Monthly Archives: January 2023

The 5 Most Popular Foods of Winter

When old man winter is knocking at your door, ’tis the season to enjoy hearty meals that provide sustenance to deal with howling winds. 

Ooh, how folksy! 

Winter calls for good old-fashioned comfort foods that take longer to prepare but are worth the effort to warm the cockles of your heart. 

To that end, over here at BasketWorks, we present the five most popular winter foods to cozy up to.

1. Hearty Soup

Hearty soups like chicken noodle, split pea with ham, and beef barley are the go-to meals in the dead of winter. 

I know, it’s been pretty mild so far in Chicagoland, but I’m sure I just jinxed it.

Soups are easy to prepare and are also great for lunch leftovers. You just toss everything in a pot or slow cooker and let it simmer until all the flavors infuse the broth. Enjoyed with chunks of crusty bread smothered in butter, a grilled cheese sandwich or crackers, soup is the quintessential winter food.

2. Comforting Macaroni & Cheese

Mac n’ cheese has reached legendary status as the ultimate comfort food. 

It has gone from the recognizable blue box everyone keeps in their pantry to a gourmet-level meal with all kinds of clever ingredients that bring it to the next level. But deep down, we all crave the same good old-fashioned version mom always made. 

When it comes to feeling like a warm hug, nothing does it better than mac ‘n cheese.

3. Luscious Pot Roast

Pot roast may be the mother of all comfort foods. 

Slow-cooked meat, gravy, potatoes, and carrots. I mean, come on. 

Pot roast is the ultimate winter meal and just as easy to prepare as soup if you have a slow cooker handy. After a hard day at work, nothing says welcome home more than a simmering chunk of tender beef.

4. Spicy Chili

126.95 million Americans can’t be wrong. Yes, that’s how many of us consumed chili in 2020. Is there anything they don’t track?

Chili is a versatile dish, and we’re going to focus on the spicy kind. 

Whether you love it with plenty of beans or are all about the meat, spicy chili is packed with flavors. That combination of meat, beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and spices is a kick start to your taste buds, creating a warming sensation from tongue to tummy, ideal for a cold winter’s day.

5. Rib Sticking Stew

Speaking of versatility, there are hundreds of stews to choose from, like classic beef stew, French boeuf bourguignon, Irish lamb stew, and chicken stew topped with light and fluffy dumplings.

Another slow cooker-friendly meal, stew allows you to combine ingredients and let them simmer while you get on with your day. Always rich and flavorful, stew goes down easy when the weather is snowy, damp, or downright miserable.

🚨SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT🚨

Speaking of soup, it’s always nice to have a bowl when you’ve got a winter cold or bug. To that end, check out our Soup and Quackers Get Well Basket, a lighthearted pick-me-up with chicken soup mix, crackers, a stuffed animal duck, and more! 

About BasketWorks

BasketWorks is a woman-owned gift basket company located in the north suburbs of Chicago (specifically Northbrook, IL) since 1997. We are proud to offer a variety of gifts and gift baskets appropriate for all occasions. Each of our packages is built to order, allowing for customization at no additional cost to our clients. Contact us today! Please subscribe to our blog post and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

The Winter Blues May Be More Serious Than Its Name Suggests

On occasion, I write about mental health, a subject that is near and dear to my heart. 

Gorilla on Your Back, a blog post I wrote about what it feels like to have depression, was picked up by the Huffington Post, and I also also gave a TED Talk-like presentation on the subject at my synagogue that you can view here.

We’re almost a month into winter, a time when many people suffer from the “Winter Blues”, also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, a form of depression that often requires treatment. 

I’m not a doctor, but that doesn’t mean I can’t educate about this condition. In today’s blog, I look at why the winter blues may be more serious than the name suggests.  

What is SAD?

According to the American Psychiatric Association, approximately 5% of all Americans experience symptoms of SAD, which is caused by a reduced level of sunlight, something we’re not strangers to in these parts. 

When this happens, it causes confusion for our internal clocks that help manage our waking and sleeping hours. Less sunlight reduces serotonin levels, the chemical that impacts our mood. When we don’t have enough serotonin, it can result in symptoms that make us feel sad, listless, tired, and disinterested in the things that usually bring us joy.

What’s Sunlight Got To Do with It?

Why does less sunlight get us down? 

Sunlight affects your circadian rhythms which work like an alarm clock for the body. This is why they’re also known as the internal clock. Less sunlight impacts how our bodies manage the hormones and neurotransmitters responsible for mood regulation. Our bodies use the morning light to trigger wakefulness, and (to get super sciency) we actually have something called retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in our eyes that detect sunlight and trigger our circadian rhythm into wakefulness. We wake up because the RGC reaction stops our production of restful melatonin. 

The shorter days of winter interrupt all these cues, causing our bodies to overproduce melatonin, so we think it’s night all the time.  

Why is Serotonin Important?  

Serotonin and melatonin are opposites when it comes to SAD. 

Serotonin helps keep our moods level and our energy levels up. When we don’t have enough sunlight and our serotonin levels are lower, it allows mood-enhancing neurotransmitters to have free reign, which in some of us increases the symptoms of depression.

Can Seasonal Depression Be Treated?

You bet it can. 

Since the lack of natural sunlight is a leading cause of SAD, getting more UV light can ease symptoms. Light therapy or phototherapy mimics daylight, so your internal clock can recalibrate itself. The therapy is applied using a lightbox and requires about 30 minutes of exposure each day. It is a passive light source like any other light you use, with the key difference being it produces UV light. 

However, severe symptoms should always be reported to your doctor as soon as possible to diagnose your issue and ensure you receive proper treatment.

Helpful Resources

SAD is only one of several mental health conditions, and often symptoms overlap among them. There are so many resources available to educate you on mental illness and point you in the right direction for treatment. Let’s start here:

About BasketWorks

BasketWorks is a woman-owned gift basket company located in the north suburbs of Chicago (specifically Northbrook, IL) since 1997. We are proud to offer a variety of gifts and gift baskets appropriate for all occasions. Each of our packages is built to order, allowing for customization at no additional cost to our clients. Contact us today! Please subscribe to our blog post and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.