Happy Holiday Season

Each year the Holiday Season seems to sweep in so quickly.  It feels like I just turned over the flower beds to prepare them for the winter.  But...here it is...ready or not.

This year two of my sons will be helping me prepare the Christmas dinner.  My youngest is not able to be here with us.  He is working in another province for the holidays.  I pray that a lovely family will invite him into their home to celebrate the holidays.  We will miss him greatly! 

We have decided on something less traditional this year.  We will be enjoying seafood that comes straight from the east coast. There is a small family owned fish market in town that carries some of the best lobster.  Of course, our special family dinners just wouldn't be the same without southern sweet potato pie and corn bread.  They are two special recipes that my children will travel miles just to indulge their taste buds.  I love watching them as they enjoy every bite.

So, for this entry I would like to share with you a couple of recipes you may want to consider trying.  They are easy to make and they do not call for a lot of fancy ingredients.

Southern Sweet Potato Pie

2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger (optional)
1 Tbsp. flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 unbaked pie shell


1.  Boil sweet potatoes in a large pot for 50 minutes (or until tender).  Remove from pot when done and immerse in cool water OR you can boil them ahead of time and just let them cool on their own.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2.  Remove the skin from the potatoes.  The peel will come off easily.  Then mash the potatoes until they are creamy.

3.  Add the butter to the potatoes and mix well.

4. Now add both sugars, milk, eggs, spices, vanilla extract and the flour.  Mix until mixture becomes smooth.

5.  Pour mixture into prepared pie shell.  Bake for 55-60 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes before placing in the fridge for at least 3 hours to allow the pie to set.

Optional:  This can be served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. 

Southern Corn Bread

Preheat over at 375 degrees.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal (yellow or white)
1 cups of sugar (or according to taste)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled down
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (you can make your own by placing 1 1/2 Tbsps. lemon juice in 1 1/2 cups of warm milk.  Set aside for 10 minutes.)
1 cup creamed corn

* 2 Tbsp. bacon fat (or butter) for the large cast iron frying pan.


1.  Mix dry ingredients in one large bowl.

2.  Mix all wet ingredients in another large bowl. *You can also put these ingredients through the blender.

3.  Place bacon fat in cast iron pan and warm up in oven just until the bacon fat (or butter) is melted.

4.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.  Fold mixture just until dry ingredients are wet. 

5.  Pour entire mixture into the large cast iron frying pan and bake for approximately 45 - 50 minutes.  

* Depending on your oven and the size of the cast iron pan you are using the cooking time may vary.  Test the bread with a tooth pick to see if it is ready. If the tooth pick doesn't come out clean, let the bread bake for another 8 - 10 minutes.

It is easy to get carried away during any festive gathering.  The delicious food, drink, and sweets can be tempting and we can over indulge ourselves.  I like to remind myself that sometimes less is more!

Happy Holidays to you and your families!  I wish you joy, happiness, peace and good health in the New Year.

Until next time,

Deborah

The Looking Glass

 I Miss Feeling Pretty

Recently I was able to have an open, raw conversation with one of my sons in respect to how I am not feeling very pretty as of lately.  With my hair falling out and my scalp showing; not being able to wear make-up or jewelery because of the skin reactions; the visible broken blood vessels and sores; and the rashes; the side effects of treatment have taken a toll on how feminine (or lack of) I am feeling.

I explained that I am feeling guilty for feeling this way. It seems petty and vain. 

 Drug reaction.  It is described as a chemical burn. Very painful. Face is severely swollen.  Did not recognize myself.  My son advised me to lay off the red eye shadow.

When I go out in public and people stare I feel shy and I just want to disappear into the crowd. I am not proud of this at all but it is the truth.

God bless our children! Within 10 minutes my son's words took me to a place of understanding.  My son, Christian, works as a personal trainer, clinician and health care provider.  I asked if he would share his thoughts on this subject with those who read this blog.  

Christian, thank you for your words of encouragement and helping me see the world through another lens when I needed an alternative perspective to consider.

  

 Beauty Is Bone Deep
- by Christian 

As time passes and my understanding of health grows and my experiences with people broaden I see a common theme; people want very much to look attractive and it hurts them and their health when they feel unattractive.

