I had a BUSY weekend and Monday with all my due dates and deadlines being Tuesday. I have dreaded November 7 for over a week, and now it's done! This blog is coming to you written and posted on Wednesday this week, I wanted to write but I didn’t want this to become my obligation, so I just waited until I had time and it's crazy how relieved I am not trying to cram this in!
While I was working and studying for hours on end this weekend, I did take the occasional scroll break and found this post that made me smile.
First, I have to do work with my phone on silent and across the room so I’m not distracted by buzzing. Then, every hour or two I get up to go to the bathroom, fill my water or get a snack, and I check if there are any notifications or posts to scroll through for a brain break moment, but I can never sit and watch or I would be stuck for another 20 min to an hour.
For some context, I had a class presentation (one of the ones where you become the teacher for a whole class, and this was my third in three weeks, what are the odds); in my next class I had an exam (it was abnormal psychology, but the professor doesn’t cover everything in the book, so it was the studying to make sure I had all the details that was stressful here) and it went well; In my third and final class of the day I had a podcast project due and then we started a mini research project in class, and that first draft is due next week (but I’m less concerned about that because it’s just a draft).
So, I did all that reading, studying, prepping and recording over the last week, with a majority falling on Friday and Sunday. Also, it was all between a Friday football game, seeing friends’ parents for parents’ weekend, practice and chapter Sunday and a Basketball game Monday night!
Now, what you have all been waiting for, what did I get up to eating during all of this :) Friday wasn’t that exciting, but on Saturday I went to Skaneateles with my best friend to have brunch with her and her parents! We had breakfast at the Sherwood Inn, I got a yogurt parfait with house-made granola! Then we walked around and I got a gingerbread cookie, and a cranberry orange scone (it made me want to make some scones soon, so maybe I will)!
Sunday is the most exciting, I made stromboli for my roommate and me! I used Pillsbury dough, provolone, garlic marinara (because our pizza sauce went bad), capicola, pepperoni and a little bit of salami, topped it with mozzarella, then I egg washed, rolled it up and baked it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (every oven is different), till it was golden perfection!
Monday was… also boring, but I had a game and that limited dinner creativity. So, I made Tuesday good, even if it was also a little simple. I had my classic breakfast PB toast with raspberries, grapes and jumbo blueberries! I had a turkey BLT for lunch, with SEASONED waffle fries (I love a good waffle fry, especially seasoned!) For dinner, I made my recent obsession, roasted honey nut squash over arugula topped with hot honey, and this week's variations were adding cabbage (I love it, don’t come for me) and chicken!
I also scratch-made Brownies!! I have been wanting to do this for the longest time and finally found a recipe with no cocoa powder. So, I used good chocolate chips my grandmother sent me and got baking at 9:30 PM.
I measured out 3/4 cup of flour and added a pinch of salt. Then I melted 2/3 cup of butter in a pot added half my 12 oz bag of chocolate chips and stirred till they melted with the rest of the butter (you only melt about half before the heat goes off). As that cooled, I mixed 3/4 cup of sugar with 2 eggs and just got them combined before adding vanilla (don’t measure this! but, the recipe I have says 2 tsp.). When the vanilla was just mixed in, I added my chocolate butter mix and again mixed till just combined before folding in the flour and then the rest of my chocolate chips! Have your oven at 350 degrees and bake for 35 min (every oven is different), then let cool!
KEYS: DO NOT overmix your batter, have an 8 in. metal baking pan greased and lined with parchment paper, and wait for them to cool longer than I did (I only waited like 10 minutes).
P.S. Sorry there is no individual piece pic, I shared it with my friends and we had to dig in! Maybe I will update with one if remember :)
This week got busy and stressful, and I certainly still have more to do for the rest of this week and next. But I allowed myself time for breaks little ones on my phone, a morning with my friend and a relaxing night “off” of work on Tuesday. I did so much leading up to and during the day, it felt right to rest (which is unusual for me but I probably saved my future self). It is little breaks like these that can make such a big difference when leading up to and recovering from a stressful day. You don’t need to completely stop or be all in, you can have balance and get everything done if you focus on the little things you can do (It has been a sec since I dropped the title I think, so I had to)
~ Kelsey
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