As my previous post has pointed out, we can never have too many beets for good health. And the leaves of beets are just as magical as the rosy roots. Because beets contain a compound that oxygenates the blood, they can improve athletic performance and keep our little gray cells working in top order. These properties become even more important as we age. In fact, beets are probably the best food we can eat to help ward off the onset of Alzheimer’s and other age-related brain disorders. It’s never too early to incorporate new and healthy foods to our diets. I hope you and your family will try these easy recipes.
MoreBraised beet greens with toasted walnuts
18 Feb 2021 Leave a comment
in food, health, recipes, Side dishes Tags: alzheimer's disease, beet leaves, beets, heart, nutrition, nuts, stroke, vegetables, walnuts
Banana ice cream desserts two ways
11 Apr 2017 1 Comment
in Desserts, food, health, recipes Tags: avoiding sugar, bananas, berries, cancer, chocolate, easy recipes, frozen dessert, fruit, ice cream, nutrition, nuts, raspberries
A nutritional bonanza from our friendly banana
This dessert is so good, people call it Nice Cream. The riper the banana, the sweeter the dessert.
Ripe bananas also have higher levels of antioxidants, which as any frequent reader of Vinny’s blog will know, fight chronic disease and inflammation.
One interesting thing about fully ripened bananas is that they also produce a substance called tumor necrosis factor (TNF). TNF combats abnormal cells to help shrink cancer tumors. The more dark patches a banana has, More
Copper penny cooked carrot salad
04 Oct 2016 1 Comment
in food, health, Salads, Side dishes Tags: avoiding sugar, carrots, nutrition, tomatoes

Turn carrots into a delicious, make-ahead party salad.
Pot luck party time
“What are you bringing to the pot luck picnic tomorrow, Vinny?”
Vinny looked at his super slim and very athletic friend. “Think I’ll bring a crunchy curried cauliflower salad, Val. It’s easy. I took it to a party on the weekend and it was a hit. I just added curly lettuce leaves and my own cabbage slaw to Farm Boy’s offering and I was done.”
“Crunchy?” asked Val. “Does that mean uncooked?”
“Why, yes,” said Vinny.
“Guess I won’t be eating any, then.” Val smiled.
“Oops, I forgot! You can’t eat uncooked fiber! Sorry!” said Vinny.
“No problem,” said Val. “There will be plenty of other things there I can eat.”
But Vinny loves a challenge and began to think how he could turn his salad into something his friend Val could eat too. Easy, he thought. Cooked carrots. Just peel, slice, and add a dressing. More
Dorothy’s amazing tomato salad
09 Aug 2016 Leave a comment
in food, health, recipes, Salads, Side dishes Tags: eggs, lycopene, nutrition, tomatoes, vinaigrette

Vinny pays homage to the tomato
Vinny has been remiss! That means he’s made a big mistake, has been careless, or both. For although he has featured tomatoes in many posts, especially those where he is extolling the virtues of a bunch of super foods, he’s never devoted a post solely to these delicious vegetables… er, fruits, actually. More
Vinny’s on Yum Goggle
26 Apr 2016 1 Comment
in Appetizers, Breads, Desserts, Drinks, food, health, recipes, Salads, science, Soups Tags: bananas, cakes, children, chocolate, family, fennel, nutrition, nuts
Vinny’s been updating older posts recently and putting them up on Yum Goggle. Yum Goggle features food photography from contributors around the world. The photos whet your appetite for the recipes you can get simply by clicking on the pictures or the words GET THE RECIPE. It’s a great site and we’re proud to be a part of the team. More
Healthier Happy Birthday cake-pie
12 Apr 2016 7 Comments
in Desserts, food, health, recipes Tags: birthday cake, chocolate, French, ganache, nutrition, pie, tart
It’s Sharon’s birthday today, so Vinny brings you a rich, chocolatey tart with no flour in the filling, that you can stick candles in and sing happy birthday around, merrily. With this dessert, you can enjoy a slice and know that along with your birthday calories, you are also getting a decent helping of nutrition. More
Shrimp gumbo rocks the year of the pulse
29 Mar 2016 3 Comments
in Appetizers, food, Main dishes, recipes Tags: ancho spice mix, beans, environmental footprint, gourmet, gumbo, lentils, nutrition, protein, pulses, shrimp, Spanish, tapas
Year of the pulse…
In honor of this versatile food group, we present a dish starring beans, lentils and dried peas. We served our spicy shrimp gumbo as the opening course for our Spanish tapas gourmet dinner this year. But it works well in larger amounts as a main course, too. More
Watermelon cheers us up with coolers and salads
23 Feb 2016 9 Comments
in Desserts, Drinks, food, health, Salads, Snacks Tags: antioxidants, B vitamins, goat cheese, kale, magnesium, mood foods, nutrition, potassium, watermelon
Watermelon is a mood food
As most of my friends fly south for the winter, I thought I’d inject a little sun into my own life with watermelon. Deep into February as we are, a food to lift our spirits seems in order.
I’ve covered some of this before, but for newer readers, are you surprised to learn that watermelon is a good source of the mood vitamins B1 (thiamine) and B6 (pyridoxine)? I was. Turns out thiamine is important for maintaining electrolytes and transmitting nervous-system signals throughout the body. Pyridoxine works with enzymes that convert food into cellular energy.
Who needs warm weather… Let’s party!

