Author: Lily

September can still feel like the beginning of something new, even if it’s been decades since you bought school supplies or worried about your first day of class. There’s even some science behind that feeling. Researchers Hengchen Dai, Katherine Milkman and Jason Riis coined the term “fresh start effect” after studying how certain dates and milestones affect our motivation. They found that people were more likely to pursue goals after what they called “temporal landmarks” – moments that seem to separate one period of our lives from another. These include the beginning of a new week, month or year, as…

Gluten-free Chicken Enchilada Casserole is a cheesy and satisfying dinner that delivers all the flavor of classic chicken enchiladas with none of the hard work. Easy, make-ahead, and perfect for busy weeknights! Raise your hand if you don’t feel like cooking dinner tonight? That makes two of us! If you can spare a little energy and a few minutes of active cooking time, my lazy girl’s Chicken Enchilada Casserole is going to make your night. Forget the tedious rolling required for classic chicken enchiladas. Instead, mix all the ingredients together, then bake in the oven. The result is a cheesy,…

Frequently Asked Questions Do canned beans need to be cooked? Nope! Canned beans are already fully cooked, so you can drain and rinse them and use them right away in salads, sandwiches, dips, and other no-cook recipes. Of course, you can also add them to soups, curries, tacos, and other cooked dishes. Do you have to soak dried beans before cooking? It depends on the type of bean and the cooking method. Soaking can help dried beans cook more quickly and evenly, but it isn’t always necessary. For the best results, follow the instructions for the specific variety of bean…

Chicken Scarpariello is a perfect one-pot dish for the end of summer, when the evenings start to cool off but the market is still overflowing with peppers. Photo Credits: Loren Runion The Chicken Recipe I Grew Up Eating Chicken Scarpariello is a meal made for gathering. While cooking, it fills the house with an intoxicating aroma, and the finished dish is stewy and rich, with plenty of sauce to sop up with crusty bread.  Just like the Utica Greens I grew up with, chicken scarpariello doesn’t have much of a reach outside of New York and New Jersey. This hyper-regional…

If you spend most of your day sitting, the issue is probably not that you sit, but that you sit for long, unbroken stretches. Hours of continuous sitting quietly changes your body in two connected ways. It slows aspects of your metabolism, including blood flow and blood sugar handling, and it stiffens and weakens the muscles that keep you moving well, especially around the hips and lower back. Over time, that combination can make movement itself feel harder and less frequent. The reassuring part is that most of these effects are not permanent, and the fix is smaller than people…

Image courtesy Bakes By Lo Happy Friday! Here’s the latest Columbus restaurant news: This Saturday, Sept. 12, Bakes By Lo celebrates the grand opening of their new space at 4045 Main St. in Old Hilliard. After six years inside the Center Street Market, they made the move nearby and expanded their space. Read more about the move in my Columbus Monthly Food News column this week! This week the gang from Columbus FoodLetter broke the news that chef Jeremy Nelson is opening a new restaurant called Canario at 19 W. Russell St. in the Short North. Nelson has been operating…

The keto diet has become a popular approach for people looking to lose weight and improve their metabolic health. But following a keto diet involves more than simply cutting out bread, rice, and sugar. A well-formulated keto diet plan for weight loss focuses on getting the right balance of carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, fiber, and essential nutrients while keeping carbohydrate intake low enough to support ketosis. So, what is a keto diet plan, and how do you build one from scratch? Let’s take a closer look. What Is a Keto Diet? The keto diet, short for ketogenic diet, is a…

We usually talk about physical activity in terms of what it can do for our bodies: stronger muscles, healthier hearts, better balance and greater endurance. But movement can also bring us together. That’s the idea behind Move for Life, a new global campaign from the International Association for Suicide Prevention. It invites people to walk, run, cycle, swim or move however they like from September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, through October 10, World Mental Health Day. The goal is using movement to promote wellbeing, strengthen connections and encourage conversations about mental health and suicide prevention. And everyone can participate. There…

Chicken au Poivre is a French inspired chicken dinner made with tender, pan seared chicken thighs and a creamy peppercorn sauce. This easy one pan recipe has all the rich, restaurant style flavor of classic steak au poivre, but it’s simple enough for a weeknight dinner. Jump to: Why You’ll Love This Chicken au Poivre I love recipes like this when I want dinner to feel a little special without spending hours in the kitchen. The sauce is rich and peppery, and there is plenty of it to spoon over rice, mashed potatoes, or noodles. This effortless one skillet meal…

Going through a breakup can be really tough. It can hurt a lot and make you feel alone. Sometimes, you might want to hide away or do things that aren’t good for you, just to try to stop feeling so bad. Breakups can lead to anxiety and depression. The temptation to succumb to unhealthy coping mechanisms can be strong, whether it’s withdrawing from the world, obsessing over what went wrong, or indulging in self-destructive habits. Nonetheless, there are healthy ways you can get over a breakup and move on with life. Instead, of developing unhealthy or harmful habits while dealing…