Comfort foods and Things to do

I am so excited that a few of you are on board with the November Gratitude Project! Please feel free to leave what you are thankful for in the comments section any or every day this month – I would love to read them.

And maybe I will bake something to give away to someone who leaves at least 10 this month! I will give this some thought and come up with a plan

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Day 2 – The November Gratitude Project

Today  I am grateful for my mom. I talked to her on the phone this morning, just to say hi, catch up and chat. I told her about everything that was going on and it’s always so comforting to hear her thoughts and advice. Her wisdom and willingness to listen to me endlessly are priceless gifts. I am really lucky to have a mom like her!

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So today included some comfort foods for me…

This morning for breakfast I was craving straight up granola with milk – and on the side I thought that Heather‘s flourless crepe (2 eggs beaten with 1/3 tsp. baking powder) would be perfect. So alongside my 2 big bowls of cereal (cereal tastes so good sometimes, no?), was this lovely crepe!

Filled with Teddie PB, strawberry jam & a banana.

The egg/nut butter/fruit combo was not weird, it was actually fantastic! Loved it.

As for dinner, getting home around 7:00 usually means I will be making a quick meal. Wanting to use up the rest of a big butternut squash I roasted on Sunday, I made butternut squash gnocchi based on this Martha recipe. Except I added potatoes once I saw those were in the fridge as well. And I had no sage so I substituted rosemary and basil. AND I used whole wheat flour. Oh, and I did not measure a thing. Shocking, right?

The whole wheat flour made them a tad less sturdy I think (and I couldn’t get the potatoes to fully mash since they were cold) but these actually turned out great and were SUPER quick. Maybe 25 minutes, start to finish?

It helped that the squash and potatoes were cooked ahead of time and in the fridge, so there was no need to refrigerate the dough 2-3 hours. Just threw them right into the boiling water for 2 minutes!

Okay, I admit this looks a little gross – it’s just because once I stirred in the butter and cheese they all sort of stuck together – but trust me, they were pillowy and delicious!

A thought for today:

I have a pretty big push right now in terms of one of my jobs and applying for grad school – a lot needs to happen in November.

Because of this, retrieving my time management and planning skills from college is key! One of my best friends, however, is in the opposite position right now. She is recovering from surgery and will be on the couch (mostly) for the next few weeks. She is really brave and strong and motivated and positive, but I’m sure it will still be tough. It would be really tough for me, at least, to give up physical activity and not be working or really “doing” anything in particular. On the other hand, it would be great to actually accomplish or start some projects that have always been in the back of my mind.

So while I was on the T (subway) this morning, I thought about…

Things to do with large chunks of free time

(When you can’t do anything physical or really go anywhere!)

(B, this is for you )

• Learn to do something I’ve always wanted to take up, like knitting or photography.
• Get crafty and make a nice scrap book, make a bunch of pretty holiday cards for friends and family, or even make homemade gifts (I’m not sure I’m crafty enough for this, but check out Then Heather Said’s Handmade Christmas 2010 for some creative ideas!)
• Read a book in my field I’ve always wanted to read (there is a wonderful psychology book sitting on my shelf that I desperately want to read before interviewing for grad school!)
• Update my resume/CV (okay, so this idea was totally sparked by my application process, but it’s not a bad idea! It’s hard to remember exact dates and responsibilities of past activities and jobs. I wish I had updated more frequently along the way!)
• Cook or bake something on my “wish list” that I never get around to making because it’s time consuming or intimidating (some items on my list: biscotti, homemade bread, some kind of cracker, my mom’s red sauce and manicotti, chili).
• Write. Letters, journal entries, blog posts, short stories – I love to write for pleasure.
• Take on an organization project: donate clothes in the closet I don’t wear, rearrange my pantry, or organize my iTunes library by making new playlists (<– I need a wider variety of running playlists!)
• Give myself a home spa day. For much less money than a real spa, I would love to take the time to make my toes look not-so-disgusting, paint my nails, and give myself a facial (Oh that sounds so nice right now).

Maybe you can help too! What would you do if you couldn’t really do much for a few weeks??

Don’t forget to keep telling me what you’re grateful for each day You won’t be sorry you thought of something to smile about!

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