Category Archives: Food Talk 4 You!

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Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Joy to the World!

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Peace, Hope, Love, and now JOY.

Have you found your peace? Have you discovered and explored it this month? Have you helped to create peace in your life, and have you shared it with others?

I hope so.

Oh, there’s that hope. There is a way. You can do this. We can do this. There is strength enough inside of you, and there is help and hope available from those around you.

Are you feeling love in more than one realm? The here and now kind and the other-worldly kind from those who have gone before?

As I think of those who are newly grieved, a sense of peace, hope, and love may seem a bit of a stretch right now. Experiencing that first holiday season without someone and all that it brings to grief can overwhelm.

The peace may look different this year – but it’s still peace.

The hope may seem to have evaporated – but look around. Your situation may be unwanted and different, but there is a new path that fits the new you. It’s there. Look for it and move toward it.

Love has no boundaries, and there is always room for new love. May we all take the love we have and the love we have experienced to grow MORE love – the opportunities and needs for love and expressions for love surround us.

As we take our peace, hope, and love out into the world, we will discover JOY.

Joy, I think, is contingent upon action – our action of reaching out to others with peace, hope, and love. It does not plop into our laps – joy requires our efforts.

Joy wants to be shared, too! Who sits around just being joyful? Sure, we have joy in our hearts, but doesn’t it just about leap out of our chests, begging to be spread around?

This is a great time for us all – especially if you find yourself feeling a little lack-luster as we close out the year – to pause and to ponder about small moments when you have found some peace, and hope, and love.

Jot each moment down on a small slip of paper; fold it and drop it into a jar. Every so often, add a short note about something positive – a blessing – to drop into your blessings jar.

On New Year’s Eve, one year from now, dump all your blessings out onto the table and read each one – and you will feel JOY!

Life is a series of tiny moments, and we often get stuck on all the negatives that have happened to us. But by being aware of the many small blessings that come our way, we realize that things are not that bad.

May there be abundant peace, hope, love, and joy for each of us, and may we reflect those feelings and mindsets in all that we do now and in the coming New Year.

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In health –

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Love is Everything

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It’s the bottom line.

Everything else can and will fall away. We are left with this one thing. All our striving, our busy activities, our concerns, our vain imaginings – they disappear, and we are left with this one eternal element that is the sum of the Universe.

LOVE.

We need love on a cellular level. Take love away and we become twisted and tortured.

Some of us have mistakenly believed we do not deserve love – we are somehow less than, or we have caused so much harm, that we do not merit love.

But we were designed by love – if only by the power of Universal, love found in the miracle of Creation itself – and were designed to need and give love.

I’ve discovered that love has a handmaiden.

Grief.

When we love someone, we are committing to the grief that will surely follow when that love is taken from our physical presence.

If you have lost someone, the grief you feel is a testament to your love! That’s a big deal.

It makes loving someone an even more precious thing. What a gift!

“I love you fiercely even knowing that when we are physically separated, I will grieve and hurt – BUT it’s totally worth it and I freely do it!”

Moreover, that love never dies.

We may not realize it until we lose someone, but love is so much bigger than the here and now. Love exists on so many planes and in so many realms that we can barely understand it.

I think our souls must be a bundle of love light that when we are no longer here to hold or be held, we whisk away to be love on another dimension – and that the love we were burns brightly in the hearts and minds of our loved ones.

Love is light. Light gives peace and hope – they are all wrapped up together.

In this season of love, may we freely give and receive the love, peace and hope that is the ultimate force of change to ourselves, to others, and to the world.

You may share this message of love by using the options in the MORE button below.

In health and love –

Deidre

Merry Christmas everyone!

Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Light of Hope

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The flash of a newborn’s first smile.

The light of a candle in a darkened room.

That outreached hand being offered to pull you up.

There’s HOPE!

All is not lost.

Maybe you thought all was lost but a door or window just opened and there is a new way forward.

As the adage says, “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

Hang in there, dear readers, there is hope for you – and for us all.

Let’s tear ourselves away from the headlines of chaos and insanity. Let’s light our one little personal candle and together we can create a bigger light – a light so big and bright that our surrounding neighborhoods will be illuminated with peace, hope, love, and joy.

Be the hope to your body as you offer it a fresh, home-cooked meal made with whole ingredients that don’t come from a can or package.

