Last night, I was inspired to make Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese. I’d seen it on at least a couple of blogs and ended up pinning the recipe. (Pinterest for keeping track of recipes and races = best.thing.ever.)
So, I pulled up the recipe and got to work. But I didn’t have butternut squash, so I substituted acorn squash. And I didn’t have gruyere or mozarrella, so I substituted a mexican mix. Dijon mustard? Nope, I didn’t have that either. What I ended up making only vaguely resembled the original recipe. But you know what? It was still really really good.
I realized as I was making the recipe that my method of following it was pretty much embraced my “life rules.”
1. Use what you’ve got – I’m the queen of making what I have work. Not enough time for a long run? Do a tempo. Weather sucks? Hit the treadmill. Need a break from running? Hit the gym.
2. Make it up as you go along – I might have a goal in mind, but I very seldom have a strict plan. I just try to make sure that the choices that I make move me in the right general direction.
3. Don’t be afraid to fail – I’ve come in near last in a race, I’ve fallen over a few times in yoga (ok, more than a few times), I’ve had complete and total technology failure in a webinar I was leading… But at least I try and sometimes I’ve found a strength or talent I didn’t know I had (or in this case, I had a really yummy dinner LOL)
4. Learn from your mistakes – Think about ways to do it better next time – Life is one big experiment. What can you do today to improve upon last time? (In this case, I think the mustard would have taken this from good to excellent.)
How do you roll through life?
realizing and LIVING number three changed.my.life.
I love your perspective!! We all definitely need to learn more from our mistakes, especially me! If you are afraid to fail you may never really try…..
I roll through life in the same way. One other rule I have is I try to be as giving as I possibly can.
I love your rules…
Sally Edwards says for every race approach it as if you only have to do three things: Start, Finish and party while you’re moving…
Pretty much sums up life.
what a great set of rules to live by!
LOL. this is my kind of recipe making. josh is anal – says you HAVE to follow a recipe. he is also an engineer though so that probably explains it 😉
Love the rules…seems I live by those myself 🙂
LOVE these life rules! I especially love them applied to recipes, as you had here. Why should we worry about having all the right tools and ingredients? Better to just do our best, make do with what we’ve got, and it’ll turn out better than we thought.
pinned!
Love this post. Also I have really wanted to make that dish too. And I think I actually have all of the ingredients.
That’s how I approach most recipes too! YUM!
Love your rules of life. I should get some…I kinda just fly by the seat of my pants!! 🙂
I wish I had this ability. In life, I do. In the kitchen, no. Maybe my palate is off, but any time I deviate from a recipe it ends in abject failure.
Love those rules! I frequently do the same thing when I make recipes. That recipe sounds amazing. I have butternut squash, but not those types of cheeses so looks like I’ll have to reinvent it a little too :). My husband cooks occasionally and he has been instructed to never deviate from a recipe…he has had some disastrous results when doing so, lol!
Love those rules… that sums up most of my running and cooking as well! 🙂
#3 reminds me of a favorite quote: “what would you do if you knew you could not fail?” … we should take risks even in the face of failure! Great tips 🙂
Can I add another rule to your list? Write down what you did – if you don’t record it, it’s bound to be awesome and you won’t remember what you did when you try to replicate it. (That might actually just be me and my failing memory)