time for tuesday randomness!

remember the instant pot air fryer i was so excited to get for christmas?  so i put it on the counter almost as soon as i opened it and then there it sat for weeks while i tried to figure out what i wanted to make first.

and then i finally decided it was time.  i'd heard that chicken was a great starter recipe for an air fryer, so i busted out some drumsticks and gave it a test run.  it only took about 20 minutes, and they came out perfectly - nice and juicy with crispy skin.  and to go with them, i threw in some brussels sprouts that i'd sliced, seasoned and drizzled with some olive oil.

so a half hour's worth of work (mostly on the part of the appliance and not really by me) and i was serving this up for a great low-fat, low-carb dinner:

it got the thumbs-up from everyone, so this thing is going to come in real handy once summer comes again and i don't want to do actual cooking.

and then at target i finally got ahold of something i was looking for last year when they came out for a limited run...MEGA STUF oreos.  these are kinda ridiculous:

but it definitely satisfied that oreo craving.  i ate two and i haven't touched the package since.  maybe these will end up turned into something fun, like the cream puffs i saw online.  or some other kind of concoction that requires copious amounts of oreo creme.  i don't know.  we'll have to see what i come up with.

i got to meet my friend kelley at dots cafe for a quick breakfast one day while delivering a case of girl scout cookies, and found that they'd changed up the pretty painted mural on the back of the building.

oh hey - check out these things i picked up for the puppies.  they're called "lickimats," and what you do is spread some sort of soft treat on them, like peanut butter or canned pet food - i hear some folks even put yogurt or cream cheese on them.  and then you put them down and the dogs sit there and lick off all the good stuff.  the repetitive licking motion is soothing to them and helps to release calming endorphins, and keeps them from being bored.

they've come to recognize it as soon as i pick them up and take them to the kitchen to prep, and after the first couple of tries i found that it kept them both occupied for a good half hour.  that gives me the perfect amount of time for a good shower.  and now i'm kind of cracking up because it's totally like having toddlers in the house again.

teddy seems to have gotten more cuddly in the weeks since his neutering surgery:

while cocoa actually went the other way - she's extra feisty and protective.  and she loves to stick her face in between the shutters to keep a close eye on potential intruders.

we've started making plans for the summer, which is totally insane, but we all know it's going to be here before we know it.  and just to make sure we're ready for anything, i took the bean to take a new picture to renew her passport.  she hated the final result, so i'm not posting it.  although i did share it with the hub and the old lady, who commented that it looked like it was the bean's mug shot after getting arrested for bumrushing the stage at a BTS concert.  hahahahahahahaha.

we've been getting a jump on our spring cleaning and in a forgotten cupboard above the refrigerator i found this:

and in my sewing room:

the bean used to call that bottle "fire water" when she was little.  and i remember how we puzzled over it for a while until the old lady realized that it was because i'd tucked it away on a high shelf and said it was  for emergencies.  heh.

and while going through our (still rather extensive) collection of DVDs, i came across one of my most favorite movies ever:

have you heard that they're finally going to come through with a 3rd national treasure movie??  I'M SO EXCITED!!!  they better get the original cast together for it though, because otherwise i'm out.

and this concludes your random photo collection for this lovely tuesday.

scrambling for material

i'm starting to think i have no business trying to blog on a daily basis anymore.  half the time i forget to write it until the day is half over, and the other half i don't even have much to talk about anyway.  the old lady and i were chatting the other day about how we get into less shenanigans these days, and i think it's mostly due to her work schedule (pesky adulting) and the bean's endless extracurriculars.  i mean, it's cool and all, but it definitely leaves me with a shortage of fun crap to share.

this week has been a little off with the bean on a month-long break from cheer practice.  it's just weird when we're not rushing to get from her math program to cheer and then rushing back home to have dinner and get ready for bed.  it's actually kind of nice, less hectic, a little less driving back and forth for me.  but we can't get used to it, because it'll go by fast and then we'll be right back to the grind again.

on monday the old lady and i went on a target run and giggled at these shirts that i might have to recreate for st. patrick's day:

and i tried a new recipe for honey sesame chicken that we enjoyed with white rice and roasted asparagus.  broccoli probably would've been a better choice, but i didn't have any, so there.