Create a series of hopeful actions by drinking one less cup of coffee or alcoholic beverage and add one more glass of water.

Take a 15 minute break and go for a walk – your body will be so happy that it may ask for more.

People are watching us. Whether we know it or not, each of us is the model and inspiration for someone else.

Who me? Yes. You. And you. And you.

By displaying hope to our own body/mind/spirit and in being that smile, light, and helping hand to others.

Let’s keep that light of hope burning.

Pass the light of hope by sharing this nugget with others using the options in the MORE button below.

In health and hope –

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Let There Be Peace on Earth

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As we approach this holiday season, there are several threads of sentiments woven throughout our common experiences that reflect and unite our diverse beliefs.

Today’s word is PEACE.

Sometimes said as a part of giving a blessing, “Peace I give to you …”

Sometimes given at the conclusion of a service of worship, “Peace be with you … and also to you.”

Something often wished for, “If I could only get a little peace around here!”

Sometimes it’s spoken as a plea, “Give peace a chance.”

So, amid holiday bustle, where do you find peace?

Are you open to receiving peace?

How do you create peace?

How do you give peace?

How does peace feel to you?

Often spoken about in conjunction with the word QUIET, we can imagine peace happening separate from noise and clamor.

I often think of peace, quiet, and wonder when first stepping out to view new fallen snow – especially at night.

Or that physical sensation that floats over me when I learn everything is going to be alright. It’s beyond plain relief, it’s a deep feeling of peace that defies description.

Then there’s the inexplicable peace that can come to us even when the news is bad – we just know that we have the strength to stay the course and we know that we will be okay.

Generally, I find peace in the common things. Nothing special needs to be happening. Maybe that’s peace and contentment?

Explore the role of peace in your life. Perhaps peace may come as you make and give peace away to others.

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In health and peace –

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

Waiting for the Good Things to Come

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Sometimes we just have to wait.

Our little ones are gearing up for a season of waiting as they bounce and wriggle with delight in anticipation, just thinking about presents and festive activities heading their way in the coming weeks.

We adults are the same about some things. While we have mastered waiting to open beautifully wrapped packages, there are other anticipations that tempt us, and we become impatient.

I’m feeling a bit frustrated with waiting right now.

You see, there’s a big project that I’ve been working on for months that was going to be revealed to you this very day, but some of the many moving parts of this multifaceted project are just not in place yet.

So, we wait.

The deadline was self-imposed. It will come together – when it’s ready – and the big reveal will be well done and helpful to those who need it.

A recent message from the daily thoughts I subscribe to by Amit Sood, focused on Gaining vs. Becoming, and has helped me gain patience in my delayed project.

His message urged listeners to consider the difference between gaining vs. becoming as they approached their life goals.

Some people focus on gaining wealth, position, or possessions at all costs as they go about their careers, whereas others focus on the kind of person they want to become while doing their work.

Sure, we all need to pay the rent and buy groceries, but what kind of person are we becoming while we do the necessary work? Is our work requiring us to become less than our optimal self?

His thoughtful words reminded me of a saying about people remembering not what we say to them, but how they were made to feel while we spoke to them.

The first time I ever heard that saying, I certainly felt a pinch. From then on, I have tried to model being a more thoughtful, considerate, compassionate, and understanding person.

We can still get the job done while taking a path that includes honoring what kind of person we want to become.

No one is ever done becoming. Each of us can modify what we work on to become – at any age.

What is the kind of person you want to become?

What are you going to do to become that person?

Take a moment as we anticipate the holidays. Light a candle. Bundle up and step outdoors to gaze at the stars. When all is said and done, what counts?

Become that.

And if you are impatient to get the results of last week’s word search puzzle, you can relax, because the results are posted under this!

WORD SEARCH ANSWERSDownload

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In health with gratitude and thanks to each of our readers –

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Stress Reduction, This -n- That

While the Feast is Cooking

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A very popular post last year was our Thanksgiving Word Find puzzle. We designed it as a fun reminder of the key points in a year’s worth of information, and to provide quick links to review full articles.

So, based upon rave reviews, we present: The 2022 version of the Foodtalk4you Word Find Puzzle – use it as a helpful review, a conversation starter, or as something to while away the time when everything is in the oven because you do not want to watch football.

