Good Things

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Oh, gosh, I’ve been thinking of changing the name of my blog… or something.

The renewal for both my domain name (Sexy Past 60) and for WordPress – they host my blog – have come due and I seriously thought about not renewing either of them. I’m way past 60. And not feeling very sexy, and I haven’t written anything in months. Why not drop them and save the worry, and a couple hundred dollars?
Upon discussion with my sweetie, he convinced me to keep it another year and see what happens. I might feel like writing again soon. Inspiration could strike…

To use a British expression, I feel that I’ve “been made redundant.” I no longer need to give advice on hair, makeup, or clothing styles because it can easily be found anywhere these days with a quick computer search. There’s even technology where you can try-on a haircut, makeup, and even clothing before you buy them. Online, of course. But really, that is only part of the reason I haven’t been writing.

The truth is, I haven’t been writing because I’ve had a spectacularly lousy last couple of months.

Define lousy, you say. I had 4 emergency room visits to two different hospitals, another “stroke-like” event which turned out not to be a stroke, and a 5-day hospital stay… all in one month.
I’m on a first name basis with a couple of E.R. docs and nurses now. I’ve been CT’d, MRI’d, radio-activated, stress-tested and spinal tapped.

And that was before I went to MD Anderson Cancer in Houston for a week.


In my book, Sick and Tired & Sexy… Living Beautifully with Chronic Illness, I focused on the auto-immune illnesses I live with, since so many other women have them, too. What was helping me would probably help them also.

I didn’t include the rare bone-marrow disorder I’ve had since 1998. My body produces way too many platelets – the opposite of Leukemia. I’ve been on meds that have kept it well-controlled forever. It was just something humming in the background which would occasionally remind me of its presence with an astonishingly psychedelic migraine.

Suddenly, it was not under control and causing me a lot of seemingly unrelated problems.

By going to MD Anderson, I have an updated diagnosis, and a brand new treatment plan going forward. It’s a week, today, since I started a new drug, Jakafi, and other than feeling a bit dizzy, I’m doing very well. Better living through modern chemistry, indeed!

Two other good things that have made my life much better have been mail-order subscription services.

The first is with Brodo, which means “broth” in Italian. It’s delicious bone-broth which is low-sodium and high-flavor. It has as much protein as an egg in each one-cup serving. And look at the cute cups they sent me as a gift with my second order!
I struggle to get enough protein since I dislike eggs in the morning, and I can’t eat dairy products. A cup of steamy broth and a gluten-free goodie works just fine for me. I order both individual serving packs in my fave flavor (Tuscan Sun) and a few bigger (3-cup) packages to use a base for other meals. It’s been a game-changer for me to have them in my pantry.

* I am not receiving compensation of any kind for sharing these great products. They’ve become staples, and I am just passing along the deliciousness.

The other subscription is to Wildgrain – a bakery service where I can order gluten-free sourdough breads, delicious “Everything” bagels (my favorites) below, and other goodies that make my wheat-free, dairy-free, low-sodium life much easier. With cold weather on its way, I’m all set. Soup!

Doesn’t that bagel look delish? It’s a bit less chewy than a wheat flour bagel, but it’s certainly a tasty substitute. I’ve even found a non-dairy cream cheese by Kite Hill that has a creamy texture and a tangy flavor. I’m thrilled!

And I have more good things to look forward to: Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos are both this week. They are my favorite holidays! I need to pick up some pumpkins today and put them in the yard with my black cat cut-outs. We love to decorate, even though we don’t have trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood, sadly.

The other good thing is my birthday, next week. I usually don’t make a fuss over it, but this year I’m going to. I’m going to be 74… and I’m very grateful to be here to celebrate it!

I’m going to buy myself some new baking pans and cookie sheets at Sur la Table. (Since I’m still studying French, I now know that means “on the table.”) Which I where I’m going to park a small decadent chocolate cake that I’m making for myself.

Pictures in the next post, promise.

