Cassie

Make Dinner More Fun

April 2, 2020 by Cassie

I am grateful for the opportunity to cook each night and sit down for a family dinner, but after a few weeks in a row of shelter-in-place, I am reminded how important it is to mix it up. Whether you’re making dinner for one, two, or more — now more than ever, try new things, stretch your skills, and feed your creativity!

Here are some of my favorite ways to make dinner more fun:

Dinner theme nights. These can vary week to week (ahem, Macaroni Monday’s may soon become Martini…) or double as a fun tradition to look forward to. In my house “Taco Tuesday” is a big hit and varying the types of tacos and taco dinners is a fun way to mix it up.
Travel to a new place with your menu. Take your taste buds to new places in the world by creating a menu around a city or country, or perhaps a trip through several.
Dinner and a movie. Fun to take dinner to the couch or coffee table; bonus points for tying in the menu!
Breakfast for dinner. This is one of the easiest ways to delight at dinner. When you consider the opportunities from pancakes to breakfast tacos to omelets and crepes, breakfast could make it into the weekly rotation. Just sayin’.
Special menus for a special event. I love any reason to create a fun menu. Whether it’s the season finale of a show you like, or the Oscars – connect it to your dinner. This post on creating a March Madness Menu might have some inspiration on ways to make a connection.
Appetizers for dinner. Hors d’oeuvres as dinner makes it like a party.
Dinner picnic. In your yard or living room, dinner on a blanket is a great way to mix it up (and a great excuse to have something easy like sandwiches and cold salads for dinner)!

It goes without saying that making dinner together and trying new recipes are great ways to support the above and make all of these ideas even more fun. Bon appetit!

Bond with Family, One Question at a Time

March 29, 2020 by Cassie

Asking questions at the family dinner table is a great way to spark dialogue but I quickly run out of inspiration. Now, there is a ready-made guide! Two amazing ladies I get to work with, Joanna and Kylie, created a free 30 day printable PDF to bring joy and fuel family bonding during this time.

Joanna sees this as an opportunity for us to lean-in to change the narrative:

It’s not quarantine. It’s quality time.
It’s not Work from Home. It’s Work ON Home.
It’s not isolation. It’s breaking down walls.

Born from the questions Joanna asks her own family at dinner, this is a beautiful guide of questions to ask as we all sit down for dinner together each night. She suggests as you use it to focus on a goal to listen and seek to understand. Make it your own and involve more than your immediate family. Why? I love her call to action to all of us:

There’s no better outcome (other than to stay healthy) than to become a stronger family through this.

Download the free 30 day guide here!

Take Time to Mend

March 28, 2020 by Cassie

My grandmother always took great care to maintain and repair her things. For example, she had a designated place where she’d keep the clothes or linens that needed mending and on a periodic basis, she would take the time to mend. I always aspire to do the same, but it is so easy to be lazy and just donate, recycle or toss items instead.

When my favorite pair of jeans started to rip, I decided to take the time to mend them. It only took a needle and thread, some patches of fabric, and an hour to extend their life. In that time, I reflected on why it is so important that we take time to mend, or repair, or even just maintain our things.

Mending or repairing our things:

Saves money. Everything is just a few clicks away to buy, but the costs add up quickly.
Saves the planet. Clothing is more affordable than ever, but “fast fashion” has a negative impact on the environment. People are buying much more and keeping their clothes for far less time. The less we consume, the better.
It feels good. Writer Matthew Crawford says that manual competence makes us feel better and behave better. It gives us a sense of autonomy, a feeling of responsibility for our work and the material world, and ultimately makes for better citizens.

I talk a lot about consuming less and creating more a lot on this blog. This is another way to practice that. Try something today, perhaps as simple as cleaning your airpods or make-up brushes, and then see where that takes you!

Most importantly, mending and repairing will be a good mindset and practice for the healing we will need to lead and do in the coming weeks and months.

Make Your Own ‘Pop Tarts’

January 20, 2020 by Cassie

My go-to brunch out in San Francisco is at Foreign Cinema. The food and atmosphere are amazing. While we decide what delicious dishes to have, we always munch on an order of their fruit pop tarts.

When the Foreign Cinema cookbook came out last year I was thrilled to see the recipe, and it was also published in the paper: Foreign Cinema’s Fruit ‘Pop Tarts’

These are delicious for a warm treat for breakfast and come together really easy if you cheat a little. Instead of making the tart dough from scratch, I get puff pastry from the freezer section. I personally love San Francisco family business Leadbetter’s French Picnic pastry dough rounds, each one is enough to make three pop tarts.

For the full recipe and notes on advance preparation (you can keep the ready-made pop tarts in the fridge or freezer), go here. To make my adjusted recipe, follow these steps:

Lazy Sunday Style Foreign Cinema ‘Pop Tarts’

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry dough rounds or sheets
Jam (likely about half a cup; you need about 2T of jam for each pop tart. I use different flavors)
1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.
Roll out the puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/8-inch thick and you make the number of pop tarts you want. Many standard puff pastry sheets will make 3-4 pop tarts.
Cut out 3 by 5-inch rectangles from the dough (I use a 3×5 recipe card as a template). Use a large spatula to transfer the rectangles to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them evenly on the sheet.
Spread 2 tablespoons of jam in the center of each pastry. (See my picture below; if your jam is thin, you may need to add more.)
Then top them with the remaining rectangles, lining them up evenly with the bottoms. Press the edges closed with a fork to tightly seal them all around. Brush the tops with the egg wash.
Bake until the tarts are golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Set Your Intention

January 6, 2020 by Cassie

Oprah Winfrey and I both share a common belief in the power of intention. (I’m not surprised, I’d bet we’d be great friends!)

For me, the power of intention is focus on what’s most important. It helps helps guide my actions big and small towards the purpose I have set, be it for myself, my family life, my work, my relationships, etc. And I’ve always found setting intention, vs. specific goals, is more flexible and empowering to navigate and adjust as change and life happens.

Oprah puts it beautifully:

“I don’t do anything without thinking about what I ultimately want the energy, the motivation I’m putting into it. What is the end result going to be,” she said. “I only do what I intend to do.”
Oprah Winfrey

Oprah says focusing on her intention has been the secret of her success and talks a lot about the power in her videos and articles. I find this short clip especially powerful as it has not only Oprah discussing intention but also author Gary Zukav on how intention is at the heart of owning your authentic power.

Be it for 2020 overall, or for individual relationships or experiences, what will your intention be?

Cassie

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Lazy Sunday Style Foreign Cinema ‘Pop Tarts’