Watermelon pepo
Watermelon is a berry
Another surprising fact about watermelon… its fruit is a pepo, a special kind of berry with a thick rind and fleshy center.
Watermelon pepos offer the most nutrition per calorie of any common food.
Red is the give-away. Bright colors signal a big pay-off in lycopene, an antioxidant repeatedly studied in humans and found to protect against a whole slew of cancers… prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and colorectal, for starters.
Watermelon offers lots of beta-carotene and another antioxidant, vitamin C. Besides helping lycopene to ward off cancer, these vitamins also battle heart disease, arthritis, and asthma.
Then there is the mineral potassium, guardian of our cardiovascular system, brain, and kidneys.
Finally, watermelon provides lots of the master mineral magnesium. Magnesium is the big boss for over 300 cellular metabolic functions. Poor soils make magnesium scarce in today’s foods. Lack of magnesium is related to irritability, tension, sleep disorders, and muscular cramping, including the heart muscle (attack!).
How to enjoy watermelon
Watermelons retain most of their nutrition even after being cut and stored in the fridge. But watermelon is best eaten at room temperature when the flavor, plus the phytonutrient capacity, is at its best.
Eat plain
Just quarter a large watermelon berry and slice off slabs. Eat the flesh right off the rind and spit out the seeds.
Watermelon salad
Serves one
- one cup watermelon cubes
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- one cup kale, ribs removed and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil
- 1 ounce goat cheese
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Chop the flesh into bite-sized chunks.
- Drizzle them with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or vodka. Let them soak it up for a few minutes.
- Use them to top a plateful of greens, kale in my photo, which I drizzled with avocado oil and massaged well.
- Top with crumbled feta cheese or, my favorite, goat cheese.
Vinny’s pink watermelon cooler
Serves four
- 2 cups watermelon cubes, frozen
- 4 ice cubes
- Juice of one fresh lemon (1/4 cup)
- Juice of one fresh lime (2 tablespoons)
- 2-4 tablespoons of any sugar syrup you have. I used home-made red-current couli, But any fruit syrup, even grenadine (from pomegranates) or maple syrup, will do. I use an equivalent amount of stevia unless it’s a special occasion.
- 2 pinches of salt
- 2 pinches of black pepper
- 3-4 ounces raspberry vodka (optional)
- ¼ to 1/3 cup club soda, depending on whether you add alcohol or not and the size of your glass
- Blend the whole works except for the club soda for a few seconds.
- If you want to serve some of the cocktails without alcohol, leave the vodka out and add it back to the glasses of the folks who want it.
- Fill each glass about halfway with the watermelon fizz. Add 1 ounce alcohol to each glass if you didn’t include it in the mix. Top up with club soda. Adjust flavor with more lemon juice if needed.
- Spoon some of the pink foam into each glass and top with a raspberry or a mint leaf to garnish.

