I must confess that I didn’t follow my laundry rule of one load, start to finish and only start to finish, earlier this week. There were a couple of loads to do on Monday and I thought, “Oh, I’ll just fold them while we watch the presidential debate.” That would have been fine, except it gave me the freedom to forget about it until evening and of course by that time, I needed to wash, dry, and fold during the debate. And perhaps you thought the debates were long enough, but they aren’t long enough to do two loads of laundry from start to finish.
So, yesterday I ended up with three loads of laundry to do, but I’m happy to report that I did do them to completion and I started with a clean laundry slate on Wednesday.
Oh, except that I realized halfway through my three loads that the washer was set on Rinse/Spin. Oops. I’m not sure how many loads I didn’t “wash” but I’m hoping there was only the one. (And no, I didn’t run it through the wash cycle – it was already in the dryer when I discovered it and it wasn’t anything particular dirty.)
Yesterday, we had Pioneer Woman’s Meatloaf with some of the twice-baked potatoes I’d prepped on Monday, a big Caesar salad, and freshly-baked pumpkin muffins from the freezer. The only thing I actually had to really fix was the salad, which was a cinch since everything else was pulled from the freezer or refrigerator. We were eating by 5:45. Yeehaw!
My 7yo and 5yo helped me dry the dishes last night. I’ve been trying to have them help me, and man, it’s a lot easier to have them do it when I’m actually getting supper on the table more than 30 minutes before their bedtime. They do pretty well at drying everything except knives. Of course, they do require some encouragement to stay on task: I’ve learned that my All-Clad pot lid works as a great shield and my mixer bowl is a fantastic helmet. Thankfully, the war equipment they create while doing dishes is limited to defensive vestments.
After the dishes were done, I toasted two cups of steel-cut oats and left them on the stove, ready to add water and cook this morning. That worked well – it only saves about ten minutes but in the scheme of breakfast, that’s a lot of time! I’ve tried several crockpot steel cut oats recipes and they all turned to mush, so I’m testing out this so we can have oats we’ll actually eat.
What’s happening in your world? What did you have for supper yesterday (or today)?
$1.25 for Lucerne (half gallon) at Safeway, Fri-Sun Only
Last night we made shepherds pie for the first time in like forever ( I am quoting my 11 yr old). I had to figure out something to do with the boxes of potatoes that I got so cheap. My kids are not fond of them as a plain side so I am going to try and get creative with them. Maybe potatoe pancakes later this week? By the way your meatloaf looks very yummy.
Ah, great way to use those potatoes! Would you believe I only did that catalina deal once?! I’m trying to eat from the pantry/freezer this month.
I only did two. We have found that the less coupons we use the more money we save. But they were such a good deal and easy pantry filler. Plus when my husband goes hunting they are easy to make in camp.
First a Pioneer Woman recipe an then an Alton Brown recipe- love it! The oats look awesome, and filling. I definitely need to try them- Regular oatmeal just isn’t cutting it for me anymore.
I recently found out that I can spend a ridiculous amount of time on the Pioneer Woman’s website. Surfing her site while drooling – nice combo.
Dinner for me was french bread with butter. Not kidding. I think I need to pick up freezer cooking as well.
I’m not a fan of regular oatmeal myself – everyone else will eat it, but I didn’t ever even try oatmeal until I was married and it wasn’t exactly love at first sight (for the oatmeal!). But, everyone loves steel cut oats, myself included!
I should probably mention that instead of using buttermilk, I usually just add a splash of cream.
They really are filling! I’ve been trying to fix more filling breakfasts since Jeremy gets hungry at about 10 AM if he doesn’t enough something substantial. (Actually, he tends to get lightheaded if he eats something light like cereal – so on the days that I don’t get something hot ready, he’s better off skipping breakfast and just eating an early lunch! For whatever reason he doesn’t get lightheaded if he doesn’t eat at all.)
I cook my steel cut oats in my rice cooker on the white rice setting and they come out great. Since I use almond milk in mine I don’t start it until morning and they take about 30 minutes. But I’ve heard of others who use water set it up the night before with the timer and it’s ready in the morning.
I’ve had several people recommend a rice cooker for steel-cut oats! I don’t have one but might have to consider it someday. I think my rice is just fine, LOL, but maybe I need one for oats! :)
what are the ratios to use in the rice cooker? oats to almond milk and oats to water?
Cooks Illustrated has a recipe for “10 minute steel-cut oatmeal” You add the oats to boiling water the night before and let it sit overnight. Then in the morning you add some more water and bring it to a boil and it only has to cook 4-6 minutes.
Oh, they do? I’m a big Cook’s Illustrated fan… Maybe I’ll have to try that one.