Weekending

We have snow!  Again!  It really is beautiful.  We had just about lost all of our previous snow because of the higher than normal temps we've experienced melting it, which left us with mud.  I much prefer the snow.  We woke up Thursday morning to about 3 inches of fresh snow and then we were the recipients of another 5-6 inches on Saturday.

my typical salad

I spent a good portion of Saturday doing some meal prep.  I usually get a bunch of veggies chopped and/or steamed for my salads throughout the week.  I then make up 2 days of full salads and store the rest of the veggies in jars so I can easily make the salads the remainder of the week.  **You can possibly see that I add cold water to the chopped celery and grated carrot.  This helps keep them crunchy and fresh.  **  I also always prep what we'll be eating and drinking on Sunday.  I make cold brew for Jay plus his coffee syrup (organic sugar and water) as well as prep what we'll have for breakfast, make our lunches, and prep Sunday's dinner.  This way, we can easily get ourselves out the door for the farmer's market and then dinner is easy once we're home.  Our Sunday market ended up being cancelled due to the snow today so we are well prepped for a day at home!

I usually also clean all of the eggs on Saturday too.  Thankfully I hadn't started that task before I was told the market would likely be cancelled.  I can find room in the refrigerator for 8-10 dozen eggs for a day, but having them in there all week would have been a real pain.  So, we'll have a lot of eggs to clean next Saturday!  A quick note, in case you're wondering, once you clean the eggs it removed their natural bloom (protectant) so they must then be refrigerated.  They are fine at room temp if that hasn't been removed.

Oliver sleeping soundly, finally!

Grateful - that things are improving with Oliver and Jerkson Jackson.  As noted in the last Weekend post, Oliver is very upset and I still have no idea what happened to push him over the edge, but I believe Jack must have got into Oliver's bed one night and terrorized him.  I'm using (affiliate link) Bach's Rescue Remedy on Jack to try and calm him from constantly targeting Oliver.  (it's ALL THE TIME..... he is either trying to intimidate him by glaring and getting in his face or he's attacking him) It does help, particularly if I remember to give it to him every 4-5 hours,  although it's an uphill battle if I'm being honest.  It's just his personality and who he is.  He LOVES to pick-pick-pick.  Always has.  He's hilarious (when he's not picking), handsome, and a really good cat.  It would be incredibly helpful if he would settle down a bit.

Oliver is temporarily on a bit of prescription medication to help him relax.  It got really bad, and the natural alternatives were taking too long to kick in so I reached out to his vet in desperation.  He was just such a mess and wasn't sleeping (or letting me sleep) for longer than an hour at a time.  He couldn't sit still, constantly jumping/jittery, and was just downright uncomfortable and upset.  And when Jack entered the room, oh boy, he would lose it, clinging to my side and crawling up my leg trying to get picked up (not normal for him at all).  But when we would take him out of the house he was fine - his normal self.  So we knew it had to do with Jack.....  He's always been very anxious and high-strung, so unfortunately it's not completely new, just much worse.  But, he is now doing well and we have even had 3 nights of 8 hours sleep!!!

Loving - cloth alternatives to paper towels.  I have no idea what took me so long to realize that I needed to put a stack of cloth towels in the kitchen.  Mind you, we don't use a lot of paper towels, however, they were still an easy go-to because I didn't keep a stack of cloths in the kitchen so it wasn't so convenient.  At the end of summer last year I finally stuck a stack in the kitchen and my-oh-my, we use hardly any paper towels at all!  One thing I did to stop myself from (out of habit) reaching for paper towels was to put the paper towels in the cupboard or across the kitchen, keeping the cloth towels in my main working area.  This way, they were right where I would normally reach to clean up a spill, wash veggies or fruit, etc. Whether you make your own from scraps or buy towels, the key is in making sure you have a small stack so you don't run out before you've done laundry.

Cooking - last night I made 5-Spice Bourbon Chicken for Jay along with rice and cauliflower with cheese sauce. For me it was a grain bowl.  Tonight it's Shephard's Pie.  The ground beef version for Jay (Cottage Pie, I believe?) and the Vegan (mushroom/corn/carrot/lentil) version for moi.  We will have greens & homemade, super easy, no-knead artisan bread on the side (recipe coming this week).  Lunches were salad (me), grilled cheese sandwich (Jay) and a side of homemade roasted tomato soup (both).

Enjoying - so remember how I shared my favorite teas in a previous weekending post?  Well....I've found a NEW ONE!  I believe I've also shared that I stopped drinking coffee a few months ago.  Once I stopped with coffee I found, when trying to drink it again, that I seem to have some sensitivities to caffeine.  So, I've been drinking decaf from time-to-time.  But, that has changed now.

Celestial Seasonings Tea makes 2 delicious caffeine-free coffee alternatives.  I'm linking to them (affiliate) on Amazon so you can see, but purchase them at your grocery store, they are likely much cheaper.  At Hannaford I was able to purchase them for $2.79/box (they were around $3.30-3.40/box at Whole Foods and the local health food stores).  The Roastaroma is here (features a light cinnamon/allspice combo)  and the Almond Sunset is here (features almond flavoring).  Both are a combination of chicory root, carob, and barley.  It gives the taste and mouthfeel of coffee and I really am loving them with just a hint of oat milk.

Working On - being consistent with one new blog post every Thursday.  I'll try to also write these "weekending" posts every other Sunday.  If I have additional posts or recipes to share, I plan to share those on Tuesdays.  As we come up with and incorporate newer, healthier, recipes into our life I'll try to get them up.   Quite a few of you have emailed requesting more information on a couple of things:  starting our business (a more in-depth look instead of the overview here) and an outline of how we paid off our debt (all but the mortgage) with meal planning.  I am working on both of these plus an add-on to the debt payoff post - a focus on reducing your grocery bill.  I'm thinking about trying to include a month's worth of low cost meal plan ideas/recipes.

Reading - I'm finishing up (affiliate links) The Simple Living Guide and have Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less next up in que.   Have you read either?  I would love to hear your thoughts!


I'm hoping you've had a lovely weekend as well!

Weekendingwas originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)