Domesticity

I am trying very hard to turn over a new leaf in the cooking and cleaning department. (Do I sound like a broken record? I know I've said this same thing before!) I spent Monday night and yesterday morning getting my house clean. Not spotless - but clean enough that if my mother-in-law decided to pop by unexpectedly I wouldn't be absolutely mortified. Today I planned our meals for the next week, got groceries, made a couple freezer meals, made breakfast sandwiches for the week, and baked some chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for my husband.

I need to remember to start doing one or two things every night so that on Wednesday when I'm off I don't have a huge list of things to accomplish around the house. (And maybe I can spend some time spiffing up my blog.)  It was nice today not to have to worry about a ton of cleaning. I'm going to vacuum and dust my living room, but that's all that really needs to be done since I've done little bits over the past couple days.

On a sort-of related note, I'm in the market for a new slow cooker. I'd really like one with a timer. Most recipes say 4-8 hours and I'm gone from the house for nearly 11 hours each day. Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations?

Productive Day

Thoroughly enjoyed my day off today. I slept in, caught up on American Idol, took Daisy on a  couple walks, and finally got my layout looking the way I want it to look. I tried another new recipe tonight too, I made "Not Humdrumsticks" from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook. They were pretty tasty. I hate raw meat though - so pulling the skin off the chicken drumsticks almost did me in. Blech. I got supper all ready for tomorrow too, so that when I get home from work all I have to do is throw it in the oven. I had hoped to get some baking done too (the muffins I made Sunday are disappearing really fast!) but I spent a little too much time working on this new layout. Wishing I was off tomorrow too, but I gotta pay the bills.

Creamy Ranch Pork Chops & Potatoes

I tried a new recipe for supper tonight that turned out really well. I made creamy ranch pork chops and potatoes in my slow cooker. I've made a couple recipes from Six Sisters' Stuff and they've all turned out, but this was definitely my favourite. (I'm trying this one tomorrow.) I'm actually excited that I get to eat the left overs for lunch tomorrow. It was really easy to make, and the pork chops were really tender and yummy.

Heading out for a little bit. Having problems with my Blackberry and I want to see if Rogers can do anything about it. Have a great night!

Chocolate Waffles = Breakfast of Champions

When we first got married Jonathan and I felt it was important for us to start some of our own Christmas traditions. We decided that we would have waffles on Christmas morning for breakfast. The first two years we bought frozen Belgian waffles and did them in the oven Christmas day and then had them with whipped cream and fruit. Last Christmas Jonathan bought me a waffle maker for Christmas and I was so excited. Now we can have home-made waffles every Christmas and I love it. I love that we have our own tradition that is separate from our families' traditions. I think that's important in a marriage. (Little bit of marriage advice there I guess...)

We don't only have waffles on Christmas morning though. On rare mornings off together we like to do a big breakfast. Sometimes it's eggs benedict, or sometimes just eggs and bacon, but a lot of the time we opt for home-made waffles. This morning (in keeping with my New Year's resolution) I tried a new recipe and we made chocolate waffles. We topped them with chocolate chips, whipped cream, and powdered sugar. They were really tasty, not overly chocolate-y, but very decadent and sweet. Maybe not the healthiest start to our day though...

Very Pin-teresting #3 - Sweet Potatoes

We love sweet potatoes, but we always eat them the same way. Either we have sweet potato fries or I bake them and then we mash them up with butter. I thought it would be fun to try something new so I decided to try out these roasted sweet potatoes I found on Pinterest. They were delicious and my house smelled amazing while they were cooking. I highly recommend trying this recipe out if you like sweet potatoes!

Waiting...

I like my job, I like my co-workers and I love my boss. But, I'm ready to move up. I've finished my "training" and I'm ready to move from my position as an assistant department manager to a department manager's position. Unfortunately, there aren't any available in my district currently. (I could move across the country and get a position easily apparently, but that's not really an option.) There are also a lot of other individuals who are ready to move up. I don't know how many exactly, and where I fit on the list in terms of seniority. And it sucks. And I'm not good at waiting.

I used my slow cooker again yesterday for supper. And again, I loved having supper 90% ready when I walked in the door, but I wasn't super fussy on the recipe. I made crock pot cheesy chicken and I was expecting something like mac and cheese with chicken. It wasn't as cheesy as I had been hoping for and the sauce wasn't as thick as I expected. Probably not something I would make again, but not bad for a quick supper.