By Zuzana Paar, Food Drink Life

With a few swipes, you can get a new recipe that has been vetted by millions on TikTok. This platform has replaced a traditional cookbook, making it easy for you to find your new favorite dish through short videos.

Try out these recipes that have gone viral for a good reason, from baked feta pasta to healthy renditions of bread and ice cream and a spiced-up version of sushi – you won’t be disappointed.

What’s up with food trends on TikTok?

TikTok has become the it platform, where normal people can go viral by sharing anything from dances to unique food recipes. The rise of TikTok has inspired people to share their creative dishes online; sometimes, these inventions spread like wildfire across the globe. As users try to recreate viral recipes in their own kitchens, they are discovering the fun and magic of cooking, as well as unconventional ingredient pairings that make for delicious meals – well, the majority of the time.

The discovery of baked feta pasta

The baked feta pasta recipe that never lost popularity after becoming an online sensation came from Jenni Häyrinenm, a Finnish food blogger. It was Mackenzie Smith who shared it on TikTok, gaining millions of views and popularizing it in the United States and beyond. The beauty of this dish lies in its simplicity and the ability to create a delicious, comforting dish with low effort.

To make baked feta pasta, arrange the feta in the center with tomatoes and garlic around it in a baking dish. Drizzle it with oil and bake until the tomatoes have burst and the feta is golden brown. Mash it up – this essentially becomes your pasta sauce – and then add your cooked pasta, some pasta water and seasoning. There you have it, an easy dish without a dozen steps that still gives you mouthwatering flavors.

The obsession with protein

Health and wellness are hot topics on social media, leading to the trend of protein-packed recipes. The obsession with protein comes from its ability to satiate your appetite, keep you full for longer and feed your muscles. Protein bread is a healthy take on traditional white bread that you can easily substitute in your diet, which is why it’s been all the rave among TikTok users.

One way to make protein bread is to make it flourless and use protein powder, egg whites, baking soda and baking powder, among other ingredients. Although it is flourless, this recipe will still give you a perfect texture and delicious bread that is not only protein-packed but also low-carb.

A healthy ice cream replacement

The strawberry chocolate Greek yogurt bark went viral on TikTok as a healthy dessert that can replace ice cream. This recipe calls for plain Greek yogurt, strawberries, chocolate, coconut oil and honey.

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First, add chopped strawberries and some honey to your yogurt if you want the yogurt sweetened. Then, scoop the mixture onto a baking sheet and form small clusters. Put them in the freezer for an hour, and once they’re ready, it’s time to melt the chocolate with coconut oil. Dip the clusters into the chocolate, making sure each one is coated and then place them back on the sheet to set.

There’s plenty of room to be creative – add different fruits and toppings like nuts or sea salt at the end. You may start to notice a pattern among all these viral TikTok recipes so far. They’re easy to whip up and don’t require a bunch of ingredients, yet you still end up with a delicious creation. Try out this strawberry chocolate Greek yogurt bark if you want a sweet, crunchy, light treat that is a great alternative to ice cream.

Satisfy your sushi cravings with sushi bake

Sushi bake has always been a popular Hawaiian dish, but TikTok shot it into stardom as it became a food trend that garnered millions of views. Sushi bake is essentially a sushi casserole – instead of rolling up the filling in seaweed, you layer it in a dish and bake it. Afterward, you cut the dish into squares and serve it on seaweed. The best part is that the recipe is customizable with whatever filling you want.

To make sushi bake, first put cooked rice in an oven-safe dish. Layer it with avocado slices and imitation crab mixed with spicy mayo, soy sauce and sesame oil. Bake it in the oven for around 10 minutes until the top layer is golden. Then, it’s time to devour this hearty yet healthy meal by scooping some sushi bake on top of seaweed.

Digital cleanse in your kitchen

Social media is a gold mine for food inspiration, but it’s easy to lose track of time with how entertaining the videos can be. Balance your exciting culinary adventures from online food trends to simple, nourishing recipes that you know your way around. Some tips for a digital detox include setting a screen time limit so you can set your phone aside afterward. Instead of getting carried away on your phone, engage in a mindful cooking routine that lets you unwind while making a delicious meal.

Reimagining food with TikTok

Thanks to all the fun and crazy social media food challenges, cooking doesn’t have to be boring anymore. These viral recipes – from baked feta pasta to protein bread, sushi casserole and healthy ice cream – are tasty ways to reimagine the dishes you usually eat. It’s time to embrace these food trends that take a unique spin on regular meals and kick up your creativity a notch or two.

Zuzana Paar is the creative force behind her websites Low Carb No Carb, and Best Clean Eating. As a content creator, food recipe developer, blogger and photographer, Zuzana brings diverse skills to the table with a dedication to sharing delicious, healthy recipes and helpful tips with the readers.

