Debi Simons, Author at Respect Food Roles

Post-Partay Thoughts (And a Great Pistachio Cupcake Recipe)

March 9, 2020March 9, 2020 by Debi Simons

So . . . this past Friday, March 6, was the Irish concert by the Cherry Creek Chorale, a great, great occasion. And afterwards was the reception (which, thankfully, is held only after the Friday-night concert, not the Saturday-night one.) I made three items: my Spicy Cheddar Cookies, Guinness Brownies, and Pistachio Cupcakes. Follow the links to the first two recipes if you’re interested. And for the wonderful frosting I made, go here. I’m giving the recipe for the pistachio cupcakes below. For the Guinness Brownies I’m linking to the post over at Sally’s Baking Addiction. Note, though, that I ended up just using the white chocolate-cream cheese frosting linked to above for those as well as for the pistachio cupcakes. I had made a double batch of the frosting and realized that I had plenty for all of them. I

A Different Type of Travel Book

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 by Debi Simons

Cover for Intentional Travel showing the turreted fortress of Carcassonne Jim and I have been going on big trips ever since we got married almost 28 years ago. Most of our traveling has been in the US, but we’ve now made three international trips together. Back in the summer of 2018 we spent a blissful three weeks in France to celebrate our 25th anniversary (one year late). I was struck with a number of tips and ideas that don’t show up in regular travel books or are given a slant with which I don’t agree. So I decided to write a brief travel book of my own, spelling out some of these unconventional ideas. Jim has recently revised it and gotten it up as an e-book on this site and as a paperback and Kindle edition on Amazon. I’d encourage you to get a copy if you’re planning any type of trip, even if you’re not going to Europe. My emphasis is on that area because that’s where we’d just gone, but my ideas are widely applicable. There’s an appendix with tipping info for most of the countries in Europe; I don’t have anything about tipping in, say, Japan, but that’s the sort of thing that’s easily accessible online. Who’s going to tell you, though, to:

Some Timeless Sensible Eating Advice–from 1934

February 24, 2020 by Debi Simons

Your carriage madam A guide to good: Janet Lane — Image from AbeBooks; follow the link to purchase: https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/your-carriage-madam/

Two recent interests have led me to the above source, and I’ll be developing these ideas in further posts. First, I’ve been struck over the past year or so about how important it is to keep your core muscles—your abdominals—pulled in. I realized at some point that I had gotten into the horrible habit of going around with my stomach pooching out. As soon as you allow that to happen, your whole body goes out of alignment. The stomach sticks out, the spine curves too much, the hips (ahem) stick out, and the shoulders and head poke forward. We tend to think that good posture involves throwing our shoulders back, but in reality our shoulders will just hang naturally straight if the rest of the body is carried properly. (And of course last week’s “Happier” podcast with Gretchen Rubin and Liz Craft was all about . . . posture. Once again the stars have aligned. Be sure and listen to that episode; I will just say that I have no intention of doing the exercises they recommend because I have a routine that works for me, but you may find their ideas helpful.)

So I’d been planning to do some videos showing the exercise routine I do and emphasizing the importance of

A Great New Salad Ingredient

March 9, 2020February 20, 2020 by Debi Simons

Up until this past holiday season I prided myself that I’d never eaten any kale. It just seemed so trendily healthy, and it looked tough and unappetizing. I’d read that you needed to “massage” kale that was being used raw, a recommendation that further discouraged me from trying it. Here’s what the inimitable Deb Perelman said about kale on Smitten Kitchen way back in 2013: ““the world would be a better place if we could all stop pretending that kale tastes good.” But then she went on to rant and rave about a kale salad she’d had at a restaurant. (As has been said, by me and by others, if

Once Again, with Feeling: The Small Things You Do Every Day Matter More than the Big Things You Do Once In Awhile

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020 by Debi Simons

Image by Emilian Robert Vicol from Pixabay

The above is from Gretchen Rubin and tweaked by me. I’ve made this point many times, most recently in the area of healthy eating: What counts are the consistent, day-to-day choices that we make, not the big, dramatic flourishes that we perform periodically. Remember my theory of inverse drama:

There’s an inverse relationship between the drama of a process and the magnitude of its results. (from the post “Lessons from the Dentist’s Chair”)

Some random health and fitness thoughts

February 10, 2020 by Debi Simons

Last week I needed to get keep a doctor’s appointment in order to refill an expired prescription, so even though it was pretty snowy I got myself out the door and to the office. (My husband did yeoman duty shoveling the driveway multiple times over the course of the storm.) Since it had been over six months since my last A1C test at their office I had them do that, too, and it was:

6.0

One Last Bash at an “Alternative” Sweetener–Agave Nectar

February 6, 2020February 6, 2020 by Debi Simons

Image attribution: Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

I realized that I didn’t include agave nectar syrup in yesterday’s post, so here’s a short rundown on that hyped-up product. The word “nectar” just sounds so lovely and natural, doesn’t it? And in reality if you had an agave plant sitting on your patio you could go out, cut one of the leaves, and squeeze out the sap into your cup of tea. Well, actually you’d have to boil it down into a more concentrated sweetener, as otherwise it wouldn’t do much.

Some Sweet Syrups that Won’t Help You Much

February 5, 2020 by Debi Simons

I used to watch a TV show called “Christina Cooks,” with host Christina Pirello. She advocates a vegan diet and will not use regular sugar, opting instead for “brown rice syrup.” Hmmm, I thought. Is that substance really better for you than regular table sugar? I was aware of another syrup that also claimed to be healthy, “barley malt syrup.” I knew that this substance was often called for in bagel recipes and actually have a jar of that sweetener in my pantry for use if I ever again torture myself by trying to make my own bagels, an effort which probably won’t happen any time soon.

The Case for Making Food INconvenient

January 28, 2020 by Debi Simons

Today I’m sharing another one of my Astoundingly Obvious Observations (AOOs): The more conveniently available food is, the more you’ll (probably) eat. I’ve talked about this idea before, but its truth has been brought home to me even more strongly of late as I’ve kept my intake of sugar under control. Keeping sweet items and other snack foods out of the house means that I can’t just grab a handful of something if the urge hits.

Are the polyols a bunch of Polly-Wolly-Doodle?

January 28, 2020January 23, 2020 by Debi Simons

Ho-kay. I’ve been diving down rabbit holes all over the place this morning as I try to come to some conclusions about these rather weird substances called “sugar alcohols” or “polyols,” with the most commonly used ones being sorbitol, xylitol, and erythritol. Can you just buy a bag of a powdered polyol and put it in the place of sugar in your pantry and your food? Is that change going to make you into the person of your dreams? Well, sigh, as is so often the case, the answer is no.