Eating the Angel Way in times of stress

Let's be real.  When I am tired, when I have a pile of papers on my desk that all insist on immediate attention, when I have to talk to human beings more than once or twice a day, I am stressed.  And when I am stressed and hungry, I don't think broiled fish with spinach & horseradish with brown rice.  I think chili cheese dog.  And then I feel yucky and stressed.


And we call that Tax Season.


As Annie, Karen, and other brilliant people have said, when you are stressed, you need a layer of comfort, and you need a little sweetness.  But remember that a layer of comfort is not necessarily a pound of mashed potatoes and a little sweetness is not necessarily a pint of ice cream.  And never mix them --- I learned that the hard way.


One thing I've gotten from Eating the Angel Way on a fairly regular basis is a new perspective.  It's shifted my paradigm!  (I haven't used that word this year, so I just threw it in.)  Now, when I'm stressed and need a layer of comfort and sweetness, I often DO think of Greek yogurt with blueberries.  And I savor it like those chicks on the TV ads who get paid to eat yogurt and look like they are having an orgasm.  And I feel satisfied and NOT YUCKY.  I get the layer of comfort without the layer of grease.  What can I say?


I do keep Hershey's kisses in the office too.  Sometimes I want a little milk chocolate, and since I've quit saying no to my ornery self, I've been able to eat one or two pieces rather than a whole bag.  And believe it or not, there are days I don't eat any at all.


I feel better grounded in Eating the Angel Way right now, and I'm hoping that grounding will help me pick the right comfort and the right sweetness for me.  And if that is occasionally a bowl of mashed potatoes topped with ice cream, then so be it.  But only occasionally.

In search of Fortified Oat Flakes

I bought a box of Kashi Heart to Heart with oat clusters and blueberries, even though I've never really liked Kashi.  It's not that I'm doing a "I SHOULD eat this" thing.  It's that I'm looking for cereal that tastes like Fortified Oat Flakes.

Many years ago, when I was about 12, I ate Fortified Oat Flakes every morning for a couple of years.  I don't know why Mom bought it, maybe she was having a "I should eat this" thing.  I think I was the only one who ate it... in the whole world.  I loved it. 

It was sort of nutty and chewy, although it was only flakes.  No clusters, no dried fruit.  If you left it in the milk, it would get nice and soggy.  Just to prove it wasn't for babies, if you saved up box tops and mailed it in, you didn't get toys.  I got a silver plated (looking?) pie cutter/server for my mom.  Someone still has it.  You'd never guess it came from box tops.

Then it just disappeared.  This was before oat meal became a magic food, and I don't remember anyone talking about cholesterol.  I suppose they might have, but I was 12.  All I knew is that, like the Monkees, the Monster Squad, and all my favorite TV shows that got canceled, my cereal was popular only with me. 

So now I am searching for the cereal.  You'd think that now that oat is a magic bullet someone would pull out the old recipe.  Without the clusters or dried fruit.  I'll add my own.

The Kashi is pretty good, by the way, but it doesn't get soggy.  SIGH.

Winter Rainbows

I got really excited in the produce department the other day.  Even though it's fall almost winter and it's actually been chilly, the produce department was a bright kaleidoscope of interesting fruits and vegetables.

I like the idea of winter vegetables more than the reality.  I don't know what to do with some of these things.  But they are pretty.  And so last week, I decided to roast a bunch of pretty colored winter vegetables.

I got rutabaga (like, what's that about?), pumpkin (not in a can and not for decoration), acorn squash, and potatoes.  But not just any potatoes.  Purple, yellow, and red potatoes.  OK, it's the purple ones that were really cool.  I cut everything up into large chunks (not nearly as easy as cutting, say, broccoli), drizzled olive oil over the whole thing and baked it.  I wasn't sure what to do to spice it up.  I used cinnamon on the winter squashes and Italian seasoning on the potatoes and rutabagas.  Everyone like it, pretty much.  Although everyone agreed that as usual, I went over board. 

Note to self:  you don't have to eat a rainbow at every meal, just throughout the day.

Supper conversation goes like this:

Bob:  Kathy, I appear to be eating a purple potato.

Me:  Um, yeah.  Do you like it?

Bob:  It's a potato.

OK.  That went well.  I can't wait to try the purple cauliflower.