My favorite recipes

Gerianne Buckley was born on Long Island, New York, and lived her first seven years in Rockville Center. Her parents, Jerry and Nancy Shea, then moved the family to California for her father’s career as an airline pilot. It took, Gerianne said, about a year for the kids to lose their Long Island accent, which California kids found amusing.

The family lived in the Bay area until Gerianne was in eighth grade, when they moved to Seattle. Gerianne graduated from John F. Kennedy Catholic High School there and came to Spokane to attend nursing school. Most of her classes were at Fort Wright College, but her bachelor’s in nursing was from Eastern Washington University. Shortly afterward, Fort Wright became Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, a school in Spokane for Japanese women students on the Fort Wright campus.

Gerianne met Barney in Spokane where he was in the police academy. He first worked as an airplane mechanic. In 1981, they married and moved to Colfax, where he was a city police officer. She began an 11-year career as a nurse at Whitman Hospital. While she was working there, they took blood pressures and temperatures the old-fashioned way, and IV pumps were just beginning to be used.

After daughter Shannon was born, Gerianne worked a few more years part-time. When Laura and David were born, Gerianne stayed home and home-schooled the three children. The Buckley children are musical, as are their parents. Gerianne plays piano and organ, and she and Barney also sing.

Now the kids are spreading their wings with Shannon working at Whitman Health and Rehab and as an emergency medical technician and volunteer firefighter. She lives and works in Colfax.

Laura and her husband, John Lautenschlager, and Samantha, 2 1/2, live in Rosalia. They are both EMT and fire academy graduates who work in the summer for firefighting contractors. Laura was just hired at Whitman Medical Group. She is in the Army National Guard with weekend and summer requirements. Her most recent excitement was to rappel down a bank building in Spokane as a fund-raiser.

David lives and works in Colfax and is busy with his music. He is a talented organist and leads a choir at St. Patrick’s Church in Colfax. He also is an EMT and volunteer firefighter.

The Buckleys really became aware of the importance of the volunteer fire department during the 2006 fire that started in a barley field on the east side of Colfax on a windy day during harvest, consuming about 3,500 acres of crops and trees, as well as a railroad trestle and the Risbeck grain elevator.

The family was evacuated from their country home and firefighters spent the night protecting it, putting out hot embers the size of dinner plates. No homes were lost during that fierce fire.

Gerianne and Barney made a significant lifestyle change about three years ago to become healthier. Now they are team coaches for Take Shape for Life in order to help others. Their doctor helped them set goal weights. They wanted to be fit and active grandparents, since Laura and John were expecting the Buckley’s first grandchild. Video of Gerianne on the trampoline with Samantha confirms that she is indeed more fit and active.

It starts, said Gerianne, in your head, and it takes management—getting enough sleep, enough water, enough activity and proper nutrition. Once a person reaches his or her goal weight, the task is to maintain a different lifestyle with healthy weight and habits. Some find losing the easy part, while maintaining is the challenge.

The goal of the program is to induce the body to burn fat, not muscle. Many weight-loss programs encourage the body to burn muscle. Even during Christmas season, eating for fat loss can be done.

Everyone must find their “why” in order to be successful at changing to a healthier lifestyle. For Gerianne, it was to be a fit grandmother, as well as wife, mother, sister and daughter.

Gerianne and Barney limit starch servings, and the starches they eat are whole grains. They eat lots of vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy snacks several times a day. The ideal is six small meals, but for many people that equates to three small meals and three healthy snacks. The plan is to never be terribly hungry.

Known as the queen of baking to her friends and family, Gerianne is baking less now because they choose to limit desserts. She loves to tweak recipes to make them healthier.

Gerianne exercises on a treadmill or comes into town to walk. Walking on coarse gravel is not her favorite mode of exercise.

The Buckleys are active at St. Patrick Church, with Gerianne in Altar Society and Barney in Knights of Columbus. They both sing in David’s choir. She is a past religious education teacher.

With the Christmas season upon us, Gerianne is sharing some recipes she enjoys because they are both tasty and healthy.

Recipes

Veggie Salad

2 cups of each of the following, cut into bite-sized pieces

blanched broccoli

blanched cauliflower

cucumber

sweet peppers—I like red, yellow, and orange

jicama

grape tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes halved)

one bunch green onions

Combine and dress with any low-fat Italian type dressing of your choice. I have a basil citrus dressing/marinade that I get at Costco that is delicious.

Mashed Cauliflower

—Great substitute for mashed potatoes!

one head of cauliflower, cut into florets

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 cloves roasted garlic

any other herbs desired

Cook cauliflower until tender. Place in food processor with seasonings and puree until smooth.

Fruit Pie with Date-Nut Crust

Crust:

1 cup dates

1/3 cup walnuts

1/3 cup cashews

1/3 cup almonds

1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:

2-3 bananas, sliced lengthwise

4 ounces strawberries, sliced

4 ounces strawberries, blended into a puree

4 ounces raspberries

1 can mandarin oranges

Blend the crust ingredients together in a food processor to achieve a sticky consistency. Press the blended crust ingredients into a 9-inch pie pan. Lay the banana slices on top of the crust and press along the sides. Place the strawberry slices on top of the bananas. Pour strawberry puree over this and press into the gaps. Arrange the raspberries and mandarin oranges on top of the pie.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour or longer before serving.