I thought it would be fun to sharing a little bit of this and that today. Things like what I’m reading, watching, listening etc. The seasons are starting to change along with our routines, but those touch stone items in our life keep us grounded, especially when life can feel chaotic during quarantine.
Playing UNO. I recently picked this up on a grocery and essentials run, and we have been playing it almost daily, sometimes multiple times! A classic!
At first, the initial shut down did not seem to change our daily life. We already homeschool, we are not currently active with any sports or clubs, and my husband still was traveling. As the weeks went by and the grocery store panic and empty shelves, social distancing made it impossible to get together with friends, the library is still closed, I did have a bit of emotional shock.
Embracing this slow season I believe has been both hard and energizing to families- ours included, even though we didn’t have as much of initial shock.
I have always said good morning to the each child as they wake, but I know stop to note the look on their sleepy face or how my toddler lights up when he sees the baby already awake.
We started a pizza and movie night tradition and the whole family looks forward to it!
They love chiming in on what kind of flavor combination of pizza we should make, at least one child is in with me while I make the pizza dough, and I know we are making fond memories all around.
My kids like peanut butter and jelly. I’ve long been out of our freezer jam because of it. Apparently I need to stock up more this summer. I also don’t like how much sugar most brands use, especially since it is a staple in my children’s diet.
Well to say this year’s Fill Your Freezer has been a challenge would be an accurate statement.
I have not been able to get anything else into the freezer this last few days. Actually I have been pulling out the very items I used in this freezer challenge to get through these last few days! I guess I should have done more freezer cooking during the end of my pregnancy. We ate through almost all of it in the last 2 months. Definitely was a huge help post partum I just underestimating how much time I actually spend in the kitchen has lead to pulling out freezer items more often!
I suppose I will be needing more than the month of February to get me freezer stocked up! I may have to do freezer cooking round up post next month as an update but I wanted to write this post to give a real life, real time update!
How have you been doing to fill your freezer?!
Instead of buying packaged treats and snacks at the store I took the time to make Chocolate Balls aka Energy Balls (tons of recipes on Pinterest).
I was able to whip these up all with items already in my pantry so it also saved me even more!
These contain peanut butter, honey, coconut flakes, mini chocolate chips, oatmeal, and flax seed.
<div id="amzn-assoc-ad-bd396a17-3964-4770-96d0-dc097ac6945b"></div><script async src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US&adInstanceId=bd396a17-3964-4770-96d0-dc097ac6945b"></script>Among the many new foods we have been eating over the last couple of months, the kids have requested Cherry Chia Jam again. It’s tart, slightly sweet, and a delicious bright flavor to whatever you are eating it with – toast or oatmeal are the favorites here!
Over halfway through the month! If you are new around here and don’t know what this Fill Your Freezer Febraury is about, here is a recap: In February I focus on getting items into my freezer that I already know my family will eat and doing so without going over my normal grocery budget. I focus on making items from scratch- anything from homemade biscuits to homemade bone broth. I don’t always focus on just meals- but having some of the components needed to make meals is just as convient as having a stack of crockpot meals or instant pot meals. The whole idea is to make meal time easier in the future- whether that would be pulling out some snacks for a playdate, having smoothie items ready for a quick breakfast, or having the dinner protein pre cooked. There is no “this is the only way” approach – think about what will help you and your family.
(more…)Well this weekend did not end up being very productive.
Baby boy (2 months old) wasn’t sleeping very well all weekend and we had a few unexpected things come up where we were out of the house quite a bit.
The only thing I ended up putting in the freezer is: bananas (I explain how I do it here), some frozen pizza and dairy for ice cream for an upcoming birthday!
Even though this weekend was not as productive as I hoped, I’m not discouraged!
Today is a SUPER SIMPLE way to Fill Your Freezer. Of course it naturally will save you time too when you go to make dinner!
Cook up ground beef, or turkey, or ground chicken, whatever you’re family eats. I simply cook it with salt and pepper that way I can flavor it however I need to when I need some ground beef.
I have to rave on this pan. My husband and I have been paying more attention to items as we replace them, instead of choosing something because of the price/namebrand/ or quick accessibility to purchase. We had been saying we needed a new ‘non stick’ skillet for awhile, but we came across GreenPan.
After some research and realizing not only the health benefits- toxic free, no fumes, and you can put it in the oven!!! The best part was the fact it didn’t end up costing any more than a similar pan that we had already, so we decided it was worth it to take a chance on this “new to us brand.” .. It is so good! It takes less oil, the bottom is actually flat, so all the eggs I cook actually cook at the same time…. Anyways, I had to rave about it for a second, but if you don’t believe me the GreenPan has over 1700 reviews on amazon!
So many options:
-Soup or Chili
-Sloppy Joes
-Add some BBQ sauce and serve over baked potatoes
-Shepard’s Pie (or some refer to as Cottage Pie)
-Tacos or Nachos
Happy Friday – I don’t know about you but I am looking forward to a 3 day weekend!