Sylvia's Scenario

Our 35th day of self-quarantine .  We are eagerly awaiting the governors press conference today because he's suppose to talk about outdoor recreation activities and maybe lift restrictions on golf, fishing and hunting.  Bruce is eager to hear this one because he wants to be able to play golf again.  It seems to me that golf would be safe enough.  Our state is taking things really slowly so we won't have a second wave hit us of the coronavirus .  Now, every time the governor comes on the air, we're eager to hear what will be the next thing to open.  Last week, he allowed construction workers to go back to work. (I'm so glad our remodel is all done.  We started our remodel one year ago exactly.)  Two neighborhood farmer's markets opened last week, too, with lots of restrictions but at least that's something.  Our neighborhood farmer's market hasn't started back up yet, but when it does, it will be interesting to see how it's changed.  T...

The weather is trying to be Spring but it's still chilly so an oven baked chicken recipe sounded good to me tonight.  Bruce wanted to barbecue but it just didn't feel like barbecue weather.  We did barbecue chicken recently but that was really pushing it.  I made this recipe from Ina Garten where she's posting recipes easy to make from your current kitchen pantry.  I had all these ingredients so it made for a wonderful Sunday dinner.  This recipe is from her cookbook Cooking for Jeffrey,  known as the luckiest husband in the world. LOL  I should write a cookbook called Cooking for Bruce .  He feels lucky to be able to eat all the recipes I cook but he helps a lot, too, like this Dutch baby  we had for breakfast today. Perfection. We have frozen blueberries in the freezer and fresh squeezed lemon along with warm syrup - one of our favorite breakfasts.  As much as we love Dutch babies for a weekend breakfast, we also love having...

We are in the epicenter of the coronavirus virus here in Seattle and there is constant news bulletins and recommendations coming out everyday.  It is getting rather tiresome, I must admit.  We had to cancel our Mariner ticket party  and were so bummed out about that  (The health department is recommending people over the age of 60 avoid crowded environments or what they call "social distancing".)   It's exhausting getting up every morning and reading the newspaper on all the latest developments.  And in the evening, the news reports go on and on about it.  Usually, this is my favorite time of the year, but this virus is certainly changing what spring is all about.  Our Mariner ticket party has always been such a great way to begin our spring, as well as our much anticipated beginning of baseball season.  And now, Bruce and I have to figure out how to do the ticket selection process on-line.  It's really not that difficult, as this is ...

This is my most favorite chili recipe and it contains no tomatoes or beans, can you believe it?  Tomatoes and beans are high lectin foods so I've been avoiding them as part of my anti-inflammatory diet.  If the beans are pressure cooked, then the lectin content is reduced.  Unless you pressure cook your own beans, the only other kind they say are compliant are  Eden Organic Beans   which are sold at a store near my house but I don't mind avoiding them.  And they say you can eat tomatoes if you avoid all the seeds and skin so tomato paste and sauce is O.K. if you know that they process them that way such as the brand   Pomi .  So, there are lots of ways to avoid lectin by not being that restrictive in your diet but I've found that there are so many good recipes out there by avoiding high lectin foods altogether, like this chili recipe.  It's amazing you can love a chili with no tomatoes or beans, but trust me, you will.  I've ma...

I hate to be a kill-joy, but I'm still following a  low lectin diet .  Yes, even though it's the holidays.  I did great over Thanksgiving and did not gain any weight for the first time in years.  And we basically had two Thanksgiving since my sister had dinner at her house and then the next day, I hosted a post-Thanksgiving meal so everyone could come over who had other obligations on Thanksgiving.  That way, we can also use up the leftovers from Thanksgiving and Bruce and I can still do a turkey which we like to do.  I like having leftovers and making soup with the bones afterwards.   I ate traditional foods at Thanksgiving but stuck to low lectin for the most part.  I've found that I don't have to do it 100% for it to work.  I'm doing it mostly for the anti-inflammitory reasons.  I can tell that it's easier to get in and out of the car, go up and down stairs, I have more energy, sleep better, etc.  I didn't ...

We are in Japan now and Sachiyo asked if I could make a "low sugar" dessert for Hana, which I happily obliged.  Nick and Sachiyo are taking measures to feed Hana a healthy diet (as I did when Nick and Lauren were that age) and part of that is no added sugar.  Since I've been experimenting with the Plant Paradox diet, I had already made these cookies from a blog called  My Heart Healthy and Lectin Free Kitchen .  I wasn't sure about them but Bruce said he liked them. Then my brother came over for dinner on Halloween and he said he liked them, too.  He took them home since we were leaving for Japan and his wife really liked them and asked me for the recipe.  So, I decided to make them in Japan and Nick and Sachiyo loved them and they were eaten really quickly.  Nick wanted me to make another batch but I didn't have anymore of the ingredients since they are odd replacements for a standard cookie recipe.  It's hard to find basic American ingr...