Wishing you all good things, thanks for being here!
XO. Donna

T’was the Night Before

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I’ve tried to keep things simple, but it’s 4:15 a.m. Monday morning and I’m a bit stressed-out as I iron-out my menu for Christmas Eve dinner, tomorrow. I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older I tend to stress-out more, rather than less. Is it just me? Tell me it’s not…
Our dear friend Mike (whom you’ve met before) is coming over to shake up some cocktails and celebrate with us. I’ve finally decided on a wonderfully meaty lasagne (Not GF noodles, but I found a perfect sub for all the ricotta) and a Caesar salad. Simple.

Since Christmas and Hanukkah are both on December 25 this year I’m putting an Italian spin on my latkes by using zucchini and potatoes. Topped with vegan sour cream (Kite Hill) and a touch of rosemary they’ll make great appetizers! And to finish everything off, I’m trying out an Eggnog panna cotta. My sweetie loves eggnog… so I thought, Why not? I’ll have to try a bite or two, to make sure it’s good. LOL

I know my omnivore son will love everything – I’m bringing dinner to him and we’ll visit on Christmas Day. He’s doing much better; he’s able to be in his chair comfortably now for a couple of hours. He even visited with his friends away from the nursing home for the first time. Big win in my book!

Lasagne is my son’s paternal family’s tradition. We used to have the most delicious Italian feasts at his grandparents house, food was their love-language. Four generations would gather, and that celebration is sorely missed.
I do my best, but those are by-gone memories we cherish now.
Jason’s Grandmother and Great-grandmother, and their cooking, were the glue that held an extensive network of friends and family together.

Speaking of four generations – Turk’s grandson and his beautiful wife are in town till January 7, and we got to meet our precious great-granddaughter for the first time!
My sweetie is absolutely smitten!
She was born in Korea, where they are stationed. She is such a happy baby, easy-going, always smiling and willing to be held or played with by everyone.

We will be driving to San Antonio on the 27th to honor her baptism into the Catholic faith with her family. And taking time for a little getaway to see the lights along the Riverwalk and visit some favorite places.

Turk found his rosary beads from when he attended church as a child – beautiful faceted stones that look like garnets – and he’s going to pass them along to her. We hope she enjoys them, and appreciates their history one day.

I hope all of your celebrations are merry and bright, and I thank you for spending another year with me. I appreciate it more than you know.

XO Donna

GRATITUDE… in general

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It seems like Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving has just snuck up on me. Last week it was 86 degrees and this morning it’s 41. The leaves are falling, and my sweetie is complaining that no sooner does he get them all raked up… than he has to do it again. I think he takes it personally. So, of course, we will celebrate when the last one has fallen.

I don’t know about you, but I make menus and keep running lists for what I’m preparing for Turkey Day. Even when I’m only doing part of the dinner.
We have family members who, like me, can’t eat wheat or dairy. Or nuts, come to think of it. And a family member who can’t eat eggs. I like to surprise her with a special treat.
And we have a few omnivores who can eat anything, and yet enjoy the GF, egg-free and non-dairy items too, so I make extra. I honestly love the challenge.

How about you? Do you find you are preparing more foods in a non-traditional way each year? What specifically? Please share. 😉

If you’re like me, I’ll bet you’ve started your holiday/Christmas shopping, and I have a book to add to your list.
From a blurb in The Atlantic magazine on perfect gifts: “If, like me, you love museums, love coffee-table books and loathe the systemic erasure of women from the Western culture, then this gift is for you.”

When visiting a museum, Ms. Hessel realized that 83% of the art on the walls was by men… this is her effort to bring women artists into the light. Something that is long overdue and should be fascinating. I’ve ordered mine already! $42.00 on Amazon

Here’s a small, but soul-soothing gift (who couldn’t use that these days?) This candle was on the same “best gifts” list, and what I love about it is the fact that it’s a gender-neutral gift. I dislike all the pumpkin-spicy and peppermint candles that accompany the holiday season. This one is available at Target: Threshold Leather & Embers candle. It is subtly delicious, and the amber glass and wooden lid make it look more expensive than it actually is. At $12.00 each, and under, you can buy a few without breaking the bank.

I can’t remember if this is our 8th or 9th Thanksgiving together – but it means the world to me that you keep reading. I have so much to be grateful for, and you, dear readers, are a very large part of that.
Thank you, and I hope you all have a delicious and Happy Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving!