Let’s dive right in with a quick reminder about each selected prompt, along with the link back to the original post.

REFLECTION – On January 4, we start the New Year off with a now favorite activity: reflecting on a year’s worth of blessings. It’s one of the most rewarding things I do, and readers are joining the ranks each year.

LUNGE – One of those simple things we can do, even when there is not much time to devote to exercise. Take the plunge for a lunge as explained on this Jan. 11th post.

ELEPHANT – On Feb. 22nd, we explored how to get enormous projects done. If you feel like a tiny mouse being asked to eat an elephant – read this.

FLAX SEED – Flax and chia seeds are powerhouses in a tiny package. Check out this post on March 19 to see how to find a place for them in your diet.

LAUNDRY – From the science behind why warm water may do a better job and to what’s happening with fabric softeners, there’s lots to learn from this post on April 19.

RESILIENCE – What we all need more of. Take a couple minutes reviewing these simple options for coping and building resilience on May 22nd.

MINERALS – I hope you printed out the easy-to-read download of where to get potassium, calcium, sodium, and magnesium in simple everyday foods on June 7.

ZOOM – More than just a meeting method. On June 21st, we learned how to zoom out to get the big picture, and zoom in to get things done – we need to do both and to know when to do which.

BASIL BOATS – On July 19th, I shared my new take on fresh summertime tomato, basil, and mozzarella.

RELEASE – Allow yourself to open the prison doors of past trauma. Read the post from Oct 4th, to start your release today.

CHANGE – If we want different outcomes, what we put out to ourselves and to the universe must change first. Learn how to be willing to change in this post from October 11th.

WORD SWAP – Your mind believes what you tell it. Be nice in your self-talk. Do you want to be treated better? Be nice to yourself first. Learn how to turn around that self-talk in this post from Oct 18th.

BROTH – I took a short deep dive on Nov 1st, trying to tease out the difference between stock and broth. Just buy broth.

FROTHER – My favorite kitchen tool discovery this year. Discover what a frother can do for you in this post from Sept. 27th.

BREATHER – What activity do you do to de-stress in a way that gives you a breather? Discover options in the post from Sept. 20th.

RESTORE – Sometimes, a restorative activity is best to calm our jagged nerves. What you can do to restore yourself is also explored on Sept. 20th.

Hope you enjoy this year’s Foodtalk4you Word Find Puzzle. Offering it as a family/friend activity could start meaningful conversations about improved health with others in a non-threatening platform. We are all about starting helpful conversations and sharing good news with others.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for each of you!


In health –

Deidre

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Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Recipes

Cooking up a storm! 

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Things happen in the kitchen around here. New recipes are born, some tweaked, some are made once and forgotten, some are made over and over, and some are shared. 

Let’s start with the spankin’ new baby of a recipe I made this morning for the second time – just to make sure it wasn’t an accident – and I even remembered to take a few pictures this time. 

As two well-ripened bananas stared at me begging to be used, I was trying to recall a recipe that used bananas to make pancakes.  

Couldn’t remember it. 

Meh. Never stopped me before. 

Pancakes don’t hold me long enough to eat just on their own. Nope – I need protein.  

How about getting all the needed protein, fiber, and potassium in the pancakes themselves?  

Done and done! Check this out: 

Almost Flourless Banana Nut PANCAKES

2 very ripe bananas – peeled, and smashed with a fork in a separate dish 

3 large/extra-large eggs – whip eggs in medium bowl using a wire whip.  

Then add the eggs: 

3 Tbs. whole flax seeds, freshly ground 

¼ cup almond flour 

¼ cup 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour 

Salt to taste 

Cinnamon to taste 

½ tsp. vanilla extract 

¼ tsp. baking powder 

¼ tsp. baking soda 

½ cup coarsely chopped nuts – pecans or walnuts work great 

Stir together and then add the mashed bananas. 

Ladle the pancake mixture on a griddle that has been coated with oil over medium heat and cook the pancakes.  

The sweetness in the bananas can cause rapid browning, so watch the timing and level of heat. 

We found these to be pretty yummy, naturally sweet, and not needing vast amounts of maple syrup to make them moist. 

This recipe was enough for two people with a couple of pancakes to spare. 

Anytime I can cook in advance, I’ll do it – especially as holiday events unfold – so today, in early November, I am prepping ingredients for my very popular Cranberry Sauce. Once made, this will be divided into smaller portions and frozen.  

