Scattered Sundays
It’s been a quiet and boring week. There’s not much to report. Sometimes that’s great, and other times…that’s also great. 🙂
That being said, I’m beyond grateful for the longer days and lighter evenings. Daylight saving has a lot of haters, and while the initial timeshift sucks, I’m such a fan of later sunsets.
Washington is so blessed with long spring/summer days, peaking at 16 hours of daylight on June 21st. On the flip side, we have 7-8 hours of daylight from late full until late winter. These days that start stretching out in March are just the best days of all. The solar panels are digging it too.
It was such a delightful treat to have our first week post-time change involve lots of sunshine and blue skies. Overnight and early mornings were still below freezing, but temps of low to high 50s (and low 60s yesterday!) during the day made us all feel like reptiles soaking up the sun on our heat rocks.
If you have a Cosori air fryer that was part of the recall, have you gotten your new one yet? Ours arrived on Wednesday. The entire process took about three weeks from start to finish, but that was partially my fault. When I initially submitted the info, I accidentally selected the wrong model from their drop-down menu.
We never had an issue with our air fryer in the three years we owned it, but I’m glad that they took the initiative to get the old models out of rotation. Plus, it’s always nice to get something brand-spanking new.
We missed our air fryer so much, and I always knew we used it a lot. But this lull in having it proved how it is truly part of our family. We easily use it 1-5 times a day for all kinds of things.
I got myself some new silicone non-stick reusable air fryer basket liners, and I’ve been so excited to try them out! You know I love me some reusable kitchen items. I try to not use single-use items as much as possible. I haven’t owned plastic wrap for…13 years? Maybe?
That being said, I do have a love affair with parchment paper. I don’t think anything can replace it. But I do use it over and over until it looks like it is going to become a fire hazard. And then we use it to start fires in our woodstove. “the circle…the circle of life”.
This week was a mixed bag of photoshoots. I had planned to do four and actually did all four. But one of them just didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. I’ll need to reshoot the hero shots (the stylized photos you see at the beginning and end of blog posts) this week.
On the plus side, all four of us REALLY liked the recipe so it won’t be a hardship to make the kids eat it again. In fact, Jack came into the kitchen once the finished recipe was cooling on the counter and said “what is that, it looks and smells delicious and I need it right now”.
Our contractor installed some trim in the basement bathroom/laundry room this week so that “we” could start the process of getting the toilet and vanity back into place. Well, it’s a new vanity because the other one was absolute garbage even before the flood. And the water damage certainly didn’t help it along.
The old vanity (was trash) and a lot larger than we need in that small bathroom. I wanted something compact to make the space feel larger, but it also had to be robust enough that it could stand up to male children. The new vanity arrives on Tuesday and I am excited for it to get installed.
Speaking of installed, tomorrow the flooring people will be back to install carpet in our part of the basement and on the stairs. We had to reschedule the installation so many times (because more water damage kept being discovered) that eventually they gave up and told us to just call when we were 100% sure we were ready.
“We” are using a few pieces of the remnants from my dad’s flooring to create an entryway from our garage into the basement. The carpet that we had installed in 2017 was in really good shape before the flood, but there was a lot of wear right inside the garage door.
We park our vehicles in the garage and keep all our shoes out there, but still, this area gets a lot of traffic. The hope is that this little vinyl carve out from the carpet will keep things looking newer, for a lot longer.
Jack starts cross-country practices tomorrow, and that means that we’re almost triple booked nightly between now and May 24th. Pardon me while I cry in the corner and tear out my hair.
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO THIS WEEK
Last week, Andrea commented and recommended the podcast, The Coldest Case in Laramie. It was short and bingeable and I finished it over a two-day work period.
This series is from Serial. From the website: Kim Barker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times, revisits an unsolved murder that took place while she was in high school in Laramie, Wyoming, nearly 40 years ago. She confronts the conflicting stories people have told themselves about the crime because of an unexpected development: the arrest of a former Laramie police officer accused in the murder. (source)
READER SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK
My friends, I’m honored and humbled that so many of you have made my Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole {Pin this recipe} since it was published only last month!
