(And All My) Work Be Praise

I'm so proud of myself for sticking with this. I'm not doing a ton each week, but every little task completed helps! Today I made: A double batch of my favorite granola Two pumpkins, roasted whole to puree  A double recipe of these cinnamon apples . I don't think I used enough water in the instant pot, because I tried twice and even though I didn't get a "burn" notice, it wouldn't come to pressure. It got hot enough inside to cook the apples a little bit and thicken the glaze, though, and I think they'll end up just the right consistency after being heated. 16 cups of raw sliced apples made 8 cups of cooked cinnamon apples. I think I'll freeze most of it for pie, and some of it for a side dish with pork chops. Yay for fall food! Okay, it doesn't make the prettiest picture.  But can you imagine the cinnamon smell?!

Applesauce! We went apple picking in my parents’ neighbor’s yard last week and brought home a sizable box of apples. They’ve been collecting fruit flies since, so I needed to act fast! I didn’t measure anything so I can’t exactly give you a recipe, but into the trusty instant pot I put: a cup or so of water, a few healthy splashes of lemon juice, several large dashes of cinnamon, and enough cored-and-quartered (but not peeled) apples to reach the “max fill” line in the pot. Six minutes cooking time, full NPR (took about 40 minutes), a minute or two with the immersion blender, and I have three quarts of applesauce. 👍 I left enough space in the jars that I can freeze them for future use.  So, I’m not any farther ahead on breakfast than I was last week, but my house smells fantastic! 😁

What I really needed to do today: deal with the two remaining zucchini on my counter and bake ahead for breakfasts.  What I actually did today: threw some frozen chicken breast and a few other ingredients into Ziploc bags for quick "dump" meals.  First, a stir-fry for a family with a newborn: *In a gallon Ziploc bag: one red pepper, sliced half a large onion, sliced a tablespoon each (more or less) of ginger and garlic 2-3 chicken breasts, sliced *In a smaller bag or small jar: 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tbsp cornstarch *Stir-fry the chicken and veggies until cooked through. Whisk the sauce until smooth, then add to the skillet. Cook until thick and bubbly. Serve over rice. Then I made up two freezer bags from this freezer cooking blog post , the Thai peanut chicken and the cranberry chicken. I chose these two solely on the basis of what ingredients I had in the pantry and fridge! As I said last time, I'll most likely do these in the instant pot rather than t...

For years, I have tried to jump on the "morning basket" bandwagon and/or use our time at the breakfast table productively. I'm choosing to take it as a sign of growing maturity and wisdom that I have stopped fighting our natural household rhythms, without any guilt. We don't do breakfast together, and that's okay for us. When we did  occasionally manage to start our mornings together, the focus was on Bible and catechism memory work. Obviously, I don't want to lose that, and I struggled for a while to find a system that would work for us. I honestly don't know how I came up with our current system, but one month in, it seems to be working reasonably well for this season! Bible memory work is now a part of our "habit training" system. This idea I "stole" from Life As Mom : the morning and evening "high five." The three oldest have five simple tasks they must complete before bed and upon waking. I'm pleased to report there h...

In my last freezer cooking post , I mentioned using my instant pot instead of my crockpot for a recipe. This sparked a conversation on Facebook, and a friend (hi, Kelly!) asked if I'd done a post on instant pot recipes. I hadn't, since I haven't blogged much since I got my IP! So here it is. WHY I LOVE MY IP 1. While recipes do take longer than you'd expect (because you have to wait for the pot to come to pressure and release pressure), I can start it in the morning with a timer, or I can start it at 3pm when we typically finish our school day, or I can start it at 4:30 just in time for dinner (depending on the recipe). So flexible. 2. Flavors are bolder, without being diluted by crockpot-lid condensation. 3. I haven't had water spill over a pot of rice in three years. (I'll never go back to making rice on the stove!) 4. I don't have to thaw meat! [Cue happy dance.] MY FAVORITE RECIPES (an ongoing list, as I find things I love) BEEF 1. Chili. I barely even u...