WITH SOUL
We have a new logo!
I am so proud of this little creative place and I’m glad it has a logo that tells its’ story a little bit more.
My life has changed a lot in the last two weeks; a reminder that life is not promised and we have to appreciate the time that we have here. I’ve spent so much of this year anticipating “what’s next”, forgetting that every time I’ve ever overthought my future, it never went how I planned. It’s not about figuring out every little thing right now, it’s about all the little moments we make an impact.
This weekend though, it recharged my soul. On Saturday, I had the most relaxing three hours photographing a future couples engagement session. We laughed, searched for a giant rock, and were able to capture really organic moments that speak volumes to the love that they share (since you’re reading this on a Monday, they’ll be my static post on @leannegelishstudio. Or maybe a reel. Either way, they’ll be my Monday post)
On Sunday, I was once again at Manor Farms with Melissa from Going Local Tours and Experiences for mini sessions. My first family was a family I photographed last year, and I was so grateful they trusted me again. On our way to one of our picnic set ups, their daughter, C, pointed to the a treehouse and said “that’s where honeybees live!”
We all looked at her, puzzled because to us, it didn’t look like a traditional “bees nest” but C, knowing she knew more than the adults, continued. “Honeybees burrow in those little holes and build honey all while taking care of the plants around us! They all just work together.” With confidence and a sense of knowing, C continued to finish our session. I finished her session and three others, but in between, I started to google more about honey bees. C was right: honeybees can often burrow in human made “nests” as a way to help their population grow, all while pollinating the area surrounding them.
Throughout the spring and the summer, honey bees find a place to plant their roots, and they work their entire lives to make the community around them a little better. The honey bees work together to not only build honey that protects their next generation, but they also work hard to pollinate the area they’ve settled in. Throughout the spring and summer, honeybees pollinate 70% of what we consume, and 80% of pollination WORLDWIDE is done by this group of bees that work together. And, when the temperatures drop below 50 degrees, the honeybees retreat together in their hive to form a winter cluster: using each other to stay safe during their three month slumber.
We spend so much of our lives trying to find our purpose, but what if we just lived like the bees? What if we stopped overanalyzing what’s next, and instead focused on what’s now? Imagine if we shifted our focus to what’s right in front of us.
We find a community to lay our seeds, and as our roots grow, we do little things in our communities to make it better. We find others in our community to work with, and together, we continue to grow our hive. As we do our jobs well, each season becomes a little more beautiful, with a little more growth. And, when times get a little hard, we surround one another to keep one another protected. Throughout the seasons, you find yourself growing and pollinating more in your speciality, all while the community grows, too. In time, you see that like the bees, the more you work to make the world a little better, the better and more prosperous the world gets: one good deed at a time.
Sometimes, we make this thing called life so complicated: all it takes is a six year old for us to remember that life can be pretty simple, you just have to burrow like a honeybee.
WITH SALT:
This weeks recipe was an interesting one to put together. I recently heard that the cereal cornflakes makes a great breading and I just had to try it. Fun fact, cornflakes were my second favorite cereal growing up (Honey Nut Cheerios the first) and there were many times I’d microwave mozzarella cheese on top of cornflakes for a quick snack. Don’t knock it till you try it. This week, I decided to try cornflake encrusted chicken breast but with my own flair. I baked the chicken for 20 minutes at 425, but if you have an airfryer, I’d suggest using that. I think it’d be more crunchy.
INGREDIENTS:
4 thinly sliced chicken breast
1/2 box of cornflakes, crushed
1 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of red pepper
1 tbsp of black pepper
1 tbsp of salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp of milk
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
preheat your oven or airfryer to 425. While that’s heating up, crunch up your cornflakes, and start mixing your egg wash. For my egg-wash, I beat together the eggs, black pepper, salt and honey. In the crushed cornflake bowl, put your red pepper in and stir it up nice. Take your chicken breast, dip it in the egg wash and then really bury the breast in the cornflake mix. Then, move the chicken breast to an oiled sheet pan and continue the process until all your chicken breast are breaded.
Pop those bad boys in the oven and after ten minutes, flip em and let them cook through. For a side, I suggest steamed green beans- throw some garlic and butter in a big pan, put the green beans in it, pop a cover on, and let it cook for 10 minutes. I topped mine with parsley because we’re a fancy food blog over here (and, because after one tequila on the rocks, my mom and I thought we were in a 5 star kitchen again)
This was an easy dinner, but sometimes, that’s what we need. Something with a lot of flavor, and something easy so that we can just enjoy who we’re eating dinner with.
Don’t forget to tag and follow @salt.withsoul on Instagram.