low glycemic sweetener xylitol.

Since so many people have written to me to tell me they do not use agave, I thought it would be nice to research a variety of alternative sweeteners and experiment with them. Hence the use of xylitol (a low glycemic sweetener) in this recipe. My children couldn't taste the difference and my doctor highly recommends xylitol for those that can digest it --it is not as easy to digest as agave for some people.

As always, use the ingredients that suit you best, and take the time to experiment with substitutions, as I cannot answer your (or my own) substitution questions without actually testing them in real life in my real kitchen.

As you can see from the note above, this recipe was a major hit with my older son. He left me a note on the dessert that said, "Mom, please do not let ANYONE eat the crisp. I want to eat it. TKS (Thanks)."

Every fall when I begin baking fruit desserts in earnest, I have the same internal dialogue --what is the exact difference between a crumble and a crisp? And every fall, without fail, I pull out my well worn copy of the Joy of Cooking and look this up again. I thought I would share what the good book says with all of you:

"For a crisp, the flour, butter, and sugar are mixed together like pie dough before the liquid is added, and the mixture scattered over the top."

"A crunch is fruit sandwiched between two layers of sweetened, buttered crumbs; it is served cut into squares, like bar cookies , but is more fragile...Crumble is the British name for a crisp or crunch with oatmeal in the topping."

Here are some more healthy gluten free recipes using apples:
-Cinnamon Apple Cake
-Caramel Apples
-Fennel Apple Soup

This is my favorite applesauce recipe, I give it out whenever people ask me how to make homemade applesauce. It's a simple recipe, easy, delicious and healthy too. On top of that? Kids love it --at least mine (and their friends) gobble it down every time we make it.

Another benefit of making applesauce from scratch? It's an easy and nourishing recipe for children. Mine really get involved in peeling and chopping the apples; we've been making apple sauce together to mark the change of seasons (summer moving to fall) since they were toddlers.

Today, September 23, 2011 is the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of fall.

For me, the first day of autumn is about giving thanks for the bounty of the harvest (which is overflowing in my backyard garden at this very moment). It is also about acknowledging the change of seasons and the need to gather together our harvests (think of the squirrel stashing away nuts) and put them away for the colder, less abundant season to come --winter.

I posted this recipe when I first started my website 5 years ago, and I'm re-posting it today for those looking for a family friendly activity to partake in this weekend, honoring the start of autumn.

We will have this simple applesauce recipe when we break our fast at Yom Kippur.

For those avoiding starchy high carb foods such as white rice, cauliflower rice is a wonderful alternative that is highly nutritious.

When I posted my recipe for Cauliflower Rice a year ago, I received numerous requests for various flavored varieties of that dish. So when I opened one of my new favorite books, Paleo Comfort Foods and saw that they had a recipe for Dirty Rice, I knew I'd have to make my own version.

Do you like your rice dirty? According to Wikipedia, "Dirty rice is a traditional Cajun dish made from white rice cooked with small pieces of chicken liver or giblets, which give it a dark ("dirty") color and a mild but distinctive flavor." I turned my Dirty Rice into a vegetarian Paleo side dish, by leaving out the giblets, which while quite nutritious are not my favorite thing. My rice gets its dirty color from an abundance of antioxidant rich spices.

Even my children like Cajun dirty rice. In fact, we had this for dinner last Friday with the boys and 4 of their friends. I served my Dirty Rice with the Turkey Loaf recipe from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, and when all was said and done, not a drop of either remained.

What are the health benefits of cauliflower? First, cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable. That is a good thing because cruciferous veggies help with the detoxification of the body. Cauliflower is also full of antioxdiants and anti-inflammatory compounds. Finally, cauliflower is full of vitamin C, vitmain K, Omega 3's and good fiber. Over here? We just can't get enough cauliflower.

Here are my other rice recipes that use cauliflower as their base:

• Cauliflower Rice
• Mashed Cauliflower
• Mexican Chicken and Rice
• No Potato Salad

What type/flavor of cauliflower rice recipe would you like to see here next?

I'm always looking for high protein snacks to keep me going during the day, and especially after a good workout at the gym. I find this little Paleo snack (my favorite recipe for spicy nuts) slightly addictive and nicely satiating.

I like to eat nuts because they're full of good fiber, fill me up and don't leave me hungry and lagging. In fact, I keep a little tin of roasted almonds in my car at all times, just in case my blood sugar dips when I'm out with the boys or running errands.

The idea for this recipe came from a wonderful new book called Paleo Comfort Foods; I just got my copy and have to say it is a gem packed full of useful Paleo recipes and other information.

I've followed a grain free diet for a full decade now, even though I don't mention it that often. I imagine that many of you come to this site because it offers grain free recipes. I feel much better when I follow something that resembles the hunter-gatherer diet, some people call this Paleo, I'm not entirely sure what to call it --it's just the way I eat.

Let's have a little chat. Are you gluten free? Are you gluten free plus grain free? Are you Paleo? What type of diet works best for you?

The winner of last weeks giveaway for a copy of the book Everyday Paleo is Kristin!

Strawberry Sorbet is the perfectly refreshing dessert for any summer meal.  This sorbet recipe is loaded with wholesome strawberries, which have numerous health benefits.  Strawberries are thought to be a cancer fighting food as well as high in vitamin C, anti-inflammatory and good for the cardiovascular system.  Research has also shown that strawberries can help to regulate blood sugar and decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes.

I'm highlighting this sorbet recipe (previously posted several years ago) because it's hot here (96 degrees in Boulder today), and I'm craving light and healthy food.  So here's how to make sorbet the easy way --take note, this recipe contains a mere 3 ingredients.

Here are some of my other healthy strawberry recipes: