Great News! Grab Your Forks and Napkins Because Now Many of Your Favorite Comfort Foods Are Still On the Menu, Even If You’re Newly Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

Cool Weather and Comfort Food: You Know It’s Coming, Don’t You?

It’s hard to miss the signs here in the heart of the Midwestern United States.  No doubt the same thing is happening all over the northern hemisphere. With the advent of cooler days, longer nights, football in the stadiums and autumnal color on the trees, it’s time to think about serving up a slew of your favorite cool weather comfort foods for dinner.

(Sorry for talking “fall weather” to you readers in the southern hemisphere, especially those of you in Australia and New Zealand. I know it’s springtime for you… But keep reading,  you won’t want to miss the book I discuss  at the end of the post…)

No Doubt You Have an All-time Favorite Hearty and Comforting Meal

When it comes to comfort foods, my favorite – hands down – is a fabulous beef pot roast, complete with potatoes, carrots, onions, and maybe some green beans.  All slow-cooked or stewed in a delicious tomato-based beefy gravy.  Served with homemade biscuits on the side…  With perhaps a nice hot apple cobbler for dessert.

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Now That You’ve Rounded Up Your Waffle Iron and Whetted Your Appetite, Weren’t You Wishing You Could Serve Those Yummy Restaurant-style Sourdough Waffles at Home?

Yesterday, when writing about waffles and those cool “flip style” waffle makers so many motels now feature in their breakfast rooms – the ones that produce those really crispy, thick Belgian waffles — I also started thinking about the waffle batter they provide for those ubiquitous free continental breakfasts…

If you’ve had the opportunity to enjoy those hotel waffles, you know the batter is generally provided in Styrofoam cups, which conveniently measure out the appropriate amount of batter for one waffle. And the batter is a thick, bubbly, yeasty concoction, redolent of sourdough…

I Used to Suspect it Wasn’t Really Truly Sourdough Batter

But I’ve changed my mind, now that I’ve just read that sourdough starter can actually be frozen.  That makes sense, as it’d make daily setup pretty easy for the motel management…)

Meanwhile, as I was thinking about how I might be able to bring you a recipe for THOSE exact waffles, I searched the deep recesses of my brain, and came up with a memory that’s an “oldie but goodie” from my “earth mother days of yore”… Maybe you remember it too? Read more

Time to Heat Things Up, Make a Stand for Pure Goodness: “Waffling” May Be Poor Politics, But Who Can’t Love the Chef Who Serves Up Waffles for Breakfast, Brunch – or Dinner?

I don’t know about you, but I love serving making and serving waffles at our weekend brunches – about as much as my husband and guests love devouring them! Don’t get me wrong, pancakes are good, french toast can be absolutely divine, and quiche never fails to impress. But waffles are my absolute favorite brunch meal.

One Reason Waffles Are Brunch Winners Is Their Versatility: You Can Serve Them Sweet or Savory – With Toppings to Match!

Everyone thinks first of sweet waffles. That’s why the standard image of a waffle generally comes with butter and syrup. But many of you are just as comfortable with healthier versions, topped with fresh fruit, or perhaps peanut butter or nutella.  

However, those crispy rectangles or circles with the delicious dimples – made for soaking up the toppings – are just as wonderful served with heartier toppings: Read more

Hop to It! There’s Still Time to Bake Homemade Christmas Cookies: Why Not Start a Family Tradition?

Gosh, suddenly it’s really looking like Christmas around here! How about at your place?

Here in Northwestern Illinois, we got at least seven inches of snow on Thursday, and then a few more on Saturday. Today, it is sunny and probably four degrees below zero – Fahrenheit – even before you take into account the blowing and drifting snow.

As far as I’m concerned, a day like today is just perfect. It’s the kind of day where you want to stay home, enjoy a fire in the fireplace if you’ve got one, crank up the Christmas carols on your stereo or iPod, and bake up some fabulous homemade Christmas cookies! You know, it’s a day to say: “Let it snow, I’m baking cookies!”

• If you’ve got kids or grandkids handy, be sure to get them involved in this cookie-baking action.
• Family cookie-baking is the stuff memories are made of. In fact, my late brother-in-law once declared that Christmas wasn’t worth coming home for unless there were homemade Christmas cookies! He personally preferred the cut out kind…
• To this day, my adult kids still try to get to their grandma’s house a few days before Christmas, just so they can participate in making the traditional holiday cookies!