Watermelon
When the winter blahs get you down, break out some watermelon and smile :).
Heart-smart sweet potato pancakes for your valentine
14 Feb 2016 8 Comments
in Breakfast foods, food, health, Holiday foods, recipes Tags: fiber, heart, nutrition, pancake, sugar, sweet potatoes, Valentine's day, vegetables
Here’s a terrific treat for the family on a day that celebrates all things close to the heart. It’s terrific because this valentine doesn’t involve candy, but it tastes wonderful, anyway.
My mystery delight involves sweet potatoes. They release their sugar gently, taking their time, so you don’t suffer from sugar spikes associated with refined white sugar that is added to most sweets.
I published this 4 years ago with all the good news about sweet potatoes. But I’ve since updated the photos and made the recipe even easier (there as well as here).
Heart-y sweet potato pancakes
Serves 2 or 3
- 3/4 cup mashed sweet potatoes (1 medium potato boiled until fork tender, then peeled, mashed, and measured)
- 1/4 cup flour (whole grain if possible)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 3 eggs (omega-3 if possible)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons liquid oil (coconut, if possible)
- Boil your sweet potato until fork tender. Then peel, mash, and measure. Use 1/4 cup mashed potato per egg, for each person. My recipe serves 3 people from 1 potato.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk and canola oil. Of course you can use any kind of eggs, milk or oil…. but on a day we are celebrating love, I think we should be as kind to our hearts as we can be with these healthy ingredients.
- Whisk the sweet potato puree into the liquid ingredients. Then stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they are just blended.
Cooking and Presentation
- To follow through with hearts on Valentine’s Day, spray a large nonstick or cast-iron frying pan with oil and add a dab of butter for flavor. Heat the pan on medium heat until oil sizzles a bit.
- Fill the pan with 1/4-cup scoops of batter. I had room for 3 or 4 at a time. When bubbles rise to the surface of the pancakes, lift a corner and check the underside. When golden brown, flip the cake over, using a spatula. After a minute or three, once the second side is golden as well, flip the cake onto a wooden cutting board.
- Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, turn each pancake into a love-note for your sweetie. I presented these golden treats with a splash of maple syrup and some berries on the side.
“You are berry cute,” I said. “I think we’re cut out for each other!”
Meringue ghosts hone egg-cracking skills
27 Oct 2015 2 Comments
in Desserts, food, health, Holiday foods, recipes Tags: eggs, halloween, meringues, nutrition, protein, Stevia, sugar
Here’s another easy recipe for small fingers. Kids learn how to separate eggs. Then they can make up these cute, tasty little Halloween ghosts and marvel at the mysteries of food chemistry.
Use eggs at room temperature for frothiest results. Or put eggs from fridge into warm water for 5 minutes or so to warm them up. More
1,2,3-Ingredient brownies with low-sugar, nutty spread
20 Oct 2015 3 Comments
in Desserts, food, health, recipes, Snacks Tags: chocolate, easy, hazelnuts, nutella, nutrition, nuts

Low-sugar brownies have a secret ingredient
Kids, get your aprons on. We’re going to whip up some brownies that are as good for the body as they are for the soul. Including time to wash up the dishes, these treats should take no more than a half hour away from your Minecraft play time. More
The berry scary pie
13 Oct 2015 4 Comments
in Desserts, food, health, Holiday foods, recipes Tags: antioxidants, avoiding sugar, berries, halloween, nutrition, pie
“That’s scary!” Isla declared, her wide eyes shifting from the cooking pot to the finished product. I knew Halloween had been on her mind, now only a couple of weeks away.
“How so?” I asked. More
A hogbake from Redwall Abbey… and a little kale magic
06 Oct 2015 5 Comments
in books, Breakfast foods, food, health, recipes Tags: cheese, easy recipes, eggs, kale, nutrition, onions, Redwall Abbey, tomatoes

Crispy egg ‘N onion hogbake
This recipe, inspired by the Redwall Cookbook for kids, has nothing to do with pigs. For the life of me, I can’t come up with a reason that explains why they named it a hogbake. Perhaps it’s a typo, and they meant to call it a henbake.
Regardless, I loved its simple healthy ingredients. More
Lazy-boy’s basic risotto
12 May 2015 4 Comments
in food, health, recipes, Side dishes Tags: carbohydrates, easy recipes, fast food, glycemic load, nutrition, rice, risotto

Easy no-stir risotto
This risotto’s easy!
Or is it? What’s easy for me may be hard for you. You might not have the equipment to make quick work of the tasks. Your kitchen may require too much walking, lifting, and reaching. Or you may not have had enough practice… the first time around is always hard. Finally, you may not realize that dirt and food are never best friends. In fact, the combo is darn-right dangerous. So you can’t ignore the sink and shun the dish cloth. Accept cleaning up as a basic part of the art, or you’ll never enjoy cooking. And there’s more… More
Making sweet potato fries in the oven – perfect every time
21 Apr 2015 14 Comments
in food, recipes, Side dishes Tags: antioxidants, baking, blood sugar, nutrition, sweet potato

Sweet potato fries, perfect in the oven
Sweet Patooty’s back! I raved about the fab qualities of sweet potatoes in an earlier post. But I’ve never posted a recipe for my favorite of all ways of having them… oven-baked fries. That’s because I never felt I’d gotten it quite right. But now, I think I can confidently tell you how to make these beauties come out delicious every time… crispy, not soggy, and definitely not burnt! More
My mandolin’s iceberg salad, starring kohlrabi…
17 Mar 2015 4 Comments
in food, recipes, Salads Tags: apples, carbohydrates, carrots, kohlrabi, mandolin slicer, nutrition, vinaigrette

