blessings, a recipe, and a giveaway.

hello my lovelies.

i had just a jumble of thoughts going through my head today.

1. the smallest things in life can be the biggest blessings.
         i don't really talk about it much, but these last couple months, i have struggled hard with managing my fibromyalgia. the foremost struggle is my fatigue/pain for sure, but an unexpected challenge has been with my hunger.
not only is it rare for me to be hungry, but i actually have to force myself to eat most of the time (FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE EVER). think about trying to eat again right after thanksgiving dinner... that's what a lot of my meals have been like.
... pure torture for a foodie!

so after months of struggling with eating enough, today i felt REAL HUNGER. i mean, i ate a normal lunch, and 30 minutes later, i was starving.
at the time i thought it was strange and kinda knocked on wood, but when i got home, i actually cried. it was such a relief to feel "normal" again, even if it was just for a few minutes. normally, the pain dulls my hunger, but today, my body's natural signals we're ok!

it's such a small gift, but when your sick, life is just more simple and raw, and normalcy is a treasure.

          the boy and i also had a really emotional talk today. i can't say enough good things about what he's done for me in the last year. from the moment we, he faced all my physical challenges head on.
sure, we've had our struggles, but he has been there for me when i didn't have words to express the depth of my fears.

once again, he blew me out of the water today with his faithfulness and diligence.
a small thing, but it meant something huge to me.
i'm a lucky, lucky chick.


2. i made pesto, and you should too.

we have a little pot of pesto growing out back that all of a sudden decided to explode.
when life gives you basil, you make pesto.

EDIT: thanks to jess, i realized that i should mention we actually don't have a pesto plant, but a basil plant :) whooopppss.

not-your-average-pesto pesto (technique crash-course from 101 cookbooks)

1 huge handful of basil leaves

3 cloves garlic

5 sundried tomatoes

1 big pinch nutritional yeast

3 or 4 spoonfuls olive oil

salt and pepper

                                     

directions: 

heidi describes the process much better than i ever could. basically, i grabbed a handful of a few things and started chopping, then added more when i got it uniform, and kept adding until i had all my basil, garlic, tomatoes, and nutritional yeast minced. i scooped it into a little bowl, stirred in the salt and pepper, and covered it with a thin layer of olive oil. 

                               

om nom nom.

slather me on a baguette, please.

 
3. anyone interested in any free JUSTIN'S NUT BUTTER!?!?!?

any small things that you guys discovered recently?
- r