XO Donna

Simple Pleasures

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Books, books, books! I’m working my way down and around my reading list, and what I’ve been reading has inspired and informed what I’m cooking. The cooler weather hasn’t hurt either – I finally turned on the oven.

I’ve been reading memoirs – not what I usually read – but memoirs by food personalities take me to my “happy place.” They warm my heart with their passion for food. While there’s a whole lot I can’t eat, I’m savoring what I can, and experimenting more.

It all began with Ina Garten’s newest book, her memoir. I’ve been a fan since early 2000’s (I even wrote about her in my book) I’ve always wanted to meet her!
She and I had the same spirit-crushing fathers – they even had the same name: Melvin! But she had such deep trust in herself, that she took risks over and over again. With tons of hard work, and the loving support and trust of her husband, she has succeeded wildly on her own terms.

Stanley Tucci. What else can I say besides I have a total crush on the guy?
If you have not seen “The Big Night” or “Julie & Julia,” do so. Both passionate movies about delicious food and the people preparing it. Besides being a great cook, Tucci’s a consummate story-teller and a talented artist. His book is like taking a vacation in Italy.

Speaking of storytellers, I got to hear the fabulous Ruth Reichl read from her then new book “Comfort Me with Apples” at the Texas Book Festival in 2002. I was gifted a ticket to the Gala dinner and she was one of the three authors who read to us. She was the one I enjoyed most, because while I’ve always loved food and cooking, she displayed a passion in her writing, and reading, about food that I’d never experienced before. I just finished Apples, a memoir at that point in her life, and look forward to reading “Save Me the Plums,” her latest memoir about her ten years of running the glamorous Gourmet magazine.

All of this reading about food and recipes got me back in the kitchen after months when I just didn’t care. Adjusting to a new (more restricted) diet, and dealing with 110 degree heat, the last thing I wanted to do was cook anything intricate. However, a few cool nights and a few great books was all it took to get me jazzed again.

Reading Gourmet magazine online, they shared a new type of squash called Honeynut. It’s like a baby butternut squash; but richer, sweeter, and smaller with an edible skin. They are everything the magazine claimed they were, but after trying the skin, and not liking it, I just scraped the creamy flesh out and ate that.

I followed the microwave directions after cutting it in half (easily!) and in five minutes I was enjoying it with lunch. These squash are going to make a great soup, too. I stumbled upon mine at Costco.

And last, but not least, I made my wonderful gluten-free brownies last weekend since we had a little cool spell. I love a simple well-made brownie, maybe add a few toasted chopped walnuts or pecans. But it had been a while since I gussied up my brownies by adding teaspoons of room temperature all-natural unsweetened almond butter.


From top left, the plain batter. Then add scant teaspoons of almond butter evenly around batter, taking a butter knife, drag it through the batter making long swirly designs. Bake as always, until the tiniest bit gooey in the center, but a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack or else they won’t hold their shape. It’s hard to wait, I know, but it will be worth it.
You can do this with your favorite brownie mix or home recipe. Peanut butter (chunky or creamy) are both delicious also.

I hope I’ve offered you some great reads and great food ideas. My birthday is next Wednesday, and my sweetie and I are heading to San Antonio for a romantic getaway. We have a couple of favorite restaurants we want to revisit – it’s been since the pandemic that we’ve been back there. I’m looking forward to strolling along the Museum Reach-end of the Riverwalk. It is always wonderful because it’s so much less crowded than the middle of downtown. I’ll tell you all about it next time.

Thank you for being here,

XO Donna

THIRD ACT

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How are we almost to the half-way point of July? You’d think being retired that my days would drag by… but they don’t and every once in a while I take a day to lie about, recuperate, and do nothing.

Well, no I don’t, not really. On a day where there’s nothing I absolutely must do, I’ll try out a complicated new wheat-free recipe like these amazing (and I don’t say this lightly) Lemon Raspberry Bars. The woman who developed this recipe and many others, Katarina Cermelj, has revolutionized gluten-free baking! I’ve had to avoid wheat for more than 12 years now. I got used to the way GF baking was different, and limited myself to the few things that were good even though they were wheat-free.

