Anti-Inflammatory Recipes Archives - Page 12 of 15

Christmas Cake in Happy July

Christmas cake is a buche de noel sponge cake that gets better when you pair with happy places.

…And who says it has to be made at Christmas?

In July, we’re in the swing of happy summer (like during the Christmas holiday) and can make our favorite desserts then.

You’ve probably heard of Christmas in July promotions and sales… a cake can be the same concept.

So in that spirit, here’s an easy sponge cake you can make.

The recipe I use is modified from a sponge cake in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

And it’s cake that can be made anytime. It’s a happy new year 365-day cake to celebrate happy moments (and visit your daily inner happy place).

Christmas cake you can make in summer.

At home, baking is my jam and how I swiss roll decorated with sprinkles, plus vanilla-chai and chocolate-flavored for both tastes. I see the cocoa and Greek yogurt ingredients as both healthy and happy 🧡

This Christmas cake or Buche de Noel sponge cake rolls me into the mood to share my happy places on the planet besides home (and some are ranked happiest places and cities, so I know I’m not the only one 😊).

For Americans, “the happiest place on earth” to visit is Disney World: a place where you can find the dressed-up celebrity mouse and his wife waltzing about their world adding to people’s fantasy land dreams.

Overseas, I like to “doll up” in a grown up city like Copenhagen… it’s ranked as the happiest city in the world for its cobblestone-street charm and cool vibes on the water. I’m grateful I checked it off my list in 2018.

Every day is a photo postcard there:

It’s pretty magical and the culture embraces balance as a way of life. It’s in their calm and cool energy, taking time to slow down and not rush around.

Then if you head north to Bergen, Norway, you’re in happy central territory for trolls.

You know, the colorful ones like Poppy with her glitter-power and friends from the movie, Trolls.

It’s a different place where you may not be sure whether to laugh or give a puzzled look as you venture around.

The whole idea of trolls is wondrous and can make you curious about what exists out there? If nothing else, it’s fun to look at the indigenous troll trinkets like characters in Disney but with 4 fingers and toes.

Cute or not-so-cute is for you to decide

…Bergen is just a hop, skip, and a jump from little Norwegian towns surrounded by lush foliage and waterfalls. Occasionally you can see a cute roof, and wonder who lives in those dwellings like a Nordic scene from the EuroVision movie.

…And what do they eat? I’m into biodiverse eating, but in Norway, they have fresh fruits and similar protein categories that are also in our healthier Western diets. You may have heard of the Nordic Diet, one of the flavors in anti-inflammatory diets out there today.

One main difference is they use canola oil over a southern Mediterranean diet that uses EVOO (and is not a “diet”). Unlike fad or buzzy trending diets, these are based on the daily foods (what they eat) in an entire region in the world.

Like most cities, they have organic markets and local farmer’s markets with the freshest seasonal goods.

Here I saw some fresh lingonberries:

And plenty o’ wild salmon (where many restaurants source their catches) where you can make your own healthy fish and chips.

And moving away from the rural and into the City of Light life like in Emily in Paris, you can be in a new awe.

It’s a walking city.

Paris is a happy place to visit as there’s so much to see walking around and when you just wanna chill, you can stroll in the parks.

Another happy place to visit is the U.K. where there’s so much to see and do. And I’m enamored since The Great British Bake Off show full of baking tent fun and laughs.

Who knew there were flowers in the winter like these ones in Shakespeare’s Garden on the other side of the pond of…

Washington, D.C. which is where I lived and worked most my life.

You may know Washington, D.C. for the power-hungry, political society. But that’s only a part of the area.

You can relax and take a leisurely kayak or canoe on the Potomac River or take a scenic drive along to see the monument skyline.

There’s plenty of American history to discover as it’s the place where Presidents temporarily live during office. And was permanent home to the first President, George Washington. Plus so much more interesting history on the downtown mall.

Then when you’ve seen enough of the historical buildings, you can fly south (like birds that still migrate) to a slower pace.

One happy getaway is…

Clearwater, Florida.

Hope and Winter from The Dolphin Tale movie lived there. Dolphins are happy mammals, so that should tell you something 🐬

On vacay, you don’t feel the hustle and bustle from the city with slow driving cars, less stress on the streets, and fewer tourists. It has a tropical vibe like a pina colada smoothie you can sip on watching the Florida palm trees swaying and beautiful sunsets.

The Gulf is known for fresh fish catches like fresh grouper, so a fishmonger can bring it to you cooked fresh from the boat.

So those are the happy places I can drop a pin on📍(plus one when I’m making the Christmas cake (aka Buche de Noel sponge swiss cake 😋).

