This Weekend We Are...

.....relaxing and taking it easy after being sick all week. The babies that I nanny for have had colds and fevers all week, and despite taking an overload of vitamins we still managed to both get sick.

....catching up on Grimm. We have a surprising interest in this show. It was filmed here in Portland and we have a number of friends who played roles as "extras" in some of the ..episodes.

.... having a date night which includes two of our favorite things : wine & cheese. Oh and probably a third favorite: Season 5 of Friends. Last year, we watched all ten seasons in a year. Recently we decided to start over and watch them from the beginning- in a month we have already made it to season 5. 

..... couponing! I have an addiction with scoring products for free or nearly free. I love stocking up on products that will last and in turn save us money in the future. I use sites such as the Krazy Coupon Lady to find current sales and match ups for sales and coupons at my favorite stores. But one thing I love is when stores have "coupon doublers". Albertsons usually puts out three doublers every other week they have been out the last three weekends in a row! Score! 

.... cleaning. Our place is a mess. Enough said. 

.... finishing up our homemade Christmas presents! We our making Kahlua and Frangelico for many of our family members. They are two things we love and so we are thrilled to have made our own

Mixing the ingredients for Frangelico!

We stored all of the containers in the guest room closet. We needed a dark environment.

Both the Kahlua and Frangelico have been sitting for one month already in big containers and today we poured them into separate bottles. It has been such a fun project for us! I will do a separate post on the whole process of infusing these two liquors. 

... enjoying time off from work! Time to go hang out with the hubby now. Enjoy your weekend!

Weekly Recipe: Delicious Ginger Cookies

The other day I was looking for something scrumptious to bake while Stephen was enthralled in football games. I came across this Ginger Cookie Recipe by the Barefoot Contessa. We left out the crystallized ginger, cooked them slightly longer, and they were soooo tasty!

What you will need:

2¼ cups all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1½ teaspoons ground cloves 
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 
½ teaspoon ground ginger 
¼ teaspoon salt 
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed 
¼ cup vegetable oil 
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses 
1 extra-large egg, at room temperature 
1 1/4 cups crystallized ginger
Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies 


Method:


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and then combine the mixture with your hands. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the brown sugar, oil, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg, and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for 1 more minute. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined. 

Scoop the dough with 2 spoons or a small ice cream scoop. With your hands, roll each cookie into a 1¾-inch ball and then flatten them lightly with your fingers. Press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar and place them on the sheet pans. Bake for exactly 13 minutes. The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft inside. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for a minute or two, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely 


*We cooked for 14 minutes: we found this to be the perfect time.


So go ahead and get started on these yummy cookies! When they are finished, grab a cup of milk to dunk them in and enjoy!

I think it's almost time...

...to bust out the Christmas music! My husband and I have a favorite that we listen to every year:

We love to listen to Nat King Cole while we decorate the tree, sip hot tea on a chilly evening, open our gifts, or bake some delicious Christmas cookies. This particular music selection is special to Stephen because it is one that his mom has played every year since they were little. Christmas traditions are so important, and Stephen and I have already have built some together.

Last year, I picked up a copy of Michael Buble's Let it Snow album. It is great! His voice is calming and simply beautiful. 

I must admit that I have a guilty pleasure when it comes to Christmas music. It;s something I have listened to for the past ten (?) years now at Christmas time. The songs are fun, upbeat, and bring me back to the boy band days. 

Another great Christmas album? Taylor Swift's Sounds of the Season Holiday Collection. 

As Christmas approaches, these are some of the music selections that I will be singing along to. I am always eager to listen to new Christmas albums and find ones I love. What is your favorite Christmas music? 

Not Me! Monday

It was certainly not me who forgot about Daylight Savings when I went to bed Saturday night. I also was not extremely confused in my tired state when I woke up to find that my clock said it was after eight while my husband's said it was after nine!

It also definitely was not me who was bored out of my mind while my husband watched football all day on Sunday. I am a self-sufficient and have plenty to do on my own, so I would never complain about being bored all day.