I didn't always accept this condition.  For some time I made an effort to devalue aesthetics and physical appearances opting for a more functional view of health and well being.  

After all:

"Beauty is only skin deep." 

"It does not matter what we look like, what matters is how we feel."

If we may simply define health as 'how good we feel' and the above holds true, then physical appearance should be considered shallow.  In order to be healthy beauty does not need to occupy our concerns.

Although this was my thinking, I could not ignore the pervasiveness and overwhelming value placed upon appearance.  It was everywhere.  I would see it and most importantly ... I would feel it.

One day I wrote a list of all the physical traits we tend to perceive as attractive in another person, the personal traits we aspire for ourselves. I came up with a list which included;

* clear and healthy skin

* strong, rich hair

* clear eyes

* white teeth

* an athletic frame.

These are some of the same traits most health products, fashion designers and make-up producers attempt to improve upon, frame well, magnify or claim to provide to the consumer through their advertising and marketing.

"Use this product for clearer skin."

"Use this make-up to mask unwanted blemishes."

"Now with whitening!"

"Rid yourself of red, puffy eyes with these drops."

"... fortifying hair for a strong and healthy look." 

...and the countless fat reducing; dieting options; and clothes that lift, tuck and mask unflattering and unwanted...ummm..."curves".

(note: the cosmetic and fashion industries alone make over a half trillion dollars a year.  Another testament of how widely this desire spans.)

I looked at this list while attempting to be free from judgment and I noticed something.  There was a very clear comparison from each aesthetically pleasing trait to an example of a healthy body.  You  see, when our organs, GI tract and mind are healthy it is reflected in our skin, hair, eyes, teeth and body composition.  In fact, the idea of attraction and drawing in a mate with traits expressing vitality and fertility is an expression of health.  True health.  Health within.

When we become ill or our body becomes toxic, this too is reflected in our appearance.  It can make us feel unattractive.  We may compound this feeling with guilt because we feel shame.  Shame for valuing something so shallow. These emotions have absolutely no benefit to us.

When we are not well it is difficult to feel beautiful.  It is difficult to feel pretty.  When our bodies become toxic from chemical therapies or poor nutrition or any other over abundance of a stressor we are not shining with confidence.  We are not representing our beauty or good health.

Picture how you or another person looks and feels after they have not slept for 2 days, or after being stuck outside in the winter for too long, or swelling up from an allergic reaction.  All of these are stressors to our system and can lead to a person feeling and looking physically unattractive. 

We are designed to avoid proximity to dangers, to potential health risks, and to that which does not inspire growth. If attraction encourages proximity ... closeness, then (un)attraction promotes distance ... isolation.

I am not suggesting that anyone who is ill or feeling under the weather is thereby all of a sudden an unavoidable monster.  Rather, I am suggesting that it becomes more difficult to value ourselves as attractive while we are experiencing any distress which overwhelms our system be it physical, mental, emotional, chemical, thermal, or other.

Conversely, when a person does anything to inspire health and healing for themselves they may welcome a feeling of beauty. A reciprocal relationship. Just as distress may subtract from health, a eustress may be an addition to health ... to beauty.

To balance the previous examples, imagine how you or another may look after a good night sleep and a warm shower; returning from a peaceful vacation from a beautifully warm climate; or after consuming a deliciously healthy meal full of life and vitamins.  How then would one feel about their appearance? Would their appearance continue to improve so long as they continued to provide themselves with opportunities to heal and build health? I suggest it would. More importantly, as they began to feel better it would be in their best interest to care, appreciate and value their improving appearance - to enjoy and have gratitude for their healthier looking hair, skin, eyes and body.

My contention is, rather than exhausting mental, emotional and monetary resources on masking, distracting or adding to our lack of health, ... our unease, ... our dis ease; we instead use those valuable resources to build health ... to encourage ease ... to feel ... pretty.

There is no harm in having pride in ones appearance so long as they are taking care of their health and not actively detracting from another's. I suggest you embrace feeling beautiful and do those things within your life which encourages you to feel beautiful.

Beauty reaches depths much further than skin deep.  It reaches through us.  When we have those feelings of being unpretty, may we reach to our depths and encourage the development of our health so we may again feel our beauty shine through.

I now suggest a new paradigm:

Beauty is bone deep.
It matters how you feel. It effects how you look.

- CFR