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Self-Care with Jean
Self-Care with Jean episodes
- 11/12/26: Permission to Be a Beginner
This week’s episode of Self-Care with Jean is all about: Always Be in Learning Mode.
When we hear the word “learning,” we usually think of school. Books, tests, degrees. But what if learning isn’t something we finish? What if it’s a way of living?
In this episode, we explore:
Learning about the people we love. Asking real questions, then being quiet long enough to hear the answer. People change, and even the person we think we know best can still surprise us.
Learning about ourselves. What gives me energy? What drains me? What am I still carrying that I can let go?
Giving ourselves permission to be beginners. Painting, a new language, a new recipe, or even learning to rest, ask for help, and forgive ourselves.
And dear friends, I want to be gentle about this: being in learning mode doesn’t mean turning your life into one giant self-improvement project. Sometimes it just means noticing. Sometimes growth looks like letting go, changing our minds, or saying “I don’t know yet.” And that’s okay.
P.S. Next week on The Kitchen with Jean, we’re heading into Thanksgiving Part Two, with five more plant-based dishes for your table and a look at what the holiday is really about: gratitude and connection. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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11 min - 11/5/26: Oldies but Goodies, With a Healthy Twist
This week on The Kitchen with Jean, I want to make your day a little bit easier. I’m sharing four recipes that can come right into your kitchen:
🥦 Creamy Brussels Sprout & White Bean Pasta (with a fun tip for making a savory cream from beans)
🥧 Lentil Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie (perfect for a cozy lunch with the family)
🎃 Roasted Delicata Squash with sage, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries
🥧 Plant-Based Pumpkin PieI’ll be honest with you. I come from an Irish and Italian background, and our holiday table was full of rich, heavy dishes. When I began studying macrobiotics, it was a challenge to bring my new way of eating to the family table. So I started slowly, one side dish at a time. Now I’ve found my food groove, and all of those oldies but goodies (Dad’s creamed onions, the green bean casserole, the mac and cheese) are still there, just with a healthy twist.
There’s no better time to practice food as medicine than when we’re cooking for the people we love. In this episode, we talk about why cruciferous vegetables are such a gift this time of year, why eating the rainbow matters, and I send you on a little mission: go for the purple! 💜
And I answer a fun question of the day: is pumpkin a fruit? You’ll have to listen to find out. 😉
This is Part 1 of our Thanksgiving planning. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be back with Part 2 and more recipes and thoughts to ponder.
Have fun planning, enjoy your cooking, and have a beautiful week, dear friends. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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9 min - 10/29/26: Trick or Nourish
This week on The Kitchen with Jean, I want to ask a different question. What if our Halloween treats were made of ingredients that actually nourished us?
This isn’t about taking anything away. Food is pleasure. Food is celebration. Food is sharing something around the table. We don’t have to give up the sweetness; we just get to rediscover where it comes from. And there is so much natural sweetness in the plant world: dates, apples, bananas, pumpkin, coconut, berries.
In this episode, I’m sharing four simple plant-based treats with no refined sugar and no added sugar:
🍫 Chocolate Date Truffles
🎃 Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites (wonderful to keep around all year)
👻 Frozen Banana Ghosts (get the kids involved!)
🍎 Baked Apple Donuts with no sugar, no flour and no frosting, just fun toppings like cinnamon, chopped nuts, coconut and nut butterWhen we fill our kitchens with whole foods, we’re not just feeding our bodies. We’re creating habits, creating memories, and reminding ourselves (and our children) that a treat doesn’t have to come from a shiny wrapper.
So invite everyone into the kitchen with you. Make a mess. Taste things as you go. Laugh, and then laugh some more. Healthy doesn’t mean boring, not at all. 🎃
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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7 min - 10/22/26: Shorter Days, Gentler Rhythms
On this week's episode of Self-Care with Jean, I'm sharing a few simple rituals to help us stay healthy, grounded, and well through the shorter days. Nothing complicated, and certainly nothing that requires a complete life overhaul. Just small things we can come back to, like meeting the morning light, making warmth part of our routine, keeping our bodies moving in gentle ways, protecting our evenings, and giving ourselves a consistent bedtime.
And the most important ritual of all? Letting the season be what it is. We don't have to keep the same pace we did in summer. We can be quieter. We can need more sleep. These shorter days are giving us permission to come home to our bodies, our kitchens, our families, and our quiet.
And mark your calendar for next week, when we head into The Kitchen with Jean to rethink Halloween sugar with four delicious plant-based treats: chocolate date truffles, pumpkin pie energy bites, frozen banana ghosts, and baked apple donuts. No refined sugar, all natural sweetness. 🎃
Please take good care of yourself this week. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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12 min - 10/15/26: Your Fall Self-Care Recipe - Layers, Laughter, Soup and Sleep
On this week's episode of The Kitchen with Jean, I'm sharing four wonderful recipes along with some of the Traditional Chinese Medicine wisdom I've learned through my macrobiotic studies. In TCM, autumn is a yin season, a time of cool, nourishing energy that asks us to slow down. When we honor that, we protect ourselves from dryness and keep our lungs healthy and strong.
Here's a little of what we'll explore together:
Dressing in layers to keep your back, neck, head, and hands warm
Why we may feel a bit more emotional this season, and why we're never alone in it
Gentle movement and deep breathing to keep our lungs nourished (you'll hear about my new love for Pilates!)
Moisturizing, grounding foods like pears, sesame seeds, walnuts, sweet potatoes, and winter squash
Why soups and teas are our secret weapon this time of year
Syncing our sleep with the season
I also share a little October kitchen ritual that I hope you'll try with me. It's simple, it's beautiful, and it brings us right back to the table and to each other.
