Self Care Saturday – Take Some Time For You

Well Hello There!

I hope you all are doing well. Guess what?! I have some good news!! You can now find me on Apple Podcasts!!! I got approved this week! I’m so happy and so proud. If you listen with your iphone, or you use Apple Podcasts, please be sure to search for Happy Life With Angela Monica and take some time to give me a review. Now that I am on Apple Podcasts, it would help me to move up in the rankings and people will have an easier time finding my podcast if I have reviews. I would appreciate it so much! Let’s spread some positivity!

I hope you all have had a good week. I have been staying positive and doing things that bring me joy. I’m starting a vegetable garden actually so I’m busy learning all about that. I’ve been watching YouTube videos and I went out and bought seeds, tomato and squash pants and soil. I also brought some bamboo stakes so that I can stake the tomato plants up once they begin to grow. I found a few good YouTube channels and I’m trying to learn how to grow certain vegetables. I also started some celery inside the house. It’s called refrigerator gardening. Have you all heard of it? I cut the end off of a bunch of celery and I put the root end in about an inch and a half of water. It’s already sprouting new celery! As soon as it is a little further along, I’ll put it in soil then I’ll move it outside to continue growing. 

I’ve also been trying to keep up with what’s happening in the news without getting too overwhelmed or spending too much time watching. I know I’m doing something right because I do feel less stressed and I feel so happy. I have enjoyed being home with my family and I think that if there is one thing this COVID – 19 situation has shown us, it is the fact that we all needed to slow down and spend more time with the ones we love. We needed to spend more time doing what we love. I have never felt so at peace. When it comes down to it, what is important to you? Yourself, your family and the health and happiness of yourself, your family and those you love right?  I want to remind you all that you have to take care of yourself first. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t have anything left to give. You won’t be at your best and we want to be our best selves. We mom’s and women in general often give until we are depleted and then we just keep giving. Make some time for you. It’s not selfish. Make sure you are doing things you love and that you are happy. Make sure your health is good. Then you will be able to take care of others and you’ll feel good doing it. You all know what I mean. Sometimes you feel drained but you keep going. We women are so good at that. I want you to slow down. Try it and you will feel happier and healthier. Sometimes we just need a gentle reminder. I’m here to remind you. 

You know we’ve all been home because we have to be. Some of us are working from home but still spending more time at home than before because we don’t have the commute. Enjoy your time with family. I have enjoyed cooking meals for my family. I have enjoyed spending more time with  my grand puppy Sage. She is so spoiled and is loving the attention and love that she is getting from us. I’ve spent more time with her than I ever have. I think she will miss me when I return to work. I have enjoyed being able to relax and being able to work on my Podcast and website. Those are things that I didn’t have time to do before. I’ve been wanting to start this Podcast for so long. I just didn’t have the energy or the time to learn what I needed to in order to get started. I’ve been so busy doing the things that I want to do. I’m thankful and I’m appreciative. It’s important to be appreciative of what we do have. 

 I know we are in tough times right now and this is nothing like we have ever seen but occupy yourself with some activities and let go. Realize that we are in this situation for a reason and it’s out of our control. Let go and start to enjoy family and the activities that you normally would not have time to enjoy like we do now. It really does help with anxiety and stress. When we let go of things that we cannot control, it makes us feel better and lowers our stress level. Less stress means better health.

Have you all seen the posts on Facebook about how nature is replenishing itself? How the animals are relaxing? I saw a post with a pride of lions taking naps in the road! There is no traffic. They feel free. The sky is bluer and there is no smog, 70,000 sea turtles nested on beaches emptied due to COVID-19. We stayed inside and the world healed itself. Or at least began to heal itself. The whole world was stressed. Mother Nature was stressed! I think we all needed a break! Imagine yourself renewing  and replenishing your energy during this time. 

Now let’s talk about cooking. I want to tell you about something tasty that I cooked. I made Strawberry French Toast Roll Ups and they were delicious! It’s Strawberry season and those that know me, know that I love Strawberry Season! My husband bought some strawberries and one morning.  My daughter and I woke up and I told her about this YouTube video that I had found. The lady made Strawberry French Toast Roll Ups for her family. I told her it looked easy enough and I had the ingredients. I made those things and they were so good. All you do is take slices of bread and cut the ends off. You can save the ends for croutons or bread crumbs if you like. Then you take a slice of bread at a time and roll it thin. You will need some cream cheese, I used Philadelphia Cream Cheese, some cinnamon and sugar. Mix all that together and set it aside. In a separate bowl dice some strawberries up and stir a little sugar in them. Next make your french toast batter. However you make yours. I used two eggs, milk, cinnamon and mixed it well. I did not put sugar in the batter because I had the sugar in the cream cheese mixture and in the strawberries. Plus I knew we would have some syrup to dip them in. Now that you have your batter ready, go ahead and start putting together your roll ups. Take a slice of bread that you rolled thin, spread the cream cheese mixture on one side, add some strawberries and roll the bread up tight. Roll up all your bread with the strawberries and cream cheese. Put some oil in a pan, I used canola oil but you can use whatever you use. Let it heat up then add some of the roll ups seam side down. Roll them to brown them on all sides. Serve them with warm syrup. We had ours with warm syrup and bacon. Oh my goodness!!! So simple yet so good!! You have to try it! I’ll link the YouTube Video in the show notes on my website under the blog tab. She even dipped her bread ends in french toast batter and cooked them too. She said her kids love them and I bet they do! Give it a try, if you try it, let me know what you think. The lady’s channel is called Simply Moma Cooks and here is the link to the video

I love to cook and I love to eat. LOL. I learned to cook by watching my mom so I don’t follow recipes very often. I usually just throw stuff together. If I see a recipe that looks good, I may try it and then if I like it, I may just cook it on my own and add my own twist to it. My mom doesn’t measure when she cooks and neither do I. I just cook unless I’m following a recipe. For example, I just add the ingredients in when I make sweet potato pie or banana pudding. I know about how much to use so I don’t need a recipe. When I made the french toast roll ups, I watched the lady’s video and then I didn’t need to watch her again, I just added the ingredients and made them. I already knew how to make french toast batter, I’ve been making that since I was child. I love french toast. 

If you have any good recipes, shoot me a message on Anchor and let me know your favorite thing to cook. I’m beginning to run out of ideas for dinner. I need to look on Pinterest. There are great recipes and ideas on Pinterest. I’ve also noticed that simple is sometimes better. I cooked chicken, vegetables and rice one night and it was so good. Just simple. I cooked the chicken in my Ninja Foodie. I love that thing. We got it for Christmas and it was worth every penny . The meat I cook with the Ninja Foodie is so tender. I also cooked tacos last night. Simple yet so good. Then we were back to relaxing. 

Friends, I hope you all have an awesome weekend! I hope you do some things that bring you joy and I hope you take care of you. Have that glass of wine, that Pina Colada or that sweet ice tea with lemon – my favorite! LOL. Take some time out for you so that your cup is full and you have energy to give to others. Do something fun. Go for that walk or sit in the sunshine. 

I will talk to you all next week. I haven’t decided what day I want new episodes to come out. Right now Saturdays feel good but we will see. Be sure to send me a message through Anchor. Go to  anchor.fm/happylifewithangelam. Just click on the message button to record your message. Let me know how you are doing. Let me know what you’re cooking. Let me know if you are cooking something good that you suggest I try. 

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Thanks for listening everyone! I do appreciate each and every one of you and I thank you for your support. Be safe and healthy! Bye for now!