One-Person Meals with Ricki McKenna

Cooking for One in The Villages: Insights from Nutritionist Ricky McKenna

In this episode of 'Open Forum in The Villages, Florida,' host Mike Roth delves into cooking and nutrition for seniors with special guest Ricky McKenna. Ricky, a certified nutritionist and chef, emphasizes the importance of cooking for oneself, even when single, to ensure a healthy diet. She shares practical tips, recipes, and advice on using simple ingredients, like cottage cheese and vegetables, to prepare nutritious meals. Ricky highlights the benefits of frozen foods over packaged ones, addresses the high carb content in senior living meal options, and suggests alternatives to common snack foods. Additionally, she offers insights on selecting the best oils and spices, and the virtues of cooking with fresh ingredients. The episode concludes with a conversation about Ricky's cookbook, which combines nutrition information and customizable recipes, perfect for those looking to improve their eating habits. The host encourages listeners to support the podcast through their website and introduces upcoming episodes.

00:00 Introduction to Open Forum in The Villages
00:49 Support the Podcast
01:32 Guest Introduction: Ricky McKenna on Cooking for One
01:53 Cooking Tips and Recommendations
05:02 Ricky's Kitchen and Cookbook
08:50 Healthy Eating and Nutrition
14:54 Barbecue and Cooking Lessons
15:37 Conclusion and Listener Engagement
15:42 Alzheimer's and Healthy Lifestyle Tips
17:13 Final Announcements and Acknowledgements

Transcript

One-Person Meals with Ricki McKenna

[00:01:02] Joan: Welcome to the Open Forum in The Villages, Florida. In this show, we talk to leaders of clubs and interesting folks who live here in The Villages to get perspectives of what is happening here in The Villages, Florida. We are a listener supported podcast. There will be shout outs for supporters in episodes.

Creating this podcast is a labor of love. Even though it demands more time, I can easily spare. Now, here's where you come in. You can help us keep the podcast alive and thriving. How? By becoming a supporter.

The easy way for you to support us is to visit our podcast. YouTube. com Open forum in the villages, Florida. com and click on the supporter button at the top of the page or the purple supporter box. Even a small donation of three to 10 a month makes a big difference. And you can cancel your subscription at any time. Your support means the world to us. Stay curious, stay inspired, and keep those headphones on. I hope everyone enjoys today's show.

 I have with me today a Guest about cooking, Ricky McKenna. Ricky, you've written, we'll have a talk entitled, Why cooking for one is not a waste of time. Here in the villages, we have a lot of seniors who are single. Cooking for one is a regular thing. What's your first recommendation for a person who's single?

[00:02:39] Ricki McKenna: Don't be afraid to do cooking. 

If all, don't be afraid of food and don't be afraid to choose your own food. Don't worry about making it wonderful. Just feed yourself. The whole idea is to get yourself fed. With good food, feed yourself well, take care of yourself, because you've only got the one body.

Mine's been hanging around for 80 years, so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. And to make whatever you want, don't fear it, just have a good time with it. You don't have to prepare a gourmet meal. You can take some cottage cheese, or take some yogurt, add some fruit. If you want to add a piece of fish, or a piece of chicken, Hickory dickory dick.

There's a lot of different ways to do it, and what I find is that people, they just don't want to bother. 

[00:03:32] Mike Roth: If I had to do it myself, I'd spend the first six months buying frozen food. 

[00:03:37] Ricki McKenna: Better than packages. Because frozen food is the next one under fresh that I recommend. And I've been in this position as a certified nutritionist since 1999.

Working with seniors in residences where they have meal choices. 

Of which are so high in carbs and then they wonder why everybody in the place is developing type 2 diabetes. Which really gripes my butt because that's not necessary. 

[00:04:05] Mike Roth: We have a funny expression down here in the villages. That both the men and the women look like they're pregnant, and a lot of people come down with diabetes, it's almost an epidemic.

[00:04:15] Ricki McKenna: It is an epidemic. I do a lot of research in communicating with people in the food industry. The food industry is out to feed us for profit. It's peep, it's profit over people, frankly. And I'm not afraid of saying it on the air because I know that's what happens. And my background is a ship. As well as a nutritionist gives me a new dimension to work with.

I can show you how to cook. I can show you how to create meals from nothing. My favorite thing is when I started dating my fiancé. Which was five years ago. I came over to visit him. He said, there's nothing in the refrigerator. We need to go out. I said, let me take a look. I do love to cook. I've been cooking since I was little.