we got to indulge in our monday night ritual of "the bachelor," face masks and wine.  i'm not sharing another face mask photo though.  you're welcome.

and thanks to our trip to eataly the day before, the hub assembled a lovely charcuterie plate for us to enjoy too:

and i finally got to make my first batch of thai coconut mango sticky rice, also in the IP.  the old lady had never tried it before and i was really pleased with how it turned out.  i'll be making it again because she really liked it, yay!

one of the pattern makers i like is hosting a spring capsule contest.  basically, you create nine pieces of clothing that can be mixed and matched together using only their patterns and post a picture of all of your creations - by themselves, modeled, paired up into outfits, what have you.  there are fun prizes to be won, and they choose a winner at the end of the contest period.  i missed out on this last year and vowed to go for it next time, so i sat down yesterday and made a list of the pieces i want to sew up:

all i have to do now is choose fabrics.  i have an insane fabric stash right now, so i'm hoping to clear a bunch of it out with this project.  i literally have stacks of fabric in about four different places in the house and the hub is ready to kill me.  eek.

i did also finally suck it up and tried a pattern for something i hadn't done before - a zip-up hoodie.  i have an irrational fear of zippers even though i've worked with them before, and this time it was a little different because it required a separating zipper.  i decided to make it for the bean using a panel of fabric i'd been saving for just the right project, and i knew she'd love it because it combines two of her greatest loves:  pusheen and disney.  i decided to fully line the jacket and add inseam pockets and thumbhole cuffs because i'm just crazy like that, and while my zipper ended up being a couple of inches too short, she was pretty stinking stoked when she tried it on.  this is before adding the cuffs:

it seems to be pretty warm and cozy, which will be perfect for her to take to a road trip we've got coming up for spring break.  i've got some other super soft fabric i've been saving for a zip-up jacket for myself, so i'm excited to cut into it and get it going.

wish me luck.  i hope it turns out like i'm hoping it will!

just another week in the house of wan

whew, it's been one crazy week.  between all the usual craziness, we've had all sorts of stuff going on.  the water heater turned out to have a slow leak that had us scrambling to clean out the stuff that had been stored in the cabinet below it.  that was fun.  not.  and then the bean had her last week of cheer practice and went straight into the beginning of track & field season.  i was so shocked when she asked me to sign her up for that, because homegirl is not usually one to volunteer to do any running.  and i'd listened to her chat with her friends in the backseat about what to expect during practices and meets.  i thought for sure when she heard how much running was involved she'd balk, but she surprised me and not only signed up but came home from the first two practices talking about how much fun it'd been.  so awesome.  and then her mission report that we did the road trip for a couple of weeks ago is due today, so we were scrambling to get that done.

she also took home a note telling me that she was going to receive an award at the 2nd trimester ceremony, so i made my way to the gym on tuesday to watch her accept it.  awards changed this year - no more academic awards until the 5th grade (don't get me started) and instead the students will all receive one award which recognizes them for a character trait.  i mean, that's nice and all, but it sure smacks of "trophies for everyone!"  and oh yeah, even when you do get honor roll or principal's list in the 5th grade they just mail you a certificate.  it's not recognized during those awards ceremonies.  pfffft.

in any case, she was still proud to accept her award for "service" and i still beamed with pride listening to the speech her teacher prepared as she gave her the certificate.

afterwards, we got a fun group selfie with her two BFFs.

hey, you can get a shamrock shake at mcdonald's again...along with the szechwan sauce that apparently caused some folks to come to blows when they ran out of it.  sheesh.

my mom came over for a quickie overnight visit and brought with her a bag full of old pictures.  i have so many questions for my 20-something self, like why were you praying?  what was up with that hair?  and what made you pick that lame background with the fake bubbles?

the ol' instant pot got some use this week too.  i was feeling extra lazy one day for dinner and served up some costco rotisserie chicken with some roasted asparagus and...blue box mac & cheese using the IP.

another night i tried out a recipe that mimics olive garden's chicken gnocchi soup.  i have to say, it was pretty tasty.

did i tell you that we gave up red meat for lent?  and the bean has been asking for stroganoff for dinner, which is one of my go-tos because it's quick and easy.  so i picked up some ground turkey to sub in the recipe and luckily she loved it.  i don't have a picture to share because it's not a pretty dish anyway (the soup wasn't either though, huh?), but it's a keeper.  and this is probably the best place to whine about how much i love when people post their recipes to share with others, but is it really necessary to tell a super long story that requires a ton of scrolling to get to the good stuff?  sheesh.

