This is a very forgiving recipe that’s easy to throw together if you have cooked rice and vegan pesto on hand. I make several large batches of vegan pesto each fall that I freeze in plastic baggies. It lasts me nearly all year. (If you are not a vegan you can substitute traditional pesto, which is made with parmesan cheese.) If you don’t have cooked rice handy, it’s still a simple recipe but you’ll need to allow extra time to cook the rice.

Ingredients

4 cups cooked white or brown rice
1/2 white onion, diced
8 oz. white or crimini mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 Tbsp. olive oil or vegan margarine
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
3 cups broccoli florets
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup vegan pesto
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, cook the broccoli and carrots in the microwave on HIGH power for 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil or vegan margarine in a large-size sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook a few more minutes, until mushrooms are softened. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the broccoli, carrots, onions, and mushrooms (along with any liquid left in the sauté pan). Stir in chickpeas and cooked rice. Add vegan pesto and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon the mixture into a 3-quart casserole dish. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 60 minutes. If you like your casserole to have a browned, crispy top, remove the foil for the last 15 minutes.

Yield: 4-6 servings

As I mentioned earlier, this recipe is extremely forgiving. You can use almost any combination of vegetables. Try red bell pepper in place of carrots, chopped spinach or kale in place of broccoli, or toss in a small handful of chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Frozen or canned vegetables work well, too. You can also use white beans in place of the garbanzos, or leave the beans out if you are not a fan.

Last week I was sitting in the yoga studio, waiting for class to begin, when in walked an acquaintance I hadn’t seen in years. We used to be in a book club together, which was started by a mutual friend. We called ourselves Litterati, and we met once a month to discuss our selected book over a meal and a few bottles of wine.

We took turns hosting the meetings and choosing the books. Some of my favorite reads were titles I never would have selected on my own…Bel Canto, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and The Other Boleyn Girl among them.

I stayed with Litterati for about a year and a half. When I left, I told everyone it was because I was too busy, which I believed at the time. But looking back, I was just beginning to realize how unhappy I was. There were problems in my relationship, my job was highly stressful, and my self-esteem was in the toilet. It was also around this time that I began dieting and exercising almost obsessively, thinking if I just reached the “perfect” weight I would finally be happy. My life was a mess, and I think I was secretly worried that people would find out and be disappointed in me, so I kept them at a distance.

It took a few more years, but I finally figured things out. The real problem wasn’t my weight, or my busy schedule, or any of those other superficial things. The real issue was that I had stopped being me.

I stayed in an unhealthy relationship because I was afraid of what people might think. I was already divorced once, and had broken two engagements before that. I stayed in my career because it was all I knew, and worried it was too late to start over. I wasn’t writing because I didn’t think I was good enough to be a “real” writer. I had millions of excuses as to why I couldn’t live the life I really wanted.

Isn’t it funny how a chance meeting with an old friend brought new perspective to events that happened nearly a decade ago?

I chatted with K. after yoga class that evening, and she said Litterati is still going strong, though some of the members have changed. They are celebrating their 10-year anniversary this month. At the last meeting, she said they discussed inviting all the old members back for a reunion. I told her I would love to come.

Seeing K. reminded me how long it’s been since I curled up with a good book. Last summer I finally read The Kite Runner and loved it, but to be honest I haven’t done much reading since that wasn’t work-related. I’d like to change that, and could use some recommendations.

Have you read anything amazing recently?

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Photo by Denisa Kadlecova on Flickr

I’m a visual person. Out of sight, out of mind is very true for me, so I tend to use my kitchen table as a visual reminder of the things I need to do. The problem is, all that clutter creates stress. I can’t stand looking at it. I need a better system, and I hope having a housekeeper take care of the bigger chores will allow me time to tackle the smaller ones, like the kitchen table.

So let’s take a peek at my kitchen table chaos, and inside the peculiar workings of my mind.

On this side of the table is the vertical file I bought to organize our mail (heh), the wooden pineapple dish I bought at a thrift store as a place to keep our keys and lip balm, and my yellow purse atop a stack of mail that doesn’t fit in the vertical file.

