Duke - 1 year later!

1. This past Saturday marked the 1 year anniversary of bringing Duke home to live with us. I can’t believe it’s been a year already! He’s currently in the bratty teenager phase of puppyhood, but he’s also one of the sweetest dogs ever. He loves his people :)

2. On Monday, I hit the halfway point of my pregnancy – 20 weeks! I’ve been feeling really well and continuing to grow, grow, grow. We had our anatomy ultrasound last week – the baby is growing right on schedule and so far looks to be perfectly healthy. And yes, we did find out the sex… :)

its-a-boy

3. I’m loving The Essential Techniques That Every Home Cook Should Know from Food52. Great resources!

4. So, I have this problem. I feel like the ability to slice an even piece of bread is missing from my DNA. No matter what I do, I always screw it up! I either slice the top normal and then the bottom of the slice is like two inches thick or vice versa – the bottom is virtually see-through. Any tips for slicing bread evenly? I need a guide or something!

5. Last Saturday, I saw a ton of people tweeting about a Simpsons marathon that was on TV. This might be a shocking confession, but I’ve never seen a single episode of the show. When it first came on, my sister and I weren’t allowed to watch it, and then by the time I was old enough for it to not matter, it was never something that really appealed to me. Please tell me I’m not the only one!

6. I’m not sure if I’ve never noticed them before, but yesterday at the grocery store they had bushels of fresh hatch chiles from New Mexico. I can’t ever remember seeing them around here before, so I’ve never cooked with them. They had fresh ones, and then they had containers of roasted ones that they were roasting on-site right outside. What can I do with these, and how spicy are they?!

7. I love this post: When Productivity Tools Get in the Way of Actual Productivity. No matter how many different types of apps, online calendars or fancy planners I try to use, I always go back to my trusty notebook and pen. For me, nothing beats physically writing things down.

8. Full House back on the air?! My inner 10-year-old could not possibly be more excited!

9. I am slowly getting into the habit of keeping fresh-baked foods in my freezer (I figure this will help when the baby arrives – good to start the habit now!). I started this week with the whole wheat sandwich bread… next up – cookie dough! It’s all about balance, right?! I’m planning to stash away some of these salted peanut butter cup chocolate chip cookies. If you’ve never done it before, just make the dough as you normally would, then place the balls of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop in the freezer until the dough is completely frozen. Then, throw them in a freezer-safe resealable bag and bake as many as you’d like at a time, just add a couple of extra minutes to the baking time. Cookies on demand!

10. TGIF! Have an awesome last (long) weekend of summer!

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