The Great British Bake Off season means baking time, so that’s what this light-hearted foodie is sharing about today to lean into the happy! 😋
…And as a show fan, I get giddy like a school girl. I’ve even got my hair put up in a high up side ponytail like a teen to match my feelings. 🤸🏻
Oh, but don’t worry… this will probably be my only giddy post on the show if you’re not a fan (yet). I’ll be back on the healthy earth channel 🌱 next week… so stay tuned. 📺
…And tuning this week into The GBBO also known as the Great British Baking Show 🇬🇧 is the alarm for me (and us home bakers) that it’s time to fall B-E-ake!
But before we bake, can you guess what this is?
It’s NOT butter. And it’s not fondant even though it makes a good food illusion 💭… but neither are good to eat on its own so that rules those out.
…Well, hang on to your hat (for that finished thought), and keep reading as it will make more sense when I spill the butt-ah…
Btw… in the States, we like our good sense, scents, and cents, as we’re multi-faceted and have many preferences to show.
We’re similar to our neighbors across the pond where we have adopted some nifty baking ways. Isn’t that right, Rahul (our beloved Great British Bake Off friend)? 😊… and we love that! 🇺🇸
I also love that we get to idea mingle with our UK friends that unite the kingdoms through our grams (Instagram and convertable baking gram measurements). 🇬🇧
…and isn’t it about worldly T-I-M-E!?
Cheers! 🎉 (as in thank you in Brit-English and cheers 🥂).
Oh, and did I mention we’re getting mini-Brit speaking lessons from the show’s entertainment side? 🐿️
One lesson note-to-self: I’ll now know to bring more pants than trousers and trackies to the U.K. next time. 😉
But all-in-all, we have a lot and even more in common… both countries speaking some English-variety. We’re also closest in time zones when you consider the other Old World countries.
…And GBBO o‘clock 🕰️ helps us bridge the ocean divide. 🥧
But I will add… it’s a little weird seeing the show baked creations before the episode airs on Netflix.
…Ah, but a few seasons in… like most watchers from the States, I’ve gotten used to the spilled (butt-ah 🧈) beans. 🫘
Plus I grew up in the simpler dialup era so no complaints (not my style).
Which btw, I think I saw one of those ☎️ this week and a green sewing machine that brought me back to my youth where we had one of those in the house.
…Plus I learned a new mini checkerboard technique a.k.a Battenbergs that I heard about from the show. 🏁
And that’s what I was baking up this week in my no-pressure tent? 🎪 Well.. sorta, but not exactly!
…I get excited about sugar talk that goes straight to my head 💭… I forget for a brief moment that I’m a low-sugar baker in the comforts of my kitchen.
So swept back to reality, a MINI Battenberg marzipan dessert is fitting. Because a mini one has very little sugar.
…And this one is reaallly small! …Good for maybe a big Barbie food table.
But too small to bake a cake in unless you’re Barbie baking for Ken and then it’s never too small. 💖
But for the rest o us, an all easy marzipan sweet bite can be made in minutes. It’s like playing with Play-dough.
…So that’s what I turned my butter illusion into. And making a fancy pattern marzipan is still less time than baking.
But I couldn’t leave my oven cold.
Because butter talk inspires baking. Especially on The Great British Bake Off.
…So I made a healthy delicious bake, but instead of butter (or butt-ah) I used an ingredient you may or may not have heard of… MCT oil.
It sounds like a pharmacy prescribed oil, but it’s OTC… and healthy! Now we’re back on track. 🌱
The healthy fat food supports weight loss, helping the body make ketones for energy that then gives us more energy.
It’s a form of coconut oil that most or all of us know. 🥥
And so I thought only fitting to make a healthy chocolate donut.🍩
That was made coconut tasty with organic unsweetened coconut chips that also make delicious snacks on their own!
Healthy coconut flour was used to lean into the tastes of chococonut (say that 10 times). The gluten-free flour makes a denser no-rise bake that’s great for pancakes or ONE donut here…
…that’s btw how us baking peeps fit into our fave jeans so we can better thrive in our mind-bodies 😊 where we’re all slightly different tuned that’s good to celebrate in our turning world.
Speaking of jeans👖…my baking genes wouldn’t fit in The Great British Bake Off fiery baking tent. 🎪
The show competitors got that competitive gene.🙌👏🏽
…And it looks like all of them this season were very blessed.
