Stagnant or Dynamic?

Are you willing to go outside your comfort zone?

Every week I’ll be sharing my personal stories and my thoughts and recommendations on healthy food, intuition, movement, growth mindset and women, all sprinkled with a touch of spirituality.

I’m writing about some of my life experiences – the good and the bad - with the hope that they resonate with you. Mine is not a linear path but a winding road with twists and turns - a life filled with family, friends, gratitude and love. Where has your path taken you?

Today I am a trained Holistic Health Coach and a major foodie. I love healthy, clean, organic food and to share my passion for wellness with anyone who will listen!

---

Let’s Dive In…

Friends ask me all the time, how do you know how to write a cookbook? I always answer the same, “I don’t know how. I’m figuring it out as I go along!” This is pretty typical of me. Somehow, somewhere along the way in my life, I developed this bold (and a bit bravado) sense of confidence about my ability to tackle things in which I had zero experience.

Where do you land when faced with something new?  

When an interesting opportunity presents itself to you, do you immediately rule it out telling yourself that you simply cannot because you’ve never done it before? Or do you sit with it for a while until the opportunity slips away, choosing instead to not deal with it? Is it important to you to push outside of your comfort zone? If yes, why? And if no, why not?

I have lived most of my life pushing out of my comfort zone. Sometimes it’s because I feel the need to prove my abilities to the world or I’m choosing to be a good role model for my daughters. But mostly, my ‘why’ is because I’m afraid that if I slow down or become complacent in life, I will get old. Chronologically I don’t mind aging. I’m 62 and proud of my age. But until I’m ~95, I want to be young at heart, have energy, and stay active - my mind, body, and soul. The only way I know how to do this- to stay young- is to keep pushing myself forward and outside of my wheelhouse. (Not to mention exercise and eat well!)

I want to be energetic and alive. I want to be healthy and present for a very long time for my husband, daughters and if I’m lucky someday, their children. That’s one of the major reasons I am writing this cookbook. So, when I do kick the bucket I can leave something behind, something special for my girls to remember me by. I love the idea of leaving a legacy. A legacy is typically money or property and if good fortune is on my side, I will leave both to my beautiful daughters. But IMO, this cookbook is even better because not only is it personal, it is a reminder to them to always strive, to push themselves out of their comfort zone, to not accept a static life. It is a gift for them, named in their honor, Food, Love & Daughters.  

Food, Love & Daughters – the “how to”!

My brother-in-law owns a book production company called Artbook Printing. He’s my ringer!  One morning at his kitchen table he gave me the DL on how to think about this project. 

• Choose recipes 

• Write stories for each recipe 

• Photograph each recipe 

• Work with book designer 

• Publish book 

• Share and sell book

Easy, right?  HA!

Well, I’m deep in it right now and I promise it’s not easy! Talk about outside my comfort zone! I need a life raft, I'm so far out at sea. The hardest part, but also the most satisfying, is the photo shoots I’m doing every Thursday in my kitchen. Patty, my sous chef, arrives at 8 AM and we start chopping, measuring and cooking.  Mandy, my photographer, arrives at 10:30 and we start the ‘food styling’ for each of the five recipes on the day's schedule. Mandy is a professional photographer but neither of us have experience as food stylists, so we look at cookbooks and Google images. We’ve had 6 of 16 photoshoot sessions so far and I’m pretty happy with the results. 

Sneak Peek

I’m sharing my family’s favorite dinner with you. If you like it, please share it with a friend. 

Spice-Rubbed Spatchcocked Chicken, adapted from Melissa Clark from NYT Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 organic chicken, 4-5 lbs. patted dry

• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

• 1 ½ tablespoon kosher salt

• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika

• 2 teaspoons dry mustard powder

• 2 teaspoons dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• ½  teaspoon ground allspice

• 3 bay leaves, torn or cut into pieces 

Directions

Spatchcock the chicken by using poultry shears or kitchen scissors to cut along one side of the backbone until the chicken opens. If you like, you can cut along the other side of the backbone and remove it, or leave it attached to roast with the rest of the bird. Open up the bird and place it so it lies flat, breast side up. Press hard onto the center of the breast until you feel a pop, and the breast lies more or less flat. (You can also ask the butcher at the grocery to do it for you.).

In a small bowl, mix together sugar, salt, chili powder, paprika, mustard powder, oregano, pepper, allspice, and bay leaves. Smear the mixture all over both sides of the chicken. Lay chicken, skin side up, on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Roast chicken for ~20 minutes.  Check the skin to see if it is getting toasty brown.  Lower heat to 375/400 if the skin is cooking fast.  Cook for another 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before carving. 

Crunchy Brown Rice 

Ingredients

• 2 cups Organic Brown Long Grain Rice

• 3 32 oz. boxes Pacific Organic Chicken Bone Broth

• 1 tbsp Coconut Oil 

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Rinse rice well through a strainer for several minutes. Mix rice with water and apple cider vinegar in a bowl or jar until rice is thoroughly covered. (The ACV helps to release any toxins from the rice.) Let it sit for 1-6 hours. Drain rice well. Place rice, coconut oil, and 1 box of bone broth in a casserole dish uncovered and put in the oven. (The coconut oil helps to transform the starch from the rice into a resistant starch, making the rice lower in calories and better for your gut. Plus the added flavor is delicious.)

Bake for 2 hours, pouring in more bone broth every 30 minutes as the rice soaks it up. Continue pouring bone broth every 30 minutes until the rice is crispy on top. Do not stir while cooking. If the rice is not crispy enough for your liking, turn on low broil for 2-3 minutes. Optional: add some salt to rice before serving.

You and only you know what is best for your body, mind and spirit.  

WHAT’S INSPIRING MY PURSUIT OF GREAT HEALTH LATELY…

• Another Substack writer I am loving is Yung Pueblo. His recent post The 7 Pillars of Emotional Maturity is spot on. He writes, “Emotional maturity is the deep realization that who you are and how you behave is not set in stone, it is actually something you can shape with intentional action.” For me, these are life goals. 

• I just spent the weekend with five amazing, smart, and kind women. Lucky me! Among the many topics we discussed, great books were our breakfast chatter.  We all shared our favorite books and I’m excited to pass these recommendations on to you:

  • The Art of Hearing Heartbeats 

  • Tuesdays with Morrie 

  • Atonement

  • Eden Close (my all time favorite)

  • Before We were Yours

  • Still Alice 

• My daughter Julie is coming to visit so I’m heading to Whole Foods to buy her ‘must have’ Organic Green Squeeze Juice. A blend of cucumber, kale, spinach, lemon, celery and parsley juices. No sugar from apples or pineapple, no artificial fillers. Simple Green Juice. And the taste is great!

• In my endless pursuit to rid my house of plastics I am trying to lean into Stasher Premium Silicone Reusable Food Storage Bags instead of plastic bags. They seal well and go easily into the dishwasher.  Kind of a no brainer! 

Thanks for reading Food, Love & Life!