Mystery veggie
Kohlrabi – Huh? My picky eater surprised me the other day. Will’s vegetarian school buddy had given him a taste of this odd veggie and it turned out to be a hit! I had to look it up. More
A cake cup for Krista – Chocolate rules!
08 Oct 2014 5 Comments
in Desserts, food, health, recipes, Snacks Tags: avoiding sugar, chocolate, cocoa powder, easy recipes, nutrition, Stevia
The candles spluttered out in a blast of air, as 9-year-old Krista blew across her birthday cake and made a wish.
“What did you wish for?” asked Vinny. “A unicorn for the backyard shed? A chest of gold Lego?”
“No… and no,” said Krista. “I wished I was skinny!”
“What? No!” Vinny was aghast. More
Look who’s on first: Avocado Crostini
20 May 2014 9 Comments
in Appetizers, food, recipes Tags: avocados, bagette, chorizo, easy recipes, goat cheese, nutrition

Green is clean
Avocado crostini with goats cheese and chouriço, garnished with pistachios and red endive
The little bites at the start of a meal are often what we remember best. Here’s an easy appetizer that should hit a home-run for the crowd.
Choose an artisanal baguette baked fresh that day. If you must buy it ahead, wrap it well and freeze it for up to a week. A crusty-type loaf works better with this recipe than a chewy loaf. The chewy ones don’t toast as crisply and it’s harder to break off dainty bites. I learned this the hard way.
If you can find a loaf made from whole grain bread, take bonus points for good nutrition! Some more tips… More
Banana crepes
11 Apr 2014 22 Comments
in Breakfast foods, food, health, recipes Tags: bananas, blood sugar, cinnamon, easy recipes, eggs, gluten free, memory, mood, Mothers Day, nutrition, pancake, spices
Banana crepes banish the blues with just two ingredients…
No lie. This is the easiest pancake recipe on the planet. Make this gorgeous breakfast crepe from only two ingredients. Forget the milk and the flour. All you need are eggs and bananas. Sprinkle some cinnamon to garnish. Then wave good-bye to Little Boy Blue. More
Make sardines taste good and boost your memory
18 Mar 2014 4 Comments
in Appetizers, food, health, recipes, Salads, Side dishes Tags: apples, brain, fish, nutrition, omega-3, sardines, walnuts

No added salt – just wild Canadian sardines and water.
More on the omega-3s…
Omega-3 fats are vital to the workings of our brain, the most important organ of our body. They keep our memories sharp and our minds on target. Sadly, the average North American diet is not a welcoming place for these guys. More
Fabulous Fennel, plus an Italian side-dish
04 Mar 2014 15 Comments
in food, health, recipes, science, Side dishes Tags: antioxidants, digestion, fennel, fiber, gourmet, heart, liver, nutrition, vegetables

Fennel makes a great side for barbecued chicken.
What’s Fennel?
Fennel’s a bit of an odd vegetable. Although it turns up in the produce departments of most super markets, it’s not really a regular guest at most people’s tables. Fennel is best pals with Celery, another kind-of-blah veggie that is often left languishing. These two veggies have the same pale greenish-white crisp flesh. And Fennel’s stalks grow around one another like Celery stalks do. Both veggies can be served raw or cooked. And both have a fibrous, mild flavor.
But Fennel deserves a closer look. Once you get to know it, you’ll see it’s loaded with character. More
Walnuts stewed: An earthy walnut and mushroom soup
25 Feb 2014 3 Comments
in food, health, recipes, Soups Tags: adapting recipes, mushrooms, nutrition, nuts, walnuts
Finishing with walnuts…
Walnuts stewed (see Verse 4 in an earlier post) might seem a bit unusual, but they are indeed easily chewed.
This walnut soup idea grew from a recipe I had saved from a teenage chef in Texas, who says his friends loved it. He’s probably grown up by now and very smart indeed if he’s continued down the walnut-tree-lined road of healthy eating.
I found the earthiness of the walnuts in my Texan’s dish very nice. His recipe might be something the kids in the family would take to. But for me, I needed a little more oomph on my spoon. More
Where’s Walnuts?
11 Feb 2014 20 Comments
in Appetizers, food, health, science, Snacks Tags: antioxidants, brain, men's health, minerals, nutrition, nuts, omega-3, vitamin E, walnuts

