Another year closes with good food, fun music, and increased knowledge. What could be better? Happy New Year!
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CREATE 27-Dec Squash Pesto
MOVE 15-Dec Decoding Food Labels 101
SING 9-Dec The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy
Squash Pesto
Vegan and versatile: dip, sauce, or spread.
- 1 squash (acorn is nice!)
- 1 head garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
- 1 onion
- 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup walnuts
- 8 oz frozen, chopped spinach, thawed
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 lemon, juiced
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half and remove seeds (save for roasting!). Peel onion and trim ends. Cut top off head of garlic to expose cloves. In a baking dish, drizzle oil over squash, onion, and garlic (if using). Brush well, then wrap onion and garlic in foil. Bake all for 60 minutes.
While baking, place nuts in a pan and cover with water. Simmer while the vegetables roast. When vegetables are done, test squash with fork to make sure it’s soft. Drain and rinse nuts. When cool, scoop out squash and squeeze garlic from cloves.
Mix everything in a blender (adding garlic powder here, if using). Run until smooth, scraping sides often. Adjust salt and pepper. Use as a dip or add more liquid to make a spread. For sauce: boil pasta and reserve cooking water. Pour about 2 cups into blender and process until smooth and consistent.
Freeze in small batches or gobble it up!
Decoding Food Labels 101
Making Sense of Calories and Grams
The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy
An unusual calypso carol!
This concert filled 10 boxes and collected almost $1500 for the Westford Food Pantry!
Monthly Wrap-up November 2024
Release tension with my latest shoulder stretch, and maybe some fun music too. Or try a new type of salad with jicama!
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CREATE 8-Nov Jicama Salad
MOVE 20-Nov Untangle Shoulder Blades
SING 17-Nov Holiday Chorus Fundraiser
Untangle Shoulder Blades
Stretch the space between your shoulder blades where tension and stress get stored (in under 5 minutes!)
Jicama Salad
Need some new salad ideas? Try this tangy alternative! Eat it plain or add it to your salad.
- 1 jicama
- 1 red pepper
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 lime
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Peel and shred jicama. Thinly slice red pepper and red onion. Mix together. Drizzle with oil, squeeze lime, and sprinkle spices. Mix well. (Add any other veggies you like.) Ready to eat, or cover and refrigerate.
Monthly Wrap-up October 2024
Don’t forget to place your soap order before the menu is open to the public! And check out your Body Roundness Index before the holiday season starts!!
date posted
CREATE 2-Oct 2024 "Rockin" Soap Menu
MOVE 9-Oct Say Goodbye to BMI
SING 22-Oct Mercedes Benz in 4-Part Harmony
Say Goodbye to BMI
Body Mass Index will soon be replaced with a more accurate measurement. See how you measure up with the link below!
Excerpts from New York Times article Sept. 6, 2024
Finally, the body mass index will now become the body roundness index.
The body mass index, or B.M.I., is a ratio of height to weight that has long been used as a medical screening tool but often misrepresents health status because it doesn’t take into account the ratio of muscle mass to weight, or the level of body fat and where it sits on the body.
Too many people deemed overweight (B.M.I. of 25-30, or even above) were actually in good metabolic health, while some with a B.M.I. of 18.5-25, deemed a healthy weight, were in poor metabolic health.
“Based on B.M.I., Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was a bodybuilder would have been categorized as obese and needing to lose weight,” said Dr. Wajahat Mehal, director of the Metabolic Health and Weight Loss Program at Yale University. “But if you measured his waist, you’d see, ‘Oh, it’s 32 inches.’”
So we finally have a new metric: the body roundness index. B.R.I. is just what it sounds like — a measure of how round or circlelike you are, using a formula that takes into account height and waist, but not weight. The fat stored in the abdominal cavity is critically important, as it surrounds internal organs like the liver, and contributes to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance that often precede Type 2 diabetes. It also fosters high blood pressure and lipid abnormalities that can lead to heart disease and death.
You can try it on yourself here: Body Roundness Index (BRI) Calculator | webFCE
Most people rank between 1 and 10. Those who score 6.9 and up are at the highest risk of dying from cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. But those with scores under 3.41 also faced a higher mortality risk, suggesting malnutrition, muscle atrophy, or in activity.
Monthly Wrap-up September 2024
A little bit of everything: music, movement, and a healthy snack. Enjoy!
date posted
CREATE 16-Sep Easy Apple Snack
MOVE 10-Sep Quick Picks Workout
SING 22-Sep Crazy Little Thing
CAROL WING 