Lazy Bear Lodge

06/02/2026

06/01/2026

Did you know you can find free live music most days in the NC High Country this summer? Find even more free music events at HighCountryCalendar.com
> WED- Caddyshack Cafe, Sugar Mountain
> THUR- Tate-Evans Park, Banner Elk
> FRI- Backstreet Park, West Jefferson, NC
> FRI- Inn at Ragged Gardens and Best Cellar Restaurant, Blowing Rock
> FRI- Jones House Cultural Center, Downtown Boone
> FRI-The Famous Brick Oven Pizzeria - Beech Mountain, NC
> SAT- The Orchard at Altapass, Blue Ridge Parkway
> SUN- Village Hospitality Group, Banner Elk

05/31/2026

🧄🧀 Crispy Garlic Parmesan Cottage Cheese Flatbread – Cheesy, Golden & Packed With Flavor

These crispy flatbreads are loaded with savory garlic and Parmesan flavor while staying soft inside and perfectly golden on the edges. Easy to make and packed with protein, they’re perfect as a snack, side dish, or appetizer.

Ingredients (makes about 4 flatbreads):

1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Nutrition info (per flatbread):
~180 kcal | 10g protein | 8g fat | 20g carbs

📌 Crispy on the outside, cheesy on the inside — ready in just 30 minutes!

Directions:

Step 1: Prepare the Oven
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2: Make the Dough
In a large mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, flour, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Mix until a soft dough forms.

Step 3: Shape the Flatbreads
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and shape each portion into a flatbread directly on the prepared baking sheet.

Step 4: Bake Until Golden
Drizzle olive oil over the flatbreads and bake for 15–20 minutes, until crispy and beautifully golden brown. Sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.

Prep Time: 10 min | Bake Time: 20 min | Total: 30 min

Tips for Success:

✨ Shape the flatbreads evenly so they bake uniformly.

✨ Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce or alongside soups and salads.

✨ For even more flavor, add extra Parmesan right before baking.

05/27/2026

Play, joy, and love are biological necessities. 🧬

The emerging science of epigenetics shows that your environment, your emotions, and your relationships can switch genes on and off, regulating everything from inflammation to immune function to how fast you age.

Your nervous system was designed for love and belonging, and when you deprive it of that, everything downstream suffers — your hormones, your immunity, your brain, your longevity.

Think of joy, connection, and play as part of your health stack; just as essential as what you eat, how you move, and how you sleep.

So laugh more, love deeply, and stop treating joy like something you have to earn after all the “real” health stuff is done.

It IS the real health stuff.

05/26/2026

Yesterday marked my 30-year sobriety birthday, and I wanted to celebrate by sharing one gratitude for each decade.

1. My sobriety will always be the most important thing I do, because it allows me to fully love—and be loved by—the people who matter most in my life. I’m grateful for it every single day, even when it feels like a street fight.

2. Five years ago, a woman approached me in an airport and thanked me for writing about sobriety as a superpower. She said it helped her get sober. I’m grateful for all the people whose words helped me along the way. Before boarding her flight, she asked if I’d accept a gift from a stranger. I said yes. She handed me her first AA chip. I carry it in my purse every day. We were never strangers.

3. My favorite line from the AA Big Book reads: “That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we have been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”

Understanding and keeping in fit spiritual condition has been a decades-long challenge for me. I wrote about it in the final chapter of Strong Ground and I thought I’d share that full chapter with you today as a “thank you.” To read, go to the home page of brenebrown.com.

Today I am sober af and I am grateful. ❤️

05/25/2026