These GF beauties have a lemon-zest shortbread base, a layer of seedless raspberry jam which keeps the cookie base crisp, and atop that are fresh raspberries with a crumb topping. They are wheat-free, egg-free, and scrumptious. You can find them here: theloopywhisk.com
Even before I baked these, I knew Katarina was on to something and I immediately ordered her book. She is a food scientist and a recipe developer and all of her bakes are beautifully photographed. My bake came out just as beautiful as hers, and more delicious than I ever could have imagined! I’m gonna do it again, very soon, I’ve got another jar of raspberry jam and a pint of berries in the fridge.

Another new-to-me thing I’ve been doing is listening to podcasts. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a delightful one where she interviews women older than her – she calls it “getting schooled by women older and wiser than herself,” and it’s appropriately called “Wiser Than Me.” I have found every single one of her interviews to be informative, thoughtful and entertaining, but I especially liked her conversations with Isabel Allende and Diane von Furstenberg – talk about wise women!
I really appreciated DVF’s attitude toward aging; she believes aging is living and eschews the word. “It’s a privilege, and we should change the question from “how old are you” to “how long have you lived?” I liked that, there is so much more to the question, it’s not just a dead-end. Check it out and let me know which are your favorites.

Forgive me if I am repeating myself, but during the pandemic I decided to brush-up on my Spanish using the Duolingo online app and website. I thought it would lend some structure to my day and help me meet my goal of being able to speak well again. I studied Spanish all through high school and for many years afterward I could speak and read quite well. I remember reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez in Spanish with my friend Debbie, and a Spanish dictionary, in the early 1980s. Slowly, and sadly, much of my grasp of the language has slipped away. I’ve taken conversational classes here and there, but nothing consistent until the pandemic began.

I am now on day 701. Yep. Seven hundred and one days of consistently reading, writing and learning vocabulary. Unfortunately, what I haven’t done is speak, except to myself. (There’s only so much my sweetie is willing to listen to in a language he doesn’t understand.) Fortunately, there is an International Languages Club here in Sun City. They offer Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Polish and quite a few others. The courses are offered at all levels and there are intensive grammar classes in between sessions so you can dive deeper. Imma stay up here in the shallow end of the pool for now, but I am very excited to begin when the next session starts a couple weeks from now in August!

Speaking of pools… I going to grab my towel and sunscreen and head over to the pool for a swim now that I’ve done everything on my to-do list. I’m finally getting the hang of being retired!

I hope you are stying cool and you and yours are doing well. Thank you for reading, and if you ever have questions, please feel free to comment and ask.

Thank you for reading,
XO Donna

Fresh Start

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I’m probably the last person to wish you a Happy New Year, as we are now one third of the way into the month. But, Happy New Year!
Jeez, we just took our tree down yesterday! It smelled so good, and we were both enjoying its “mood lighting” so much that we weren’t in a rush. This is the first holiday season, since we moved here four years ago, that we’ve enjoyed the holidays so much!

We’ve had greatsocial-media interactions with friends, hours on the phone with beloved out-of-state family members. We had a delightful, delicious, and very relaxed Christmas brunch with in-town family, and finished everything off with a stunning dinner with dear friends at a special restaurant that is extra-special during the holidays.

Fonda San Miguel, Austin TX

Our friends arrived early, just as the restaurant opened and captured this photo… 15 minutes later when we joined them it was buzzing with life! I hate to admit it has been more than 20 years since I’ve eaten here. Fonda San Miguel serves the finest authentic interior, and coastal, Mexican cuisine outside of Mexico. The restaurant opened in 1975 – I moved here three years later, but it wasn’t until the early-eighties that I first dined here. It always felt like a “special occasion” restaurant to me; the regional cuisine, authentic decor, their greenery and a parrot or two, and a glass skylight over it all. Fortunately, I used to go rather often. I learned a lot about great food here, many of their recipes were inspired by their friend Diana Kennedy, an expert and cookbook author who has been described as the “Mick Jagger of Mexican Cuisine!”