My kids cook, my late husband cooked. I presented him with what he called a gourmet meal because there was stuff in his refrigerator, but he had no idea how to prepare anything, which a lot of men don't, but a lot of women don't either. 

[00:05:17] Mike Roth: I'll be the first to admit. I haven't spent a lot of time. Learning how to cook very many things.

I did learn how to make extremely good garlic bread. 

[00:05:25] Ricki McKenna: What'd you put it with? 

[00:05:27] Mike Roth: First you gotta get a good Italian bread. You slice it on. Then you melt butter with a lot of garlic. And the broil it. Until it's a little bit golden and sizzling. 

[00:05:37] Ricki McKenna: Or you could sprinkle a little parsley on it. 

[00:05:39] Mike Roth: You think of that.

[00:05:40] Ricki McKenna: Oh yeah. What's funny? I get, I didn't even think of that from people so often, and that's what made me start doing Pantuit pandemic cooking in March of 2020 on Zoom. I did it because people weren't getting together physically anymore. It morphed into what I now call Ricky's Kitchen, which is, if you look carefully here, it says food for thought, not just food.

My book, which I will happily show you. Yes, you can eat well and eat right. And that doesn't mean you have to prepare a gourmet meal all the time. And the thing about my book is it's not just a cookbook. There are 19 foods in there. And at the end of the information about each food, there's a recipe that utilizes the food.

And there's also some blank pages, so if anybody's ever used a cookbook, this is unusual because there aren't any, and they're there for a reason. Because if you have food allergies, or a desire for more garlic in your bread than it actually calls for, or whatever it is, a different spice, you want to change the recipe a little bit and make it yours, that's why the blank pages are there.

[00:06:57] Mike Roth: Is that book available on Amazon, or? 

[00:06:59] Ricki McKenna: Yes, you can eat well and eat right, but if you want the spiral version Which makes a lot of sense because as one of the buyers in a store where it's being sold in Houston said you don't have to keep it open with the soup cans to use it. 

[00:07:15] Mike Roth: That makes a lot of sense for a cookbook.

[00:07:17] Ricki McKenna: Oh yeah. What's interesting, I think it's the only spiral bound cookbook on their shelves pen. A lot of success with that. I will ship it in the mail. It's 32 on my website. It's 32 on Amazon, but the one on Amazon is a paperback for the same amount of money. Go to rickaskitchen. net and buy the book. 

[00:07:38] Mike Roth: What is your favorite recipe with Brussels sprouts?

[00:07:41] Ricki McKenna: I'm so glad you asked that. Because when I was a kid, I hated Brussels. 

[00:07:46] Mike Roth: It's one of the vegetables I love. I 

[00:07:48] Ricki McKenna: absolutely love them now because you take the fresh ones. Wash them, cut them in half, put them on a rimmed cookie sheet. I spray them with a garlic spray and an olive oil spray. Sprinkle garlic, a little bit of salt, and maybe some other spice that you like.

I sometimes use 

[00:08:06] Mike Roth: ginger. So you cut them in half? 

[00:08:08] Ricki McKenna: Yeah, cut them in half lengthwise. 

[00:08:10] Mike Roth: They cook face up or face down? 

[00:08:12] Ricki McKenna: First they cook face down, okay? Because you're putting them in air, baking them. So they will brown on that side and then flip them over after about 10 or 12 minutes. Okay. Okay. And cook them on the other side.

If you're not sure if they're done, taste one. Or just turn the oven off, keep it closed, and let them sit for another ten minutes. They don't get overdone, they just get done to the point where they're still juicy. And all the spices soak in, and the olive oil gives them a little bit of pizzazz as well.

And it's good for your joints. 

[00:08:45] Mike Roth: That's a great vegetable. 

[00:08:47] Ricki McKenna: Wonderful vegetable. 

[00:08:48] Mike Roth: It has the 

[00:08:49] Ricki McKenna: fiber that most seniors don't get. And one of my other recommendations is to scrub, don't peel, especially when you're using things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, or even beets. Well, of course, turnips. 

[00:09:06] Mike Roth: That's a great broth.

Scrub. 

[00:09:11] Ricki McKenna: Sponges have a side that's for a scrape for 

[00:09:14] Mike Roth: roughage. 