For the rest of us, we’re watching TheGreat British Bake Off and doing our stress-free baking. And on that note, you can enjoy with a best melted chocolate dessert.
To make a stacked cardamom tree like this is satisfying. It almost looks like a game of edible Jenga. The recipe is below along with some song title inspiration to get you in the Christmas spirit.
You can get in holiday merry cheer with music that brings you back to the warm-and-fuzzy under-the-mistletoe feelings. 🎶 Ed Sheeran & Elton John have a “Merry Christmas” special duet and happy video to watch along to give you just that…
Peppy Christmas music can wake you up and help restore your mind and body’s anxious moods. If you have anxiety, brain fog, or need some joy, you can year-round get instant healing through the power of sounds, to calm and balance… while you’re making your cardamom tree.
Cardamom is a spice made from several plants (not a tree). It’s sweet, spicy and warm. It can help wake up balance your Kapha with its slight pungent aroma. And calm anxiety with its sweetness.
Along with 30 selected soothing Christmas songs therapy savers to help you relax your worried Vata, soothe Pitta, and wake up your Kapha sides. 🧘🏻♀️👯♂️
Music with a cardamom tree is an Ayurvedic healthy recipe!
So often we think listening to music is nice entertainment, but it’s so much more as it’s used to heal the mind, body, and soul.
Music will do that faster through the ears to the mind, than food that can take the long route from the digestive body to mind.
And if you have setbacks, looming worry, or stress, know that it starts in your mind and shows up on your body in the mind-body connections.
If you have stress, the first warning signs can be a stress pimple, wrinkles, early gray hair, or other visible signs. And if you’re feeling depressed or the blues, you could hold onto extra pounds.
This is common around the holidays and winter months when seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can kick in.
You hear many stories of heart-related diseases around the holidays. The body usually gives earlier warning signs, but the holidays present a stressful time to many hearts.
So baking a Christmas cardamom tree along with Christmas songs therapy and instrumental sounds is one totally healthy and often overlooked preventative way to keep your holidays happy and bright (from the start of the Advent to the end of the year).
Just a few minutes listening can be all you need to restoratively calm an anxious mind or soothe an irritated soul that needs rest and peaceful healing. And on then on the mend you can restore all your anxious, irritated and tired symptoms this season. Take the quick body balance quiz to see what you can do about these sour moods.
Christmas Songs Therapy For Calming Relaxation:
Christmas songs therapy includes soothing songs, instrumental, classical music, and calm sounds.
1. Choral Classics (ethereal music) has a way of bringing peace-filled feelings, like the deep sound of a bell ringing that resonates.
When you hear classic Christmas songs in general, like “Noel,” sung by a melodic chorus in synchrony, they provide harmony to your mind. Even in a world of chaos, they can bring a feeling of peace and order, especially when feelings of uncertainty permeate.
2. “Noel” – Lauren Daigle has a modern twist to this classic Christmas song
3. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” – Sarah Mclachlan (Wintersong Album)
Soothing Pitta From Irritation/Angry Feelings:
4. Christmas Canon – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
5. Christmas Jazz – Kenny G Winter Wonderland
6. Dr. SaxLove – Snazzy instrumental saxophone
7. Kenny G saxophone – if you’re irritated, his instrumental music is known to hold the high notes longer that reach and impact your mind in a healing/soothing way
8. Ocean sounds – in real life, ocean waves are moving year-round (something for us to be grateful for as they affect the world climate). I have fond memories of going to the local beach in the winter when it’s off-season (and maybe you do also where you are). The waves are calm, and the beach uninhabited when everyone is indoors in hibernation
9. Tibetan Singing Bowls – these are used to start and end meditation sessions. Yoga instructors use these bowls for intentional yoga sessions. You can feel like you’re in a place of solitude (like monks).
Christmas Songs Therapy For Anxiety:
Find indie music and off-beat music and chants.
Get out of the common everyday music and go into worldly music… in America, it’s easy to stick with the popular music bands that are advertised and played over and over again on television, radio, and half-time shows. You’ll get better mind-body satisfaction if you step out and explore other music. For a Vata especially, discovering fresh variety is going to be a breath of fresh air that awakens the mind if there’s a little Kapha going on.
