Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Gina's Oatmeal Peanut Butter Gluten, Dairy-Free Cookies
Perusing through my Mrs. Fields cookbook I came across a Peanut Butter Cream-Filled Cookie. I came up with a dairy free, gluten free version, it was a little bit crumbly but tasty nevertheless.
To purchase one of Gina's cookbooks instantly: https://ginameyers.com
Gina's Oatmeal Peanut Butter Gluten, Dairy-Free Cookies
1 1/2 cups of coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 cup of oats, not instant
1 cup of light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of almond milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup of softened salted butter
Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a mixer, add peanut butter, butter, egg, almond milk, vanilla extract, and light brown sugar, and oats and mix on low speed. Next, add flour, & baking soda and mix the ingredients, if needed, add a little more almond milk in teaspoonfuls. Roll each peanut butter ball and placed on a lightly greased cookie sheet. With a fork, gently criss cross the ball and flatten with cross look for the peanut butter balls. Bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown. Yields/makes 2 dozen medium sized oatmeal peanut butter balls.
Monday, September 5, 2022
Tips for moms when their children go off to college and supplies your student will need by Gina Meyers
So your youngest is going off to college. Congratulations. What I have found in my 25+ years of being a married and now for the past 11 years of being a single mom is that it is essential to take care of yourself and your newly formed empty nest, fill it with exciting possibilities and adventures. For me, a month before the pandemic hit, I became a homeschool mom to my teenager who was in the second half of his Sophomore year. We didn't have time to mess around, and I also lost my full-time job in customer relationships at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Drug and Alcohol Recovery Center. Which in all honesty was a blessing in disguise because after we went to orientation for homeschooling, we found out that a parent (usually married people homeschool) had to stay at home and oversee the homeschooling. It also was great because my son got the best of all world's whereby he got to take online live classes with a teacher, I hired tutors to assist for his classes that were textbook/workbooks. We had such an adventure thinking out of the box and being creative. Think positively about all of the new and exciting possibilities on the horizon for yourself and your young adult. This is the time to take that dance class you've always wanted to do, or to hone in on your work life balance, maybe even working on a 2nd career. It's also important to help prepare your child for college life. I'm not an expert in child psychology but I have read books, consulted with professionals, and have done my homework in a lot of areas. As an author and entrepeurner I would definitely consider myself an audiodidac.
So here are a few essential questions that would be helpful in rebranding yourself as your children grow and emerge into their own persons.
How has my identity been set-up in my child's mind?
How has my identity been set-up in my own mind?
How has my identity been set-up in the community?
Who identifies with me?
What problems can I solve for other people?
What skills do I have that are marketable?
How am I perceived by my children?
How am I perceived in the community?
Who do I identify with?
How can you enhance or change your reputation?
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Hormone Balancing Dishes, a Toast to health and wellness--Gina's Shrimp, Shredded Zucchini, Carrots, & Bok Choy Stir Fry
Friday, July 29, 2022
Who Move My Cheeseball? Lessons on Bowling by Gina Meyers
I've been bowling for about two weeks everyday 3 games. I'm trying to get better and so each time I go, ironically enough there is an expert bowler a few lanes down that wants to teach me a couple tricks of the trade. I don't ask, they usually just request their teaching/sports skills of wisdom to me. Today, a gentleman who appeared to be in his mid-seventies who told me he had been bowling for forty years showed me what he termed the "Old school way of bowling." Initially he asked me very politely if I was a beginner bowler. I guess he didn't want to assume that I'd been playing for forty years, lol.
He explained if you watch you tube, the professional bowlers are doing a new way of bowling which is in his opinion not the "right way to bowl.". A couple of days earlier another expert bowler taught me a few other tips, but what he taught wasn't important, today's lesson was from Mr. 40 Years of Bowling.
This gentleman related to me in ways I would understand. Bowling is like ballet he said and he showed me how to hold the ball, how to move my feet, how to throw the ball (palms up), how to hold my left arm out for balance, etc. He also gave me a few other tips, at one point I got a strike and I wanted to tell him and thank him for the strike.
At another point when I only got a few pins down he gave me additional pointers, he said something really profound, "at least you are willing to learn."