i swear man...bloggers are some wordy ass mofos.  HEH.

more adventures in instant potting

so i'm still trying to use the ol' instant pots as often as i can.  i have a ton of recipes saved between pinterest and facebook, so there's no shortage of things i can try and foist upon my unsuspecting family, muahahahahahaha.

i'm not a big meatloaf fan.  i know, i know, comfort food yadda yadda yadda.  but the rest of the family likes it and i can suck it up enough for one dinner.  not to mention, i wanted to try a recipe i'd found that cooked both the mashed potatoes and meatloaf in one shot.

the potatoes get cubed and placed in the bottom of the pot, with the trivet on top of them.

then you take your meatloaf, shape it and put it in a little homemade foil pan and place that on top.

the instant pot does (almost) all of the rest of the work, and about 35 minutes later i was serving this up:

okay, even i had to admit it was tasty even though i still don't love meatloaf.  so there.

hawaiian plate lunches are one of my favorite things to make in the instant pot, and it's not a new thing.  but it is pretty cool when i can make the kalua pork in one pot and the macaroni salad in the other.  the old lady told me that this is her favorite meal that i make:

and it makes us want to go back to the islands.  sigh.

i decided to make some salsa chicken on taco tuesday one night.  while no one wanted to make actual tacos with it, i was happy to chop up some lettuce and throw together some quick (albeit definitely not authentic) mexican rice to make them some fun taco salad bowls.

this one was really good, and definitely a make-again kind of recipe.  a little extra work than other dump-and-go dishes, but totally worth the effort.  these boneless short ribs were browned in the pot in a little oil before cooking under pressure in a wine and broth bath, and they turned out REALLY good.  even the bean liked these, although she still turned her nose up at the carrots (she ate them anyway).

last but not least, did you know you can turn out a pretty awesome banana nut bread in the instant pot?  you do have to pick up a small 6-cup bundt pan, but it's worth it because you can use that pan for other things too.  it's pretty easy to mix up, and like the other recipes, the IP does everything else.  and look at how pretty it comes out!

and that concludes this installment of "instant pot recipe roundup."  try some of them!  you'll like 'em.

need moar recipes plz

yay, i managed to get through another week of making most dinners at home last week!  i used the instant pot for most of it again, which makes life so much easier for me especially when we get home late from cheer practice.  and check it out - my second pot was delivered and now i have two!

on monday, i decided to use up some stew meat i'd bought for a batch of amish beef & noodles, but i added some green beans so there'd be a veggie in there:

i was really going to try to avoid making too many meals that include pasta - you know, trying to cut carbs but not succeeding even a little bit - but i'd been wanting to try a recipe for tuscan chicken pasta and had finally remembered to buy all of the ingredients i needed.  and this one was a big hit with everyone:

another recipe i'd been holding onto for awhile was for a simple italian-style soup with ground beef, tomatoes and teeny-tiny acini de pepe pasta.  we ate this with a loaf of fresh french bread i picked up at the grocery store, and while the bean grumbled about the chunks of tomatoes i'm still calling it a winner.

so i'd ordered a cute little angel food pan from amazon to use for a quickie cake recipe i found on the instant pot facebook page.  i really do try to make most things from scratch as much as i can, but i'm still a little traumatized over the one and only time i ever made angel food cake from scratch when i was like 11 or something.  the recipe called for something like 10 egg whites, and i remember getting in trouble because i'd used up almost a whole dozen eggs and had all those yolks left over.  oops.  anyway, it was super easy - you just combine the mix with some water, mix it on high for a few minutes until it's super fluffy and meringue-like and spread it into the pan.

one thing i dislike about the instant pot is that the smell of the last thing you cooked in it is damn near impossible to get out of the rubber sealing ring in the lid.  the easiest solution is to buy extra rings and  use one for savory dishes and another for desserts.  the angel food cake was the first dessert i was making in the ol' pot, which gave me the best excuse to finally bust out the "sweet" ring:

now because the pot essentially uses steam to cook everything, the cake looked a little weird when it was done:

no biggie.  i flipped it upside-down to let it cool completely:

and then it came out easily (and in one piece, yay!).