I’ve shared this gem before with you, but thought it merited being seen again. People who avoid cranberry sauce often rave about this one and ask for the recipe – so, let’s get to it: 

CRANBERRY SAUCE 

This is not your normal Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce which uses a full cup of sugar for each bag of cranberries. We use half that, and yet maintain sweetness levels through the addition of other healthy fruits.  

Ingredients 

2 – 12-ounce bags of fresh cranberries, rinsed and culled of soft berries  

1 pear, cored, peeled, and diced 

1 orange – cut rind off top and bottom, quarter, and thinly slice 

Secret Ingredient: RASPBERRY ESSENCE – method to follow 

¾ – 1 cup sugar – can be a combination of sugar and erythritol/monk fruit sugar equivalent 

¾ – 1 cup water 

Whole cloves – about 15 buds removed from cloves 

1 – 2 cinnamon sticks 

Dash of nutmeg 

Raspberry Essence Method 

Essence: In a small saucepan, gently cook 1 cup fresh raspberries with about 1 Tablespoon sugar and 1 -2 Tablespoons of water. Pour cooked berries into a strainer above the large pot being used for the cranberries. Using a silicone spatula, press raspberry pulp through the strainer. This takes a while. Press, scrape, press, scrape. The raspberry pulp will accumulate on the outside of the strainer – scrape off this essence into the big pot. Note: use a different silicone scraper to scrape the essence so seeds do not transfer. 

Add all remaining ingredients into the large pot and cook over medium heat. The berries will pop as they cook. Stir occasionally. When heated and bubbly, you can lower the temperature a bit and “smush” the berries against the pan to assist in popping. Continue to cook until ingredients meld into a thick sauce. Adjust for sweetness, if desired. 

Transfer into a serving or storage dish, remove cinnamon stick, and cool. The resulting sauce more closely resembles a jam. 

In addition to being offered as a colorful relish to accompany turkey, chicken, or pork, this sauce/jam can be spread on top of nut butters (almond is my favorite) as a twist on PB and J. 

We are making both recipes downloadable so you can keep them handy. 

Click Here for:  ALMOST FLOURLESS BANANA NUT PANCAKES

Click Here for: CRANBERRY SAUCE 

Eating healthy and staying in health through the holidays –  

Deidre  

If you think someone you know would enjoy this post, please share using the options under the MORE button below. 

Blogging for good health!, Habit Building, Stress Reduction

Just Five More Minutes!

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Show of hands, please.

Who is starting to feel a little scattered with projects and obligations?

Me! Me! Me!

Wow! That’s a lot of hands going up. Mine included!

It’s time for a little course correction in my neck of the woods, and I am thinking that we may all need a renewed commitment for a calmer approach – especially as the holidays are upon us.

I mean – Black Friday sales started before Halloween … My social and travel calendar is filling up past January, now, and new commitments are hard to make because of life events happening. We’re all there, I’m sure.

Are you feeling like you are on a slippery slope and the details and enjoyment of the present moment may just slip by as well? Life’s too short. I want to enjoy the ride.

Who’s in control, here?

We know the answer to that question. Each of us are.

Join me in stopping this high speed merry-go-round as we reevaluate our expectations.

Breathe

Take a minute – although two minutes is proven to show a complete reset to calming down – and simply breathe. In and out. Eyes closed. Listen to your breathing sounds. Notice the rise and fall of your chest and abdomen. Breathe. Lean into the calm of your breath.

Prioritize

Take a minute to prioritize what is important to you. At the end of the day – what truly matters?

Life/death issues would be at the top. Keeping a roof over our head and food on the table would be next – so, yes, work issues must happen – but even those need to be prioritized.

If you are juggling a list of twenty must-do items like I am, a time of zooming out to look at the big picture of our lives is needed to see what can be shuffled off to other helping hands or can be delayed.

Commit

What is the least we can do to keep a certain project moving forward today? Rather than ignoring something we want to do, how about maintaining a minimal daily involvement?

No time for a workout? How about taking that needed break with a walk around the block? Maybe a minute of planks? We don’t have to leave our priorities in the dust just because there is not a big block of time to devote to them.

Think small and reward yourself with a check mark for having done something. Those little check marks provide a great sense of accomplishment and momentum.