After my multiples games of bowling yesterday, I went to the Goodwill, across the way from the bowling alley. I heard it was teacher discount day while I was there and I got 25% off (side note: as a writer I rarely get discounts except for Barnes & Noble, oh come to think of it that's a teacher discount too, oops). Anyway, while perusing the discounted books, a woman got really excited, she exclaimed to me and another Goodwill patron, "hey will either of you or both of you listen to me for just a minute." I walked over to her and listened, "my aunt wrote this children's book." She showed us the cover. I had seen the book before so I asked if the author was a teacher and if she'd autographed it. The gal said in so many words that her aunt had been a teacher and that yes, it was autographed inside. She placed the book back on the shelf and turned to me and the guy that was looking at the other discounted books and she said, "I just had to tell someone, it isn't everyday that you find a book written by someone you know." The guy told her, "pretty cool." Because I hadn't showered and had just finished six (yes, usually three) rounds of bowling and because I don't want my cookbooks or books on the Goodwill shelves, I didn't divulge my authorship status of 86 plus books. (About the same number as my bowling score, lol.)
But while at the Goodwill, I picked up "Who Moved My Cheese?" and read it voraciously half of the book last night.
I called my son and told him that I am reading, "Who moved my cheese?" He said it, "sounded naughty." I told him in all seriousness that he's reading it next. Salacious and all.
In the book, "Who Moved My Cheese?" it tells a lesson about the two "little human people" and the "two mice". The lesson is about change and our ability to adapt. (Side note: I believe the book written long before Covid helps us with the additional challenges of life and living through a pandemic.)
So far the gist of the book is that the little human people can't accept inevitable change that the cheese has been moved and they keep going back and waiting, wondering, and wanting to eat the cheese, not cut it. LOL.
The mice have moved on once they realized that the cheese had been moved and they are looking to find more cheese, not dwelling on the change that has just transpired, rather springing into mouse action.
I can keep bowling the way I think I am supposed to bowl, or I can take tips from bowlers who have bowled for years. To me it relates to life. I can think I know everything or I can be willing to change and adapt, like today I created multiple versions of my cookbooks into new formats, "e-books, pdf's, audio books." I am changing with the times.
After our bowling lesson, he wanted to share a bible lesson. What church do you go to? I told him the names of two churches. He then harped quite a bit on the being catholic bit but he had another interesting point. He said, "if you are headed to Hawaii on an airplane or on a boat, doesn't matter, but if you are off by 10 degrees will you get to Hawaii? I said, "no." He was using it for an analogy about coming to Christ. A lot of people think Catholics worship Mary and what not. We revere Mary ask Mary to put in a good word for us to her son, but evangelical Christians think otherwise. That's a whole other lesson for later.
I wasn't about to teach him a lesson. But I learned a valuable lesson--if you listen to others and take what you like and leave the rest, you can learn to be a better bowler, and believer.
Now I think I'll make a cheesecake!
Thursday, July 7, 2022
THE ELIZA DO A LITTLE MORE EFFECT by Gina Meyers
THE ELIZA DO A LITTLE MORE EFFECT
by Gina MeyersPOSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
I have done this before, I can do this again!
This too shall pass.
I am a child of God.
I enhale peace and I exhale worry.
This feeling is only temporary.
I trust myself.
I am capable.
I am love.
I am loved and accepted.
I am capable and assertive.
I see the glass as half full of wonderful experiences and memories.
I am positive.
I’ve got this.
I am the support I need to get through this.
I believe in myself.
THOUGHTS ON THE PYGMALION EFFECT
DO I BELIEVE THAT POSITIVE EXPECTATIONS FROM OTHERS CAN MAKE ME PERFORMANCE TURN OUT POSITIVELY?
"When we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur." (Rosenthal and Babad, 1985)
DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE ABOVE STATEMENT AND WHY OR WHY NOT?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Be Loving by Gina Meyers
In Dr. Carlson's book, "Overcoming Hurts and Anger," on the last page of the book he talks about being loving. The essence of the Bible teaches us that God loved us so much that he gave his only son, his most precious gift. Sometimes life feels overwhelming, too many places to go, too much to do, too much stress, too much hurt, too much anger, too much unknown. But when we rest on God and realize that he first loved us and that is enough for all of us.
We all have hurts and anger, some of us know our limits, some of us don't. With age comes nothing, in my opinion, you could be old, feeble and unkind or you could be old, able, and kind. The chapter talks about never taking your own revenge. If you are kind to your enemies in effect, God says you will reap hot coals upon their head. Never loose your cool, your temper because someone needs something from you. It's up to you to decide if you're gonna give it to them or not. Sometimes we are able and sometimes we are unable. So, in effect, do not be overcome by evil, rather overcome evil with good.
We've never walked in anyone else's shoes besides our own. So don't judge another for the moccasins that they wear. In other words, don't be judgmental with how others deal with their stress, hurt, and anger. Only be concerned if it is unhealthy.