Karen left this five-star review on the post:
Family loved this! I ended up using some Primal Kitchen ranch in place of the ranch seasoning and it turned out great. Adding it to my rotation of meals I can make ahead of time and heat up later.
ON SUSTAINABLE COOKS THIS WEEK
Asparagus Casserole – Make the best creamy Asparagus Casserole ever with this delicious recipe. Loaded with fresh asparagus and a homemade smoky cheese sauce, this dish will become a family favorite for any occasion. {Pin this recipe}
Air Fryer French Bread Pizza – This incredible Air Fryer French Bread Pizza recipe comes together in just minutes with only a few ingredients. Perfect for fast dinners or snacks, they’re even easy enough for kids to make their own. {Pin this recipe}
Instant Pot Asparagus – Make perfect Instant Pot Asparagus for a quick and healthy side dish. It’s so easy to whip up this easy pressure cooker asparagus in minutes. {Pin this recipe}
THE FIVE MOST POPULAR POSTS THIS WEEK
- Air Fryer Egg Rolls – vegan and vegetarian as written but super customizable! Oh, and did you know you can FREEZE these? {Pin this recipe}
- Garlic Butter Rice – I can’t think of a week that goes by in this house without at least one batch of this comfort food being made. {Pin this recipe}
- Air Fryer Cookies – I’m a big fan of this recipe and you’re going to love it! {Pin this recipe}
- Air Fryer Omelet – this post had a freaking moment in some Facebook groups last week and it just kept chugging this week. {Pin this recipe}
- Air Fryer Pizza Rolls – unlike the ones from our childhood, these are not filled with lava and regret. {Pin this recipe}
MEAL PLAN
Monday:: Sandwiches in the car in-between cross country and soccer.
Tuesday:: I promised Bennett spaghetti, and there will be salad/veggies on the side.
Wednesday:: The recipe I need to rephotograph from last week, with salad and veggies on the side.
Thursday:: Troy is making dinner and we’ll be excited to eat it!
Friday:: Busy night and day and there will be some sort of soup in the Instant Pot. Probably tortellini or lasagna soup. I have everything to make both of them.
Saturday:: Takeout after a far away soccer game that ends at 6:30.
Sunday:: TBD, but probably leftovers. A late soccer game got added this week that we hadn’t been expecting. As such, there is no movie night, but still lots of leftovers!
I’m with Bernie. Despite how much I loathe cleaning the air fryer tray, I’ve been hesitant to use any kind of liner for fear that it will affect how it cooks. Doesn’t it sort of function as a convection oven, suggesting that air would need to come from underneath and on the sides as well? Am I envisioning this the wrong way?
For me it is less about the cleaning aspect (I’m going to clean it regardless) and more about the non-stick aspect. Some items of food do need help not sticking to the basket.
Here is what I bought so you can see it for yourself. It’s basically reusable air fryer parchment: https://amzn.to/3TOKqrG
I’m pretty interested to hear your thoughts on the silicone air fryer basket liner thingy. I’ve seen them on Amazon but I’ve been pretty skeptical. We generally don’t use anything in our air fryer but sometimes that makes it a pain to clean.
Also, do you have a master list of podcast and book recommendations somewhere? I should really write these things down! Haha
For me it isn’t about reducing the cleaning, but rather just keeping food from sticking to the basket. I’m still going to clean the basket when I’m done cooking, even with the liner.
I don’t have a good list of podcasts. I have a GoodReads account but I am terrible about keeping it updated.
Would be fun to occasionally hear about a few of the meals that Troy whips up for you guys. Â I’m very curious! Â
It’s always one of four things! 1) hamburgers 2) grilled chicken 3) tacos 4) baked chicken parm
All tasty, but that tends to be his repertoire.
My Dad’s repertoire was:
Meatloaf, mashed taters, green beans
Pan grilled chicken breast, rice with gravy, broccoli
Egg Specials (omelets on toast)
Yellow cake with penut butter and coffee icing
anything home canned,
Breakfast
You get it!!