Holidays + Good Food + Planning: This Is What November Looks Like

Plus, November’s Cookbook is one you’ll LOVE to use all the time!

I knew November was here when I started getting links to planners for the new year. I have a routine of getting a planner early, then sitting down and crafting my plan for the next year.

This year, things have transformed very differently from what I expected. After losing my mom last Thanksgiving, I gave myself this year to recover. It’s been a wild ride, something I never would have predicted a year ago.

And that’s a good thing.

I’ve always been a planner. When we were starting our first business, I remember creating goal sheets for all sorts of time frames—daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. Then I took my “goals” further by creating five-year, ten-year, even twenty-year goals. The idea was to think BIGGER than yourself. Give you dreams upon dreams, allowing you to see a very big picture.

It worked.

I found a box of old planners from a couple of decades ago. Check. Check. It really was magical seeing all the things I’ve checked off.

Back then, I read about a Harvard study that found people who wrote down their goals fared way better in life than those who didn’t. Their annual incomes were higher. Their performance was much improved. Yes, written goals led to more achievement than not writing them down. I believed it and carried it forward like my life depended on it.

I can’t argue with where it’s taken me. I love where I am today.

But now, I’m … softer. Not as rigid. And definitely not as task-oriented, where I have to write EVERYTHING down.

I felt it the last couple of years, as I navigated back and forth to Denver, co-caregiving alongside my sister. She was day to day, relying on the assisted living to do their part while she worked, yet running over multiple times per week to ensure mom was well-cared for and doing well. I made the phone calls, did the research, and did what I could from afar. Traveling there periodically for more.

Through it all, feeling the burnout grow. For life. For my career. For my plans. For my business. I knew I needed more.

And I see that, so common in my age group. So many I’ve followed in the past have talked about their own burnout. What’s been happening the past five years and how it impacts our place in the world.

My kitchen has been my safe zone. I’ve grown as a chef these past five years. I’ve added a garden, and really dug in to find ways to put good food into place. I’ve received a nutrition coaching certificate to go deep on what good food really means. And my cookbook collection is ever-growing.

I was a huge fan of Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. I read it, then read it again. I absorbed the Netflix series, trying to further my skills.

Why? Because it was different. Not like any other cookbook on my shelf. It was more of a masterclass in cooking. In book format. (With the Netflix series to fill in the details.)

So when I started seeing she had a new book hitting the bookstores, I added it to my list.

Good Things
By Samin Nosrat

It’s a storybook. It’s a cookbook. It’s - again - a masterclass in cooking.

I’m rising out of burnout. And as I read through the book, I found it was something I had in common with Samin. In a Bon Appétit article, she stated:

“I was so focused on achievement for so long. And then I got somewhere and looked up and I was like, why? What do I have to show for this? I’m not actually full of joy. I don’t feel lighter.”

For eight years, she went on a soul-searching mission. Through ups and downs, she attempted to write a second book. And gave up.

Yet sticking with it brought her to fruition, to her second book, just published. is her second attempt to help people become better cooks. Because cooking isn’t about cooking … and yet it is. Good food isn’t just about food … and yet it’s all about cooking and eating the best food possible.

I think that’s what I really love about this cookbook.

Yep, you’re going to find a ton of good recipes here. This isn’t vegetarian or vegan—a whole chapter is dedicated to chicken. But what I love most about it is her dedication to real food. It’s written in a way for you to take notice of how you spend time in the kitchen, selecting the recipes to make, and crafting them from really good ingredients.

It’s about understanding how cooking fits into the bigger picture.

You know it instantly just by looking at the table of contents. No recipes listed. Instead, you move through the book by experiences: Good things come in small packages, good things come in threes, good things come to those who wait.

She says, “So much of my anxiety about recipes is trying to have control.” So she started thinking of recipes as gifts - beautiful things you give wholeheartedly, vulnerably, and relinquish all control thereof. Good Things is a collection of such gifts.

I think one of the reasons we feel we need to add a lot of ingredients is that we’ve lost in flavor. In our “fast track” society, every food commodity must be produced to maximize profits in the shortest amount of time. The cost is flavor.

I tell my daughter that frequently. I remember when apples were bursting with flavors. Plums fell off the stone, dripping with taste.

Yes, it starts with good food.

And then it moves forward, maximizing taste with profound yet straightforward ingredients.

Love.

I remember watching my grandma in the kitchen when I was little. She folded ingredients into a bowl, a little of this and a little of that. And she’d always say, “mixed with love.”

That’s my takeaway from Good Things. From this eloquent story.

Maybe what we’re all missing is more of the good things. And maybe we can get some of it back from good food in the kitchen.

Hi! I’m looking to grow my followers this year. If you want to read more about plant-based living, I’m ready to share. I dip into all sides of plant-based, giving you recipes, sharing kitchen tips, providing nutritional education, and educating you on the food industry. I’d love it if you follow me, and I’d love to hear from you too!