Weekly Ponderings #32: 3 Things I'm Doing to Live Well During the Quarantine

While the quarantine life really suits me and my introverted self, there are a few things I'm doing to keep myself more sane (and even thriving some days!) during these times:

1. Finding ways to spice up existing routines, like my morning ☕️. 

I love my coffee black with some protein/fat/fiber add-ins -- I usually use an unflavored collagen for protein (fav is Vital Proteins) and Brain Octane Oil for healthy fat.

Recently I've been adding acacia fiber (it's unflavored) and using this chocolate coconut collagen from Primal Kitchen. Bend it all together and voilà - you've got yourself a healthy, frothy mocha coffee.

Other combo I love: coconut butter + pumpkin spice = bougie pumpkin spice latte

2. Trying out new recipes.

I haven't gone crazy with the baking like a lot of people have, but I have been trying out new gluten-free, dairy-free recipes. I'm lazy, my pantry ingredients are limited, and my cooking skills are mediocre, so I like to stick to easy, minimal recipes. Here are two from last week that I loved:

• Classic Cashew Cheese Sauce from Food By Mars (dairy-free): poured this over some Banza pasta for a gluten-free, dairy-free mac & cheese this weekend. It was husband approved 🙌! I saved the leftover sauce to use as a queso dip -- great with baby carrots, crackers, chips, etc.
• Homemade 🍕: tried this Simple Mills Pizza Dough (gluten-free) and it was so delicious! Perfect activity for date night -- one box makes two 8" pizzas, and you and your partner get to customize your own. I kept mine dairy-free by using nutritional yeast and Kite Hill Chive Cream Cheese, and added turkey bacon, shallots, mushrooms, and arugula.  

3. Embracing the now.

The quarantine is going to end at some point. It could be next month or a few months from now. But it WILL end. Moments like these are so rare. Instead of wallowing and focusing on when it'll end and what I'm missing out, I'm choosing to focus on the now and what I get to do instead.

I get to wear sweatpants all day while I work, spend a bajillion hours with my husband, develop some men's hair cutting skills, learn how to run remote meetings effectively (real fun when my Internet sucks), kick my husband's butt in Stratego, get stronger as I work on my pull-ups (bought this pull-up bar for quarantine workouts), FaceTime my baby niece, dance around my apartment in my sports bra between meetings, and so much more.

This will be a crazy time that we'll all look back on and remember. Try to spend as much of your time IN it instead of focusing on how to get OUT of it. It may not feel like it now, but the time will pass and you might even look back on this time and miss it one day.

Hope you all have a beautiful week!

❤️ ,
Jess

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