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Feeling a Bit Down? As Auntie Mame Famously Said: “We Need A Little Christmas, NOW.” Why Not Start By Trying One of These Festive Holiday Recipes Featuring Cranberries?

Enough of the Economic Doom and Gloom! ”We Need a Little Christmas, Now!”

No matter what you think of Lucille Ball in this clip from “Mame,” the sentiment is correct: “We need a little Christmas!” It’s time to start celebrating the wonder of our end-of-year holidays. We need to lighten up, smile and enjoy life! Cranberries can help! And I don’t mean those cranberry garlands kids string for the tree…

After all, whether your family prefers to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Winter Solstice, chances are you’re looking for some tasty and healthy new recipes to compliment the traditional ones you always make and serve.

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Good Gravy! If Comfort Foods Can Make the Most Nerve-Wracked Day Seem Happier, Should You Learn to Make Healthier Versions? Or Does That Defeat the Purpose?

Given the Major Tension and Trauma In the World Lately, You’ve a Lot Of “Heavy Stuff”  Weighing You Down. Perhaps You’re Stressing Over Your:

• Decimated stock portfolio, recently failed 401(K) and the uncertain economy  
• Impression that the war has been going on forever and is costing our nation too much
• Frustration with the lying attacks in this interminably long presidential campaign 
• Worries over skyrocketing food and energy costs – high gas costs this summer, but now there’s your next unknown: the expense of heating your home this winter – and/or even how you’ll be affording the big holiday meal
• Concern over how you’re going to get through the coming holidays – financially, emotionally – or both
• Real fear that you really ought to have that lump (or sore spot) checked out… you worry that it might be really BAD NEWS
• Trepidation over your parents’ failing health and your suspicion that you’ll soon be approaching the time where current arrangements must change
•  Parental concern over the fact that your daughter just lost her job and her husband’s serving overseas – you’re worrying over whether she and the kids will have to move in with you? 

That’s A Lot of Stress You’re Carrying Around With You! Especially Since You Can’t Immediately Resolve Most of Those Problems! 

No wonder you’re looking for some way to ease your feelings of frustration, and make yourself feel better. 

• After all, you can make a plan for: Read more

Yummy Recipe for Stress Management: With All the Trauma in the World, Why Not Take Action to Relieve Your Stress by Baking Something Healthy & Delicious – Sharing With Friends?

With All the Economic Drama of Recent Days, You Know We’re All in Need of Some Good Stress Management Techniques.

Hopefully you’ve been able to find an opportunity for a big belly laugh every day, since you know laughter’s a proven stress reliever. No need to head to a comedy club, there have been some great opportunities offered by the presidential campaign:

• Tina Fey’s impressions of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live have really had the world laughing
• The real Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live this past weekend was another good chance to laugh, especially Amy’s the end of show rap  
• Not to mention the ably delivered standup comedy of both McCain and Obama at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner

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Newly Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes: Wondering if You’ll Ever Be Able to Enjoy Treats Like Chocolate, Ice Cream, or Granola Again?

If you’re like most Baby Boomers who’ve suddenly found themselves with newly-acquired Type 2 diabetes, you were probably totally shocked when routine blood work during your annual check-up revealed your blood glucose numbers were “out of whack.” (Sorry, Highly Technical Term)

It Seems Baby Boomers Are More Likely to Develop Type 2 Diabetes

The typical Type 2 Diabetic profile includes:

• Over 40
• Sedentary and overweight, especially with excess weight around the middle (“Apple” body type)
• Hispanic, Black, Native American, or Asian background

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Are You Still Under the Impression That You Have to be a “Former Hippie” to Love the Delicious and Highly Nutritious Benefits of Homemade Granola?

Were you a love bead wearing fan of natural foods in your youth? Not me. Though I attended college in the early 70s, I doubt anyone who knew me then would have legitimately called me a “hippie.”

OK, I studied fashion design as an undergrad, so I had the wardrobe down: tie-dyed tops, bellbottoms and platform sandals. But this was more for comfort (and added height) than for political statement.  No, I cannot claim to be a former hippie.  But I did graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, so I definitely knew a few.

Nevertheless, I began my own “back to nature, back to the land” movement in my mid-twenties, when my (now 30-year old) first child was born.

That Was When I Entered What I Now Refer to As My “Earth Mother” Period.

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