The red and green things are outdoor lanterns I bought at the thrift store. They each hold a tealight candle, and I thought they would brighten up the yard. The problem is, I haven’t had a chance to get the yard set up for spring and summer yet, so the lanterns have been sitting on the table for two weeks. I suppose I could put them in the garage, but I’m worried I’ll forget where they are.

The silver metal spiral thingy is (I think) a garden ornament, also purchased at a thrift store. I’m not one to clutter my yard with whirly gigs, gazing balls, and statues of Dutch children kissing, but I think a touch of whimsy here and there is nice. That said, it’s too early to plant my annuals, so at the moment the silver ornament has no place. Moving on…

In this next section is a carved wooden photo album I bought at Goodwill yesterday. It says “Hawaii” on the front and holds 100 photos. I’ve been meaning to put our Maui honeymoon photos into an album, so I just had to buy this. I already uploaded the photos to Walgreens.com. I plan to order the prints today and get the album organized this weekend. Under the album is more mail, some receipts I need to save for tax purposes, and what looks like the weekly flyer from the grocery store. Next!

There’s an offer from AT&T advertising free smart phones in there, which I saved because I’m considering trading in my iPhone for something less expensive. The silver canisters are meant for spices. They have magnets on the bottom. I bought them at a thrift store for 39 cents each and intend to use them for my office to organize paperclips, tacks, and other small things. I just need a magnetic board, so I left the canisters out to remind me to buy one.

Beside them you’ll see a few copies of this week’s Isthmus, in which I have an article titled What’s not to like? Five Madison tofu dishes to win you over. I need to move these to my office where I have a file to save clippings of my work. Hmm, I see some rewards cards there. There isn’t room in my purse for all of the cards I have so I need a better system for keeping track of those.

There’s also paint brush in the pile, which I used last weekend when I was working on staining our fence. It’s clean, and I’m not doing anymore staining in the near future so I really should put it away. I also see what looks like a CD. I’m not sure what that is or why it’s on the table.

This last section is a real mish-mash. You can see another view of the garden ornament, which reminds me I need to get the price tag off of it. (That’s one negative about thrift stores, sometimes the price tags are stuck on in really annoying ways and almost impossible to remove.) I see some address labels there, which should be in the vertical file with the mail and stamps. Hmm, there’s a pay check stub from Isthmus, an adorable thank-you card I received from a client, a battery charger that I used recently but really belongs in a drawer, and some paperwork that needs to be filed.

My food processor broke and had to be tossed (Madison actually accepts small appliances for recycling), but I thought perhaps I could donate the attachments, which is why those are sitting there.

Those blue rubber bands are the kind that come on broccoli. I don’t really understand why broccoli requires bundling. Does anyone know? I have a ton of these, and don’t really need to keep them. I put them on the table to decide if they are worth donating. I hate throwing things out if someone else might have a use for them. There’s also a white spring-loaded drawer divider sitting in the donate pile. I re-organized the kitchen a few weeks back and no longer need it. As often as I go to the thrift store, you’d think I’d remember to take those with me and donate them, but I always seem to forget.

In the back corner is the blue ceramic bowl my brother made. That’s where we toss our spare change. It’s one of the few things that actually belongs on the table.

So there you have it. An explanation of what’s on my kitchen table. Do you have an area that seems to be perpetually cluttered?

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If you scroll down this page, in the right sidebar you’ll see the heading “Top 10 posts.” The rankings are based on the total number of page views since I launched Peculiar Girl in 2010. Ten favorite vegan staple foods has held the No. 1 spot for as long as I’ve been tracking that statistic.

Vegan diets are rising in popularity, thanks in part to famous vegans like Alicia Silverstone, Ellen Degeneres, and Emily Deschanel. More people want to know what being vegan is all about, and they are searching the “Interwebs” for information. Through the magic of Google, some of those people land on my humble blog.

In that post about my favorite vegan staple foods, I promised a list of vegan convenience foods, something I just realized after re-reading the post. Oops! So, for those vegan-curious folks searching for ideas on what to eat, and for vegans who don’t like to cook or don’t always have time to cook, here is a list of my favorite vegan convenience foods. (These opinions are strictly my own. I did not receive payment, free samples, or any other form of compensation for writing this list.)