Please go to their website (fondasanmiguel.com) for a look. You’ll see a photo of a beautiful poblano pepper with a (brandy-walnut) cream sauce and pomegranate seeds sprinkled over it. These are made especially for Christmastime, and that’s what I had for dinner. Amazing!
We are talking about making a reservation and going again in the spring for their Sunday Brunch. I can’t wait.

Speaking of food, it’s just cookies, but it was a big win for me: I finally baked a batch of Linzer Tarts for my son that came out nearly as good as his Italian Grandmother & Great-grandmother’s. Despite having their recipes all of these years I’ve avoided a few… how could I ever hope to equal theirs? This year, their recipes and my skill level have finally, deliciously aligned. I may have to bake him another batch for his birthday in a couple of weeks!

And, speaking of Mexican food menus, I have been studying Spanish for more than 500 days on Duolingo. I began during the pandemic and have developed a routine now. I’m always surprised when I receive my weekly update of my stats which tells me how many new words I’ve learned in a week, how many phrases I’ve mastered, and how many hours I’ve put in; usually 3-5 hours a week.
I studied Spanish all through high school, and although I was a good learner, I was a middle-of-the-road student because I didn’t do my homework. At one point in my life I could actually carry on conversations and read books (One Hundred Years of Solitude) in Spanish. Trying to become fluent seemed like a good goal, something to give structure to my mostly unstructured days.
I definitely recommend Duolingo. I started with the free version, and have upgraded to the paid one. If you are doing it, or decide to do it, let’s connect and get a study/fun group going, okay?

I hope your holidays were merry and bright, and that this new years offers new opportunities, good health, and happiness.
I am glad you are here with me, reading my rambling, and hopefully smiling.

XO Donna

TWO WEEKS

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The clock’s running out. This two weeks is what we (or maybe just I) wait for all year!

First up is Hanukkah, this weekend, with all of its delicious food: I mean, what’s not to love about latkes and sour cream? Brisket? Delicious apple cake? Or spectacular jelly doughnuts?

Then there is the Winter Solstice on December 21. It is the shortest, darkest day of the year, but from here on in, our days will begin to get longer and lighter. Friends and I always celebrated around an open fire, and there were usually marshmallows to roast and hot beverages, spiked or not. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been to a Solstice Party, I may have to look at reviving that tradition.

Then a few days later is Christmas Eve – which was always a spectacular hours-long dinner at my Italian in-laws house. I can’t tell you how much I miss those raucous, love-filled, traditional meals. And them.

And then, we wake up the next morning and it’s Christmas Day with its amazing array of traditional Christmas cookies, pies and cakes. I’m going to try and make a gluten-free version of my Mom’s mincemeat/apple pie. No meat involved, in case you’ve never had it. There will be photos if I succeed.

As you can tell, I’m all about the food, (these two images are my favorites!) and of course, getting together with friends and family.

I wish all of my Jewish readers/friends a very Happy Hanukkah, and all of my Christian readers/friends a very Merry Christmas.
And a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year to you and yours.

(Me and my Sweetie)

XO Donna

KINDER AND GENTLER

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IF you’ve noticed I haven’t shown up in your mailbox for a while, it’s because I have had Covid.

Yes, despite being vaxxed and boosted, and wearing a mask everywhere indoors, I got it anyway, as did my sweetie. I gotta say, I never had any doubts about my need for the vaccine, and I am grateful that so many people worked so hard to make one… I can’t imagine not having the vaccine – it knocked me on my ass, not gonna sugar-coat it. Today is the first day out of the last 14 that I have felt a bit like myself again. But I could sure use a nap. LOL

Let’s magically go back to what I began to write 3 weeks ago:

I am making a quiche for my son. It’s one I made all the time when he was growing up and it is dependent on perfectly-ripe farm-fresh tomatoes. I bought a few at our farmer’s market this morning, along with some onions, and I can’t get the memory of this Tomato & Onion Pie (what it is called in this cookbook I’ve had since the mid-1970s) out of my mind. A chunk of Jarlsberg, a few eggs, some half & half, and it will be heavenly!

Much used, well loved.