[00:09:15] Ricki McKenna: Actually, carrots, you can scrape them and still get the good nutrition. That's one of the few vegetables. But if you take a turnip, or a beet, scrub the daylights out of it. And then bake it, or roast it, or whatever you want to do with it. 

[00:09:29] Mike Roth: If the senior who's living alone wants to make something that's a high protein meal, amen.

[00:09:35] Ricki McKenna: Are we talking about keto or something here? I take chicken thighs most of the time, or you can take a breast and slice it or put it bite sized. Put it in a pan with lemon pepper. Most lemon pepper comes with salt, so if you're using low salt, which sometimes I believe in, it depends on the individual, bake or roast it, put a little bit of butter or olive oil with it.

Olive oil or avocado oil can be sprayed to give things a little bit of juiciness. Put that in the oven or you can even do it in a skillet. Just frying lemon pepper, you'll be amazed what it does. Actually, I've got chicken in the refrigerator right now marinating in lemon pepper. 

[00:10:18] Mike Roth: Is that a spice you bought?

You can 

[00:10:21] Ricki McKenna: find that in most grocery stores. Piggly Wiggly or any of those will have it. 

[00:10:25] Mike Roth: Really? 

[00:10:26] Ricki McKenna: My parents lived in Inverary for. About 25 years, so I'm familiar with Florida and some of the places down there. 

[00:10:35] Mike Roth: We're in the villages and our podcast is heard all over Central, as well as people who are coming down to the villages for a lifestyle trip to find out about it.

Came down here, and we have a lot of snow work in this, in the summer season, the probability per box out of the villages is vacant. And the traffic is wonderful. 

[00:10:55] Ricki McKenna: Unlike other places with traffic. 

[00:10:57] Mike Roth: Yeah, we have a lot of traffic circles here. What's your opinion of some of the snack foods, like potato chips, pretzels, and that kind of stuff?

[00:11:05] Ricki McKenna: You know what Khazarai needs? 

[00:11:07] Mike Roth: Yes. 

[00:11:08] Ricki McKenna: Do I need to say more? 

[00:11:09] Mike Roth: Well, we can. 

[00:11:10] Ricki McKenna: No, seriously. 

[00:11:11] Mike Roth: Rest in, again, I didn't know you were a member of the tribe. 

[00:11:14] Ricki McKenna: I am a member of the tribe. What's funny is potato chips and pretzels have their place. You can get chips made from sweet potatoes, which are a lot better for you.

There are also some made from cassava, which is another vegetable, which are pretty crunchy and good. 

[00:11:32] Mike Roth: I just want to add banana. 

[00:11:36] Ricki McKenna: That's the lean plantains. Yeah, they're actually not too bad for you. There's some good nutrition in there. Okay. What I really would like to see is people think about crunchy vegetables for snacks.

That you can take with you if you have little baggies. I 

[00:11:52] Mike Roth: like raw onions. 

[00:11:54] Ricki McKenna: If you're brave enough, go in the lab. 

[00:11:55] Mike Roth: I like onions. 

[00:11:56] Ricki McKenna: I have a sweet potato salad you'd probably love. It's sweet potatoes, raw onions, a red onion. Okay. And I use a little bit of roasted pumpkin seeds. Recipes in my book. I think it's page 49.

How many 

[00:12:11] Mike Roth: recipes are in the cookbook? 

[00:12:12] Ricki McKenna: There are 19 vegetables and fruits. There's about 30 something recipes. It's not just the recipes though. I want people to understand because there's so much misinformation about nutrition out there. And not foods. Food is medicine. Food can help you heal. I'm not saying get off your medicine and eat Brussels sprouts or broccoli.

What I'm saying is consult with your physician. Look at what you're eating very carefully. Read labels. That's in neon light, lights and letters. Read the labels if you're buying packaged foods, please. And if you don't understand what's in it, leave it there. 

[00:12:53] Mike Roth: Last question. A lot of my patients are worried about Alzheimer's or Dementia here.

One of the big recommendations from Dr. Craig Curtis is a logical mind diet. Mind, M I N D. The extreme bull on the Mediterranean diet, okay, to help your brain. It doesn't look like you have very much information about the mind diet. 

[00:13:16] Ricki McKenna: There's information in my book about that. 

[00:13:19] Mike Roth: Ouch. 

[00:13:20] Ricki McKenna: Not particularly calling it the mind diet.

