Tag: beneficial

Hand Work

You may have noticed “hand work” on my weekly tracker.

As a person who has worked in an online/virtual format for many years, I long ago recognized the need to balance it out with real, tangible work – work that yields real product you can touch.

Years ago, I read about how grieving women tend to find relief in repetitive tasks such as knitting, crocheting, gardening, saying the rosary, etc. Little movements, over and over, with beautiful and useful results. This repetition helps us process grief and life’s upheavals.

The person doing it is awake, aware, engaged… but the mind can wander too.

It’s a form of meditation.

The mind enters a sort of “dream” state, and in it, ideas and thoughts can pop up. Some good, some bad. The right brainwave environment for a person to sort out their feelings and get comfortable with uncomfortable stuff.

We all need that, right?

I learned how to sew as a kid but didn’t do it too often. But in 2020, suddenly everyone needed a mask. I pulled out the old Kenmore and went to work.

Some of the early ones were sewn really poorly, but to my amazement, people kept asking for them and even paying for them! And I started to see them “out in the wild.” And then my awesome friend Megan sent me a ton of fabric from her studio in Washington. And I kept going.

I gave myself permission to practice and get better. And I also started learning how to crochet, using YouTube as my school.

So anyway, along the way, I made a little patchwork denim bag, and my daughter’s friends went crazy! They each wanted one…  and then I got the opportunity to put my bags at Melo Coffee Kitchen as artwork! Whaaaatttt???

And they’ve been selling!

I’m a little bit excited… Can you tell? 😊

Another Biome Breakthrough!

Check out this amazing research from the University of Florida and Trinity College Dublin:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250821004244.htm

Queuosine is a rare micronutrient crucial for brain health, memory, stress response, and cancer defense. It is “a vitamin-like micronutrient that we can’t make ourselves but can only get from food and our gut bacteria.”

“For over 30 years, scientists have suspected that there had to be a transporter for this nutrient, but no one could find it,” said Valérie de Crécy-Lagard, a UF/IFAS microbiology and cell science distinguished professor and department associate chair, as well as one of the study’s principal investigators. “We’ve been hunting for it for a long time. This discovery opens up a whole new chapter in understanding how the microbiome and our diet can influence the translation of our genes.”

Very iteresting! We are starting to map the microbiota.

Daughter Days

Our daughter is with us this summer and I couldn’t be happier. 🙂😍

Tonight, she’s the chef. She made an amazing kale salad that is really healthy and nutritious.

We added a little grilled chicken on top.

Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a try:

Warm Kale and Quinoa Salad

Cold Plates

It’s really hot this week.

I lived most of my life in Florida, where it’s like this all the time: WAY too hot to use the oven for at least 10 months of the year.

There was a cute little diner at the Tahitian Inn on Dale Mabry where we used to meet friends on groggy Sunday mornings. They had an amazing cold plate there… salad greens and three hollowed bell peppers filled with your choice of chicken, tuna, egg, ham, or potato salad.

We made it part of our routine. Summer dinners (and by that, I mean March thru November) were often homemade cold plates, starting with a green salad and adding a bunch of cold sides.

For example:

  • Chicken salad/cold chicken
  • Potato salad
  • Tuna salad
  • Egg salad
  • Pasta salad
  • Carrot & celery sticks with hummus
  • Pickles
  • Sweet peppers
  • Olives
  • Sliced cheese
  • Good bread or crackers
  • Fruits
  • Cole slaw / quick slaw

Last weekend, I made a batch of my yummy purple yams with coconut. Yes, I had the oven on for an hour, but I make enough to snack on all week. It makes a great cold lunch or side dish.

I made lentils, too, which is also great served cold.

My husband made a potato salad and an egg salad, and chopped another pineapple into bite sized pieces.

Anyway, if you’re looking for healthy dishes to throw together for hot summer nights, I suggest you try a cold plate night.

Quick Slaw

Another quick, cold, plant-based recipe for you. I’m sorry, I don’t have a more exacting recipe. You’re gonna have to use the force on this one.

Enjoy!

  • Red cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Sunflower seeds or pistachios
  • Raisins or another similar-sized dried fruit
  • Honey
  • Salt
  • Red wine vinegar

Find a bowl you’d like to serve this dish in.

Slice the cabbage very thin. You want enough to fill the bowl approximately 60% full of the shredded cabbage.

Wash the carrots and then either use a hand peeler OR a cheese grater to shred them. Add them to the bowl. These 2 ingredients will take up most of the space in the bowl, so keep adding until it is about 90% full.

Add at least a cup each of sunflower seeds and raisins. Mix well. Salt liberally, unless the sunflower seeds have already done that for you.

Add honey and red wine vinegar in equal amounts to coat the ingredients. Mix well.

It’s crunchy, sweet, salty, and healthy. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated, which makes it perfect for summer, camping, etc.