1. Trader Joe’s soy chorizo

I am in love with this product. At $1.99 it’s a great value, since I can easily get two meals out of one package of chorizo. I use it to make chili, pasta dishes, and even breakfast hash with potatoes, onions, and peppers. If I’m really feeling lazy, I just throw some chorizo in a pan with a can of beans, heat it through, and eat it with a little hot sauce on top.

2. Tofurky Italian sausage

I discovered Tofurky Italian sausage recently at a friend’s housewarming party. She cooked them on the grill and served them on hot dog buns with all the fixins. Delicious! They come four links to a package. This week I used two links to make vegan jambalaya, and the next day used the rest in a pasta dish with red sauce, peppers, and onions.

3. Trader Joe’s meatless meatballs

I buy these occasionally to make spaghetti and “meatballs” or for party hors d’oeuvres. You can also use them to make a tasty vegan version of a meatball sub. You find them in the frozen section at Trader Joe’s. They are best heated in the oven, otherwise they can get mushy.

4. Tofurky Italian sausage and fire-roasted veggie pizza

Few things are as convenient as frozen pizza, and vegans finally have more options. I’ve never been a fan of Amy’s cheeseless pizza, which used to be the only choice for vegans. Tofurky makes three versions, but I find the vegan cheese version too plain, and the sausage-only version too salty. These pizzas are small, and in Madison cost $7.99 each at the store, so we don’t buy them often. Plus, they aren’t exactly healthy. The box says 3 servings per package, which is a total joke.

5. Silk Live! soy yogurt

Soy yogurt can be hit or miss. I’ve tried some that is nasty, and some that is so close to the “real” stuff I have to double-check the label. Silk Live! is my favorite so far. We buy the vanilla flavor in big tubs. It’s good topped with fruit and nuts for breakfast, or mixed into smoothies. Just the other day, a friend told me So Delicious now makes a delicious vegan Greek yogurt, but I haven’t seen it in Madison stores yet. I may have to update this list after I try it.

6. 365 Everyday Value frozen entrees

365 Everyday Value is one of the Whole Foods house brands. The tofu ravioli and the vegan macaroni and cheese are both pretty tasty. As with most frozen entrees, however, the portion sizes are small compared to the price.

7. Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Tenders

These are a little pricey, so I only buy them if we have a coupon or if they are on sale. It’s been a loooong time (21 years) since I had chicken, but I think even meat eaters would enjoy the Gardein crispy tenders, especially kids. I like to serve the crispy tenders with a dipping sauce made of Vegenaise and spicy mustard. (Trader Joe’s chickenless tenders are also quite good.)

8. Alexia spicy sweet potato julienne fries with chipotle seasoning

Sweet potato fries are the bomb. I like the plain ones, too, but the spicy ones from Alexia are my favorite. They are available at most grocery stores in Madison (Copps, Hy-Vee, Whole Foods, Willy St. Co-op) as well as Target and Wal-Mart.

9. Westpac vegetable stir fry

I always have several bags of these frozen stir-fry veggies in my freezer. I don’t even bother to stir-fry them. I just heat the veggies in the microwave and serve them with leftover rice or even plain, topped with a little stir-fry sauce.

10. Nature Valley peanut butter granola bars

These are like crack to me, so I try not to keep them in the house or I’ll eat them all in one sitting. They are sweet and crunchy with a layer of peanut-buttery goodness on top. I always bring a few along when we travel, since vegan food isn’t always easy to find on the road.

NOTE: I usually have cooked rice on hand. I make a large batch on the weekend in a rice cooker, and use it throughout the week. The vegan jambalaya, for example, took very little time because I already had several cups of cooked rice in the fridge. If you want even more convenience, most grocers carry cooked white and brown rice in the freezer section.

Do you have a favorite vegan convenience food? Tell us about it in the comments.

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In elementary school, I had a messy desk. It was jam-packed full of papers in no particular order. My pencils and crayons were all over the place, rolling around with empty gum wrappers, barrettes, and other miscellaneous doodads. It didn’t bother me, but it sure seemed to bother my teachers.

Teachers saw my messiness as a personality flaw that needed correcting. You know…a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, and all of that.

