What words would you use to describe your life in 2018? Personally my words cross a whole host of mixed emotions. Exciting, hopeful, scary, worrisome, tiring, jubilation, blessed, grateful, prayerful, faith, anxiety, relief, joy and happiness. Not in any particular order – emotions around here were all over the place – quite often all in the same day. Hubby Tom and I started the year off with a vision for our mission in retirement to spread the word about the amazing health benefits of a whole food plant based no oil, no sugar, low sodium lifestyle. We were encouraged by our dear friend Linda Middlesworth to teach WFPB no oil cooking classes in our home to serve the local community. We had a plan and a vision and with support of our friends a new adventure was underway.
Nutmeg Notebook
Cooking Demo
Our friend and also PCRM instructor Bethany Davis invited me to speak at one of her classes and do my first public cooking demonstration. This was one of those anxiety filled days! You may not know that I am truly an introvert who is able to compensate when in social situations and appear to be outgoing but really I am so nervous inside. I much prefer to be on the sidelines not front and center and certainly not the focus of everyone’s attention. My friend and mentor Chef AJ texted me the day of my first cooking demonstration and told me to remember that I am the expert in what I am sharing and how I am cooking. That advice really helped me to put things in perspective and once I started talking my nerves calmed right down. It also helped to have my friends Donna and Dixie in the audience smiling back at me and giving me nods of approval.
Mexican Fiesta Cooking Class
Nutmeg Notebook
Mexican Fiesta Cooking Class
Nutmeg Notebook
We had fun with our in home cooking classes. The response was overwhelming – the community embraced the opportunity to learn about a WFPB lifestyle. We met the nicest people in our classes and formed some amazing friendships.
I think Tom and I spent more time in the kitchen together in 2018 than all of our marriage combined!
Our good friend Chef AJ came and stayed with us for the weekend and she was a guest speaker at the Get Healthy Sacramento Event hosted by Linda Middlesworth who is a leader in the plant based movement as well as an animal rights activist.
What a special treat to have my dear friend Heather from the The Butterfly Plant Based Facebook and Youtube channel come with Chef AJ and stay with us for the weekend. We made a cooking video together – Heather’s Sweet Cherry Berry Oat Muffins.
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my little Sweet Pea whipping up all kinds of plant based healthy foods for us to enjoy. When her momma (our daughter) started having a difficult pregnancy with twins we put our cooking classes on hold so we could help run their household and care for our granddaughter.
We had the most amazing blessing in the fall when our daughter gave birth to twins! I have mastered the art of rocking two babies to sleep at the same time. Being grandparents is such a joy – we are loving this phase of life. All three of our grandchildren are the loves of our life – we enjoy every minute spent with them. We feel blessed that they live nearby and we get to be hands on grandparents in all aspects of their lives!
In the New Year we plan on having more videos for our Nutmeg Notebook YouTube Channel. We have already filmed four new ones so we are off to a good start! We have plans to make another cooking webinar that will be available for purchase later in the year. We have so many ideas for things we want to do – wish the days were longer so we could get it all done!
Some of my readers favorite posts from 2018!
Click on the highlighted words in blue as they are links to the original posts.
Oat Groats -What are they and how to cook them in the Instant Pot.
How To Make Steamed Vegetables in the Instant Pot
Revised Batch Prepping Salads for Chopped Salads
Mexican Fiesta Cooking Webinar
Joanie’s Pumpkin Black Bean Soup
Whole Foods Market Grocery Trip
Ketchup and BBQ Sauce with No Added Sugar
California Balsamic Vinegars – Find out how to get your two free samples!
Nutmeg Notes
We want to thank everyone for following the blog, You Tube, Facebook and Instagram! We greatly appreciate all of your comments and emails. Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to 2019 and all the exciting things we have to share with you.
Wishing you all a very Happy Healthy New Year!
Get healthy and stay healthy – one meal at a time.
Tami
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Thanks for the recap Tami! I love your videos and use some of your recipes all the time.
Thank you so much Caroline for the positive feedback. This is a labor of love for Tom and I. Happy New Year!