Buche de Noel Sponge Cake

Modified recipe from the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book"

Equipment

Silpat and baking pan
tea towel

Ingredients

3 eggs
1/4 cup pineapple juice
2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup monk fruit sugar
jam and yogurt of choice (for filling)

Instructions

Separate eggs. Tip: It's easier to separate eggs when they are cold from the fridge. Then let them warm up to room temperature.
Beat egg yolks in a regular size bowl and add juice and baking powder.
Separately beat egg whites in a larger mixing bowl. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. The small amount of sugar will help bring the texture together.
After step 3, gently pour egg yolks into egg white bowl. Gently fold in egg whites to combine yolks. Don't mix or overmix as that will deflate the egg white air which is the reason why the egg white was separated from the eggyolk in the first place. This will give a higher rising sponge cake.
Spread on a Silpat lined baking pan about 3/4" thick or the size of your yule log you would like. Bake on 325°F for about 45 minutes or longer (mostly depending on actual thickness). Pull out of oven before sides start to brown.
While warm-hot out of the oven, pull out cake and roll up into a tea towel like a sleeping bag to get the "swirl." You want to make sure to do this while it's warm or it will break when cool.
Let cool and when cool, cut off ends. Add a layer of jam or yogurt that you want inside.
Pour melted chocolate over the cake and after cooled, drag a fork around the glaze for a yule-log effect.

Holiday Entertainment Shows + Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe

Holiday entertainment is not a mere plus during the holidays. It’s a must to get through the holidays… full of bittersweet happy and sad moments… filled with illuminating reflections on the past year… finding your way through stressful calendar-marked deadlines ticking like a time bomb.

And before holiday has come and gone, you can enjoy this one-bowl comfort dessert with no guilt as it’s healthy and wildly tasty! It could be your new year dessert. 🎉

It’s gluten-free, carrot vitamin-rich and orange calming for nerves… and great for entertaining mixed emotions.

Healthy Carrot Cake great for holiday entertainment and life. — Gluten-free healthy orange carrot cake (recipe below)

Ahhh.. but light-hearted holiday entertainment shows (like GBBO for this modified healthy baker) and sappy rom-com tearjerker movies can help us lighten our load if we feel stressed.

On that note, I have 3-holiday entertainment mentions below worth checking out

That can be exciting and worth sticking around until the end of the blog article and staying up past midnight on Dec. 31. 😊

…And somewhere in between is December 25 where we can easily forget when we started our holiday. In America, that’s usually Thanksgiving in November where we celebrate gratitude for the things we have in our lives.

In the happy holiday spirit, December and Christmas are opportunities for each of us to grow, dig deep in our shadow, be reflective about our past, and find more appreciation for our joy and happiness’ sake as better humans than before.

Christmas is always an invitation to find hope and peace now. And welcome in happy and healthy intentions for the future. And that can include skipping, baking, and inspiring yoga moves! Why not?

I plan to be in the kitchen (…and maybe you too with your planned festivities whether quiet or action-filled?).

Here’s my illustrative yoga guide for those who will be busy holiday joy baking and wanting to unwind like a pretzel in front of the tube or streaming media 😊:

5 baking yoga stretches: tree pose, pigeon pose, bow pose, bridge pose, and happy baby.

There’s a big buildup to Christmas celebrations that probably started way earlier in the year …like Christmas in July promotions?

This year is probably no different where you’re not hit by deer lights… that’s a certain predictable point to be grateful for. We know it’s coming!

And we can lean into holiday entertainment, decorations, and warm & fuzzy feelings to get us in the mood.

We don’t have to lean into the bitter self-pity. We can feel contentment for what we have in our accumulated wisdom.

Some things we can think of is:

We’re grateful we’re not who we once were. We’re a better version, and getting better every day. It may be two steps forward and one step back, but we’re still improving.

And some places we’re completely transformed and others we completely forgot where we were once hurting in another way.

We’re happy as is because we know it won’t stay this way. We’re wired to have the best life.

Besides things could be worse, but thankfully they’re not. Those (and your) beliefs can help shape your optimistic outlook.

Getting rid of the moods that can hang over like heavy, gray clouds (that can lead to Kapha depression) is freeing. And also changing the anxious-worried symptoms common in active Vata minds.

You could be fighting ego or affected without awareness.

Letting go isn’t always so easy…

In awareness, it can feel like an uphill battle to try and win over an internal fight.

I find that when I have a moment where I feel a little emotional turmoil, laughter never grows old as one of the best medicines.

Healthy cleansing tears from humorous holiday entertainment or heart-felt movies, series, or shows can be just what the doctor ordered.

After from watching, you can feel good again. 📺

What we feel from recently watched holiday entertainment shows can show up in our refreshed thought life.

These are 3 of my holiday entertainment picks (and maybe they’re good for you also)… which btw, I’ve yet to meet a close friend who likes the same quirky shows I do.

I’m not talkin’ about Friends and the popular America’s Got Talent shows that everyone has glimpsed.

So I’m goin’ out on a limb here…

The first one I wanted to mention is actually not a show, but an old classic movie, The Sound of Music. And if that’s not your bread and jam, then think of a show or movie you watched as a kid that you enjoyed and impacted you.

And you can take my Cliff Notes version:

If you’ve never seen or forgotten what this classic movie is about, it starts out with actress Julie Andrews as a young lady in an abbey prepping to be a nun. She soon discovers she’s too independent thinking and not cut out for the job.

