While practicing social distancing and working at home for the last two weeks, I have come to one conclusion.

Gratitude is a gift. We learn to appreciate the simple things in life when they arent so simple anymore.

The banana I ate for breakfast on a recent morning tasted so good. On the last two trips to the store, there were no bananas, so it was nice to finally have one.

Our WiFi is slow, and I cant download all the files I need from shared Dropboxes at work, but my co-workers can email them to me. We have a great team.

It takes longer to do my job remotely, but at least I have a job and I can do it remotely.

Our house, which seemed so quiet and empty before, is now filled with our college-aged daughters laughter and conversations about physics, biomechanics, physiology of aging and sport for development as campus is closed and she works on her classes remotely at home. My husband brushed off his college physics books, and I think hes rather enjoying his evenings filled with math. Ive appreciated the discussions weve had about the papers shes writing.

We wonder if shell study us for her physiology of aging projects. What a blessing to have two roommates who are living examples of what shes learning in her class! She wouldnt have access to that in her college apartment building.

The family togetherness has been so nice. Weve played board games, taken walks together and spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and eating homemade food.

In last weeks column, I included one of the recipes weve made twice in the last two weeks, Egg Casserole. Several of you noticed that the oven temperature was not included. That certainly would help if you are planning to make the recipe. Sorry about that. The recipe calls for setting the oven at 375, but my casserole got a little brown, so you might want to try 350. Im sharing the recipe in its entirety again, in case youd like to cut it out of the newspaper or screenshot it, if youre reading online.

This recipe was shared with me years ago by Diane Pryor, a former Herald-Mail Lifestyle reporter. I reached out to her recently to ask if I could share the recipe, and she says she still makes it occasionally.

I thought you might like to try it, too, especially now that the oven temperature is included.

pound bacon (7-10 slices)

cup shredded cheddar or Swiss cheese

Cut bacon into small pieces. Cook until almost crisp. Add onion. Cook until onion is tender. Spread bacon and onion in bottom of greased 1 -quart casserole. (Drain off fat from bacon first.)

Beat Bisquick, eggs, milk, salt and pepper, until smooth. Slowly pour egg mixture over bacon/onions.

Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees until knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Serves 6.

(If doubled, use a 13 X 9 rectangle baking dish.)

Enjoy this time with your family, in the kitchen, or whichever room you happen to be in while working at home.

Lisa Tedrick Prejean writes a weekly column for The Herald-Mail's Family page. Send email to her at lprejean@herald-mail.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lisa_Prejean.

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Prejean: Recent days remind us that gratitude is a gift - Herald-Mail Media