A Practical Guide To Healthy Living

Hi Friends!  Long time, no post here . . . holidays and blog-hackers have kicked my butt these past couple of weeks . . . but never fear, there’s been lots of cooking here at casa Semi-Sweet, and I’m back on the scene to share my spoils with you.  Just in time for a long, lazy New Year weekend.

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Icky. Poo.  They can be nasty, or they can be not-so-bad, but most of us would agree that the away-game is not ideal.  Here’re some ways to minimize your contact with all those germies.

1. Avoid the middle stall.  It’s used the most, believe it or not, and so it accumulates the most bacteria.  Hot tip – the first stall tends to be the cleanest.
2. Don’t put your purse on the floor.  If there’s not hook or shelf, keep it on your shoulder . . . one study found that 1/3 of pocketbooks placed on restroom floors had fecal matter on the bottom.  You don’t want to bring that home with you, do you?
3. Flush-n-go.  That forceful public bathroom flush can aerosolize germs in the toilet bowl . . . so get out before they land on you!
4. It may go without saying, but for goodness sakes, wash up when you’re done – that stall door latch you must handle to get out is one of the germiest places evah.

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We received our first snowfall of the season in Boston – just in time for the first day of winter . . . and how best to welcome the official start of winter but with soup.

As many of you know, I am a big CSA fan – this is the second winter we’ve participated in the Shared Harvest CSA, and it hasn’t disappointed yet.  The produce is abundant and beautiful, the pickups are seamless, and the communication is excellent.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up!  But back to that abundant produce thing – this past weekend I was faced with 6 big butternut squash – accumulated over time, but clearly I needed to get cracking on those bad-boys.  I’ve never made butternut squash soup, and when I polled the Semi-Sweet Facebook fans, they voted for me to whip up a batch.  I was lucky enough to have local onions, squash and apples, thanks to Shared Harvest.

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Maybe you’re working out regularly, and that’s awesome . . . but don’t you get bored?  If your routine feels dull, chances are your body’s gotten used to it too, and that’ll impact your fitness level.

Keep it fresh with a jar full of “workout wildcards.”  Write down 20 different routines on slips of paper (get ideas from magazines if you like) and put ‘em in a jar.  Pull one from the jar anytime things are getting, shall we say . . . too routine!

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You can say what you want about Martha Stewart.  She might make you feel small, or she might not be the friendliest woman around, but the gal can cook, dammit.  Her stuff’s reliable.  Martha’s recipes are well written and they work.

This weekend I used two new Martha recipes – one that’s sure to become a staple in our Christmas cookie rotation, and one that I might make again for a crowd, but probably not just for the three of us.  I’ll explain that one later in the week.  Since we’re on the brink of Christmas, and ya’ll might be noodling around for something else to add to your dessert plates, today we’ll do the sweet stuff!  [Read more →]

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It’s the holidays, and for us, that means cookie baking, gingerbread house making, partying with friends and family, and, unfortunately, fatigue.  Despite my best intentions, I’m always “too busy” at this time of year.  I’m so looking forward to that stretch of time between Christmas and New Year’s, when our family unplugs and unwinds for the week . . . jammies ’til noon, lazy lunches of leftovers, puzzles, games, and catching up casually with friends we don’t see often enough.

So I’ve been in a cooking rut, which is why you’ve not seen much that’s inspiring here.  Lots of Crock-Pot items – and while they’re certainly convenient and can be tasty, I’ve never had a knock-your-socks-off meal from the Crock.

But last night I got crazy and tried a new recipe, and it was a winner, I tell you!   [Read more →]

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Yowza.  Did you know that the average American is eating 5 times as much food dye as s/he did in 1955?  It’s in flippin’ everything – yogurts, cereal, ice cream, you name it.  [Read more →]

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