Sound a ‘lil familiar? I know it does for me having taken a hairpin turn or two early on. None of the nunnery kind though. 😊

The movie plot is a metaphor for our lives that can change in an instant, a.k.a. a life pivot.

A better plan is out there for us if we’re willing to stay open and hang in there.

Those thoughts can help us get through any bitter holiday moments.

Julie Andrews’ character is sent as a governess to 7 children for a former widowed Captain and Austrian naval officer.

Fr. Maria, she’s called, brings singing and love into the family and the odd-pairing couple ends up marrying (aww… a love story and musical). I hope I didn’t ruin the happy ending.

So now you’re either caught up or possibly curious to watch the movie (again).

Fun fact: the movie is filmed in Austria and Los Angeles of all places, so maybe that’s one of the reasons why it’s still a Hollywood boom.

In our lives, the parallel is that there’s a lot to look forward to getting to the other side, crossing the hills, and any mountains along our path. We can stop to appreciate the flowers like Edelweiss or roses that remind us of our resilience from our life situations.

Then after you get your fill of that movie, whether you fast-forward to the part where your heart is filled or watch the full movie, afterward you can pause to fill your warm drinking mug, and get ready to laugh (…maybe even belly laugh some) with this next recommend…

Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee

This modern American Netflix show of several seasons is a good metaphor for not taking life too seriously. Stand-up comedians don’t.

And Actor and Comedian Jerry Seinfeld makes that clear as he takes his guests out for coffee in coffee venues (think Diners, Drive Ins, and Dive places, plus some hole in the walls).

He chauffeurs his guests around with different classic cars to match the comedic intent and their barrel of laughs to come in coffee conversation 🐒.

Once in a while, they’re driving in lemons like an Oh sorry, Ferrari that dies on the road. That’s comical drama we call comedy.

The show is peppered with what you’d expect from comedians… impromptu funny lines about their lives and the world we live in.

Having worked in restaurants, I can find a chuckle or two with the (literally) off-the-wall menu special posters or off-color restaurant jokes…

Like when Jerry orders and asks for 2 eggs and nothing else on a plate, and the server quickly asks if he wants it on the side? The server (or waitress) made an inside funny without knowing it. Good stuff there. 😅

You’ll have to find your own humor points if you end up watching some of the episodes. …and so that brings me to a recent holiday entertainment show…

The Great British Baking Show

The Great British Baking Show has got to be the funniest baking show out there. It’s also interesting to watch the baker techniques and their foibles.

By now in the show’s (just-finishing up their 9^th season), as you’d expect the contestants know what to expect.

If they didn’t, that would be like going under the pressure cooker show as a contestant without baking practice.

.. And that would be like going on the Shark Tank show and not rehearsing… where they’d get eaten alive!

The GBBO contestants (more fitting than calling them competitors because they help each other out in the tent)… want to be sure to make the show fun and take time out to make good bakes while playing along with the tent show elves and laughing at their side jokes.

Tent Sidekick Noel announcing the challenge 😄

As part of the audience, you can feel the contestants are more mellow, less tense, and less serious about winning… and more motivated with staying in the baking tent (sometimes baking hot tent 🎪) for as long as they can.

In case you missed season 9 which is one of my faves (I say that for all of the newest ones), the cherry-on-top Star Baker title went to Giuseppe for his traditional Italian bakes passed down from his family’s baking lineage.

So now you’re all caught up!

The Great British Baking Show also has holiday versions. You can especially enjoy it if you like holiday baking inspiration and while eating sweets…

Healthy Carrot Cake — Gluten-free healthy carrot cake (recipe below)

And on that final note, I have a deliciously, seriously healthy, SWEET gluten-free carrot cake recipe below (that I’ve played around with the ingredients, whipped up, and tested all the crumbs!)… And you can just as easily prepare and enjoy in a square, round or any shape pan you like that you can bring to your screen with whatever holiday entertainment shows you end up watching. 🧡

Healthy (Easy-No Mixer Needed) Gluten-Free Carrot Cake (Bread or Squares) in One Bowl

gluten-free carrot cake

Ingredients:

1 cup grated carrots

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 Tbsp coconut oil (or light EVOO or baking oil)

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup (120 grams) almond flour (or other gluten-free flour)

1/4 cup (60 grams) oats

1/2 cup (120 grams) chopped walnuts and raisins combined

Orange zest from a medium-size orange (or add maple syrup to taste, 1-2 tsp suggested for low sugar)

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

You can mix all the ingredients in one bowl. Add dry ingredients first, then add the liquids (that way you can use some of the same measuring spoons and cups without the dry sticking to the wet in my planner-at-heart mind 😉).

Pour into an 8″ round pan or 4″ x 8″ baking pan.

Bake at 325°F/165°C for 35-40 minutes.

After cooled, “frost” with Greek Yogurt (2% fat or reduced fat suggested) and healthily enjoy. Or you can blend with a low-fat cheese (like neufchatel cream cheese or ricotta cheese) if you prefer or will be serving to others who don’t prefer full-on healthy … but would love to try what you happily sweetly baked.