Once you get the hang of it, swap out white cabbage for red, different nuts or seeds, different dried fruit, fancy vinegars… just make sure you include something crunchy, something sweet, something salty, and something vinegarrey. 😋

Use the force!

Lentils

Not gonna lie, I cut this recipe off the back of the lentil bag. It’s delicious.

  • 1 cup organic green lentils
  • 3 cups chicken broth or water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 large or 2 small carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 ounces Feta or goat cheese

Combine lentils, chicken broth (or water), and bay leaf in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until lentils are tender.

Remove bay leaf and strain. Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except the cheese.

When lentils are cooled (pop them in the freezer for a few minutes), add lentils to the mixture and stir it all together.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Crumble goat cheese on top when serving.

30 for 30

I used to struggle to get 30 different types of plant foods in my diet each week. As I’ve been doing this for a while now — and enjoying the benefits of a much healthier tummy — I thought I’d share a few secrets.

Coffee Klatch ☕️

Every morning, I begin with coffee and add to it about 1 tablespoon of chaga, which is a mushroom product.

Two down, 28 to go!

Tea for Two 🫖

Teas count! I usually have a cup of herbal tea after my morning coffee. My favorite is ginger turmeric, but of course, I mix it up… each day is different. 

I’m going to estimate that you’ll get at least 3 plant foods and their wonderful micronutrients in one cup of tea.

Add a lemon, lime, or orange slice? You’ve got 4.

What’s the tally now? Six plant foods! 24 to go!

Nuts to You 🌰🥜🐿

We like to keep a couple of jars of nuts in the den… easy access to healthy snacks when movie time rolls around. We keep a big one just for cashews, a small one for pistachios, and a medium-sized one for mixed nuts from Aldi, which includes peanuts, pecans, almonds and hazelnuts.

Ok, so a handful here and there throughout the week equals 6 of your 30 plant-based foods. And just having them around will help curb your desire for the unhealthy stuff.

Ok, add 6 to the tally. 18 to go!

Shoot Some Salad, Salad Shooter 🥗🔫

I’m making a big salad for tonight, and marinating some chicken for Jimmy to grill.

Here’s the salad ingredients in tonight’s mix: romaine lettuce, baby spinach, baby chard, baby kale, broccoli sprouts, tomatoes, cucumber slices, celery, sweet pepper slices, avocado, olives, and green onion. 

There’s enough for 4 of us to eat, and I’m pretty sure there will be leftovers for tomorrow. I’m not too proud to eat yesterday’s dressed salad. It takes on a giardiniera vibe.

Ok, that’s 12 more plant foods to add to the tally.

If you count the red wine vinegar I use in the dressing, it makes 13! I’m not going to count the dried herbs, though…

18 – 13 = 5 more to go!

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy 🍉🍒🫐🍓🍍

It’s summer, and there’s a ton of ripe fruit available, so take advantage while you can.

This morning, we finished a pineapple at breakfast.

My lunch was apple chunks with peanut butter drizzle.

On the dinner table, I set out blueberries, watermelon, and cherries. So there’s 5 more plant foods for today!

5 – 5 = 0! I got 30 in one day! Now, any new veggie to cross my path is just a bonus!

Easy, healthy, and delicious!

Up Your Reps

One of the first posts on this blog, Get Ye a Morning Ritual, shared a great morning workout by Master Shi Heng Yi.

I’ve been doing this for over a year now and have recently upped my reps to 36. Master Yi uses the Ayurvedic numbers, so I’ve followed this pattern.

Really feeling it in my arms/shoulders and tops of my thighs. But yeah, it’s all good and I’m happy and thankful that I can do it and of course I feel better after I do.

Here’s the original workout:

The only problem with the 36 reps is that it takes a while, and I often lose count. My husband asks me a question, or the dog sees me standing still and gives me his signals for backyard, walkie time, or breakfast time… and so I pause, forget where I’m at in my count ….

So today, I did an 18-rep workout, and then I did it again for a total of 36 reps. I think this is gonna stick.

Whatever your health situation, this is a great way to get moving in the morning, and move that lymphatic system!

Yummy Yams

A bowl of these yummy yams is a delicious treat! Better than most desserts! And very, very good for you. Thanking my sister Gabi for this simple recipe.

● Peel and chop 3 purple yams into bite-sized pieces.

● Mix in a scoop of coconut oil and as much shredded coconut as you’d like.

● Preheat oven to 350°.

● Spread the chunks out on a cookie sheet.

● Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or a full hour. The edges will carmelize a bit.

Weekend Routine

The weekend priorities are to see as many people as possible, spend as much time outdoors as possible, and get lots and lots of exercise. And of course grocery shop for the week and get healthy foods.

Check out the steps I got yesterday! Farmer’s market in the morning, then a 5K CLL walk with my support group, then visiting with family all evening. Plus a couple of walks with Max. 🐕‍🦺