365 Days of Self Discovery Day 13

What would your ideal day be?

My ideal day would be traveling someplace new with someone I am dating or a close friend, blasting music, nice weather and good conversation. I adore roadtrips & adventure, things that allow me to explore or give  a sense of happiness because it’s taking me someplace new or perhaps someplace I have been before but outside of the box in which I live in. 

What would your ideal day be? some may say a day indoors with a good movie & others may say fishing on the countryside, what it may be, share it in the comments & let us know! Remember to like, share and follow! 

Shay-lon

Happy Monday Wisdom

Creamy Mushroom & stuffed peppers recipe

Ingredients:

  • 5 green bell peppers seeded and cut in half ( I don’t like green peppers too much, so I would use red, yellow or orange)
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil (or if you have a preferred cooking oil)
  • 3 stalks of celery diced (I would skip this part due to not being a fan of celery)
  • 1 small onion diced (you choose what kind of onion)
  • 2 pound of cremini mushrooms sliced ( I have never tried these kind of mushrooms)
  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 4 tablespoons of flour
  • 2 cups of cold milk
  • 2 cups of chicken stock
  • 1 teaspoon of dried thyme crushed
  • 5 teaspoons of dried mushrooms (she recommended oyster or porcini ground into powder)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
  • 2 cups of cooked chicken shredded
  • 2 cups of cooked white rice 
  • 1 1/4 cups shredded cheese, cheddar or Monterey jack

Instructions:

  1. Preheat over to 375 degrees F
  2. Cut the peppers in half and remove seeds and ribs
  3. Lay peppers cut side up in a 9 x 13 inch pan with 1/4 cup water in the bottom
  4. lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and microwave the peppers for 8-10 minutes until softened 
  5. Drain the water from the pan and set aside
  6. In a large skillet, saute onions and celery with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt over medium heat until they begin to soften, about 4-5 minutes 
  7. Add the cremini mushrooms and cook for another 5-7 minutes until the mushrooms soften, then transfer to a bowl
  8. In the same skillet, melt the butter over medium heat, scraping bits from the bottom of pan if there are any.
  9. Whisk in the flour and cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly so flour taste cooks out and the mixture becomes lightly browned. 
  10. Add the chicken stock and milk to the butter and flour mixture stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Add the thyme, crushing it between your fingers, the ground mushroom powder, and season with the salt pepper
  11. Bring the mixture to a boil the reduce the to medium heat and cook until the sauce thickens and reduces by 1/3, Add the mushroom mixture back to the pan with the chicken and rice and cook until warmed. Add more milk if the sauce is too thick. 
  12. Lightly salt the inside of the stemmed and seeded peppers and place in a microwave safe bowl with 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook for 5 minutes until starting to soften
  13. Place peppers in a 9 x 12 baking dish, skin side down and fill the pepper cavities with chicken mixture and top each pepper with a small handful of cheese and add extra filling around the peppers. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and the cheese is melted. Rest for 5 minutes, and serve

Found this recipe on pinterest and decided to give it a share on the blog. I have never had stuffed peppers, but I can only imagine this particular recipe being delicious, if you want to follow the creator of this recipe, click Here

365 days of self discovery: day 12

9.14.18

What are you most thankful for?

To say the least, I am thankful for many things in my life that sometimes I take for granted. I am learning to focus on what I do have and not so much of what I am missing or don’t have, because in the scheme of things, I have more than what others may say for themselves. For me being thankful and listing all the good things I have going for me isn’t enough for this post because I am willing to bet, we can all be thankful for the shelter we have, food we eat, water we drink, and perhaps the luxuries our income enabled us to buy and live as such. Those are all things most people should be thankful for, but in my world I have something more special to be thankful due to my lifestyle. 

I am most thankful for having a mom and brothers who accept me no matter my sexuality & whom I have chosen to love me and not turn me away or shun me or make me feel inferior to them due to my sexuality. I am blessed with this support because I have heard and have known many cases where families have disowned their children because of it or sent them away to ‘change them’, they have ridiculed them or judged them, and have chosen to turn the cheek when their child only needed and wanted love and support. I have to admit, it hasn’t always been easy to be open with my family but I think their love outweighs their beliefs and my mom never allowed her belief in God or the bible to outweigh her love for me and support of me. I love her for that, always will because this is something that truly makes me happiest when I think of things I am thankful for. 

What is something that you are thankful for, something with a deep meaning or significant part of your life that others might not be able to say for themselves? We should all be thankful for something, because it can always be taken away from us as fast as we got it. Nothing is guaranteed forever.

Shay-lon 

365 days of self discovery: day 11

Day 11

What is your greatest accomplishment?

To be honest, there are very few things in my life I would consider as accomplishments, because this word I use seldom when talking about myself due to the fact I don’t feel as though I have accomplished enough to say I have drastically seen progress in my life. The few important things that have happened in my life that I am proud of and are of great accomplishment to me was: Graduating college with a degree & passing my ACSM CPT exam after failing it for 3 years straight and having to save up money each time (which many times put me at risk of not being able to pay another bill) because at the time I was crunching numbers financially in order to save up enough for the exam each time I failed & was close to giving up. 

Both of those events have served me well in the recent years and have given me such a confidence boost to know I did something other people couldn’t do or haven’t done or gave up doing. It was a breath of fresh air to do both of these things and know it would benefit my career and future. To say the least, it made me feel less of a let down and more like a role model for my youngest brother and these are moments I will cherish that happened in time and with work, tons of sacrifice and tons of failures in between. 

What would you consider your greatest accomplishment? What is something you have done against the odds or that made you feel on top of the world when you achieved it? Doesn’t matter how small or big, it is still something worth mentioning. Leave a comment telling me about it and be sure to follow and like 🙂

Shay-lon