4 Things Friday (October 4, 2019)

Happy October! It’s my very favorite month! I’m excited it’s here, but I also don’t want it to fly by too quickly. Lots of fun things planned for this month, including some travel and time off work, so I’m definitely looking forward to that! Here’s this week’s recap of Amy’s podcast, 4 Things with Amy Brown. She sat down with Danielle Walker, author of the Against All Grain series of cookbooks, and they talked about 4 different topics. Go listen to the full episode if you haven’t already, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast!

1. Food. Food is such an important part of Danielle Walker’s life, not only as a cookbook author, but because of a serious autoimmune disease she has suffered from. She cut all grains from her diet and started recreating recipes she enjoyed that would fit in with foods she could eat. She first started blogging her recipes, and eventually that led to writing cookbooks.
2. Faith. What Danielle has gone through with her health issues has really strengthened her faith. As much as she would like to not have the autoimmune disease, she knows it’s all for a purpose.
3. Family. Danielle is married with three kids, and still makes sure to set time aside for date nights with her husband. She feeds her kids the same way she eats since autoimmune disorders can be hereditary and she wants to try to prevent it as much as possible.
4. Gratitude. Amy asked Danielle to name 4 things she’s thankful for, and she chose her husband, her friends, Honest brand mascara, and pumpkin spice creamer. She makes her own creamer, but also uses a brand that I just so happened to include below as one of my favorites this week!

Here are the 4 things I’m loving most this week.

• Smoky pumpkin bisque soup with grilled cheese croutons. I made a variation of this soup and really liked it! I kept it vegetarian by leaving out the bacon, and I used a seasonal Chimay cheese and pumpkin bread from Trader Joe’s for the grilled cheese croutons. It was really easy to make and so delicious!

• Where the Crawdads Sing. I had heard great things about this book, and even though I don’t typically choose fiction, I’ve recently been reading more of it, and this one didn’t disappoint. It was a story of survival, but also a mystery. It’s beautifully written with lots of imagery and details.

• Pumpkin spice non-dairy half & half. I’ve been using this creamer in my coffee and it’s just the right amount of pumpkin flavor without being too sweet since there’s no sugar added.

• Floral ruffle hem dress. This dress is a pretty floral print that works well for fall. Even though it’s long-sleeved and still super hot here, it’s a lightweight material, so it’s perfect for when you want to dress for fall, but can’t pull out the sweaters yet. Sizes have been selling out, but they often pop back up if you keep checking.

That wraps things up for this week. Enjoy the weekend, and try to do something fall-related! Gotta enjoy it while we can!