Something cozy + cute + free for you!

This cute plaid iPhone wallpaper and cute plaid desktop wallpaper are perfect for the cozy winter months! 


Are you lazy about seasonal decorating? I am.

If I’m lucky, I’ll get a few pumpkins, some mums, a plaid blanket or two, and call us Fall-ified.

This laziness does not run in the family. No, not at all.

cute plaid iphone wallpaper

But one thing that I do almost always do is change my laptop and phone backgrounds to something cozy. Because it costs zero dollars; it’s stupid easy; and it really makes a difference when you spend half your day on a screen.

So today I have something for you that costs zero dollars, is stupid easy, and will hopefully really make a difference in your day.

Cute plaid desktop wallpaper

I designed this cute plaid desktop wallpaper for you guys, and I highly recommend you take its advice and get yourself nested in with a book, a blanket, and a hot mug STAT. And yes, it has a matching plaid iPhone wallpaper!

Consider these my big THANK YOU to you in this season of giving thanks. I am so grateful for all of you who read, write, and talk about books along with me.

You can download this free desktop background and phone wallpaper, as well as dozens of other free literary printables, by signing into The Library.

 

Click here to download these free phone and desktop wallpapers!

 

 


5 quick reads for the week:

  1. I am so honored to have two of my books make Amazon’s Best Books of the Year list! And yes, Once Upon a Chef and Season do make great holiday gifts. 😉 
  2. Wise words from Kirsten of Well-Storied on how to make time to write.
  3. Don’t forget: ideas aren’t pizza, so there’s more than enough to go around.
  4. It’s time to get down to work on our Thanksgiving menus, and I’m always on the lookout for new Thanksgiving recipes.
  5. The National Book Awards happened this week, and The New York Times is keeping us posted, Oscars-style!

What we’re eating this week

(Well, actually, this was the menu for last week. Please tell me I’m not the only one who can’t get it together this time of year.)

It’s a slap-dash, slop-bucket kind of cooking week. We hosted our big Friendsgiving on Saturday (so fun!) and now we have ten trillion pounds of leftover ham to eat ourselves out from under (so fun!). What do you do with ten trillion pounds of ham? I have five answers for you:

Monday: Run away from the ham by grilling out a friends house. Ham: 0, Us: 1.

Tuesday: Ham is like bacon is like pancetta is like what I need to make carbonara? That was my questionable thesis for dinner, and hey, it sort of checked out. Ham: 1, Us: 1.

Wednesday: Hide from the ham and when it’s not looking, go out to dinner. Ham: 1, Us: 2.

Thursday: Jarrett’s traveling for work, so it’s me and Ham alone in the house. We know how that’ll go. Ham: 2, Us: 2.

Friday: We’re eating chicken for dinner! Just kidding. It’s ham again. Ham: 3, Us: 2.

Hoping you enjoy a big ol’ turkey on our behalf this week.

Cheers!

Get one free tip for reading more + living better each week!

Wintertime Farro Bowl


Farro Bowl005

One of my favorite things to have my grandma cook is arroz cubano. When she and my grandpa come to visit from Brazil the menu usually looks something like this:

Tortilla de Patata
Paella
Pollo Tia Ely
Arroz Cubano
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

One of these things does not fit. But that’s a long story.

Arroz cubano is pretty fancy. It’s white rice shaped into a mound using a mug, then topped with tomato sauce and a perfectly fried egg. Definitely a classic stretching-the-grocery-budget meal, and definitely a kid-pleaser. Anything is immediately more exciting when it looks like a volcano and can be smashed. That’s a fact of life.

Luckily, these days I’m about 1% more sophisticated than my rice-volcano-smashing 8-year-old self, and so I came up with this warm farro bowl that has all the nostalgic goodness of arroz cubano. This is the perfect starter meal if you’ve never cooked farro before—it’s quick cooking, simple, and pretty darn foolproof. The key is to keep tasting your farro and adding more liquid if it needs it—it’ll be done when it’s firm but not crunchy.

Farro Bowl002

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