My Staycation

I blessed to have a great job that I love (most of the time) and 3 weeks vacation time.  Scott only gets two weeks, so that leaves me with an entire week to spend by myself!  While I have no grand plans for the week, I do have quite the list of things I would like to get done.    

1. Sew

Boppy covers- do you have any idea how expensive they are?  It is ridiculous to spend $15-30 for something I can make from what I already have in my fabric stash.

Maybe a couple of these boutique style bibs for my bebe and my brother and his wife (they are expecting their first little one around the end of October).  Again, from what I already have in my stash.

2.  Clean out spare bedroom, which will be the baby's room.  We have lived in our home for over a year now and have never really done much to this room besides just throw things in there that we don't know what to do with.  It is pretty much a black hole. 

3.  Cook

Zucchini bread or some variation of it.  I will probably make muffins instead of bread, so we can freeze them for easy snacks.

Meatballs- I make mine with either ground chicken or turkey.  This time, I will definitely be using ground chicken due to all of the recalls on ground turkey lately.  I will probably freeze these, as well.

Buffalo Chicken casserole- also from Eating Well magazine.  I have not made this, but it intrigues me.  I will probably split the recipe between two smaller casserole dishes.  One for now, one for later.  If I make it, I will let you all know how it is.

4.  Organize

This sort of goes hand in hand with cleaning the spare bedroom out.  I have piles laying everywhere of my craft and sewing supplies.  I need to come up with some sort of system for them and a place to store everything.  I also need to go through my clothes.  My friend Amanda gave me a great idea to go through my closet and pack up the clothes that I know for sure I will not be able to wear while pregnant.  That way, my closet won't get all clogged with regular and maternity clothes (I already have a TON of stuff Amanda let me borrow.  Not all of it is my taste or will fit, but it will help me so I don't have to spend a lot of money on maternity clothes.)

5.  Paint foyer

In the year we have lived in our house, our foyer has already been 3 colors.  I bought paint this morning and will be painting it again this week.

The original shade was the color of flesh.  No lie.  I wish I knew what it was to show you the awfulness of it, but I don't.  I know you're sad.

The second shade was supposed to be a really pretty apple green.  It looked like Kermit the Frog green.  It looks rather lovely on the swatch.  Hideous in my house.

The current color was good for a while, but I'm over it.  It, too, is a shade of green, but lighter and brighter than the previous.

The shade I purchased today is.....you guessed it!  Green.  Hopefully this is the keeper.  A little more gray and a little darker.

6.  The in-laws are coming for a couple days.  I have no idea what we are going to do, except for one thing- eat!

So, those are my plans for the week.  I will be pleased if I get half of them completed! :)
 

Easy and healthy breakfasts

I am a breakfast eater.  I think about what I am going to eat for breakfast the next morning while I am trying to fall asleep at night.  I could eat breakfast food for dinner almost every night, so, therefore, I do not understand people that say, "I just can't eat first thing in the morning."  I am so hungry when I wake up, I have to eat first thing, before anything else.  Due to the fact that I get up pretty early- around 5am- I usually keep it pretty simple, like cereal and fruit, peanut butter toast, oatmeal, etc.  Now that I have a little person growing in my belly and making me even more ravenous in the morning, I have needed to add a little more substance to my breakfast routine. 

I subscribe to the magazine Eating Well and receive tons of emails loaded with great, easy recipes that usually have affordable and easily accessible ingredients.  A recent email was dedicated to quick and easy healthy breakfasts- just what I need!  A lot of the recipes talked about veggie omelets, scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla, etc.  I don't know about you, but I'm a little too lazy to get out the skillet and scramble a couple eggs in the morning.  The less dirty dishes, the better!  Needless to say, when I stumbled upon a recipe for Overnight Oatmeal, I was intrigued.  You basically through everything in the crock pot before going to bed and wake up to warm, creamy oatmeal in the morning, NO HASSLE!  I followed the recipe exactly and I would definitely make a few suggestions. 

1. This recipe uses no added sweeteners.  I would recommend mixing in some vanilla extract for the cooking process and maybe even some honey afterward, if you prefer a sweeter oatmeal. 

2.  This makes a ton of oatmeal.  Try splitting the recipe in half, unless you plan on feeding an army. 

3.  Spray your crock pot with cooking spray, or better yet, spend $2 on a box of four crock pot liners.  I don't use them for everything, but they are great to have around for certain recipes that are a pain to clean up. 

4.  Make this on a weekend or if you time that morning to clean up and package leftovers.  I did not use a liner and did not clean my crock pot up right away and it was covered in mossy green mold within a couple days. 

5.  The recipe calls for chopped, dried cranberries and apricots.  I think dried apples, cherries or blueberries would be equally good.  I also added a little milk and slivered almonds to mine right before eating.

6.  Steel cut oats are super healthy for you.  Eat them.  They will keep you regular.  We could all use a little of that, right?  :)

Overnight Oatmeal (Eating Well Magazine, Winter 2004)

8 cups water
2 cups steel-cut oats
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Combine all ingredients in a 5-6 quart slow cooker.  Put on lid and set temperature to low.  Cook 7-8 hours, or until oatmeal is creamy.  Enjoy!