Keep yourself full with this biscuits and gravy for thanksgiving!

Biscuits are a great thing to eat while undergoing treatment because they are filling and flavorful but not to overpowering for the senses. Here is a great recipe from Carla Hall and The Chew on ABC that I recommend. If you are up to it, you can try this recipe with the Turkey Gravy wth your Thanksgiving leftovers I'm just a biscuit fan myself.

Happy Cooking, and don't forget that cooking and baking can be therapeutic, try helping your parents cook these biscuits and see.

The Chew Recipe here

Pre Thanksgiving Craft!

Crafting is a form of Art Therapy allowing you to take your mind off whatever you are going through that day. It also happens to be fun! Here is a pre thanksgiving craft you can use to get in the mood for the kick off of the Holiday Season.

Make this paper plate Turkey Craft, and I love how the use fall leaves to make feathers!

For the steps go to http://www.easypeasyandfun.com/paper-plate-turkey-craft/

A great thanksgiving program!

Giving back is a big part of Thanksgiving month. It also can be helpful in when dealing with your illness. This is a great program that you should look into. It has the theme of giving back this holiday season and really help pay it forward.

Food and Healthy eating, we address theses topics all the time on this blog. Here is an organization that helps supply healthy food to those in need, its called Katie's Krops, and they give grants to kids who want to build a garden to donate the crops to food banks. She even started it when she was a kid herself very similar to the founding of Teen with a Dream. Kids are the future, and we truly can do so much good all we have to do is start!

http://www.katieskrops.com

And don't forget to write us at Teenwithadream.org if you would like to pay it forward with us. You can volunteer for a program and pay it forward to others with cancer.

A bit of Inspiration today

I love my job running a nonprofit. It means everyday I get to think of ways to help people and then find ways to make it happen. It also means that I get to meet other amazing people in the nonprofit world. So today's inspiration will be a bit different from other posts. I had the honor of meeting a co founder of the Snip Foundation. They have an amazing oragnization thats mission is to improve the wellness of dogs and cats in developing worlds. Animals are inspiration because of the love and joy they share and hopefully at least once a therapy dog has come to visit you in the hospital.

For today's inspiration I encounrge you all to take a look at this amazing chairty, plus the cute pictures of the animals never hurt! Don't forget that it takes everyone doing a little bit to make the world a better place.

http://www.snipfoundation.org

Mindfullness to help emtional health

Cancer, Cancer Treatment, and Post Cancer Treatment is stressful, it will mean instead of a few things going on in your life like most kids you will have dozens. But don't worry, like it was said yesterday, you are strong! Stronger for having to endure this. Here is a helpful link that will help you learn how to meditate. I know to some mediation sounds silly or even a waste of time, but it really is just a way to center yourself, turn off your mind for a bit so that you can oragnize your thoughts, and gives you prespective on things happen in your life. Some form of meditation just 5 mintues a day will most likely change the way you think about things. Try it and see what you think!

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5480/5-Tips-to-Teach-Children-Mindfulness-Meditation.html

What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger!

The saying "what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger" is well known. It's most likely something that every cancer patient and their families have heard from friends or anyone that you encounter and share your story. The saying is mostly true however, if you are in the middle of your treatment it can feel like the whole thing is well a lie! I know it is hard, but the statement is true, you will be stronger after this. It is something you have to keep looking for during and after treatment, but life will never be the same again, when you look around you will see what is possible in the world, the kindness in the world, and what love can do.

Hopefully Teen with a Dream can help with something during and after treatment so here is todays tip. When you need a break from the overwhelmingness listen to some music! Here is a song that I found helped me! Hope you all enjoy!

Spencer Harrison

Pumpkin Quesadillas

Pumpkins are a staple item during the fall season. Sometimes the typical pumpkin recipes get old, so today try out this innovative twist on a fall classic!

Pumpkin Quesadillas from Rachael Ray

• 2 cups canned pure pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 8 8 inches flour tortillas
• 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

directions

1. In bowl, stir pumpkin and cumin; season. Spread over 4 tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese and nuts. Top with remaining tortillas. In large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-low. Cook quesadillas 1 at a time, turning once and adding more oil between batches, until browned, 3 minutes. Cut into wedges.

Check out this recipe and more here!

Happy Halloween! Enjoy this Kid-Friendly Spooky Story

The Headless Horseman

A New York Ghost Story 

retold by

S. E. Schlosser

Listen to the story (4.3 mb download) 

One cold winter night, early in the New Year, a certain Dutchman left the tavern in Tarrytown and started walking to his home in the hollow nearby. His path led next to the old Sleepy Hollow cemetery where a headless Hessian soldier was buried. At midnight, the Dutchman came within site of the graveyard. The weather had warmed up during the week, and the snow was almost gone from the road. It was a dark night with no moon, and the only light came from his lantern. 

The Dutchman was nervous about passing the graveyard, remembering the rumors of a galloping ghost that he had heard at the tavern. He stumbled along, humming to himself to keep up his courage. Suddenly, his eye was caught by a light rising from the ground in the cemetery. He stopped, his heart pounding in fear. Before his startled eyes, a white mist burst forth from an unmarked grave and formed into a large horse carrying a headless rider. 

The Dutchman let out a terrible scream as the horse leapt toward him at a full gallop. He took to his heels, running as fast as he could, making for the bridge since he knew that ghosts and evil spirits did not care to cross running water. He stumbled suddenly and fell, rolling off the road into a melting patch of snow. The headless rider thundered past him, and the man got a second look at the headless ghost. It was wearing a Hessian commander's uniform. 

The Dutchman waited a good hour after the ghost disappeared before crawling out of the bushes and making his way home. After fortifying himself with schnapps, the Dutchman told his wife about the ghost. By noon of the next day, the story was all over Tarrytown. The good Dutch folk were divided in their opinions. Some thought that the ghost must be roaming the roads at night in search of its head. Others claimed that the Hessian soldier rose from the grave to lead the Hessian soldiers in a charge up nearby Chatterton Hill, not knowing that the hill had already been taken by the British. 

Whatever the reason, the Headless Horseman continues to roam the roads near Tarrytown on dark nights from that day to this. 

SOURCE

5 D.I.Y. Last Minute Unique Halloween Bags

Happy SPLURGE! Friday Dream Team! Tomorrow is Halloween, and the cloudy weather here at Teen with a Dream is really getting us in a Spooktacular mood for tomorrow! For today's SPLURGE! we want to share five D.I.Y. ideas for last minute Halloween buckets to take with you whatever your plan is tomorrow!

The greatest part about these are they are made from materials you are likely to already have sitting around the house!

Paint Bucket Monsters

Check out how to make them here!

Milk Jug Monster 

Check out how to make them here!

Pillow Case Totes

Check out how to do them HERE!

Cereal Box Monster Bags

Check out how to do them HERE!

Pumpkin Bowl Bag

Check out how to make them here!

#TBT to Teen with a Dream's Spooktacular Germ-Lite Party

Holidays are a time for kids to let go, relax and have fun. Halloween is full of kids on the run, laughing with friends and collecting goodies through out the neighborhood. Being able to do this when you are a pediatric cancer patient becomes really difficult due to their suppressed immune systems. 

Most patients are unable to attend parties, hang out with friends and Trick-or-Treat that is why Teen with a Dream finds it to be important to offer an alternative. That is why we are sharing Throwback Thursday Photos of our past "Spooktacular Germ-Lite Event" for our program resource. 

Patients engaged in art therapy through decorating pumpkins, played Halloween themed games and also participated in a D.I.Y. cupcake decoration station!

Enjoy!