Weekends

Weekends are so much nicer than they used to be when I had to go to work. Sounds backwards because we would always be looking forward to the next weekend, but now we actually have so much more time and energy to enjoy our weekends. We get recharged and re-energized over the weekends. We are able to start each week being motivated about what we want to accomplish instead of dreading yet another Monday.

Before I began working at home with Jesse, nothing got done around the house during the week. So weekends were filled with chores, grocery shopping, and errands that needed to get done. Now I usually have time to get most of that kind of stuff done during the week which leaves weekends open for fun stuff. It makes me realize how lucky I am that we are able to have the lifestyle that we do.

One of the blogs that I enjoy reading is called Enjoying the Small Things. The name of her blog pretty much explains what she blogs about. She is always talking about how her family can be doing nothing, yet it is so very something. I feel like we moved a little closer to that idea this weekend. Even though we didn’t go anywhere or do anything fabulous, which would have been great also, we did enjoy time together just relaxing. We really needed some relaxing nothingness after how busy we have been lately.

Movie watching

This weekend we just stayed home… and it was good! On Saturday I made a big mess baking in the kitchen while Jesse took a much needed nap. We did a lot of catching up on our TV shows, watching movies, and playing games. Good weekend, now back to getting our stuff done.

Namaste Foods: Chocolate

Mom used to have a refrigerator magnet that read “There’s nothing wrong with me that a little chocolate wont fix!”  There’s nothing wrong with me today, but I just needed some chocolate anyways.  I’ve never been very good at baking.  Having to be so precise with the measurements just doesn’t work very well for me.  I usually cook by sprinkling a little at a time until it has the right smell or taste.  However, these two chocolate recipes are easy enough that even I could make them.

First I decided to make cocoa macaroons.  This is a recipe that came from my Grandma and Mom always would make them during the holidays with the rest of her Christmas cookies.  Since they don’t have any flour in them, I’ve decided that they need to be made year around.

3 cups oats
6 tbsp cocoa
1 cup coconut
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Combine oats, cocoa, and coconut and mix well. Then bring sugar, butter, and milk (and vanilla) to a boil. Combine the wet and dry mixtures, form cookies, and drop onto wax paper. Chill in the fridge before serving. These also freeze really well to save for later.

Cocoa macaroons

Apparently, that wasn’t enough to satisfy my chocolate need. I decided today would be a good day to try out my Namaste Foods brownie mix.  I think they turned out pretty good.  Not quite as chocolaty as I thought they would taste by looking at them, but still very yummy.  Of course I may have a biased opinion in my very chocolate needy state of mind.  I think they would be even better with chocolate chips sprinkled on top.  This mix was just as easy to make as regular brownies.  I only needed to add an egg, some oil, and water.

Brownies

I tested out both of my recipes as soon as they were ready and I think I’ll be going back for more after dinner.  A very successful and chocolaty afternoon!

No More Puzzle

I think the fact that we are excited about our freezer purchase officially makes us an old married couple. Jesse is especially enthusiastic about larger, long-term purchases. We’ve been talking about getting a second freezer for a long time now and we finally decided that now was the perfect time.

Jesse opening freezer

Our freezer/fridge in the kitchen was packed so full that it was like a giant puzzle to get out what you were looking for. It’s so frustrating to come home from the store and struggle to make everything fit. I’ve been known to shove everything in and close the door fast before anything falls out.

New freezer

Having the extra freezer space will definitely save us money by allowing me to buy extra when stuff is on sale. I’m now very price conscious on everything I buy and I hope that this storage space will allow me to never spend over my set price on an item. Every so often Sweetbay will have whole chickens for $0.79/pound, so I’d like to only buy them at that price. I just need to learn how long things will keep so that I don’t overbuy. The other things I’d like to stock up on are the steam-in-the-bag veggies when they are $1.00, and the frozen lasagnas for Jesse’s lunches when they go on sale.

Inside freezer

Right now there is lots of room to spare as we slowly stock up as sales come, but I love that I can easily see everything without digging and freezing my fingers off. I love my new freezer!

Filled freezer