To Your Merry Happy Holidays! 🎄

Low Sodium Healthy Soup Recipes

Low sodium healthy soup is easy when you make your own!

I have 3 recipes below with carrots, mushrooms, and potatoes that you can make (with low sodium and sea salt if you like).

Before 2020, I never made my own soups. And today, I only keep a backup can in my pantry.

low sodium healthy soup recipes

And you can too!… if that’s what you aspire to even if you don’t know how JUST YET.

But with delicious plant-based ingredients, you can make soup broths that you easily turn into clam chowder with a potato soup base.

You impress yourself and everyone you make the soup for!

After you learn to make homemade soups in simple steps, you’ll probably not go back to store soup cans as these have delicious natural flavors without all the sodium!

And you’re doing your body healthy good. And probably saving a few dollars if that matters.

And these are the 3 easy healthy soup recipes I’m sharing below:

1. Mushroom soup (with old-fashioned but not-out-of-style oats)

2. Carrot soup (with digestive-wonder root, ginger)

3. Clam chowder (New England style that’s my personal favorite made from potato soup)

If you want to skip my introduction here (even though there’s good, healthy information that I’ve wittled down and most recipe sites are longwinded ,but this recipe article is not), you won’t hurt my feelings… and you can head straight down to the easy recipes at the end. 🧡

And if you want to learn a few healthy moves, such as Ayurvedic healthy balance acts, then here we go:

Let’s start with some soup ingredients that I’ve incorporated below, were not my faves as a child. And as I grew up, I decided I like ginger when that was not my way. I gave it another try and it stuck.

Like many kids, I like processed, sugary, and salty foods and that didn’t change as I grew into my adult Vata self.

And for any of us, we can modify our choices and influence our healthy change.

You can impact and change your health one flavor (and easy healthy soup) at a time.

Vatas especially (and some Kaphas) cuddle up to comfort food in the cooler months and the soups below will be warming and great for the transition seasons.

When we have a Vata imbalance that any of us can have, we love and crave our sweet and salty balance. One minute you want a sugar fix and the next a crisp snack with salt.

If you want to learn more about what’s going on with your body now (and tips to restore), take the body balance quiz.

Most recipes you see, say “salt to taste” or a pinch of salt. In baking, there’s always a pinch of salt and it really adds to the flavor. A ¼ teaspoon is about 5-6 pinches of salt.

If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, I usually use A LOT less. Why? Because health is in moderation.

And as a home baker… I rarely use butter unless it’s for celebrational traditional holiday bakes or Christmas cookies and special cakes that wouldn’t be the same without… but for everyday anti-inflammatory baking, I tweak a lot.

I use healthy oils and natural sweet ingredients that help with energy. ⚡️

You can make easy cocoa balls or no-bake chai balls

And if you want to crank up the warm oven, a ball of energy bites made from wholesome grits, oatmeal, chocolate chip, Greek yogurt, whole wheat flour, applesauce, and honey.

And they’re complete yum, and NO-GUILT enjoyment, hitting the spot if you have a sweet tooth (that I’m an expert about). 😋 energy bites

At this time, I’m involved in a beta chef’s cooking healthy eating group collaboration with RDs that provides culinary teaching and recipe input to a healthy strategy program.

I love food, and my background includes working with thousands of party planning events (and started my career in hotel catering that you already know if you’ve been reading some of my previous blog posts).

I’d hardly consider myself a chef-ette, but I have always had an adult culinary arts interest. 🧑‍🍳

…after hotels, I left the hospitality industry and went into more traditional Corporate America work, and then came back to the hospitality working world doing Mediterranean-cuisine (Lebanese, Spanish, and Italian) event planning for about a dozen foodie restaurants.

That’s really when my good food (gastronomy) tastes and senses were re-ignited and I had a chance to re-marry with my “food is medicine” approach to life.

…And if you come to my blog every week, you can plan on a lot of healthy inspiration in my upcoming blog posts (and get past those nasty winter blues).

And that’s especially good if you want to stay balanced from comfort stress eating that can get the best of us as we enter cooler months and warm holidays … and as we try to finish up stressful deadlines for the year!.

To bypass any winter mood funks and balance us, start the year with a healthy amount of a prime soup ingredient… salt.

Salt Talk For Your Low Sodium Healthy Soup Making

For soups, I avoid iodized salt. I don’t usually add table salt (like the ones in the packets) unless that’s all that’s available and the food isn’t already salted.

I alway buy “unsalted” ingredients when given an option.

If you eat out or eat prepared foods from groceries and restaurants, then you probably get enough salt. And probably more than enough salt in our highly processed foods.

On a DASH diet, lowering sodium is the recommendation.

When I’m cooking, I use sea salt (non-iodized) for everything and everyday use.

And then I use coarser natural sea salts like Celtic sea salt (or Himalayan or fleur de sel) for preparing meats to be baked in the oven, and for certain cooked vegetables.

Celtic sea salt is great for your rubs and on top as a garnish (not so much in mixing). The crystals are larger so they don’t blend as great as smaller salt granules. And I also Himalayan sea salt for additional healthy minerals.