Once, a teacher dumped the contents of my desk onto the floor, in front of the entire class, apparently hoping shame and humiliation would transform me from messy to neat. It didn’t.

Over the years my messiness cost me two roommates, garnered disapproval from a few bosses, and was at the root of some epic fights with my OCD ex-boyfriend, before we were exes. He thought I was being messy on purpose, just to piss him off. Seriously, dude, sometimes a pretzel on the floor is just a pretzel on the floor.

So fast-forward to today. I’m married to a wonderful man who also happens to be messy. Together, we create a fantastic tornado that leaves jackets draped over chairs, shoes on the floor, empty glasses on the coffee table, and clothes on the bedroom floor.

He has certain habits that bother me, like leaving cupboard doors open and squeezing the toothpaste tube from the middle. And I have habits that bother him, like letting clean dishes air dry instead of toweling them and putting them away immediately.

Tom and I both work full-time. We divide the housework evenly, and we do a pretty good job with the basics: dishes, laundry, vacuuming. On the weekends we take care of some of the bigger stuff, like the bathrooms. Still, it always feels to me like we’re barely keeping our heads above water.

The biggest difference between us, I’ve noticed, is that Tom doesn’t feel shame and guilt about messiness like I do. I realized that I’ve internalized those old messages from teachers, roommates, bosses, and exes. They all felt my messiness was a flaw that must be fixed, and I believed it.

There are plenty of things I’m not good at. So why have I spent more than 40 years feeling ashamed of this one thing (messiness) and not others? I think there are a few reasons.

First, I definitely have perfectionist tendencies. Perfectionism is a happiness killer, which I wrote about in How do we know when we are doing our best?

Second, keeping a clean house is something women are expected to do, culturally speaking. Tom and I do what we can to keep the house somewhat presentable. Still, I feel the pressure to do more, lest I be judged as an unfit wife. An unfit woman.

I tell myself if I were only more disciplined, if I just put my mind to it, our house would always be clean. It never occurred to me, until recently, that I was being unrealistic. I have been judging myself harshly, rather than showing compassion, and loving myself as I am.

I have a messy desk, but that doesn’t mean I’m disorganized. I like having all of my projects out where I can see them. I do my job well, and I get my work done on time.

If I take my shoes off in the living room, they might sit there until the next time I want to wear those particular shoes. It doesn’t make me a bad person.

Our house may be messy sometimes, but it isn’t a health hazard. We don’t have dead cats buried under piles of decades-old rubbish (OMG did you see that episode of Hoarders?).

The time and energy it would require to keep the house clean all the time would take time and energy away from other things I value as important in life. I am not willing to make that trade-off, and that’s OK.

Yes, I would like our home to be cleaner. However, I am longer going to put the pressure on myself to make that happen. I’m taking all that shame and guilt and tossing it right into the garbage. My new attitude?

Fuck it. I’m hiring a housekeeper.

What about you? Do you see messiness as a sign of laziness? Are you a clean freak? Please, leave a comment and help start a discussion.

Photo by KimCarpenter NJ on Flickr

In the 2009 movie Julie & Julia, there is a scene where Julie gets the first reader comment on her blog, and it’s really validating for her. Sure, the comment was from her mom, but it proved that she wasn’t writing in a vacuum.

When I get an email notification that someone has left a comment on Peculiar Girl, I think, “Yay!” and immediately head over to read it. Many times, it’s a real comment from a real person. Real comments make my day. Honestly. I heart you, real people who read my blog.

Lately, I’d say at least 5 times a day, the comments I receive are just blatant attempts by spammers to promote their own websites or products. Comments like this suck.

It takes me time to identify and delete the spam comments. This is time I could be using for something far more productive, and time I’ll never get back. Not only that, but I’m tired of having my hopes repeatedly dashed by dirty rotten spammers.

It’s not that I need reader comments, but I do genuinely enjoy getting feedback from all of you, and the spammers are ruining it. Now, when I get an email notification about a new comment, instead of “Yay!” my first thought is an R-rated version of, “Why don’t those poopy-head spammers get a gosh-darned life already!”

Spammers have turned me into a cynic in just a few short months. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about, with the links removed.

