Welcome to Recipes for Disaster, a blog about nurturing body and soul through troubled times

butterfly painted on white brick wall with broken window
Photo by Kristel Hayes on Unsplash

This blog was born when I went through a difficult time in my life. Here I share the lessons I learned, in the hope that they may help you navigate your own storms and remind you that you’re not alone. Recipes for Disaster features two types of posts:

Recipes for when we’re exhausted or brokenhearted and tempted to drown our sorrows in pints of ice cream or bottles of wine. Never are comforting, simple, nourishing meals more important than when we’re going through difficult times.

Musings are random thoughts about life: How to tame fear, regret, self-criticism, vindictiveness and other demons. How to ask for help. How to grow (it’s never too late!). Simplicity and abundance. Forgiveness (of self and others).

So make yourself a cup of tea, put on your reading glasses and stay a while—you’re among friends.

12 reasons to eat chia puddingRecipes

I used to dismiss chia pudding as Instagram eye candy that nobody needs, but once I began to ponder its many advantages, I changed my mind. Now I eat it at least twice a week and recommend it to all my clients. Here’s why: It’s ridiculously quick and easy to prepare, no cooking required, just […]

Make breakfast count: Spinach & Parmesan scrambleRecipes

One of the things I love about intermittent fasting (i.e., not eating for 12+ hours overnight) is that when breakfast finally comes, I really appreciate my food! So much so that, after waiting to eat for many hours, I don’t want to just chug a boring old smoothie

Mediterranean smoothieRecipes

I’m in two minds about smoothies. On the one hand, they contain a boatload of nutritious ingredients and can be  prepared in a flash — that’s all great. But on the other, they tend to lead to rushed breakfasts and mindless eating.

Soothing semolinaRecipes

My daughter had all her wisdom teeth removed recently and wasn’t allowed solid food for days. After a few glorious hours guzzling ice cream, chocolate milk and Gatorade, she got fed up with the sweet stuff and craved something savory.

Bircher muesli (Overnight oats)Recipes

Even (or especially?) crazy-busy people need a decent meal to start their day. Bircher Muesli to the rescue! This breakfast dish is inspired by a preparation pioneered in 1900 by the Swiss doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner for

Pollo con arrozRecipes

I love one-pot meals. In part because there’s only one pot to wash. But mostly because there’s something very convivial and comforting about a meal that’s prepared in, and shared from, the same receptacle. Special Snowflakes be warned: here we all eat (from) the same dish. It’s the Mediterranean way. The Instantpot makes one-pot cooking […]

Middle age sucks — but there’s hopeMusings

Happy belated birthday to me! Yup, I celebrated the Big Five-Two yesterday. And with it, the realization that—statistically speaking—I’m the unhappiest now that I’ll ever be. Cheers to that! According to a recent Washington Post article, 52 (or thereabouts) is the age at which people in the industrialized west feel the most miserable. Illusions have been […]

Almost there (my birthday anthem)Musingswoman sitting on moutain top

It’s my birthday. On our way to school this morning, my daughter played this song for me. (Sung by the lovely Anika Noni Rose.) I welled up. Not that I want to open a fashionable restaurant in 1920’s New Orleans. But I can relate to mountains, trials and tribulations, and I share Tiana’s dream of building a […]

Joy and Woe. A time to grieve.Musingsbroken ceramic that says joy

Yesterday was the saddest day of my life: I got divorced. And so, after 23 years, four months and 30 days of being “Mrs. W.” I am back to being plain, old Conner Middelmann. My reaction took me by surprise. I was expecting to feel relief, energy, and even happiness at the conclusion of this […]