"A 10 minute vacation for the soul."
From now until at least Christmas you will find daily tips for having a #healthylittleholiday on Twitter and Facebook. Please check these out and share them.
Also don’t forget my holiday book Have Yourself a Healthy LIttle Holiday with healthier gluten, free, dairy free, egg fre and reduced sugar recipes and celebraton ideas is available in the Amazon Kindle Store.
Who needs candied yams when there are so many other wonderful ways to prepare sweet potatoes? Sweet potatoes are loaded with so many wonderful nutrients it seems a shame to load them up with refined sugar.
So here are a few of my favorite ways to serve sweet taters:
Simple Sweet Potato Soup is a great way to start the holiday meal. Beginning a meal with a light soup makes you less likely to over eat and this just tastes good too. The recipe is available in my e-book Have Yourself a Healthy Little Holiday.
Sweet Potato Oven Fries are good any time, not just at the holidays. Cut a sweet potato into wedges. Coat with a little extra virgin olive oil and spices. I like to use what I call “sweet and heat” with sweet potatoes which is cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Go easy on the cayenne if you’re not used to it. Bake at 400 degrees until they are browned on the outside and fork tender. You will need to turn them over as they bake.
Baked Sweet Potatoes are great plain, with a little butter, sprinkled with a little cinnamon, or I like salsa on mine. Or you can get fancy and make them “twice baked” by scooping out the shell and mashing the pulp with a little milk or juice and putting it back in the shell. Of course you can fancy it up with cheese, nuts, dried fruit — whatever, just try to keep it reasonably healthy.
Orange Spice Sweet Potatoes are my fancy version of mashed sweet potatoes. The recipe is available in my e-book Have Yourself a Healthy Little Holiday.
Sweet Potato Apple Bake begins with layering cooked, sliced sweet potatoes and cored, sliced apples in a baking dish. Pour a mixture of 1/4 cup orange juice and 1 Tablespoon molasses over the top, Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake covered at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, until apples are tender. With the sweet taste of sweet potatoes, apples, orange juice and a hint of cinnamon, you won’t miss the marshmallows.
So go out there and enjoy your sweet potatoes, just be careful what other ingredients they associate with. Don’t worry, they can still taste wonderful.
Please feel free to leave your ideas for healthier sweet potatoes in the comments below.
This post is linked to:
“Try not to get lost in comparing yourself to others. Discover your gifts and let them shine!” –Jennie Finch
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/shine.html
Take time during the holiday to create a tangible reminder of the blessings in your life. A gratitude tree may be made using a tree branch you bring inside. Try to use a branch that that has fallen on it’s own. Write things you are grateful for on leaves cut from paper, create a hanger using yarn or string and hang from the branch. Or tie ribbons to a tree or branch.
You could also turn your Christmas tree into a gratitude tree. Or save a tree and tie your blessings to a live tree in your yard. You can add blessing as you think of them and see how they add up or create a special blessing ceremony with readings, songs, prayers, poems or other things you find meaningful.
Of course this is a good activity to use with children. But don’t we all need to stop and remember how blessed we truly are?
For more information on gratitude trees visit:
http://showmecrafts.blogspot.com/2009/10/gratitude-tree.html
https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/how-to-make-a-gratitude-tree
Yesterday I saw my author interview at Book Reader Magazine. I always get excited when I get publicity. Want to learn a little bit more about me as an author? Check out my interview at the link below. Using the social icons to share it while you’re there would also be nice.
http://bookreadermagazine.com/featured-author-rogene-robbins/
“Earthly Angels do not allow other souls to dim their light; they just keep shining bright as the sun, for this helps other souls to reconnect with their own light and shine brightly too!” ― Molly Friedenfeld
When you read todays topic you may have thought, REALLY? Do we need to be reminded of this during the holidays?
Well apparently we do. It seems that each year during November and December we start hearing about things like brawls at the mall with people fighting over particular items that may be in short supply. Or angry battles over nativity scenes being displayed on government property with both side being sure they are “right.” Then we have the annual brouhaha over what type of holiday greeting is proper to extend to people.
As I watch this unfolding year after year, I can’t help but wonder what all this has to do with what we say we are celebrating. If you are a Christian, does your holiday behavior reflect the life and teachings of the Master Teacher, the Price of Peace whose birth you say you are celebrating? If you celebrate a “secular” Christmas and say your celebrations are all about family, does your behavior reflect this? Do you want to pass down traditions that bring you closer as a family or that teach greed and selfishness? No matter what you celebrate during this time stop and ask if you behavior is reflecting what you say you are celebrating.
Okay so what can we do to make the holiday season a little kinder and gentler?
Life is not always about who is right and who is wrong. Our life on this planet is a school. We are here to learn how to get along with each other. If we are ever going to learn this we need to start practicing. Isn’t this the perfect time to start?
Oh and one last thing… SMILE! But be careful. It’s contagious you know. 🙂
“Love is a spark of light.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
Yes, it’s National Cookie Day, just in time for the holidays. Time to get started or at least start planning your holiday cookie baking. Maybe even time to think about hosting a cookie exchange.
I love cookie exchanges because you can get as simple or fancy with this as you want. The basics are that everyone brings a set number of cookies, the recipe and a container to bring their cookies home in. The cookies are set out on the table and there is sampling, conversation and cookies to take home.
The cookie exchanges I have attended we each brought one dozen cookies and we took one dozen cookies. I don’t know where the six dozen cookies that seems to be common now came from. You could adjust the number to fit the number of participants if you wish. You could also decide on 2 or 3 dozen cookies if you wish, which is an average size for a batch of cookies. We also took enough copies of our recipe for everyone. That’s the basics. Now if you want to provide containers for guests to take their cookies home in or have a craft time and decorate boxes or provide decorative envelopes for people to put the recipes they collect in that is totally up to you.
What I like about this idea is that it can be customized for special dietary needs and would be great for a support group meeting. You can invite all people who are gluten free, dairy free, vegan, allergic to nuts — whatever your need may be.
Try not to get too obsessed with the details. The point of this is to hang out with friends, enjoy a few cookies and recipes, relax and most of all have fun! Group activities are always good at the holidays. You never know who may need a little bit of light in their lives. You could be the one who brings it and not even know.
Now a few tips on planning a cookie exchange from My Recipes, The Cooking Channel, Good Housekeeping and Martha Stewart.
This article is linked to the Sugar and Spice Link Party.
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More information on gluten free holiday celebration ideas is available in the my holiday book, Have Yourself a Healthy Little Holiday.
I continue to add to the positive resources page as I find time. I have added holiday resources and a few others. Please take a minute to stop by if you haven’t looked for awhile
espirational.com