10. “One Toy Solider” song AndWinter Came Album – Enya
11. Amaratine Album (Special Christmas Edition)- Enya
12. The Reindeer Room – A Christmas Chillout Album – Most of the artists you won’t recognize but the instrument twists are not your usual beats. They have a futuristic vibe that you may detect. They are remakes of classic songs such as Sleigh Ride, White Christmas, and Little Drummer Boy
13. Gregorian chants that can make you feel like you’ve been whisked back in time
14. Chamber music (Saint-Saens Chamber music) – You feel like you’re listening from inside a music chamber
15. Crystal singing bowls. These sounds are so light and airy and can make you feel enlightened. They’re good to use while meditating or journaling and can be restorative for panic attacks
16. Waterfall or rain instrumental sounds that have varying tempos. Those light background sounds (including fire crackling) can restore stubborn moods
17. Christmas blues songs – unlike jazz, there are greater varied ranges and moods
18. Dee Yan Key – snazzy, upbeat instrumental that you can find in Music Archives to help you create or compose your own music
20. “Do They Know It’s Christmas” (1984) – this is an oldie but goodie with a couple of George’s… Boy George, George Michael, Duran Duran, and a bunch of the famous rock singers of the past. So nostalgic (when the Brat Pack on film were popular…I digress), but you just can’t recreate the same 80’s happy music and the time period it represented
…if you start singing along to your favorite songs, you’re doing double good. You can’t be depressed and joyful at the same time. Singing no matter what you sound like, off-key or not, will make you feel better and open up your throat.
Another one…
21. “So This Is Christmas” – John Lennon (if you’re a Beatles fan)
22. Andrea Bocelli – “The Prayer” duet will wake up your heart and soul with the opera-esque components. Andrea’s amazing singing quality holds onto long high notes. Return to Love is a beautiful video where Andrea Bocelli serenades with a chorus, to his wife, that can remind you of fleeting moments. As a blind musician, Bocelli started his young career as an attorney. But he could sense the happiness and smiles that his singing brought to crowds and that’s what tipped his decision to become a professional musician
23. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is a classical classic, that’s good for balance. The violin in the spring concerto is going to be light and help wake up your senses. Summer is going to be fast and dramatic. Fall is light. Winter is best for Kapha imbalances, as it’s a faster tempo.
24. Another classic is listening to the music from The Nutcracker. You’ve probably seen the dreamy fairy tale performance before and can watch it online. The varying instruments piped into the drama is good for getting your mind out of routine.
25. Bret Eldridge – a cross between a big band, country, and Harry Connick, Jr.-esque. His fresh, modern take on class Christmas songs can awaken your senses
26. “Amazing Grace” – The Il Divo tenors are captivating to watch as they sing their parts of the same song
27. “Hallelujah” – Pentatonix has a chorus that’s refreshing to listen to especially if you’re in a mood funk. It’s like throwing a splash of warm water on your face as the singers echo melodies and imitate sounds
28. “Christmas Tree Farm” – Taylor Swift jingles can be a reminder of a jolly and hopeful time that Christmas is.
29. “Christmas Valentine” – Ingrid Michaelson and Jason Mraz (maybe he can add a Dancing with the Stars dance to his video?)
30. “Please Come Home For Christmas” – The John Mayer modern version with high guitar riffs, Jon Bon Jovi sultry version, or original Charles Brown oldie blues version can bring different moods. See if you can find the version that makes your day a couple minutes happier.
Just remember if you’re fatigued in any way, Christmas-y songs lift up your spirit. They will stay classic, as long as you want to remember them that way.
We all grew up hearing the classic songs sung by different artists and repurposing an old song to a new version. Or are sung in collaboration with other artists. New re-made versions and meditative healing music are good for restoring different imbalances that your body is quietly thanking you for.
May your Advent season be happy and bright with a Cardamom Tree! 🌲
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.
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 😊:
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.
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 show is “The Great British Bake Off” in U.K. where cookies are biscuits. The Jammie Dodgers are a British classic that was one of the technical challenges. Btw, these are not here for temptation reasons. I have a healthy carrot cake or squares recipe below for your baking holiday entertainment should you accept the baking challenge. 🥕
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 9th 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…
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
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.