And the gastronomic person in me, says coarser salt is absolutely necessary for the right flavor and texture on veggies like Brussel sprouts and edamame if you want a culinary meal experience (and not a bland one). Salt is as important as the veggie itself.

You can get away without using salt on certain veggies like broccoli or okra that hold their own tastes. If you add them to soups, the salt is usually already added.

So here are the 3 easy healthy soups that’ll help you with your salt cravings…

Easy Healthy Soup Recipes

Easy Low Sodium Healthy Soup #1: Mushroom Oat Soup

Cook mushrooms in a pot of covering water until soft, and add slow-cook oats. Mushrooms are immune-boosting and are alkaline. Cook until mushrooms are soft.

If you want, add a drizzle of cooking sherry, truffle oil, and saffron to get culinary fancy and balance umami tastes.

For more umami, add a dash of white pepper.

mushroom soup

Low Sodium Healthy Soup #2: Carrot Ginger Soup

Print Recipe

Carrot Ginger Soup

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

cooked carrots
ginger juice
ginger spice
ginger, chopped
sunflower seeds (optional)
dried parsley (optional)
cumin and Old Bay (optional)

Instructions

Cook carrots on medium heat. When soft, mash carrots. For smooth and easy-to-make soup, sdd to your Magic Bullet or blender and pulse a few times until it's to your smooth texture liking.
Add ginger spiced and chopped ginger bits (if you prefer for a more pungent bite good for Kapha). You can also use ginger juice for less chunks, and spices.
Zhugh with sunflower seeds and dried parsley if desired.

Cook carrots in water until soft, then mash and grate or squeeze ginger juices in the soup. You can finish off with alt-milk for a creamy-effect or just leave as is. That’s probably the way a.k.a. without ginger I would’ve preferred as a child 🧒🏻).

healthy soup recipes

Easy Potato Soup or New England Clam Chowder

This low sodium healthy soup is easier to make than you may think! You can make delicious chowder from a simple potato soup base.

Peel and cook common Russet potatoes in a pot with water. You would do the same step if you were making mashed potatoes.

Then decide if you want a creamy soup. And if you do, pour out some of the water and then mash potatoes in the same stovetop pot. Still with the stove heat on, add in your ready-to-eat clams (3 large potatoes to about 5 ounces of clams you can cook or use a can).

I like to zhugh up with aromatic herbs, either fresh or with ground herb spices like cilantro, parsley, oregano, and/or basil.

If you’re not sure if you should add any herbs into your soup (if you’re feeding others), then parsley and thyme spices are less strong (more universally likable) and can be added in of left to individual tastes.

potato healthy soup recipes — Potato base soup

If you’re looking for a few easy-to-make snack ideas to go along with your healthy soup recipes or just to eat on their own, you can try…

Baked kale chips…

Or, homemade baked crackers – zesty za’atar crackers…

Or, popcorn…

Another different twist and take on changing up tastes, is this idea… instead of adding salt, you could add a ‘lil vinegar to your potato snacks and soup.

I like to add ACV vinegar but you could also try malt, red, or white vinegar… they’re healthier and also give the food a bit of a tangy bite.

I like to also add my daily spices (turmeric, black or white pepper once in awhile). I skip needing any salt after all those changes 😉.

So hopefully you are soup-er excited to make your comfort homemade and easy healthy soup recipes, and maybe you even choose to change up a way that you snack.

Passion Purpose in Life Tips + Orange Star Chocolate Oat Cookie

Passion purpose is a sign you’re on the way to your life’s work. My passion led me to these cookies I baked, and started out as a catering manager for a DoubleTree Hotel, as full circle. 🍪🍪

Star design chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe below. 🍪

But I believe…

We all have a second act in us for a passion purpose in life. And that’s how I felt when I started to question the culture we live in and our individual purpose.

The longer you live and explore the full possibilities, you get to see and decide if you’ve been looking out from the wrong lens in some areas of your life, like a passion purpose in life. ✨

You can use this star cookie (recipe below) as a guide or inspiration. 🍪

star design chocolate chip cookie to inspire your passion purpose that could be baking. — Star Pattern Cookie recipe below 🧡⭐️

You can walk into your passion purpose if you take strategic steps (and that’s what this blog post is all about).

I’ll start with my humble adult story.

I got married later in life (at least I thought). I didn’t enter marriage in my twenties (something I recommend waiting on). Like most, I went through big changes from 25-30. That’s pretty typical of getting your feet off the ground as a newer adult.

By 28, I kept getting the same answer back that I was changing and trading in my caterpillar feet for wings. I didn’t know what I didn’t know and my 180-degree career switch in high-tech data (from the hospitality business) was a metaphor.

I knew that if I wanted any semblance of a life outside work like my business college friends had, I needed to jump ship into different waters.

I had no idea how and had no real job connections other than the internet. There was no LinkedIn, lol. But I knew that if I took the risk, then a new door could open. I believed whatever direction I was headed in would happen without yet knowing why. And it did.

I experienced what work-life balance was for the first time. I also got married.