I also did not accidentally put my husband's thermometer (for culinary school) through both the washer and dryer yesterday. I always make sure I check every single pocket of his clothes for hidden objects. It is also not me who is crossing my fingers all day today that it still works so we don't have to buy another one...

What about you? What have you NOT been doing?

Happy Weekend

I am looking forward to our weekend.  The hubby and I are road tripping to the college town we moved from 9 months ago. Stephen grew up there, and I called it my home for the past five years while I was in college. We are missing our friends, so we decided why not go visit them! However, we won't be hanging out together. Nope. He wants to be with his guys. And I am looking forward to some catching up and bonding time with my college roommate.

I lived with my roommate K for four years. I feel blessed to have been able to live with someone that long and still enjoy being around each other! K has put up with me and been such an incredible friend through the good and the bad.

Here we are in September of 2010 when Stephen and I went to visit K in the town she grew up in.

This girl has got a heart of gold. Seriously. I have never met such a genuine person in my life. But, back the the weekend.

So, Stephen and I will get the best of both worlds tonight. He can make gross jokes with his dudes while I discuss life and past bizarre roommate experiences with K (we lived with some other girls in the past...more on those stories later...).

Since we are going to be in Stephen's hometown, Saturday we will go to lunch with his family. His mom, step-dad, and sisters are anxious to see us and we miss being able to drive five minutes across town to see them. We will have lunch with them and then head back to Portland. The plans for the rest of the weekend? Hopefully nothing but laying around in my pj's and busting out the Christmas music. No, it is not to early.

Have an excellent weekend!

Different

I have two things that I need to get off my chest. First, there are some situations that my husband handles way differently than I would. Secondly, I found out something a few days ago: my husband was keeping a secret from me.

Was it a big deal? No. Then what was the point? Well, you see, he thought the issue would fix itself.

See, multiple times in the past few weeks I have suggested that we use our food processor (which was a wedding gift) to make the process simpler for some meals that we were making. But lately every time I brought up the food processor Stephen has quickly replied that he will just do the job by hand. This made no sense to me. Until I realized he broke our food processor, was hoping it would fix itself, and decided not to tell
me about it.

When I found out all I could do was light. He busted the motor while making hummus. But really, we are so different because when something breaks I tell him immediately. I still haven't quite figured out how he thought the situation would resolve itself or that I would not notice. And that is how my husband and I are very different.

Homemade Laundry Soap

I love deals and saving money is a great feeling. One way that I have started to save money in my home is by making my own laundry detergent. I know you're thinking- How do you do that? That can't possibly clean well at all! But it does, and it is easy. You can do it yourself too!

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What you will need:

~ 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (This is different then baking soda; you can find it in the laundry aisle)

~ 2 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax

~ 1 bar of grated  Fels Naptha laundry soap  (You could also use Zote laundry soap or other soaps such as Ivory, Pure & Natural, etc)

I purchased these items at my local Fred Meyers for under $10 total. The great thing about this is that you will have what you need on hand when you need to make more detergent because it is very concentrated and takes very little to make a batch!

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and stir well. That's it- you did it! The finished product seems to look like it has shredded cheese in it but the yellow is just the color of the laundry soap. If you desire you can put the soap in the food processor first to powder it, but I find it works great like this.

It only takes one tablespoon of soap per regular size load of laundry. For extra large loads you can use two tablespoons. I use an old teaspoon and just use three level scoops.

The cost per load of this homemade detergent is about $ .035 cents compared to store bought detergent which ranges from $.50- $.75 cents per load.

Storage: I use an extra large ziploc storage container that I had laying around. When I get low on detergent, I make more and add it to the container!

I have found that since this is so concentrated it cleans my clothes very well. It does not have added scent like other detergents, so you can try adding different essential oils, if you would like.

*One thing to note: consumers like to see suds in their detergent because they feel that suds are necessary for clean clothes. If your laundry is not sudsy, do not panic! This detergent does not include the other agents that are in store bought detergent to create suds, but the water gets dirty and the stains are gone which proves it is working.

Enjoy!

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This post was featured 1/31 at A Bowl Full of Lemons!