it was fluffy and lightly sweet and to my surprise, even the hub really liked it.  he's not usually a fan of meringue-y, whipped cream-y type things, so i thought for sure he was going to turn his nose up at this.  he suggested maybe doing a little lemon glaze for it next time, and so it looks like this cake might end up going in the regular rotation.

i'm on the hunt now for more fun recipes to try this week, especially since i now have a whole new instant pot to break in.  i can do the main dish in one and some sort of a side in the other one, or another dessert at the same time.

oh, this is gonna be fun.

still a (instant) pothead

okay, so while i'm avoiding making actual new year's resolutions this year (because it just seems to always set me up for failure, and i don't like being a loser), there are a few things that i'd like to focus on this year.  one of them is doing more cooking at home and trying not to eat out so much during the week.

i haven't posted much about it lately, but the love for my instant pot still runs deep.  that thing still gets used pretty regularly, and my collection of saved recipes grows larger by the day.  and my finger may have slipped and ordered myself a nice upgraded second pot last week.  i cannot wait till it comes...it's the bigger version with a few more options available on it, like a "cake" button and the ability to make yogurt.  when i bought the first pot i hadn't really imagined that homemade yogurt would be something i'd want to do, but as time passes and i'm seeing more and more posts about how delicious and inexpensive it is, well...you know how i always suffer from FOMO.

i did manage to be fairly successful this past week with the cooking at home thing, though.  we busted out with a pan of lasagna that the hub had bought at a local italian restaurant on monday, so i guess that doesn't count since i didn't actually make it.  still, it was cheaper than eating out...that's good, right?

tuesday was a so CA-chilly, super rainy day.  the hub requested chili and cornbread, so i busted out a recipe i'd made once before that everyone seemed to like.  well, almost everyone - the bean doesn't like chili, so i got the chance to try my hand at a baked potato soup for her using some leftover potatoes i'd been trying to figure out how to get rid of.  it didn't photograph very well, but it was really tasty and she loved it.  the chili looked a little better, i suppose:

the next day, i decided to switch things up a little and bought some baby back ribs.  i'd been successful with these in the past, but hadn't made them in months.  i used a simple recipe and was able to smush two full racks of ribs in there to cook at once.  a quick brush of bbq sauce and a few minutes under a broiler to bake the sauce on (during which i also threw some asparagus in to roast), some quickie rice pilaf and dinner was served:

my family loves lemon chicken.  i haven't made it in quite awhile, and the recipe i usually use isn't one for the instant pot.  and i'd noticed that we finally have lemons on our tree in the backyard, so it was a good time to try a new recipe.  i liked that it incorporated some wilted baby spinach, which i knew the bean would balk at but threw it in anyway.  i served it over couscous and it was a big hit:

the bean loves those sous vide egg bites that they serve at starbucks.  i'd found a copycat recipe that i'd been eyeing for awhile and had even bought the silicone molds suggested to use with it, and so i finally bought the ingredients and gave it a whirl this weekend.  the molds are intended for homemade baby food:

but i realized that it was too big to fit in the inner liner, so i pulled out the kitchen scissors and trimmed off one of the rows.  once i confirmed that it was good to go, i started filling it with the bacon bits i'd just cooked up in the instant pot using the saute function.

the egg batter gets blended to make it smooth, and in the vitamin it was done within seconds.

it goes in the instant pot for 8 minutes at high pressure, and then the pressure is released naturally for another 10 minutes.  when i opened the pot and took the mold out, they looked like this:

i'd read lots of people complaining about the egg bites being hard to remove, sticking to the molds, what have you. but as i flipped it over onto a plate, they slid right out and here's what i had:

the bean and i cut into the first one, and it was super soft and fluffy and very much like the original ones at starbucks:

for a quickie dinner, i decided to make the bean some drumsticks using a recipe for honey garlic chicken.  i served it with some plain white rice and she gobbled it all up happily.  it's not very picturesque, but it was quite a hit.

i've got a bunch more recipes saved and honestly, i posted the links for the ones i used here because i want to be able to go back to them again and not do the whole trial-and-error thing.  heh.

oh, and when the new instant pot comes...it's gonna be playtime.  woohoo!