That’s it.

In five minutes, my disjointed feelings of floundering are now erased, and I am on a smoother and truer course forward. Check marks are being made.

As they used to say on the commercials to Mikey, “Try it! You’ll like it!”

In health –

Deidre

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Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blogging for good health!, This -n- That

Stock or Broth? That Is The Question!

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I’m tired of going to the grocery store to buy broth … or is it stock? … for a recipe, and getting thoroughly bumfuzzled concerning which is which.

There I stand – a box of each type in my hands. Reading the labels – yet again – trying to tease out the difference.

Help!

Determined to ferret out the difference and to commit it to memory, I am on a quest – taking a deep dive into online education.

My query’s answer starts like this:

Bottom line:

Stock is made from bones, while broth is made mostly from meat or vegetables.

Fair enough.

But wait a minute … I was having this debate about vegetable stock versus vegetable broth just yesterday in the middle of my local Harris Teeter. Last time I checked, vegetables do not have bones.

This is not helping me.

We continue:

Broth is traditionally made by simmering meat in water, often with vegetables and herbs. Today, however, vegetable broth has become very common.

Using bones in stock creates a thicker liquid, while broth tends to be thinner and more flavorful.

Ah-hah!

But remember about “bone broth” and all those who drink it for its nutritive values? Huh? Huh?

Bone … broth …

Bone broth is technically stock because it requires the addition of bones!

Give me a break.

Basically, in creating either stock or broth, the key is in how long to cook it.

Bones should be simmered a long time to derive the best nutritional profile.

Using meats to flavor the fluid requires a shorter cook time because overcooked meat gets tough – limit cook time to about an hour – because the cooked meat is usually eaten either in the soup or in another recipe.

Risotto

According to healthline.com, the most common dishes for using broth are:

Cream sauces

Risotto

Dumplings

Stuffing

Casseroles

Stuffing

Cooked grains and legumes

Gravies

Soups

Sauteed or stir-fried dishes

So last night’s delicious Curried Pumpkin and Mushroom Risotto that I made with vegetable stock was created all wrong. The recipe can be found on the website, EatingWell.com.

Dag-gum boneless vegetables steered me wrong.

From now on, I’m just going to grab broth – no bones about it.

Still confused –

Deidre

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Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blogging for good health!, Recipes, This -n- That

It’s Fusion, Baby!

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Last November/December on our holiday trek to Williamsburg, Virginia, we kept returning to a great restaurant – Amber Ox – just to continue our explorations of their flavorful and expertly crafted meals and drinks.

It was at the Amber Ox, I first experienced eggs cooked in a Shakshuka Sauce. Savory, spicey, and delicious – especially when sopping up the sauce with their amazing fresh baked bread.

Shakshouka/Shakshuka is a Maghrebi dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, peppers, onion, garlic, and spices. When the sauce is hot and bubbly, eggs are cracked into an indention made in the sauce, covered with a lid, and left to cook to the desired doneness.

After the introduction of Shakshuka Sauce, I was quick to spot jars of it in various stores. Yeeha!

But, I pretty much am cooking for just two people, and a Costco-sized jar of sauce was partially used, frozen, and thawed a bit to use some more … you understand the problem.

Well, once again, a recipe is born out of longing for a certain flavor profile with easier-to-access supplies.

Flashback to my first introduction to breakfast spiciness – Huevos Rancheros in Sacramento, California – when I was just beginning to develop a palate beyond middle-of-the-road American.

Huevos Rancheros meets Shakshuka!

It’s fusion, baby!

With a handy, ever-present small jar of salsa and a new staple in the fridge – a small jar of Thai Red Curry Paste – I can easily assemble some savory/spicy eggs.

After sauteing whatever veggies I have on hand such as:

Onion

Garlic

Bell pepper

Mushrooms

Spinach

Leftover cooked butternut squash

I add salsa and several dabs of the Thai Red Curry Paste. Stir to combine. Make indentations for the eggs. Crack the eggs into their nests. Add crumbly cheese on top, if desired. Cover with a lid and cook until done.

This morning I scrambled the eggs a bit in place in the pan and flipped sections over to cook uncovered on both sides.

So good.

This warming recipe is so versatile. I encourage you to try a little fusion at breakfast.

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In health –

Deidre