And I had time for relationships and self-care. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I still had a past that I hadn’t addressed but was affecting the way I thought and acted, especially in my marriage.

At that time, I didn’t know childhood wounds existed into adulthood as PTSD.

I didn’t connect the dots to how events from decades ago could show up in my marriage. The brain is messy and complex like that.

It’s easy to stay unaware about the lens from which you see out into your life (and even these days in a more open and knowledge-aware society). And that affects your daily thought life and outcomes.

It’s a lot easier to be critical of others and notice how they behave that’s different than you.

And if you’re married, you’ve probably been tested, as marriage like no other relationship will make you go into deeper places you’ve never explored. You’ll meet each other’s ego.

Intimate bonding will highlight those insecure dormant spaces that need addressing like a UV blacklight spotlights stains.

A marriage relationship can make the partners want to fix everything that’s not how each would have done as a single person.

Marriage can be a tough bootcamp and why it’s such a great training ground for personal growth (and I’m all for it!). And so is building a business from a passion purpose in life. Even though not everyone likes that kind of testing ground to move up.

And that described what I experienced. Then years later, I lost my work-balance job from a massive corporate layoff.

And my marriage came to a peaceful screeching-halt end suddenly. And the business foundations I started, crumbled.

I relocated back to where I grew up and started over with a more mature lens. These events eventually helped me to find my individual purpose.

It started with a blogging journey back in 2009 and then put aside for about a decade. That was my passion purpose in life then.

And one day, I started writing a funny lesson learned story from a hot tea kettle burn on my finger. I submitted for publication and have never stopped writing since.

Long story short, writing never left my veins. And in the messy middle (by design), I found the path leading to a passion purpose in life.

And this leads me to 3 ways I can share (from my journey) how you can walk into your passion purpose this season.

1. Start Over (Finding Your Passion Purpose In Life Could Depend On It)

Don’t be afraid to start over. Be okay with the unknown as all of life if you think about it is uncertain. Taking gut and heartfelt risks is worth the chance!

If the timing is right, be brave, and don’t look back (at least not at your decision right away). You’re wisely guided internally.

It’s easy for any of us to wrap our identity in jobs and titles and rationalize why we can’t leave (they’re handcuffs whether they’re golden or not).

In my case, I grew up and worked in the most politically powerful and driven metro mover-and-shaker Washington DC culture, where people will run circles around you if you don’t pull over or speed up.

And I’m convinced it’s the area where the corporate rat race phrase came from 😂.

In my corporate work, I quickly learned that everyone working for someone is replaceable. And lessons learned yearsss later, that letting go of the fear of losing a job is so freeing and liberating. And not something to be scared of. It’s the ticket to your personal happiness and success.

When I was laid off after six years of success at a corporate job, I was literally in shock. I mean, one day your job existence is there, and then POOF!… the next day you wake up and it’s gone.

If you purposefully stay in the mindset of choosing to design your quality life, then you’re always nimble and heading towards your north star pointing passion purpose in life.

The uncertain journey isn’t prescriptive, all roses, or without doubt, but your creative purpose is in there and you can eventually do what you love and love doing (or else why pursue?) even if you’re not creative.

We all have a passion purpose in life. In This One Life.

Plus, in control of your own destiny, you will never be bored! Getting there may take some years, wrong turns, and grit (almost an inevitable formula for the best things in life!), but it’s so rewarding and worth the effort.

If you’re starting over, that’s a sign of growth into your purpose. New starts can be a deliberate choice, but often you’re blindsided with a job or relationship loss or change, health scare, or an unexpected move.

Anything can happen suddenly, even though it could be years in the making. You could become a 10-year overnight success (or land your dream job) with a new starting point or unintended re-route.

When there’s a fresh new beginning, your senses are heightened and you soak up more like a sponge. You feel life (and alive)!

The alternative is staying on the comfortable course. When life is busy, in the messy middle, that is when you can grow comfortable… until you’re not. Life doesn’t work the way it should. You feel stuck. And maybe discouraged.

Those are times you look deeper inside yourself and into what else you got in your bag o’ tricks. And you’ve got so much more than you know today! You just have to start digging for your today passion purpose in life that can change tomorrow.

It’s actually more methodical (than scary) and sensible if you think about it… you only get this one life to do what you want with it. Look at those on America’s Got Talent.

They’ve worked so hard for decades on their talent that they started from nothing but an idea and a dream. And they’ve failed forward plenty. But they didn’t give up.

…And they know each fall and fail is one step closer to success. And when they end up on the AGT stage, they never look back. And their big break success takes off.

Starting over may be just what you need to go to the next level in your unique part of this life.

After you meditate, think, or pray about it, and you get a form of A-ha confirmation that excites you and makes sense to you for that next step, then you and the shining Galactic Universe celebrate with a burst of fanfare (a new kind of Big Bang theory 🎉).

And when you go all in, they and all your support fans in your life will go to town to help you in your belief. You figure out your unique unstoppable path. And what you were destined to do.