Taking care of ourselves this autumn doesn't have to be complicated. We just need to listen to our body and listen to the season.
Feed yourselves well, and have a beautiful week. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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13 min - 10/8/26: Light, Dark, and Balance
In this episode, we explore:
🌞 The summer solstice, a celebration of light, growth, and abundance, and the question "What is flourishing in my life?"
🌙 The winter solstice, just two months away, and the beautiful invitation to rest, reflect, and renew
🌱 Why nothing blooms all year long, and why we don't have to either
🕯️ A simple personal solstice ritual you can begin planning nowWhen I studied macrobiotics, learning about the seasons opened my eyes to the rhythm and balance in nature. It reminded me that light and darkness depend on one another, and that every season has a purpose. Let's give ourselves that same compassion.
So grab a cup of tea, find a quiet moment, and join me. I'm so grateful you spend this time with me.
And please save the date: December 21 or 22 is our winter solstice. We'll be ready with our ritual.
Next week, I'll be back in The Kitchen with Jean with grounding foods for the fall. We'll talk about Traditional Chinese Medicine tips to dress, move, and eat for the season, plus root vegetables, warming soups, and four new recipes to nourish us from the inside out.
Until then, take gentle care of yourself. This is Earth School. We're here to learn to love ourselves and love each other. Life comes from us and life is for us. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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13 min - 10/1/26: Pears, Pumpkins, and Peace
In this week's episode of The Kitchen with Jean, we explore the foods of autumn:
🍐 Pears to soothe a dry throat and comfort the lungs
🎃 Pumpkin, squash, and sweet potatoes for steady, grounding energy
🍄 Mushrooms, root vegetables, whole grains, and legumes
🌿 Gentle warming spices like ginger, cinnamon, and cardamomI'm also sharing two of my favorite little kitchen tricks, one for sweet potatoes and one for steel-cut oats. They make eating well so much easier. Health can be easy, my friends. It does not have to be hard.
And because I love to cook for the people I love, I've put together four recipes for you: a Ginger Miso Pumpkin Soup, a Roasted Autumn Grain Bowl, an Apple Lentil Kale Stew, and a Warm Cinnamon Pear Crisp. You can download them all at SelfCareWithJean.com/downloads.
This week, I invite you to begin your day with something warm. That's it. A little bowl of oatmeal with cooked apples and cinnamon, or a mug of ginger tea. Notice how it feels.
Next week, we're exploring the solstices, nature's rhythm of light and rest, and what they teach us about our own season of growth.
Have a wonderful week, my friends. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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9 min - 9/24/26: The Quiet Knowing
This week's episode of Self-Care with Jean: coming from our heart and trusting our clear knowing, also called claircognizance.
I was inspired by my niece and nephew, who welcomed a beautiful baby girl in July. As they learn to live with this new little human, my guidance to them was simple. Take a breath. Settle yourself. Connect to your heart, and then connect to your baby. Learn what that connection feels like, and the quiet knowing will develop from there.
Let's remember that we can bring that same pause into any moment of our day. In this episode, we talk about:
How to tell the difference between inner wisdom and outer anxiety (hint: one is calm, and one shouts)
Simple ways to strengthen your heart connection, from time in nature to keeping a journal nearby
Gentle questions you can ask yourself, like "What feels peaceful right now?"
Why honoring your intuition and thoughtful, practical thinking can work beautifully together
And I have a little invitation for you this week: five minutes a day of silence. That's it. Turn off the distractions, close your eyes, take a few slow breaths, and notice what arises without forcing. Perhaps you will discover that your inner voice has been there all along, patiently waiting for you to listen.
And next week, join me on The Kitchen with Jean as we explore traditional Chinese medicine and the foods that nourish us through the cooler months: pears, apples, pumpkins, mushrooms, warming spices, and recipes made for slowing down. Food is medicine, my dear friends.
Until then, be gentle, trust the inner journey, and stay open to the learning. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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11 min - 9/17/26: September's Bounty
In this week's episode, we're talking about eating with the harvest, apples, sweet potatoes, winter squash, leafy greens, mushrooms, and all the cruciferous beauties that are showing up right now. These foods aren't just delicious. They're nature's way of preparing our bodies for the months ahead, offering immune support, fiber, and warmth exactly when we need it.
Then we head into the kitchen together for three hearty, plant-based meals: a harvest stuffed acorn squash, a creamy mushroom and kale pasta, and a chickpea sweet potato sheet pan dinner. And of course, we can't let September pass without a warm apple crisp with an oat pecan topping.
It's not about perfection. It's about bringing love into the kitchen, one meal at a time.
Listen to the new episode now, and let's welcome this season together. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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7 min - 9/10/26: Choose Peace Over Perfection
In this week's episode, I'm sharing my own summer highlights, from riding Icelandic horses with friends to celebrating my mom's 90th birthday with both sides of our family. But more than that, I'm reflecting on what made this summer feel like the best one ever, and it wasn't about perfect vacations or a packed calendar. It was about presence. Putting down the phone. Choosing the people and moments that make our hearts feel lighter.
I also share a question I've been sitting with: as September speeds things back up, is it possible to hold on to a little of that slower pace?
This week, I'm inviting you to do something simple with me. Sit down and make your own list of summer highlights. Not for any other reason than this: they make us smile, and on a hard day, that list can remind us of the joy we already lived. 💚
Visit Jean's website: SelfCareWithJean.com!
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7 min
About Self-Care with Jean
From the publisher's feed
Jean is an inspirational author, speaker and educator - a leader and advocate in these challenging times for physical and mental health while sharing her enthusiasm and passion for mindful living,…
extreme self-care, nutrition and the pursuit of balance in a busy world. She is an expert in wellness, nutrition and macrobiotic cooking.