For years I’ve been hearing people talk about how wonderful echinacea is, yet I never ventured out to purchase any for our medicine cabinet. I can’t really tell you why. I guess I just didn’t want to add yet one more bottle to our collection of supplements. Plus I’ve always been more of a vitamins […]
Category Archives: Self-Health Survival Guides
It was my birthday a few weeks back. A big one, or so I anticipated. I passed the dreaded halfway point of my 30s. This was a big deal when I turned 26, but it didn’t faze me much 10 years later. Maybe because I’m more mature, and I’m beginning to embrace aging more gracefully. […]
With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, I can’t help but notice the marvelous abundance of new babies coming into the world of late. Whether I’m walking in my neighborhood or staying connected with far-off family and friends on social media, offering up congratulations to new parents seems to be the norm. With that one […]
Ask Chef Phyllis: Several years ago, we backpacked through Northern Italy. At local homes or in little specialty restaurants, it was easy to find nutritious vegetarian dishes. The one that lingers in my mind was Riso e Formaggio, a dish baked in a casserole and served hot or cold. It didn’t have broccoli or spinach […]
When you meet someone who hunts morel mushrooms, you know you’ve just met a person you can share all of your most secret-y secrets with—and they’ll never tell. Why am I so certain of this? Well, morels are one of those elusive foodstuffs, and only a select few ever stumble across them while foraging in […]
Ask Chef Phyllis: Years ago I had a refrigerator magnet that displayed equivalent amounts for baking, like 4 quarts equal 1 gallon and other basic information that most cooks know already. Now I’m looking for a different kind of substitution chart that has more up-to-date equivalents. For example, healthier swaps such as a better fat […]
Moroccan cuisine is a personal favorite. The country’s location, with coastline on both the North Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, helped it become a mecca of trade with other cultures and nations over the course of millennia. While Moroccan food harnesses culinary influences from Andalusia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, the resulting cuisine features […]
Is your environment too clean? Every time you apply a little elbow grease to rid your home of nastiness, do you endanger your family’s health? When you stay home from a get-together because someone in your family has the sniffles or a cough, do you do a disservice to the people who showed up? Do […]
Ask Chef Phyllis: I am a native of Cornwall-on-the-sea in Great Britain. I haven’t lived there since 1976, but I remember how much seafood and fish were part of my daily life and daily meals. As a child, all of my early memories center around fishing off the rocks. I know none of the original […]
I just love good news. Don’t you? Give me the option of good news or bad news first, and I’m jumpin’ all over that good news. Nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a thousand, I’m the gal who thinks everyone has the best of intentions. I look for the silver linings, and I firmly […]
I’m writing this post fresh off a balmy 80° day, one I welcomed with open arms and bare feet. I think it’s fairly safe to say that spring has officially sprung! This time of year is my personal favorite. I love the buzzing energy, the chirping birds, and the dew-glistened, newly sprouted growth. I love […]
Dear Person, I’ve been meaning to talk with you about a few things but wasn’t sure how to approach it. The subtle signs I’ve been sending you don’t seem to be doing the trick, so now I’m going with a more direct approach in hopes we can remain friends. Just remember that I always have […]
Ask Chef Phyllis: I remember fondly at Easter time my mother would make a rather large leg of lamb, with rich bread (dotted sometimes with colorful hard-boiled eggs) baked right in it. She called the lamb Easter Spring Lamb, but I think it was mutton, and she served it with mint jelly. She called the […]
Yum! One of my favorite vegetable seasons is underway, which means asparagus abounds. Sure, these days you can find it in the grocery store pretty much all year long, but that doesn’t mean it’s always worth eating. Asparagus isn’t like the grape tomato, which has a flavor that seems to hold up no matter when […]
Easter is just around the corner, and this time of year always brings me thoughts of the small island in the Pacific Northwest where I grew up. With spring came lush green meadows, heavenly scented orchards, and glorious dewy mornings. The island was also a prime location for raising sheep, so much so that it […]
The arrival of the spring equinox is a surefire signal that it’s time to dust off those bicycles that have been cooped up in storage all winter long. Riding a bike sparks a certain excitement that nothing else can. I mean, really—don’t we all remember the first time we rode our very own bike solo? […]
Ask Chef Phyllis: Recently on TV I heard that mushrooms are very good for you, but I don’t buy them often—mostly because I know very little about them. The supermarket had many different kinds but no information on how to use them. My experience with mushrooms is limited to sliced raw mushrooms on a spinach […]
How often do you think about your tongue? Unless you get a canker sore or burn it on some hot soup, I’d be willing to bet that you’re like most other people and rarely consider it at all. Yet if you were to take an occasional glance in its direction, you could learn quite a […]
Towards the end of January, I decided to embark on a cleanse of sorts. This is something I often do in late winter or early spring to give my body a break. The ritual also helps me rid myself of toxins that accumulate over the holiday season, when my job gets very demanding, and I […]
There are a few things in life you can be certain of: Christmas will fall on the same day every year. Your kids will outgrow their blue jeans every year. And every year you’ll find another article in the mainstream media discrediting the use of supplements. Now, I’m a firm believer that the best way […]