So these are the steps I would recommend (and I did to find my self-taught writing passion):

2. Discover Your Hidden Talent(s)

Maybe you have started an interest years ago that you never fully saw into fruition, and now is your ripe time. Or you want to know what your hidden talent is if you have uncovered it… you DO have one (and probably more than one).

That I’m certain of!

If you want to know what that is, then I encourage you to keep looking and more deeply as it’s there on the tea leaves and in between your yoga poses if that’s your jam.

You can also find it in your hobbies, interests, and activities you’ve dabbled in that excited you for a day or a season. Those outlets and past times made you feel good, and maybe even felt a sigh-of-relief from life’s busyness and stressors.

We all find time to do the things we want and love, even if we’re SUPER busy. It doesn’t have to be just one interest, as it can be a category especially if you’re a Vata and like to multi-task…

Such as, when I was in corporate work, I’ve always had a side interest in scrapbooking, painting art, and creating (anything) where I got lost in my project…

The Great British Bakeoff is a great representation of passion purpose bakers. — This is my graphical representation of the show 🍰

And that’s what The Great British Bake-Off (or The Great British Baking Show in the U.S.) past and present contestants do. They have day jobs and baking is their side gig or hobby, so they are on the show happy to be there. It’s another outlet for them.

OK, I have to pause the serious reel here for just a minute ⏳… I was laughing so hard over the baking show comedy last week in the current episode series. Are you familiar with the show?

…If not, I’m gonna give you a 30-second program interrupt and let you in. 😊

The comedy is there in every episode (it’s not hard to find like your hidden talent can be, haha.) Gut there’s a funny sound bite clip from one show episode that I’m reminded of where the contestants are tasked with making baklava and phyllo dough during Pastry Week.

One of my favorite contestants from the season episodes, is Giuseppe who mentioned he had never made either before because it’s a hassle and easier to just go out and buy.

It’s funny on two levels because 1) with his lovely and classic Italian accent, it sounded like another English word to Matt (one of the tent sidekicks) he was talking to, and 2) because the challenge was for him to make the painfully hassle-filled baklava under 3 hours, and cut in a star design. 😅 Continue reading “Passion Purpose in Life Tips + Orange Star Chocolate Oat Cookie”

7 Habits of Highly Effective People Learned Lessons

7 Habits of Highly Effective People are habit principles you can use in most aspects of your life. I learned this from teacher and author, Stephen Covey who taught from his principle book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

I can’t think of anything more work adrenaline-filled than putting on a moving-part event production. That’s how I felt when I would plan and then orchestrate large events with over 100 guests, where the habits from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People were put to good use.

Setting up event success meant planning milestone meetings with chefs and managers (and plenty of meetings with myself) with a 5 P’s mantra: Proper planning prevents poor performance.

That’s not a personal mission statement, but it’s a success value statement. In my event planning, I learned many powerful lessons that can be applied to personal change and growth.

On event nights, the party starts at the ready time or at least the staff and I have to be ready.

That’s when we know whether the prep work laid out hours beforehand pays off with a successful event. And this actually starts weeks and sometimes months in advance by planning menus, setup, and details with planners and chefs.

Each event is like its own wedding event even though it may have fewer mini-events and agendas.

The first two habits (of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) always took center stage to anticipate changes:

1. Be proactive

2. Begin with the end in mind

During the parties, when there were too many moving parts, being in the moment, keeping focused on the guests, gauging the temperature of the room, and checking in on the party host (be proactive) was part of event success (begin with the end in mind).

And in your daily life, you probably don’t plan events (or not in a live event space today anyway)…but most of us plan our daily event schedules.

So most of us are planners. On the calendar, you can (and may already) practice be(ing) proactive and begin with the end in mind habits.

One effective way is, if you only have an activity that requires a bi-weekly (or bi-anytime) habit… and to succeed with those tasks, you could fill the non-weeks or time with another activity so that your mind has to search for the “either/or” activity.

If you don’t create a weekly placeholder activity then you could unintentionally forget/skip the bi-weekly intended one. The mind needs a replacement to substitute.

If it’s an every other day activity, then you could fill that same activity time for another activity, that follows a daily habit (or the habit stacking concept most of us have come to love and know from the more recent Atomic Habits by James Clear).

And that’s why I personally got rid of calendars because of building habits.

It’s much easier for the habit to stick (and for consistency to happen) when you have an “automatic” method programming your mind.

That’s easier and in event planning, that’s the “you got this” feeling in event planning when you’re on top of everything and proactive. You’re not writing everything down in those critical seconds needed to make a decision.

Most professions have these “make or break” moments. For a surgeon in a hospital emergency room, if the doctor has to look up procedural answers then, that’s not a good sign.

And in event planning that I know, being reactive with situations is crushing and it can be a snowball effect where the plates come out late or cold. And there’s a complaint about the room temperature and drinks.. and in those humbling times, you can’t wait until the end of the event, that’s only a matter of time.

To get to the proactive level takes planning, proficiency, and experience that creates confidence. And that starts from building consistent habits.

Consistency is the end-all, be-all that builds progress, and confidence and works for every important habit that I can think of at least. You consistently follow a habit. And when a better habit idea comes along, you replace that habit.

