My self-care list

No-one likes being ill, or feeling run down or unhappy - including me! I'm off work due to illness today, so I thought I would cheer myself up a bit and come up with my self-care list.

1: Stay Snuggly

I love to sleep. Especially when it's cold and horrible outside, and my bed is warm and comfortable! If I have to drag myself out of bed, I'll pull on a warm onesie and curl up somewhere comfortable.

2: Relax

Spend some time doing nothing. Chill out and read a book, journal, write, anything. as long as it's nothing too taxing.

3: Binge-watch a series

Switching my brain off and watching every episode of friends or another TV series feels soothing and indulgent. I have nothing else to do right now, I'll watch 10 episodes of fictional characters please!

4: Hot beverages

If I'm feeling up to it, going to a coffee shop for a hot chocolate with a book feels great. It stops me going stir crazy after being cooped up in the flat alone. If I don't want to go anywhere, I always have a plethora of different teas and hot chocolates to choose from at home, and a giant snuggle mug to go with it.

5: A long shower

I love a long, hot shower. It clears my head and feels divine - especially when coupled with some great smelling shower gel. I feel all fresh and new afterwards.

6: Fresh Pajamas

Clean and comfortable pajamas. Need I say more?

7: Comfort food

This is a bit of a controversial one. comfort food can mean a lot of different things, for me it's usually something warm and delicious. Something savory, or something sweet mood depending! I'm trying to move away from comforting myself with food, but here it is anyway.

8: Chat to someone

Be it my other half, a friend, or anyone. Having a chat makes me feel less alone, and moves my focus away from feeling sorry for myself,

#BLOGTOBER14 - Day 13

Favourite Fall Recipe

I don't have a favourite fall recipe per se, but I do have a favourite meal that I love to have when I feel in need of something warm, filling, that's like a hug from the inside.

PASTA BAKE

This amazingly unhealthy meal was an absolute staple through uni! 

Ingredients:

• Homepride Pasta Bake - Creamy tomato and bacon / Creamy tomato and herb / Cheese and bacon. If you want to be more health conscious/actually put effort in then make the sauce from scratch! I didnt becuase it was my go-to easy no effort meal. This can also be any prand of pasta bake sauce - homepride was jsut my fave!
• Pasta - pasta shells, twists or pene pasta were all great with this - sometimes I would have a mixture of them.
• Cheese. A lot of cheese. Mature cheddar!

Method:

1. Cook the pasta in a pot on the hob until soft and squishy - while you do this you can pre-heat your oven - approx 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water out and put the pasta into your baking dish with your pasta bake sauce.
3. Fill the jar with water and pour this into your dish - how much water you use in this step depends on how cooked your pasta is (less cooked, use more water/fully cooked, use less water) and also depends on how liquidy you like your bake.
4. Mix the pasta and sauce with a spoon, and pop into the oven for 20 minutes. During this time, grate your cheese. I always go for a lot of cheese as I am a big cheese fan.
5. After the 20 mins of baking is up take your pasta bake out, add in half of your cheese and mix this into the pasta. Mixing everything at this stage also assists in getting an even cook throughout the bake.
6. Put the bake back into the oven for a further 10 minutes
7. Take the bake out again, mix it, and top it with the rest of your cheese
8. Back into the oven until the cheese topping is to your liking - for me this is usually another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and started to brown.
9. Once it's done, take out of the oven and serve - goes great with a salad! 

Another great thing with this recipe is it cooks several servings - depending on the size of your baking dish of course! The extra portions can be divided up for lunch the next day, dinner later in the week, and frozen for other times!

Super yum - I'm desperately craving this now, especially as I'm under the weather and wanting comfort!

I'm really looking forward to reading everyone else's fall recipes

Link up:

Heleneinbetween.com 

Happy Monday...