My Sanity-Saving Summer Strategy

What are my plans this summer? 

To survive. Period.

Oh, I kid. I kid... 

Ok, I'm not really kidding that actually IS my only goal this summer.

I love plans. I love schedules. I love order. I love QUIET. However, I don't love over planning and over scheduling. I love my kids to have a lot of creative, fun, free play time without me guiding them on what they create or imagine.  I love stepping back and letting them do things themselves without my interference and I'm really good at it...maybe even a little too good at it.

So how do I create order AND allow disorder? Well, plan a time for no plans, of course! I've come up with a general schedule for us and I hope it'll keep us all happy.

I need to sign the kids up for swimming lessons at some point but my goal this year is to get us in the water once a week. I'm not a water person but I think it'd be good for us. Last year we hiked so this year we'll swim, dang it.

Another thing I need to do is make a "No Play" sign to put on my door as a sanity saver. Just not answering is not an answer. Believe me.

I also came up with rules and "jokingly" told the kids this is going to be The Summer of Rules. These should be the rules all the time but since they're gone most of the day during the school year I haven't been the best enforcer. That's changing starting tomorrow.

1- Follow the schedule.
2-All friends eat snacks and meals at their own house and we eat snacks and meals at our own house.
3-Music and movies need to remain at a reasonable volume (still tbd what "reasonable" means) and need to be turned off when you leave the room.
4-If you make a mess, you must clean it up before you leave the house.

5-No complaining when it's time for meals, outings, and bedtime.

I can already tell that this is going to be the BEST summer ever... 

My Attempt to Cook (and Eat!) Good Food

First, let's get up-to-date on my culinary experience.

• At 6 yrs old I created my own dish of peppered mac 'n cheese with ketchup. Undrained.
• From ages 12-21 I was known in my family as the worst cook among us. Teasing commenced.
• As a newlywed, I continued my long run of culinary awesomeness with creating another of my own dishes, mac 'n cheese with shredded cheese on top. It was a breakthrough.
• Still a newlywed, Rob and I were invited to dinner and was asked to bring a side dish. I showed up with Lipton Rice, uncooked and still in it's package. It was not prepared and served.

In the last decade since that experience, my tastes have matured and so my skills have needed to mature as well. I know how to read and I know how to follow directions so how hard could it be? I started with simple recipes. Slowly and after many hours of being an armchair chef-in-training, I built up my confidence enough to start trying my hand at slightly more complex recipes.

I used to think that all I needed to do was follow a recipe perfectly, but what I didn't realize is that there is so much technique you need to know in order to cook properly and guess what? None of that is in the recipes! Your dish will only turn out mediocre unless you read between the lines and impart your knowledge of techniques and your experience into it.

For Christmas I bought The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook after sitting on the floor at Barnes and Noble surrounding myself with and studying a myriad of cookbooks. And let me tell you, I haven't been disappointed.

This book has so many good things about it. Step-by-step instructions? Check. Pictures? Check. Step-by-step instructions alongside step-by-step pictures? Check and check. (Not all the recipes have pictures, though.)

Also, for a bunch of the recipes, it has a list of all the things that can commonly go wrong and then proceeds to answer WHY it went wrong and HOW to do it right.


The 3 biggest game changers for me are:

1. Fresh herbs. They taste so much brighter and better! I only use dehydrated now when I've run out of fresh.
2. Quality cheese. Costco has a huge wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano for $15. That wedge never goes bad, is used for many, many meals, and makes us all very happy. 
3. Use the correct cut of meat for the recipe. I used to think many cuts were interchangeable but it's not really the case. 
4. Using the proper equipment. I bought a small food processor and I use it way more than I thought I would. I love my nice knife. I love my heavy skillet. Now I'm in the market for a nice enamel dutch oven because my pots aren't cutting it. They are too lightweight (food scorches) and not ovenproof. A new heavy pot is going to be awesome.  

I could go on and on but I will stop here and just share a few of my favorite recipes from the book (so far). There are hundreds more for me to try including a whole section on roasting and braising meat that I can't try yet because of my pot circumstance and a whole section devoted to grilling that we'll be using soon.

These recipes aren't newfangled or creative. They're not on Pinterest. They are staples written by the experts (not bloggers) and are very detailed and technically correct so the food will turn out delicious every time. I've made many versions of these dishes over the years and these definitely turned out the best.

Enjoy!! We sure have!!

Endnote:
By the sound of things, I must now be a fantastic chef. NOT the case at all. I make mistakes all the time, usually when I'm cooking for dinner guests. There's something about cooking larger quantities, being on a time crunch, and the stress of having others eating my food that doesn't bode well for me.

My most common mistake is actually forgetting to buy all the ingredients I need for a particular recipe and then not realizing it until I'm halfway through the cooking process. Happens all the time. By the time it happened for the 3rd time just last week, I was so frustrated that I kicked the bucket. Literally, I kicked a bucket. Then I locked myself in my room and cried leaving Rob in the kitchen wondering "What the heck just happened?" and "What am I going to do about dinner now?"

Grilled cheese, anyone? AGAIN?

Happy Mother's Day

Rob here this week. Here is the video I prepared for my mom for Mother’s day a couple of weeks ago. I shared it with her and the whole family on Mother’s Day. Wanted to make sure to post it here on the blog as well. I love you mom! Happy Mother’s Day!

Beautiful Miscellany

Sometimes, most of the time even, life just seems so monotonous. Day in and day out nothing very exciting or noteworthy seems to happen.

But then one day you look back at all the little snapshots you've taken and you realize you're living a beautiful life. Yes, there is a whole lot of mundane and pouting in between the smiles and silly faces but the sum of all the good brief little moments comes rushing into your heart and you feel a landslide of gratitude and joy for every.single.thing.

Here are a few snapshots of some of our beautiful miscellany that we've collected so far this year. 

We have felt the joy of getting back into a long-missed sport and the feeling of freedom that comes with slicing down a mountain through the best snow on earth. 

We have felt the exhausting joy of playing and eating well.

We have felt the joy of laughter and connection with another soul.

We have felt the joy of creating song and dance.

We have felt the joy of a comfortable old pair of red rain boots that go with absolutely everything, non-dependent upon the weather.








We have felt the joy of sunshine, blue skies, a breeze, snowcapped mountains, green grass, rocks, and water.





We have felt the joy of gaining knowledge and the confidence that comes with it. Also, the joy of discovering a new form of energy in order to control 80 twin galaxies.

                    

We have felt the joy of covenant renewal between us and our Heavenly Father.

Not everything has been joyful. There have been hurt feelings, anxiety, and too many owies to count. 

But in between all of those has been a family who works hard (maybe a little too hard some days), plays a lot (very possibly too much), and loves with all their might. For them, I am and forever will be grateful.