But consistency isn’t without downfall. It can be at odds with creativity, so consider looking at them as the yin-and-yang, or the sugar and the salt in baking that give the balanced spice in life.

And using solid principles like that from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People can improve your effectiveness.

They can help you in life’s productivity and also deeper areas like finding your life’s purpose, a proactive choice that can easily get los in life’s busyness and commotion of what’s seemingly urgent but not important to you.

You’re headed in the right direction when you keep developing yourself and pivoting. You keep practicing new skills, putting one step in front of the other and looking at your compass.

The Universe is constantly guiding you and offering an invisible hand to help you and give you a hand up.

The healthy and growth mind set knows that a re-route is to help you move up in the climb of your life and get off the roller coaster ride.

If you begin thinking with the desired outcome end in mind, then your process in the middle is improved when you set your eyes on the end goal.

You can better Ready, Fire, and Aim.

And when you stay focused and open to feedback using habits #3 and #4 from seven Habits of Highly Effective People:

3. Put first things first

4. Think win-win

These days prioritizing what’s important is more blurred than in the past.

Most of us live a double life to some degree with our digital lives and real lives, so putting first things first (habit #3) is not the easiest thing and can be complex.

Both lives are authentic. Your sweet spot is what makes you stand out and the skills that you’re good at that are relevant.

The biggest competitor you could run into for a win-win approach (habit #4) can be yourself and your moods (we used to blame much more on others). We’re now a more openly aware and collaborative society.

Being able to give is a gift. It’s a win-win.

There’s a cosmic exchange when you give your energy away in optimism, and then the world dances. When you give your time (service) or money (generous giving), that can also create buzz and impact for your endeavors.

When you can start looking at how you fit in the world, not selfishly, but what you can give in the abundant overflow you’re given in personality, gifts, and talents, then you can grow to your highest and best use purpose (habit #2).

In self-awareness, then you can create a continuing growth environment (kaizen is the Japanese word in business terms) for you and others around you (habits # 5-7):

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood

6. Synergize

7. Sharpen the saw

“You have two ears and one mouth,” I remember Author Stephen Covey saying in his workshops.

Listening is more importing than talking.

Habit #5 summed up: Hearing, selective listening, and active listening are 3 different processes. The first is naturally automatic, the second is tuning in/out when multi-tasking, and the third is focusing, taking notes, and coming up with unique ideas from what you heard in your frame of reference and experiences.

In my event planning days, if a client had an issue, it was best to listen to them, then give them available options based on what they communicated (habit #5) and let them decide which options to take (habit #6). Seasoned event planners know how to do that every time, and let those dialogues roll off their tongues (habit #7). And that way the client felt in charge and if things didn’t go as planned, then they owned part of the outcome. That’s the behind-the-scenes smoothness in event planning.

And that helps in most ways when you work with others. If you fill them in with communication nd what you’re up to, there’s a greater chance they can fill in and help in ways you wouldn’t even know how, now.

Habit #6: 1+1=3 or synergy is exponential growth that happens when you have collaboration. And when you keep adding/evolving collectively to what you’re doing, then you’re getting better. By default, you’ll avoid the things you didn’t like or “been there done that,” and keep seeking newer, better ways for yourself. That leads to growth and…

Habit #7: Evolved learners focus most of their time on the present moment and not on the past or future that hasn’t happened.

They know where they’re at and that the past brought them to where they are today. And without the past, they would not have learned (from their history) what they need to do to improve.

And when you get out of the negative emotions of that headspace or focus on the happy memories, you can feel good and alive.

When you can reflect, you can see why things happened and how they helped you even though it didn’t seem that way when you were learning the lesson.

Everything happens for a good reason (believe that!) and sometimes that takes a little longer to realize… and, at every turn you are gaining a little more confidence in who you are becoming.

And you gain a clearer vision for the future and better strategies that you can better evaluate from time to time.

In events, dessert were always a must. Baklava was on the Mediterranean-Lebanese restaurant menus. We didn’t make baklava in-house, but you can with this low-sugar recipe. 🥮

Easy Phyllo Dough For Baklava

Make phyllo dough from scratch! It's not as difficult as it sounds... and dare I say fun!

Course Dessert

Cuisine lebanese

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup flour
1 cup water
pinch of salt
honey
chopped nuts
dates, orange, and cinnamon (optional)
additional bench flour (to prevent sticking)

Instructions

Making phyllo is a lot like making homemade pasta, but much thinner.
Make a mound and a hole in the middlle where you can add the olive oil and slowly add water. Knead for about 5 minutes and then form a dough disc. Let rest.
Roll out as thin as possible and then you can slip into the pasta maker if you have one, adjusting until you get to the thinnest setting (e.g. 1). It will look opaque but the hope is that there will be no holes.
Cut into strips that you will use as layers for the baklava.
For the baklava, you can brush honey and top with chopped dates and nuts (walnuts or pistachios work well) on every other layer if you make 7 layers ending with the top layer with honey and nuts. Sprinkle each layer with cinnamon and orange zest if you like (good for Ayurvedic Vata balancing!).