Tony Leys | (TNS) KFF Health News

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing “988,” or the Crisis Text Line by texting “HOME” to 741741.

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GRINNELL, Iowa — The farmers’ co-op here is a center of hope every spring. It’s where farmers buy seed and fertilizer for the summer’s crops, and where they seek tips to maximize their harvest of corn and soybeans.

But on a recent morning, a dozen mental health professionals gathered at the Key Cooperative Agronomy Center to discuss why so many farmers quietly struggle with untreated anxiety and depression.

Studies have concluded that suicide is unusually common among farmers. Researchers believe it’s not just because many farmers have other risk factors, such as rural addresses and access to guns.

The tragic trend has caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which sponsors training sessions like the one in Grinnell to help health care professionals learn how to talk to farmers about the pressures they face in wringing a living out of the land.

“A lot of them are born to it. They don’t have any choice,” family therapist David Brown explained to the session’s participants. He noted many farms have been passed down for generations. Current owners feel that if they fail, they would be letting down their grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren.

Brown, who works for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, led the training in Grinnell. He said farmers’ fate hinges on factors out of their control. Will the weather be favorable? Will world events cause prices to soar or crash? Will political conflicts spark changes in federal agricultural support programs? Will a farmer suffer an injury or illness that makes them unable to perform critical chores?

Josh Kruse plants corn near Boone, Iowa, on May 17, 2024. Kruse runs the 500-acre farm with brother-in-law Jason Haglund, who grew up there and is a mental health advocate. (Tony Leys/KFF Health News/TNS)

Brown said surveys show many farmers are reluctant to seek mental health care, partly because they think therapists or doctors couldn’t understand their lives.

Tina Recker, a mental health therapist in northeastern Iowa, attended the training session. She has lived on farms, and she has seen how the profession can become a person’s entire identity. “It’s just farm, farm, farm, farm,” she told the group. “If something goes wrong with it, that’s your whole world.”

It’s difficult to estimate how much of farmers’ increased risk of suicide is due to their profession.

Part of the reason for the elevated rate could be that many farmers are middle-aged or older men, who tend to be more at risk in general. “But it’s broader than that for sure,” said Edwin Lewis, a USDA administrator who helps oversee efforts to address the situation.

The Grinnell training session was part of a federal program called the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. Lewis said the program, which also funds counseling hotlines and support groups, spends $10 million a year.

Jason Haglund sees the issue from multiple angles. He’s a mental health advocate who farms part-time near the central Iowa town of Boone. He and his brother-in-law raise corn and soybeans on the 500-acre farm where Haglund grew up. His family has farmed in the area since the 1880s. His parents hung on despite going into bankruptcy during the 1980s farm crisis, and he embraces his role as caretaker of their legacy.

Haglund is trained as an alcohol and drug addiction counselor, and he co-hosts an Iowa podcast about the need to improve mental health care.

He said it can be stressful to run any kind of family business. But farmers have a particularly strong emotional tie to their heritage, which keeps many in the profession.

“Let’s be honest: Farming at all these days isn’t necessarily a good financial decision,” he said.

Farmers traditionally have valued self-sufficiency, he said. They try to solve their own problems, whether it’s a busted tractor or a debilitating bout of anxiety.

Mental health advocate Jason Haglund stands outside a machine shed on his family’s farm near Boone, Iowa, on May 17, 2024. He has seen how farmers’ traditional self-sufficiency can make them hesitate to seek help for mental stress. (Tony Leys/KFF Health News/TNS)

“With the older generation, it’s still, ‘Suck it up and get over it,’” Haglund said. Many younger people seem more willing to talk about mental health, he said. But in rural areas, many lack access to mental health care.

Farmers’ suicide risk is also heightened by many of them owning guns, which provide an immediate means to act on deadly impulses, Haglund said.

Guns are an accepted part of rural life, in which they are seen as a useful tool to control pests, he said. “You can’t go into a rural community and say, ‘We’re going to take your guns away,’” he said. But a trusted therapist or friend might suggest that a depressed person temporarily hand over their guns to someone else who can safely store them.

Haglund said health care professionals shouldn’t be the only ones learning how to address mental stresses. He encourages the public to look into “mental health first aid,” a national effort to spread knowledge about symptoms of struggle and how they can be countered.

A 2023 review of studies on farmer suicides in multiple countries, including the U.S., cited cultural and economic stresses.

“Farmers who died by suicide, particularly men, were described as hard-working, strong, private people who took great pride in being the stoic breadwinners of their families. They were often remembered as members of a unique and fading culture who were poorly understood by outsiders,” wrote the authors, from the University of Alberta in Canada.