Can you spot the walnut hiding among all these other tasty tree nuts?
Verse 4
Walnuts, raw
Develop the jaw,
But walnuts, stewed,
Are more quietly chewed.
—with a gentle nod to Ogden Nash
I’m nuts for walnuts…
I lied, when I promised I’d stop waxing poetic about nuts. I forgot about the walnut, one of nature’s treasures! Carrying on with my nutty soliloquy, I present verse 4.
Crunchy or pureed, if we’re smart, walnuts will be found hiding on our plates in everything from soup to salads! I’m so impressed with walnuts’ healthy benefits, I hardly know where to begin… perhaps with the letter A. More
Round Vinny Grette’s kitchen in pictures – best recipes of 2013
04 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in food, health, recipes, science Tags: best recipes, easy recipes, family, food science, kids' recipes, nutrition, reviews, super-foods
Here Vinny presents his best efforts for 2013 –
easy, healthy, and kid friendly food.
For a glimpse into Vinny’s kitchen, click on any picture.
For recipes, copy and paste the link that appears below each caption. More
Hey, Toronto!
07 Nov 2013 1 Comment
in books, food, health Tags: children, education, nutrition
Please pass the word to your friends 🙂
Howdie! If any of my faithful readers are in downtown Toronto on Saturday, November 9, why don’t you drop by for a visit?
Sharon and I are in town for a child-development conference sponsored by Sick Kids, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, talking about our book Cook Up A Story. We’re at the Novotel Toronto Centre, 46 The Esplanade, second floor, from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. Come by for a chat. It will be so nice to meet you! More
Study Guide – Turning a New Page
15 Oct 2013 2 Comments
in books, food, health Tags: children, cook books, education, family, nutrition, reviews
I’m helping Vinny set up a new page in his main menu, called Study Guide.
The plan is to present a guide to healthy eating at home and school, for parents and teachers, based on Cook Up A Story.
Cook Up A Story started out as a way to introduce kids and their families to healthy eating ideas. I hoped to make nutrition fun through stories.
I began with a print book of six adventures for kids, where food is a part of the plot. The stories make bridges to nonfiction articles on the basics of nutrition the whole family can enjoy. The book also features recipes with healthy ingredients, so families can cook up the dishes that star in the tales. More
Watermelon cooler… It’s the berries!
06 Aug 2013 11 Comments
in Drinks, food, health, recipes, Salads, Snacks Tags: antioxidants, cancer, drinks, liquor, magnesium, nutrition, vitamins, watermelon

Cool off with fizzy watermelon
Click for an up-dated version, with more photos and a new recipe.
Who would have thought the common watermelon is a berry? Botanists call its fruit a pepo, a special kind of berry with a thick rind and fleshy center.
Like other berries we love, the watermelon is packed with goodness. It has the most nutrition per calorie of any common food. Click the link for the latest info. More
Pineapple kings them all with this salsa
25 Jun 2013 18 Comments
in Appetizers, Desserts, food, health, recipes, Side dishes, Snacks Tags: antioxidants, bromelain, fruit, immunity, minerals, nutrition, pineapples, spices, vitamins
Nutrition
Pineapple wears a crown for a reason. It is royally healthy. In fact, it may be the healthiest fruit we can eat. More
The sunshine food…mushrooms make omelets good to go
11 Jun 2013 6 Comments
in Breakfast foods, food, health, recipes Tags: cultivation, easy recipe, eggs, farming, mushrooms, nutrition, omelets, vitamin D
Add sunlight and grow your own vitamin D! Mushrooms are the only item in your produce section that can provide this important nutrient.
Grow your own mushrooms
Enjoy Vinny’s photo story about the magical mushroom garden he grew in his own home. Put your store-bought mushrooms in a sunny window with the gills facing up and increase their vitamin D content in a 2 days by up to 1000 times. “Majic!!!” Then make yourself a tasty, easy mushroom omelet, packed with vitamin D.

Check out the recipe at the end of this post.
Mushroom soup
07 May 2013 6 Comments
in food, health, Holiday foods, recipes, Soups Tags: carrots, family, gourmet, liquor, Mothers Day, mushrooms, nutrition, presentation, sherry, shiitake, spinach, stock

Mom’s shitake mushroom and spinach soup
Boost your soup’s healing power, flavor, and presentation
Turn your Cinderella leftovers into a healing soup stock fit for a princess. Here are a few magical ways to take my basic recipe for garbage soup and boost the healing power of your bone broths.