Hi Tami, I love all your videos, recipes, tips and shopping episodes. I read that Trader Joe’s is going to look at reducing their plastic packaging, which is something that bothers me when shopping there and Costco, so was happy to read that!
Christa that is great news about Trader Joe’s – maybe more suppliers will follow their lead. Thank you for your kind comments – getting feedback like this is what keeps us going. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Tami! Thanks for all of the time and effort you and your husband put into sharing delicious recipes and wonderful tips. I love your blog and you YouTube channel and look forward to more inspiration in 2019.
Thank you Stephanie – we really appreciate your kindness. This is a labor of love for us and getting feedback like yours is what keeps us going! Wishing you a Happy New Year!
Hi Tami,
I’m so glad I found your YouTube channel and blog recently. Wish I had found it sooner. I appreciate your thoughtfulness in answering questions so thoroughly. I have one more – any possibility that you’re still doing cooking demos in your home or elsewhere? Thanks
Hi Terry,
I don’t currently have any cooking classes planned. I am still helping my daughter daily with the twin babies and her toddler. It takes me about 4 days to prep for the cooking classes and I don’t have the luxury of that extra time right now. I am hoping to resume cooking classes but I am not sure when that is going to happen. I might have to do it a bit differently – maybe not in my home so I don’t have to transform my kitchen into a classroom – that would cut down on a lot of prep work. If you live in the greater Sacramento area there is a local lady named Esther who is having a lunch meet up this Friday Jan, 4 at Whole Foods Roseville at 1:00. Tom and I are planning on attending. We haven’t met her yet but I am looking forward to meeting her. She follows McDougalls Maximum Weight Loss program which is a no oil, no flour whole food plant based,vegan lifestyle. Everyone is welcome to attend no matter where you are in your journey. I would love to meet you!
Hi Tami,
I found your web site a couple of months ago and then you helped me find your facebook page. I have been following you ever since. Thank you for the information about the lunch meet up at Whole Foods tomorrow. I live in Woodland but would love to meet you and say hello.
Thank you again to both you and your husband for the time you put into all the videos…along with your great tips and delicious recipes.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
Cathy
Hi Cathy,
I look forward to meeting you too!
It is so nice to run into other like minded people – see you tomorrow! You know what I look like so please come up and introduce yourself.
See you soon,
Tami
It was so good to meet you today at Whole Foods. I can see there there really is a FOOD REVOLUTION going on and a lot of people besides me are “IN”!! I am enjoying your video’s and blog! Another person commented to me today that they love your video’s cause you speak slowly and are not in a hurry, so get more out of it. I agree. Keep up the good work spreading this news!! WFPB!!
Thank you so much for kind comments Kathy. I really appreciate it! This is a labor of love for us and getting positive feedback like this keeps us going. We are not alone in this journey – just look at the crowd we had there today! I am looking forward to seeing you and everyone again at another meet up.
Happy Cooking!
Tami
Hi Tami, my husband and I came across Nutmeg Notebook while we travelled around the world in 2018. We’ve been Plant Based for more than 6 years and really enjoyed feeling connected to both our hometown of Sacramento and the WFPB lifestyle through your blog while we travelled. We are excited to get back in our own kitchen to start batch cooking and making big beautiful salads In fact, I just ordered a Holland Bowl to get started chopping! Thank you for all you do to share the benefits of WFPB revolution!
Hi Barbara,
I am so delighted to know that I was with you on your trip around the world in 2018! You must have had a wonderful adventure. Did you blog about it? There is a local whole food plant based group that has just started to have get togethers – they are plant based – no oil, no sugar, no flour. If you follow my Nutmeg Notebook Facebook page I will be posting about their next get together and I would love to meet you. Welcome back home. I am sure you will love getting to know your kitchen again.
Happy Healthy Cooking!
Tami
Do you have an instructor/speaking background? You speak without any pause/ah/um..wonderful cadence, as well. BTW..I’m originally from Nebraska like you/Tom!
What a nice compliment. No, I don’t have a background in public speaking. This is just me talking! How fun that we are all from Nebraska. It’s a small world.