Rebecca Purc-Stephenson, a psychology professor who helped write the paper, said health professionals face two challenges: persuading farmers to seek help for mental stress, then encouraging them to keep coming back for therapy.

Back at the training in Iowa, instructors urged mental health professionals to have flexible schedules, and to be understanding when farmers postpone appointments at the last minute.

Maybe one of their animals is sick and needs attention. Maybe a machine broke and needs to be fixed immediately. Maybe the weather is perfect for planting or harvesting.

“Time is money,” said Brown, the therapist leading the training.

The session’s lessons included what to ask and not ask when meeting farmers. A big no-no is inquiring right away about how much land they are working. “If you ask them how many acres they’re farming, that’s like asking to see their bank account,” warned Rich Gassman, director of Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, who assisted with the lesson.

It would be better to start by asking what they enjoy about farming, the instructors said.

Many farmers also need to talk through emotional issues surrounding when, how, or even if the next generation will take over the family operation.

Tim Christensen, a farm management specialist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, said some standard advice on how to deal with stress could backfire with farmers.

For example, he said, a health care professional should never advise a farmer to relax by taking a couple of weeks off. Most of them can’t get away from their responsibilities for that long, he said.

“There’s a common saying on the farm: No good vacation goes unpunished.”

Warning Signs of Mental Struggle

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention lists these signs that a person might be considering suicide:

The person talks about killing themselves, feeling hopeless, having no reason to live, being a burden to others, feeling trapped, or having unbearable pain.
The person increases their use of alcohol or drugs, sleeps too much or too little, displays fatigue or aggression, withdraws from activities and family and friends, visits or calls people to say goodbye, gives away possessions, or searches online for a way to end their life.
People considering suicide often seem depressed, anxious, irritable, angry, ashamed, or uninterested in activities. In some cases, they may appear to feel sudden relief or improvement in their mood.
People in crisis can reach the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting “988.”

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(KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SEATTLE — With Logan Gilbert on the mound, runs have been at a premium for Mariners’ opponents this season.

And while the Twins’ offense has been among the best of late, with Gilbert on the other side of things, it meant that Bailey Ober likely was going to need to be at the top of his game — or near it — to help keep his team in it.

Lucky for the Twins, he was. But in close games, with little wiggle room, mistakes get magnified and that’s exactly what happened on Friday.

A pitcher’s duel between the starters for most of the day turned into a Twins’ loss after a couple blips in the field helped send them to 3-2 extra-inning loss on Friday night at T-Mobile Park.

The Twins, who were unable to convert in the top of the 10th inning, were walked off in bottom of the inning when J.P. Crawford, the Mariners’ automatic runner scored on a fielder’s choice. Reliever Cole Sands tried to field the ball but after spinning around, his throw was both off target and too late.

That came after the Twins saw their razor-thin advantage disappear two innings earlier.

After the first two batters of the eighth reached, Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez grounded a ball towards third. Luke Raley ran in front of Jose Miranda, with Miranda trying and missing a tag attempt before he fired off a throw that got past first baseman Carlos Santana, allowing Raley to score the game-tying run.

To that point, the only other run the Mariners had scored had come in the fifth and while an error was not charged, it was a play that likely should have been made.

Mitch Haniger, whom Ober walked with two outs, raced home on a Josh Rojas double. Had the relay throw from Willi Castro been fielded cleanly by catcher Christian Vázquez, he likely would have been out.

It wasn’t, and he scored, giving the Mariners a 1-0 lead at the time.

It was all that the Mariners managed against Ober, who allowed just two hits in his six innings, following up his 89-pitch complete game with another solid outing.

The first hit Ober gave up was to Rodríguez in the first inning, whom he promptly picked off. He then retired the next seven hitters before allowing a pair of walks in the fourth, neither of which came around to hurt him.

Though the Twins fell behind ever so briefly, Ober’s effort kept his team in the game while the team’s offense was being quieted by Gilbert.

Gilbert ran his scoreless streak to 21 innings before the Twins finally broke through in the sixth.

After Castro was hit by a pitch for his team-leading 12th time, Carlos Correa planted a Gilbert breaking ball in the Twins’ bullpen in left field, giving them a lead they would hold until the eighth inning.

The Iowa Cubs beat the Saints 8-1 on Friday in Des Moines, putting the game away for good with a six-run eighth inning.

DaShawn Keirsey Jr. sent a solo homer over the center field wall in the seventh, giving the Saints their first hit and lone run. He added a single in the ninth for St. Paul’s only two hits of the game. The Saints did reach base four times via walk from Iowa starter Riley Thompson, who retired 12 in a row starting in the third.

Caleb Boushley (8-2) allowed two runs in six innings pitched for St. Paul.

The Saints and Cubs play again today at 6:08 in Des Moines.

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