Jessica Seinfeld Knows ‘There Are No Shortcuts’ in Life

I love that your recipes never require any elaborate equipment or bizarre ingredients.

I don't want to spend that much time in my kitchen. And I don't think that the people that buy my books do, either. We are all working people. We're people who maybe came to cooking late in our lives, when we had kids, and we had to figure it out. We don't want to go to 10 stores. We want to know how to pronounce the ingredients. It's just an approach I have taken with everything in my life, which is how to do this within a reasonable amount of time, with as few ingredients as possible, and with a result that everyone's really happy with.

You’re still very involved in Good+Foundation, which you founded as a new mom in 2001 to give gently used baby goods to folks in need.

I carry a very intense workload, and I think that's just what I like. And so similar to deconditioning ourselves from eating a lot of sugar, it's very hard to decondition yourself to do less work. I know there's a mental and emotional component there that I probably need to address. But I do feel … with the time that I have on earth, I want to squeeze the most out of every day and do the most I can for others wherever I can. Why stop now?

Jessica Seinfeld's "Not Too Sweet" shows readers that healthy eating need not be a chore or a bore.

Courtesy Birch Public Relations

Bake with Jessica

Seinfeld shared two recipes from Not Too Sweet with AARP members.

Sweet Potato Snacking Cake with Butterscotch Glaze

The maple syrup and sweet potato combo makes this snacking cake hard to resist.

Not Too Chocolate Brownies

Sweet potato and dates make these brownies rich, delicious and fudgy.

How has your perspective on self-care changed as you've gotten older?

I'm definitely exercising less than I used to. I've really learned that rest and meditation and different modalities of self-care are really important to overall wellness and fitness. And I don't know if I believed in rest before, and I'm such a hard-driving person in my life. Part of my work now is to do less every day. It's really hard for me to not be always on the move and always thinking about the next thing. It's like, what do I have?

What has surprised you the most about getting older and also becoming an empty-nester?

Well, we're in our first year, so I would say that Jerry and I are still adjusting to the quiet around the house. What I have to make the effort to do is to not call my kids so much. And one thing that Jerry and I are doing is every night at dinner, we FaceTime with one of our kids at the dinner table. Somebody is always with us at dinner,  and our daughter spends every Sunday with us. So we're still in adjustment mode.

How do you define beauty now in your 50s versus in your 40s versus in your 30s?

Well, I've definitely accepted that things are starting to go. Things are starting to look different. But different isn't necessarily bad; it's just different. And I'm kind of enjoying not having the same face and the same body that I used to. Because I'm proud of the life that I've built and the family that I've nurtured. And a lot of good things have happened over time. And that there's a cost to those things. And in my case, I feel incredibly blessed that Jerry and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary.

Wow, congrats!

I know, it's insane. Twenty-five years we'll be married this Christmas. And so that's a huge triumph and milestone in this day and age. And nothing is for free. There are no shortcuts. And so if my body and face and my overall just energy isn't where it used to be in my 20s, well, I'd rather be where I am today than where I was in my 20s.

And now you have even more time to dedicate to making your cats Instagram-famous.

I do spend a lot more time with my cats, yes, I do. I love it so much.