This particular comment isn’t overtly spammy, but I can tell by the name and address of the poster, that this comment is intended to generate clicks for his business, and not really a compliment about my “insight.”

I get lots of spam comments promising printable coupons. Mostly for products I couldn’t care less about.

This one almost fooled me. I felt bad for a second until I noticed the name of the poster. Good-bye, Spammy McSpamington!

What a nice thing for boner pills to say about my blog. I’m flattered. *Blush*

Ugh. See what I mean?

Until this point I haven’t felt it necessary to use an anti-spam filter such as CAPTCHA, which generates distorted text that humans can read but spam-bots cannot.

I will be doing some research to find out which anti-spam measures work the best and annoy my readers the least. If any of my fellow bloggers have recommendations, I’d love to hear them.

Photo by andreas_fischler on Flickr

I propose a new health care system in this country, one regulated by morality. People who are “good” pay less and have more options, and people who are “bad” pay more or are denied services altogether. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want my hard-earned money paying to treat moral degenerates.

Take murder, for example. Most people would probably agree that murder is immoral. Since murder is immoral, isn’t it fair of me to expect murderers to pay more for health care than I, a non-murderer, do.

Thieves, rapists, drug dealers… all obviously immoral. They clearly don’t deserve health care. It’s not even worth arguing about.

And if you were seriously injured in a car accident, and the accident was your fault because you were legally intoxicated at the time, it’s only logical that your surgery should cost significantly more, because your “loose morals” got you into that situation in the first place. Am I right?

Suicide is self-murder, so that must be morally wrong also. If someone attempts suicide but does not die, shouldn’t she be charged more for her hospital stay, pay a fine, or be denied access to medical care altogether? I mean, it was her choice to attempt suicide. Why should the rest of us have to pay?

The Bible says gluttony is a sin, so we can easily add gluttony to the list. For starters, everyone who develops diabetes as a result of obesity can pay for insulin out of pocket. I shouldn’t have to pay a higher premium just because Fatty opens his mouth for every piece of cake he sees. I’m just telling it like it is.

Don’t even get me started on lust. Why should we force insurance companies to cover birth control? Everyone knows only sluts use birth control. If they don’t want babies, they shouldn’t be having sex…

Sound familiar?

It’s a very slippery slope when we start denying or restricting health care based on moral judgments, which is exactly what cutting all federal funding to Planned Parenthood and requiring women to have an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion are doing.

While I may be persuaded that religious institutions shouldn’t have to cover medications and procedures that go against their tenets, if the Blunt amendment had passed, and it nearly did, any employer would have the right to refuse to cover any kind of health care service by citing “moral reasons.”

A proposed law in Arizona (yes, this is real) could give employers the right to fire women who use birth control.

Did I unknowingly fall asleep and wake up in Salem in 1692? It smells like a witch hunt to me.

Photo by aghrivaine on Flickr

This is one of my all-time favorite vegan recipes. It’s a spicy stew of winter vegetables such as cabbage, sweet potatoes, and rutabaga, along with chickpeas, tomatoes, peanut butter, and as many Scotch Bonnet peppers (also called habeneros) as you can handle. Vegan Senegalese Vegetable Stew is easy to prepare, although it does require a lot of chopping. Once that’s done, the rest goes fairly quickly. The stew is served over a bed of cooked millet.

The Republic of Senegal is a country in West Africa, along the Atlantic Coast. Peanuts are the primary crop, and are incorporated into many recipes. Meats and vegetables are typically stewed or marinated in herbs and spices, and then served over rice or couscous, or simply eaten with bread.

Not for the faint of heart, this vegan stew is SPICY! If you like your food on the tamer side, reduce the cayenne pepper and number of chilies, or omit them all together. Tom and I love hot food, but even we can’t handle the six chilies this recipe calls for. I usually make it with four.

Scotch Bonnet chilies are usually green, orange, or red. They look like this:

Vegan Senegalese Vegetable Stew

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons oil
3 cups coarsely chopped cabbage (about ½ medium-sized head)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tablespoon cayenne pepper
(optional)
6 scotch bonnet peppers, whole (optional, I use 4)
1/2 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
2 (14.5-oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups vegetable stock (or water)
4 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (chunky works, too)
3 cups sweet potatoes, cubed
(about 2 medium sweet potatoes)
2 cups rutabaga, cubed
(about ½ small cabbage)
3 carrots, sliced into ¼-inch thick
1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Salt, to taste

Directions:

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large stockpot and add the cabbage, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the cabbage begins to soften.