Remember, in our everyday lives we were not promised a rose garden and even those have thorns. But we were reminded that God loves us so much and forgives us our daily sins, maybe perhaps we should give ourselves a BREAK as well.
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Don't be like Job, but express yourself by Gina Meyers
In Dwight Carlson's book, Overcoming Hurts & Anger, page 98, we uncover the benefits of being able to express your negative feelings. Some beneficial effects of expressing one's feelings either through journaling or outwardly expressing are: reduction in blood pressure, fewer doctors visits, shorter hospital stays, improved immune system function. But there is a limit to how long a person holds onto anger or the cathartic way a person processes. After a specific point, one can get stuck in the "anger." In the bible, in the book of Job, God has to rein Job in, he has ventilated his anguish to his friends and to God and God has to say, "Job, that's enough!" Continuing to dwell on anger can actually increase pent-up anger and lead to inappropriate aggressive behaviors.
What are some things I can do today to let go of the past pain and turn over a new lease on life?
Friday, April 22, 2022
Overcoming Anger, Hurts, Suppression & Depression by Gina Meyers
In Dwight Carlson's book, Overcoming Hurts & Anger, on page 31 he makes a very good point about anger. "Anger in my opinion, is like energy. It cannot be destroyed, but it can be stored, its form can be changed, or it can be properly discharged. When we bury the anger within us and repeatedly deny its existence, I believe it accumulates in what I call the unresolved anger fund."
So, the more we attempt to ignore or push down anger, the accumulative deposits we make into the unresolved anger fund. This will stockpile our anger to a breaking point in which it manifests and expresses itself through an emotional or physical symptom. People in denial of their anger too can store it in the unresolved anger fund and the active holding back of thoughts and emotions can become manifested in disease and the failure to confront trauma or multiples trauma forces the person to live in an unresolved manner. So, unresolved anger in time is like a splinter that never was removed properly. So anger left unresolved will eventually reemerge in a sort of PTSD state and anger will be turned inward and a suppression of the anger feelings will leave the individual depressed, with negative thoughts, unhappy, and in a state where the proportion of anger to the current stress or trauma is out of proportion with the current situation, can leave a person unable to function, perform daily activities. A splinter can fester, and even if we don't know what to call our anger feelings, our brains must eventually make sense of the piling on of one "trauma" after another "traumatic experience" to the point that unresolved anger becomes in inward plight of self-hate and loathing and even little stressors or daily living becomes marred, ruined and drowned by misconceptions of reality.
Confused and hurt people can mask their emotions and also they can split their personalities in a sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde approach to living and dealing with unresolved anger. There seems to be a misconception that if I forget about how angry I am, or if I suppress my anger and appear nice, compliant, and accommodating that in essence, they can block the expression of anger. In reality, it's like a dam breaking. Unresolved anger, or suppressed anger actually presses the individual to feel something.
Hurts and anger can lead to mallidies such as high blood pressure or even depression. Depression is suppression of anger. But the triggers to the stressors can become unpredictable and anger and rage outbursts can occur often over the simplest things or situations that shouldn't anger a person. Why? I believe it is because people that suppress anger, or have unresolved anger due to traumas which have maybe transpired at younger ages, have piled on to current life situations, however when the trauma occurred the age of the trauma and how a person would know or not know how to deal with the problem haven't been formed yet, therefore the only thing we have to go by is our flight or fight response and when that is watered down, it drowns our ability to not only feel angry but also feel joy and other feelings. Feelings are neither good or bad, thinking makes them so. But if you inhibit your ability to feel-- anesthetize the feeling then you are unable to express socially acceptable ways of showing your feelings because you are messing with receptors.
Share your thoughts on ways to acknowledge your "unresolved anger."
1) Journal
2) take a walk
3) participate in self-care
4) confront the person or situation that is angering you, if it can be done constructively and in a healthy manner.
5) write the bad feeling on a piece of paper and say, "this too shall pass."
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Creamy Pesto Tortellini with capers and sun-dried tomatoes
Creamy Pesto Tortellini with capers and sun-dried tomatoes
9 ounces of fresh three cheese tortellini
1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
black pepper
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
extra Romano and Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs. capers
1 to 1 1/2 cups of pesto sauce
Directions: Cook pasta according to package directions, drain after cooked. Add pesto, capers, nutmeg and black pepper as well as sun-dried tomatoes to the pasta. Stir in 1 cup of pesto sauce, add extra virgin olive oil if need be, top with cheese.
