Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe

I've been baking a lot these days because I'm planning on giving cake gift baskets to friends and relatives. It's the same Christmas fruit cake I've been baking for many years, in fact, the recipe hasn't changed since my childhood. I actually forgot about it until I found an old post-it tucked into the pocket of an apron with the recipe scribbled on it! It's probably been there since we moved into our new home.

The cake is made with candied fruit, walnuts, honey, brandy and a bit of spices. You can easily double or reduce the quantities to fit your needs. Ho ho ho! Happy baking!

Pomegranate Acai Milkshake Recipe

This pomegranate acai drink is one of the many I make for breakfast after my morning workouts. I'm no nutritionist, but this drink works for me. It's filled with "superfoods". During the winter we almost always have freshly pressed pomegranate juice (here's why) in the refrigerator. To this fruit juice, I blended in some bananas, pure acai juice and mung beans for extra protein. 

It's delicious, plus it keeps me energetic and full until lunch time. Check out my other protein drinks; every day I blend a few ingredients, alternating between fresh fruits and vegetables, various kinds of milk and other sources of protein such as whey or soy protein. 

Banana and Fig Crepe Cake Recipe

Since I'm in Paris, I’ve been spoiling my little 2-year-old nephew Paul and 4-year-old niece Elise with sweets. It’s a great way to bond with them in a short period of time. Crêpes are always fun, so I made a pile for all of us to share, along with various jams, Nutella, honey and powdered sugar. In addition to the individual crêpes, I made mini crêpe cakes, filled with fig and banana jam. To repeat the flavors in the dessert, I topped the cake with freeze-dried banana chips and roasted figs.

The most fun part of the assembly was watching Elise and Paul eating the crêpes as I was making them. Lucky me, I still had enough crêpe batter to finish the dessert. I absolutely adore them! 

Natural Protein Shake Recipe (Smoothie)

This drink is made with mango purée, orange juice and a banana. The banana gives a smooth texture to the drink; cooked mung beans add protein and tie the flavors together.

I've read that eating breakfast is one of the keys to successfully losing weight. Since I've been waking up at the wee hours of the morning to work out for 45 minutes before starting the day, I want to stack the deck in my favor. A protein shake is the perfect choice for me because I'm not very big on breakfast (unless it's crêpes!).

Caramelized Banana Tart with Hazelnut Cream

It's Persian New Year! I was at my local Persian grocery store today and I noticed an abundance of whole hazelnuts being sold. They looked beautiful, so I bought a large bag of nuts, which were eaten fairly quickly by all the family. I turned the remaining nuts into a fine mill and made frangipane tarts in the evening.

To make the dessert look ultra fancy without being too complicated, I topped the hazelnut cream with bruléed bananas. Caramelizing the bananas brought out additional flavors that really complemented the hazelnut cream and the flaky puff pastry.

My cousin's husband Hoss from Ohio is Persian, so we called him to send him our best wishes. But unfortunately, he changed his number and didn't tell us. The person who picked up was utterly confused. So Hoss, if you're reading this, "Happy Nowruz"!