youcanteaticecreamintheshower

Best summer soup ever!

“If I got this in an expensive restaurant, I’d be really happy with it,” said Stoic the Vast on first tasting this elegant and easy zucchini soup, adapted from a skinnytaste.com recipe. That’s our highest praise. If we’d paid real money for it (instead of “just” raising or buying the groceries), we’d still like it…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

August 4, 2018

Cooking from the garden, Seasonal food, Simple foods, Soup

cooking from garden, healthy eating, skinnytaste.com, Vegetables, zucchini

Gregory Pardlo’s Air Traffic and zucchini tots (no, really, both of these things)

Honestly, I was going to opine about zucchini and how thanks to Maggie M. at my YMCA, I’ve learned about zucchini tots which are just like tater tots, except, you know. Then this morning I finished Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gregory Pardlo’s “Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America” (Borzoi, 2018). A frequent…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

July 22, 2018

Addiction, Depression and anxiety-related food issues, Food addiction, Food habits, Seasonal food, Sheet pan cooking, Willpower

Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America, cheese, cooking from garden, Gregory Pardlo, zucchini

Depression — that big black bear — and obesity

For a cogent discussion of the relationship between the two, see — surprise! — an interview with the glamorous Charlize Theron in the May issue of Elle magazine. She gained 35 pounds to play an exhausted new mother in “Tully,” and says “I had depression for the first time in my life shooting this film.” Isn’t…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

June 17, 2018

Aging, Depression, Depression and anxiety-related food issues, Exercise, obesity, Seniors and weight loss, Working out

And now, Father’s Day. Also, best fruit salad ever. With no added sugar!

OK, the good thing is: We get Mother’s and Father’s Day over within a few weeks of each other. Then I can revert to standard grump mode, as opposed to raging about the nonexistent parenting in my long-ago past. Even I realize this last hurts me as opposed to anyone else, especially those no longer…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

June 16, 2018

cooking with herbs, Emo eating, Family, Fruit, Salad, Why overweight?

Coconut, Lime, Martha Stewart recipe, Mint, Pineapple, Strawberries

Mother’s Day — it’s complicated

The cliché is that psychiatrists’ patients talk about how much they hate their mothers. In fact, my shrink met my mother once and never stopped talking about how much he disliked her! I’ve always given her points for being brave enough to go with me to one of my sessions, but, in truth, felt validated…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

May 12, 2018

Depression, Depression and anxiety-related food issues, Emo eating, Emotional side of weight loss, Family, Food addiction, Why overweight?

looking for emotional warmth from food, obesity, self-image, understanding food addiction, why overeat

Finally happened and sweet cherry-goat cheese-basil crostini

Well, at last. After six months or so of exercising 5 to 6 times a week, I went to the Y in a mood a few days ago. I was conscious of wanting an aerobic workout. Wanting as opposed to dreading or grudgingly slogging. And when I finished my 30 minutes on the open-stride elliptical,…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

March 21, 2018

Exercise, Handling anxiety without food, Importance of exercise, Seniors and exercise, Working out

Appetizers, Baguette, Balsamic vinegar, Barefoot Contessa, basil, Crostini, Sprint and Silver Sneakers, Sweet cherries

Trying something new — yes, at your age — and venison Stroganoff

After I committed to spending five-six days a week at the Y at the end of last summer, people want to know if I feel just fabulous. No, but I don’t feel as bad, and at 72-1/2, that’s probably the same thing. My knees no longer hurt 24/7. I can hike briskly across a big…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

February 25, 2018

Aging, Exercise, Importance of exercise, Making new habits, Senior fitness, Silver Sneakers Classic, Venison, Working out

Gherkins, Jamie Oliver, Mushrooms, Sour cream, Stroganoff

Stopping by the kitchen on a snowy evening: Honey-garlic sprouts and figgy pork tenderloin

Lucky for us, the new issue of Taste of Home magazine with its centerpiece on sheet pan suppers arrived before the snow (none of this carry on through rain, snow, sleet foolishness for our carriers). The frozen stuff started before daylight and continued all day, but we had a tiny pork tenderloin in the freezer…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

January 18, 2018

Cooking Light magazine, good food, Roasting vegetables, Taste of Home magazine, vegetables, Winter

Brussels sprouts, Figs, Garlic, Pork, Sheet pan baking

Why (inexpensive) workout clothes

Where do you get your workout clothes?” asked a friend who’s transformed her life with the loss of 45 pounds (so far). “Not your tutus, but the regular (normal) stuff.” I pick through the racks at thrift stores at least once a week. One of the bigger chains has started salvaging unsold workout duds from…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

January 8, 2018

Exercise, Importance of exercise, Senior fitness, Working out

Exercise clothing on a budget, self-image, Why bother with special clothes for workouts

Girls just want to have fun, #101daysagymrat

So on Day 101 at the Y I was 15 pounds lighter than 101 days previously, I co-taught a Silver Sneakers class and then went to a 60-minute kettle bell demonstration. All in my purple tutu with LED lights (3 speeds). Lessons learned: A tutu on big hips sticks straight out like a ruffle on…

JoAnn Rhodes Grose

January 3, 2018

Balance, Building better habits, Depression, Exercise, Holiday eating, Keeping track of what we eat, Making new habits, Senior fitness, Uncategorized, Weight Watchers, Working out

Cooking Light magazine, healthy eating, Paula Poundstone, weight loss