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
A Prayer for Letting Go
Are you clinging to life?
Afraid to let go of the past.
Fearful to live in the present,
concerned about the uncertainty of the future.
Don't hold life in a desperate grip,
stop trying to control,
stop needing and looking for security.
Help me Lord
to ask for your forgiveness
that I can learn from the past and leave it behind;
acknowledge your acceptance
that I can live more fully in the present,
to receive God's guidance
so that I can be excited about my future.
Help me Lord to let go,
to give you the control and the praise,
and to know that with you I am secure.
Thoughts on Time by Gina Meyers
There is only one moment in which you can experience anything, time is thrown away by dwelling on the past or future experiences.
Friday, January 28, 2022
Love at First Bite, The Unofficial Twilight Cookbook, Red Velvet Cake, Apple Walnut Cookies, Werewolf Chow, & Edward Cullen's Cornflake Chicken Recipes
When you write a cookbook bestseller, it’s like hitting a homerun. Problem with hitting a homerun is you never know if you’ll hit a homerun again. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make it past first base again, and there have been other homeruns, or at least to third base. The formula for cookbook writing success is always the same, “write what you love.” The formula for recipe formation is, “create what you are interested in.” I’ve never written a recipe that didn’t fascinate me. I didn’t make up something in the kitchen that I didn’t want to eat or drink or share. Sure there have been some epic flops, like when I was eleven and I tried to make fortune cookies from scratch, but there have been a lot of successes too–and a lot of semi-homemade tricks and tips have moved me along the culinary bases.
“Writing what you love” is a key ingredient to the success of a recipe. Recipes are meant to be shared, like a box of See’s Candies.
Love at First Bite Cookbook
Red Velvet Cake
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 ounce liquid red food coloring
3/4 cup water
1 yellow cake mix, with pudding in the mix
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter
4 tablespoons buttermilk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Directions: Preheat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, mix cocoa powder, red food coloring, and part of the water to form a paste. Next, add all of the other ingredients except the white vinegar. Blend for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Then add the vinegar and mix with a spatula. Pour the batter into a bunt or round cake pan, and bake for approximately 35 minutes. This recipe can be made into cupcakes as well.
Apple Cinnamon and Walnut Cookies
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup shortening
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped California walnuts
1 cup apples – peeled, cored and finely diced
1 cup raisins
¼ cup milk
1 ½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ tablespoons half-and-half cream
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Beat shortening and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and blend thoroughly.
Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
Stir half the dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Stir walnuts, apples, and raisins, then stir in remaining half of dry ingredients and milk. Mix well.
Drop from tablespoon 1 ½ inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in the preheated 400 degree oven for 10-12 minuets. Remove cookies from oven, place on racks to cool slightly, and while still warm, spread with glaze.
To make glaze: Combine powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and enough cream to make glaze of spreading consistency. Beat until smooth. Spread on warm cookies.
How comfortable they seemed to be with their fate, here in this happy kitchen, none of these werewolves wanted the same fate for their friend.-Bella
Werewolf Chow
9 cups rice cereal, such as Chex brand
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup chocolate chips, semisweet, or a combination of 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup peanut butter chips 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, not crunchy 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar Directions: Place the cereal in a large zip-seal bag. Next, microwave the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter or margarine for about 1 minute. If the mixture hasn’t melted, stir and place in microwave for another 20 to 30 seconds. Once melted, stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the chocolate chip–peanut butter mixture over the cereal; then add the powdered sugar and shake. Spread the mixture on waxed paper to cool.
Kevin, you are such a gourmand.-Pam, The Office TV Show I cooked my way through Julia Child’s Cookbook and now I am half way through the Twilight Cookbook. Last night, I cooked Edward’s Cornflake Chicken.-Kevin Malone, The Office TV Show
Edward’s Cornflake Chicken
10 drumsticks, washed
3 cups of cornflake cereal, crushed
¼ cup of vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions: Heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove skin off of drumsticks and wash and dry chicken thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. In a large baking dish, pour oil and dip and roll chicken in the oil. In a large plastic sealed type bag, place 3 cups of cornflake cereal, salt and pepper to taste and seal. Make sure all air is out of the bag, and crush cornflakes with a wooden spoon or a rolling pin. Next, take drumsticks one at a time and place in the crushed cornflakes, reseal plastic bag and shake until chicken is thoroughly coated with the crushed cornflakes. Place chicken drumsticks in an ungreased 8 x 11.5 baking dish and bake for forty five minutes, uncovered. Serves 10.