This cookbook was published in 1972, a year after my son was born, but I didn’t buy it until three years later when I began my first hairdressing job. There was an incredibly beautiful woman who owned a shop half a block from the salon where I worked. She was my boss’s client and we would always talk as I shampooed her hair.

Her shop – The Jade Garden – just around the corner from our shop, was full of airplants in stunning seashells from all around the globe, suspended everywhere in the delicate macrame hangers she made. Acrylic pedestals in varying heights featured whimsical terrariums she constructed. She was fascinating and exotic to me: she’d been to India, where she’d been given her name by her guru. She ran her own very chic business, something unimaginable to my twenty-five year old self. Her jewelry! And, she was a vegetarian.

I never really enjoyed meat, but I had no idea there were options other than what I had been raised with. There was a small health food store within walking distance of my shop – frequented by all the people coming into town from NYC to catch the ferries to Fire Island. We walked there together for lunch one day, and I was hooked. Down the veggie rabbit-hole I went!

I bought this book there. I had a Bohemian heart, and this book with it’s sweet stories of sharing good food which has been lovingly prepared struck a chord within me. Growing up, dinner was something to be “fixed” and on the table on time every night. Usually it was a very stressful event, to be endured. Not something to be enjoyed. This book presented a better way for me raise my son and enjoy our meals together.

These illustrations appealed to my Bohemian heart.

Between this book, and it’s follow-up, AnneMarie Colbin’s book, “Food and Healing, ” and James Beard’s book on bread – plus all the wonderful vegetarian friends I met when I moved to Austin a lifetime ago, I’ve always eaten well. Often on a tight-budget as a single-mom, but always well. Going back to my hippie roots always makes me happy. Food should be delicious, made with healthful ingredients, and beautiful. I am happy I made this quiche before I got sick; it made me feel better knowing that my son was enjoying it!

It is beautiful, no? if any of you are interested in the recipe, please leave a remark in the comments – I will gladly send it to you. It’s fabulous with a nice salad, a glass of buttery Chardonnay, and pears or peaches for dessert. And just as good when reheated in a toaster oven the next day!
XO Donna

Tomato and Onion Pie, oh my!

M-M-M is for Macaroons

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I trust you all had a lovely Passover, or a beautiful Easter. Maybe you were lucky enough to celebrate both, as I did. Life is short, holiday food is wonderful, celebrate everything!

I wanted to bring a special dessert to our hostess for Easter Dinner – she’s allergic to eggs – so I decided to make coconut macaroons sans eggs. I love experimenting, and after reading quite a few eggless versions on Pinterest, I created my own.
It varied from all the others because I feel that using sweetened condensed milk AND sweetened coconut flakes is just TOO much sugar.
And, since I’d be eating them, I also made them gluten-free.

Egg-Free Coconut Macaroons

I chose to use unsweetened coconut, and let it soak in the sweetened condensed milk for 15 minutes because these flakes tend to be a bit drier than typical commercial shredded coconut. Then I added the remaining few ingredients, and using two spoons, scooped blobs onto my parchment lined baking sheet. With damp fingers I pushed them together and mounded them.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler:

  • 10 oz. bag Bob’s Red Mill coconut flakes (Whole Foods, Amazon, maybe even Trader Joes)
  • 14 oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1/2 Cup gluten-free Cup-4-Cup (or similar) OR all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/2 almond extract
  • 4 ounces chocolate chips, or any other semi-sweet chocolate, chopped for melting and drizzling over top.

First: I let the coconut sit in the condensed milk for 15 minutes. Then I added the two extracts, stirred, and sprinkled in the flour and salt. Stir this all till thoroughly combined.

Second: Using a cookie scoop, or two tablespoons, place mounds of mixture on prepared cookie sheet. Dampen fingers and press up into mounds.

Third: Bake 18 – 20 minutes until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and let sit 5 mins on cookie sheet, then gently move to wire rack to cool completely. You can eat them now, as is, but I think they were better the next day after softening-up a bit.

OR: You can melt the chocolate in the microwave in 15 second bursts, stirring each time creamy and liquid, maybe a minute. Using a teaspoon, I filled it with the melted chocolate and let it fall off the edge of the spoon as I’d wave the spoon back and forth, zig-zagging it onto the cookies while they were on the wire racks.

