Thanksgiving
Practicing Gratitude
Published: 11/4/2020
By: Sheila Aven
Thanksgiving has been one of my favorite holidays for as long as I can remember. It most likely started as a child due to my birthday falling within the same week as the holiday. As an adult, I've grown to love the tradition of gathering with family and delicious food without the added stress and commercialism that seems to surround Christmas. It's more about just being together with those you love and focusing on all you have to be grateful for.
In preparing for today, I came across an article on PositivePsychology.com that expresses the benefits of gratitude. There are many benefits from practicing gratitude for the individual as well as a group. Individually, gratitude can increase positive mood, better physical health and sleep, less fatigue, and less likely to experience burnout. For groups, practicing gratitude increases prosocial behaviors, strengthens relationships, may help employees' effectiveness and may increase job satisfaction. Overall, gratitude encourages the development of patience, humility, and wisdom.
This year Thanksgiving has an opportunity to take on a whole new meaning for most, if not all, of us. I think many of us can come up with a lot to complain about from the year we've had, but I want to take some time this Thanksgiving season and purposely focus on all that I have to be thankful for. I want to encourage you to do the same.
I want to express my appreciation for each team member here and what great qualities you all bring to the Studio. You make this an enjoyable place to work and make being thankful for my job rank at the top of my gratitude list! To do something special for our team, I wanted to bring a yummy dish to share this morning and for us to take some time to reflect on the Thanksgiving holiday coming up and focus on all the reasons we have to be thankful today!
Context
Vegetable Frittata:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a 12-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add all vegetables and saute, stirring occasionally, until crisp and tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Whisk eggs with milk, mustard, salt, and pepper. Pour egg mixture over vegetables in skillet, redistributing vegetables if necessary. Sprinkle feta evenly over frittata mixture. Cook, without stirring, until mixture firms up around edges, about 3-5 minutes (this will depend on the heat of your skillet).
3. Place skillet in oven and bake until the frittata center is set, 10-15 minutes. If you use more eggs, this will take a bit longer. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Cucumber slices:
Cut a cucumber into about 1/2 inch thick slices. Spread each slice with a dab of cream cheese. Sprinkle with Everything Bagel seasoning. Enjoy!
(prep time: 15 min / cook time: 25 min / serves: 4)
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (optional)
2 "fists" of spinach
8-12 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 oz. crumbled feta (about 3/4 cup...I use more!)
Thoughts
– What does your Thanksgiving typically look like?
– Are you finding it more challenging to be thankful this year?
– If you're comfortable, share something you're thankful for today. (Maybe this frittata? :) ha! )