Diet, to me, is anything you put in your mouth. What I recommend is, first of all, what are your individual likes and dislikes? Within those parameters, can fit the good healthful stuff, like vegetables and fruits. For those who are either diabetic or pre diabetic, we work more towards the vegetables and non starchy vegetables, as well as things like chicken and fish first, red meats, not as much.

But it's very important to get those combinations of things. That digest easily. Of course, you've heard all about the microbiome, I'm sure. Digestive system. If it's not working properly, I recommend a regimen that helps cleanse the liver and the kidneys. Where's your filter? It's like the filthy oil filter in your car.

If that's not clean, you got a problem. When I consult with people, It's based on their needs. And so we work up menus and really helping them get the skill of preparing things for themselves. It is a skill, but it doesn't have to be a chore. Eating right for healing yourself is what I advocate. I have a membership site.

If you're interested, it's called Patreon, P A T R E O N dot com. And then it's forward slash Ricky's Kitchen. P Ricky's kitchen.net is my website. And you'll find information there. We'll, so a weekly, menu on your time. I hold them at 11 o'clock central time, which is an hour earlier than you are. Have a lot of fun.

They're live. I had a fire in the oven one time that was on camera. 

[00:15:05] Mike Roth: Okay, on fire extinguisher. 

[00:15:06] Ricki McKenna: Don't use a fire extinguisher on your oven. You can blow up the whole thing. The flames were coming out from the bottom of the oven and I said, oops, excuse me. I flew over there, opened it up, but I grabbed a towel on the way over and I smothered it.

[00:15:21] Mike Roth: Yeah. Lucky. 

[00:15:23] Ricki McKenna: Yeah. And you can buy those. There's some new things out on the market now, as a matter of fact, I think Amazon has them. I think they're called fire blankets and they're better than an extinguisher. 

[00:15:33] Mike Roth: Teflon cuts the air off the fire. 

[00:15:35] Ricki McKenna: You want to smother it. 

[00:15:37] Mike Roth: So, one last question for you. What do you think of using a barbecue outside to cook most of your food as opposed to using the stove?

[00:15:44] Ricki McKenna: As long as you're not charcoal ing it. 

[00:15:47] Mike Roth: No, again, barbecue. 

[00:15:48] Ricki McKenna: That's barbecue. Okay, so you can control the temperatures then. Oh, yes. That's good. You can also use a pan on a barbecue like that. Sauté, if you don't want the heat in the house, then go outside. 

[00:16:02] Mike Roth: And 

[00:16:02] Ricki McKenna: I do individual lessons as well. And I recommend you go for the book because it's fun.

I just had one of my clients and a dear friend call me today and say, I read your whole cookbook. It's not just a cookbook. 

[00:16:16] Mike Roth: I'll have to, , consult with my wife to see if she wants another cookbook. 

[00:16:20] Ricki McKenna: It's not a cookbook. 

[00:16:21] Mike Roth: Thank you for joining us on Open Forum of the Villages. 

[00:16:23] Ricki McKenna: Thank you, Mike. Be well. 

[00:16:26] Mike Roth: Dr. Curtis, what can someone do if they know that they have Alzheimer's that runs in 

[00:16:31] Dr. Craig Curtis: There's a lot that they can do. So published actually in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February of 2024. So this month, this was a study done primarily at Rush University in Chicago, looking at those with brain amyloid.

So those people that already have amyloid, can a healthy lifestyle protect them from developing dementia? And the answer was yes, by following these five, five healthy habits that were tracked. And those where they did not smoke, They did moderate exercise for at least 150 minutes a week. They kept their alcohol consumption to a minimum, approximately one to two drinks a day.

And they regularly stimulated their brain by reading, going to museums, etc. And the final category was how well they followed the MIND diet, or a Mediterranean type diet. And they used autopsies. They actually used approximately 530 autopsies to prove that those that followed those healthy lifestyle habits or had those healthy lifestyle habits actually had less amyloid.

It correlated. Those had less amyloid in their brain. 

[00:17:41] Warren: With over 20 years of experience studying brain health, Dr. Curtis's goal is to educate the Villages community on how to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more, visit his website. CraigCurtisMD.com or call 352 500 5252 to attend a free seminar.

Remember, our next episode will be released next Friday at 9:00 AM. Should you wanna become a major supporter of the show or have questions, please contact us at mike@rothvoice.com. This is a shout out for supporters: Long Tweet Coleman, Ed Williams, Dwayne Romanic Paul. So Kathy Loving, and Dr.

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