Cardamom Honey Coconut Milk (it's an Aphrodisiac!)

A few weeks ago I was asked to put together an aphrodisiac platter for a Valentines dinner. The goal was to enlighten guests on how food can affect us while tantalizing their taste buds. Sure we had the essential oysters, but this was an opportunity go beyond and have fun with it.

Coconut milk is a lesser known aphrodisiac. Aside from being delicious, coconut milk enhances sexual desire. But plain milk is a bit dull so we took it a step further and added cardamom and honey to really boost the power.

Cardamom is a warming spice that heats up our sex drive and honey is one of the best re-generators of sexual energy.

Drink this lovely elixir as a warm tea, add it to your coffee or use it as a base for your smoothie. It's good for your and your libido!

Warm Grapefruit, Avocado and Wild Rice Salad

Simple foods are usually the best. I'll admit that I can get caught up in complicated recipe, creating exttra dressings or sauces for 'another layer of flavor'. Spring is the perfect time to let go of these coveringss and let food shine on its own.

When I put this salad together, I wanted the freshness of the grapefruit to play off the nuttiness of the wild rice - adding a heavy salad dressing would just drown the flavors out. Using the juice that drips out of the grapefruit while you are peeling and cutting it moistens the warm rice (along with a touch of coconut oil) with a clean dressing that highlights the flavors.

Toss in fresh parsley and greens at the end for a crisp, familiar salad crunch and a hist of coolness against the cozy rice.

An air of crispness over a blanket of warm- just like Spring. It's the perfect use for leftover wild rice  and a great reason to cook it if you don't have any leftover.

Happy, Healthy and Delicious Good-For-You Shamrock Shake Smoothie

Do I even need to recount how terribly bad for you the traditional McDonalds Shamrock Shake is? Yes, there was a time when I lived for them, longed for them and loved them! But that was a long time ago and I know better know.

I still crave that creamy minty taste though and there is no reason not to satisfy the taste buds, especially when we can recreated this the shake in a healthy way!

There is reportedly over 50 ingredients in the fast food shake version, many of those being versions of sugar. My rendition is just a creamy and even more minty than the original while making use of natural dates for the sweetness.

And I see no reason to limit this delightful smoothie to only one time a year - now you can have a bit of minty shake anytime and feel good about it!

Turkey and Mushroom Meatball with Olive Cream Sauce over Sweet Potato Pasta

I'm constantly tip-toeing the line between healthy food and food that others actually want to eat. For the record, my friends do like the food I create, but they also crave those classic fatty comfort dishes...especially during these blasted cold months.

In this comfort dinner redo of classic spaghetti and meatballs, swapping sweet potatoes for pasta may seem completely out in left field, but when quickly sauteed in a touch of butter these faux 'noodles' are delightfully chewy and satisfying.  Yes, I did say butter; once in a while a touch of high quality butter really does the trick (though ghee, olive oil or coconut oil would all work as well.)

To take the sweet potato linguine a step further I tossed in a garlic cream sauce made from cashews. I know it sounds weird but if you haven't tried making cashew sauces, you really need to. Cashews are the new bacon ... not quite. But they create an amazing base for desserts, mayos, dips and so much more.  My olive cream sauce has a bite from the raw garlic, but the salty spicy combo shines against the buttery sweetness of the 'spaghetti'.