Mom’s rockin’ The Kind Diet!

penne & pesto

Italian mothers feed you. It’s that simple. No matter how old I am, my mother regularly shows up with containers of home cooking. And, while most people I know show a preference for cooking or baking, my mother loves to do both and does both very, very well. Admittedly, a tough act to follow.

As my food choices have evolved over the years, Mom has had to step out of the comfort zone of meatballs and chicken parmigiana to create vegetarian, and now vegan, dishes. No mozzarella? No eggs? My mother has had to embrace change, and she’s done it with true style. Her culinary creations continue to be molto delicioso.

Recently, Mom took it upon herself to get a copy of Alicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet. My husband Seth and I have been making recipes from this book for well over a year now. I’ve written about it before, and my Facebook friends have enjoyed many, many photos of the finished products on our table. We’ve loved all the recipes we’ve tried; and now my mom is on board, making some we haven’t gotten around to yet, including a couple of desserts.

peach crumble

Earlier this month, when we arrived home after the long trip back from Zimbabwe, we were overjoyed to find a container of Sweet-Potato Lentil Stew waiting for us in our fridge. We were soooo jet-lagged and hardly up for doing any cooking, but Mom had made sure a nice home-cooked meal would be waiting for us for our first night back in Tucson.

peanut butter cups

The following Sunday, when we showed up at my parents’ house for dinner, Mom had prepared two new dishes for us. First, penne with a Pesto Sauce that’s provided as part of another recipe in the book. The ingredients include a dash of umeboshi plum vinegar, which sets it apart from more typical pesto recipes and gives the sauce a little extra zing. Second, also from The Kind Diet, a Peach Crumble that was a delicious combination of nuts, oats, and fresh peaches and blueberries. Since I’m allergic to apples, Mom substituted pear juice for the apple juice.

Finally, last Sunday when we were at my parents’ house again (it’s the Sunday thing), Mom tried out another recipe — the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. These are made with vegan carob chips and crunchy peanut butter — what a treat! We put them in the freezer for a few hours before dinner. SO good!

Thanks, Mom!

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