It took a couple of tries to get them looking the way I envisioned them. ( I ate all of the messy evidence of my learning curve! LOL)

All Mixed Up

And here they are fresh from the oven! If you put chocolate on them, put them back on the cookie sheet and in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden the chocolate. Then plate them and cover with plastic wrap. These keep in a Ziploc type bag for four days, if they last that long!

Perfectly Baked

It is always nice to find simple treats to prepare for friends and family that can accommodate multiple food allergies and taste so good that everyone enjoys eating them. Maybe you can make them for Mother’s Day? And if you do, please let me know what you thought.
Thank you for reading, I appreciate you!

XO Donna

FEED YOUR HEAD

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Alice looks a bit unhappy… perhaps too much cake and not enough tea?

I’ve been doing a lot of online research lately. Trouble-shooting I guess, since I’ve been struggling with anxiety and depression. Wham! out of the blue I began having panic attacks two years ago, then last year I started having bouts of depression. I didn’t talk to anyone about it for a long time, then began therapy and finally admitted it to my sweetie. In August I found out these are very common symptoms of BII (breast implant illness) and usually go away after explant. Since I am not scheduled for surgery until July, I’ve been looking for a way to feel better sooner!

Everyone’s brains need feel-good nutrients now – what with the pandemic and the unfolding political situation here in the US.


While we can’t control either of those situations, we can take good care of ourselves, and our mental health, by eating right. Without a doubt, cocktails and comfort foods are comforting, but in the long-run they can leave us feeling worse. I have had to find a couple of alternatives to comfort myself that really do reduce stress and anxiety – picture Julie Andrews singing, “These are a few of my favorite things.”

A five or ten-minute guided meditation (found on Google)
An online exercise class (I do Nia with Holly Nastasi on FB)
A 20-minute walk outdoors, or if you live in snow-country, just a few deep breaths outside in the fresh air
A phone conversation with a friend
Hand-writing letters or notecards just to say, “Hi!”
Curling up with a really good book (I couldn’t put down “The Beauty in Breaking” by Michele Harper)
Taking a break for a “cuppa.” (see how testy Alice is getting…)

In my searching, I’ve found many articles written on the field of nutritional psychiatry: foods that help beat depression by giving the brain more of the nutrients it needs to thrive. I read that in a 12-week study, the people that improved their diets the most improved their mood the most. A long time ago one of my spiritual teachers said that “it’s not what’s eating you, it’s what you’re eating.” Turns out, there’s now the science to back him up.

So, what should we eat to feed our head? A Mediterranean-style diet full of fruits, fresh vegetables, extra-virgin olive oil, plain yogurt and natural cheeses, beans, nuts, seafood, smaller portions of lean poultry and meat, and whole grains (except I have to skip the grains, unfortunately.) Please, enjoy that fresh whole wheat bread for me!

I’m also focusing on specific nutrients that are especially helpful: Probiotics which replenish the good bacteria in our guts. There is a strong link between our gut health and our brain health. To benefit both, add plain yogurt, sauerkraut, Kefir, Kosher dill pickles and fermented vegetables like kimchi… which I really need to learn to make, and that can be a whole blog if I can get a friend to come teach us! Vitamin B6 regulates our sleep and our mood, and too little is associated with depression. It’s a daily need and easily found in pistachios, garlic, salmon and tuna, bananas, spinach, sweet potatoes, avocados and whole grains. And last, DHA the main omega-3 fat in our brains. It promotes new brain cells, and Heaven knows I need all of them I can get!
Seafood is probably the source we are all familiar with: wild salmon, oysters, mussels, and anchovies. But raw nuts; almonds, macadamia, cashew, and pecans are all good sources, too. There is one caveat – skip the can of dry-roasted, salted nuts – the processing and salt override their healthy benefits.
***I want to add a side-note here, I was taught long ago that if you eat well 80% of the time, you can “cheat” the other 20% and still be well. We all need an occasional indulgence!

So, that’s all the news for now. I’m going to make myself a cuppa and queue up “White Rabbit” on Pandora.

XO Donna