1.// There has been some glorious, spring-y, sunshine-y weather around here lately and it makes me the happiest! We go on lots of (painfully slow) walks through the neighborhood pushing baby dolls and collecting acorns, gumballs, leaves, and other debris nature.
2.// I have always been kind of staunchly unexcited about e-readers and What They Mean For Society pro-book, but we took a Kindle on vacation recently and I got kind of obsessed with it. Well, mostly just the instant gratification of being able to check out library books online and have them appear in my hand without leaving my house. I’m sure Jay would like to have the Kindle back at some point, but this just arrived (digitally, with no effort, and free from the library): After You, by Jojo Moyes. I’m forcing myself to finish the book I’m reading before I start it, but so excited!
3.// Sometimes when I’m meal planning, none of my “normal” recipes sound good and I try a bunch of new recipes in a row. Here are the success stories from this month:
Slow Cooked Shredded Beef Ragu Pasta by Recipe Tin Eats – We loved this! I used a chuck roast and was kind of amazed at how different it was from regular spaghetti sauce made with ground beef even though it’s essentially the same ingredients.
Broccoli, Cheddar, and Quinoa Gratin by Cookie and Kate – This was a hit with the adults, not so much the kids. (I kind of expected that, though, since my older daughter is anti-quinoa even though she loves rice, and my toddler was just suspicious of the whole thing. Hence my chosen sides of banana bread and applesauce!)
Cracker-style Thin Crust Pizza by Two Red Bowls – You know I love this pizza dough, but I’ve been wanting to have a thin crust option, too. Really good texture! I did 1.5x the recipe but wished I had doubled it since the girls inhaled it and I was willing to make another batch of dough and wait 30 minutes because I WANTED MORE PIZZA but Jay talked me out of it. I also finally tried the pizza sauce recipe I mentioned in this post, and we liked it, too.
Loaded Broccoli Cheese and Potato Soup by Mel’s Kitchen Cafe – We had the college students Jay works with over for dinner and did a baked potato bar with lots of toppings. My mom made a delicious version of this soup to help use up the leftovers (baked potatoes, better steamed broccoli, cheese, etc)!
4.// On Saturday Jay took the girls out of the house for like two hours and I made a recipe and took pictures of it for my next post with no interruptions/”helpers”/people eating my photo props and it was glorious. He also brought me an apple fritter the size of my face and only judged me a tiny bit when I ate it in its entirety for lunch. He’s the best, in other words. The only downside was uploading the pictures and realizing how often my belly makes a cameo in those from-above pics. ;o)
5.// Don’t forget to enter the GIVEAWAY for Julie’s ebook, The Kindness Antennae! Click here to enter the giveaway by Monday, March 7at 12 pm!
And WHY, pray tell, would your belly be making a cameo these days?!?!
Ha! I made my announcement in last month’s FFT! 😉
Ha! So you did! ;o)
I just finished The Rent Collector. So good. I’ve been waiting for Me After You for FORever from the library. I can’t get into the Kindles either, but you make it sound very glamorous (no waiting?!?).
Wellll, maybe that was misleading. Me After You I had to wait for, but only a couple of weeks and once it’s available you can just download it and not have to make a trip to the library (is it just me or do your hold books always come in the day after you go to the library??). I may keep using it for books I want to put on hold!! Totally going to look for The Rent Collector, thanks for the recommendation! 🙂