Add the cayenne pepper, curry powder, and thyme. Cook for a minute, and then add the tomatoes. Cook about 3 minutes more, until the tomatoes are heated through. It will look something like this.

Add the peanut butter and the stock to the pan and stir to combine. Next, add the vegetables, chickpeas, and chilies.

Bring the stew to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the peppers from the stew and set aside. Serve the stew on a bed of millet and place the whole peppers on top. Traditionally, guests mash a pepper into their stew before eating.

About millet:

You may know millet only as the main ingredient in birdseed, but millet is delicious for people, too. It’s also gluten-free. Millet is a small, round grain and can be white, gray, yellow, or red. The yellow variety is most readily available near me. Here is what it looks like uncooked:

To make moist millet that is similar to rice in texture, toast 1 cup of millet in a dry pan for a few minutes until it starts to pop and releases a nutty fragrance. Carefully add 2 cups of water to the pan. Bring to a boil and then simmer 20-25 minutes, until all of the water is absorbed. Turn off heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.

If you’ve never prepared millet before, get more detailed instructions on the Vegan Coach website.

This stew is also excellent served over brown rice, quinoa, or couscous.

The Vegan Senegalese Vegetable Stew recipe was adapted from this recipe, which I found online.

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After much consideration and planning, I’ve decided to keep Peculiar Girl as is. Since this blog is still new and growing, I think it would do more harm than good to make such a big change.

So the big news is (cue trumpets) that I have launched a second blog, one that is purely focused on simple ways to live with greater compassion. The blog is called The Daily Kind, with the tagline, “Everyday compassion for earth, others, self.” My husband Tom will be a contributing writer. Our plan is to post daily tips for compassionate living that anyone can do, encouraging people to make small changes that lead to big benefits, such as increased happiness and a renewed sense of purpose. Here’s a screenshot of the home page:

Isn’t it pretty? The logo and graphics were designed by Erica Hess.

I hope you’ll follow our new blog, and be assured that Peculiar Girl isn’t going anywhere. I still plan to post here at least once a week about all things peculiar.

You can read the first few posts on The Daily Kind at http://thedailykind.com. You can also follow The Daily Kind on Facebook and Twitter. I’m anxious to hear what you think. And please, tell your friends!

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According to the Mayo Clinic, winter-onset seasonal affective disorder symptoms include:

• Depression
• Hopelessness
• Anxiety
• Loss of energy
• Heavy, “leaden” feeling in the arms or legs
• Social withdrawal
• Oversleeping
• Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
• Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
• Weight gain
• Difficulty concentrating

I can answer yes to most of these, except hopelessness and “leaden” arms and legs. I do feel both sad and anxious, have gained at least 10 pounds since November, have trouble focusing on my work, and can’t seem to make it through the day without napping. I also haven’t felt very social.

The high-carb cravings are definitely true, too.  So far today I’ve eaten a bowl of oatmeal, mashed potatoes & rutabaga, pinto beans & rice, and a banana. Nary a vegetable or piece of fruit in the mix.

The exact cause of SAD is still unknown. Age, genetics, and body chemistry are believed to play a role. Both of my parents suffer from SAD, so I’m not surprised that I do as well. Their solution is to spend the winters in Florida, which doesn’t make sense for us right now.

I think my SAD has gotten worse since I’ve been working from home. My guess is it’s because when I worked in an office, I had access to endless streams of caffeine (free soda) and a vending machine full of junk food. There’s no such thing as tired when you’re pumped full of Diet Coke, jalapeno potato chips, and M&Ms.

These days I try to manage my SAD by taking Vitamin D supplements, getting out for daily walks with the dog (which we didn’t do today because of the rain), and talking about my symptoms with friends and family. I also plan to discuss my symptoms with my doctor at my next appointment.

Do you struggle with SAD in the fall and winter? What strategies have worked or not worked for you?

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Photo by Chauromano on Flickr