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August 2020

Blog, Lunch/Dinner, Recipes

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

August 30, 2020

Happy almost Fall! 

If you know me, you know I love Fall. Every year, as September approaches, my impatience gets the best of me and I start to jump into all of the Autumn activities I love. One of my favorite things to do during this season is cook. For me, nothing beats homemade pumpkin or apple desserts or a butternut squash based entree. 

Today, I decided to make gluten-free Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese. A few years ago, when I tried to avoid eating dairy, I made a similar recipe for Pumpkin Mac & Cheese. You can find the recipe here: Vegan Pumpkin Mac & Cheese.

While it may truly be too early to find pumpkin in grocery stores, luckily for me, butternut squash is always a staple I get from Trader Joes all year around.

Ingredients: 

  • 1 package of pasta. I used Trader Joes organic, gluten-free brown rice pasta
  • 1 cup  shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • ½ butternut squash (I got the pre-cubed raw butternut squash from Trader Joes)
  • 2 TB butter
  • ⅓  cup vegetable broth
  • ½ cup full-fat canned coconut milk
  • 2 shallots
  • ½ tsp minced garlic
  • 2 TB olive oil
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Cube the butternut squash (skip this step if you bought the packaged, pre-cut butternut squash) and finely chop the shallots. Place on a pan and coat with olive oil and salt. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for around 35 minutes or until the butternut squash is cooked through.
  2. In a food processor, add butternut squash, shallots, and vegetable broth. Blend until thoroughly mixed. It should be the consistency of a purée.
  3. In a small pot, sauté butter and garlic on medium-low, making sure the garlic does not burn. Add the butternut squash mixture from the food processor, coconut milk, and cheese to the pot, mixing on medium-low until the cheese has melted and is mixed through.
  4. In the meantime, boil water in a large pot and make the pasta based on the package instructions. I recommend storing the cheese mixture separate from the pasta. 
  5. In a bowl, gently stir in the cheese with pasta. Top with a little cayenne pepper if you would like.

Voilà!

Blog, Uncategorized

Don’t Bully Yourself

August 5, 2020

The other day, as I was getting ready, I found myself mindlessly picking apart parts of physical appearance. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until several minutes and thought, “Wow, that was mean of me.”  I’ve come a long way in how I view myself, but there are still moments where I slip back into being my own worst critique. 

This had me thinking, why is it so hard to be nice to ourselves sometimes? We beat ourselves up for a mistake we make at work or school, something we said that we think was dumb, or overly criticize aspects of our physical self. The thing is, how we talk to ourselves affects us more than we may realize. 

Imagine you have a best friend, you are closer to them than anyone else. During a conversation with a few friends over lunch, you accidentally spill an entire cup of coffee on your lap. Your best friend turns to you and says, “You look so stupid right now. Way to go.”

Would you want to continue to be friends with this person? Wouldn’t you re-evaluate if they were really a good friend? Would you let someone speak to you in a harmful way? Hopefully, you wouldn’t. 

How we treat ourselves should be held to the same standard of how we let others treat us. 

The bottom line is Don’t Bully Yourself. 

This reminds me of the Bible verse, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We are not only supposed to love others well, God wants us to love ourselves well too. 

As the sayings go…

You cannot pour from an empty cup. Fill up your own cup before you fill up others. 

Put on your oxygen mask before your neighbors. 

The analogies go on and on.

This may be odd at first, but if you realize you’re being a bully to your brain, try standing up for yourself. 

Here are a few examples:

Me: “You can’t pull off this outfit. You look too bloated.”

Response to myself: “No, I look beautiful in this. I am perfect exactly how I am.”

Me: “What you said was dumb. You look so stupid right now.”

Response to myself: “What I said was not dumb. No one thinks I’m stupid. I am smart and capable.”

Be intentional with how you talk to yourself. Learn to build yourself up and speak to yourself how you want others to speak to you. Loving yourself well matters more than you may think.