Friday Things
1. Last Saturday we had Christmas with my dad’s family and Joseph refused to nap before we went, then proceeded to totally crash around 3:30. He has NEVER just conked out in the middle of chaos before; so sweet.
He had to get blood drawn this week (nothing serious, just a redo of the allergy panel he had done last year), and he was SUCH A TROOPER. As in, he barely flinched and didn’t shed a single tear. The experience last year was a little… dramatic, to say the least (lots of crying and screaming), so I was totally prepared for the same. Then… nothing. The tech was absolutely awesome and great with him, which I’m sure helped!
2. Dominic is doing great, too! He discovered his hands and is absolutely mesmerized by them… he’s constantly cupping them together in front of his face and studying them, turning them, sucking on them. I forgot how much time Joseph spent with his hands and fingers shoved in his mouth when he was tiny!
He watched some hockey with me this week after his big brother went to bed :)
3. Who has an Instant Pot? Do I need this? Is it the new slow cooker? My aunt loves hers!
4. One of my goals for next year is to read more. What were some of your favorite books this year?
5. What are you binge watching right now?
6. Most of my favorite holiday cookies include either peanut butter or other nuts, and since we’re avoiding all of that with Joseph’s allergies, I have the dough for these cookies in the fridge to bake later today. I’ve wanted to try them forever, can’t wait!
7. Do you build gingerbread houses? I can’t believe I’ve NEVER made one! Maybe we did them when I was little, but I don’t remember. I might have to make plans for one next year – I’m sure the boys would love it.
8. What are your plans for the holiday weekend? We are having Christmas Eve at my mom’s tomorrow (alllll the fish!) and then will be home with my in-laws on Christmas Day. Looking forward to all of it!
9. There won’t be a weekend dish tomorrow due to the holiday, so I wish you all an absolutely wonderful holiday weekend!
10. TGIF! Duke wishes you a very Merry Christmas!
I have been looking at the Instant Pots as well. Did you get a good response on them? I would love for you to get one and do a review and some good recipes to go along with it. Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year–can’t wait to see your next new puppy dog (hopefully). Love the baby and doggy pics–I always look forward to Friday things just for the pics of them….oh yeah, and the recipes too… Many blessings in the year ahead.
Love reading your blogs and making your recipes, Michelle. I so enjoy seeing photos of your family and especially your furry friends. I’m a fiction author and would be happy to send you one of my e-books to read, if you are interested. I have a mystery/detective series and a women’s fiction series. Each of the series features a canine companion…usually a golden retriever :-)
My daughter & her boyfriend (they are both 17) built gingerbread houses this year. They each did their own & had quite the competition going… they spent 2 hrs on them! Needless to say they are quite the works of art. ;)
You are awesome!!
If you haven’t already read it (it’s about a decade old, but I just recently discovered this book): “The Glass Castle,” by Jeannette Walls. I could not put it down, it was so good!
Brand new Instant Pot user here. I bought the 6 Quart size, but would recommend 8 Quart if you like leftovers! I had used a stove top pressure cooker occasionally and liked the results, but was intrigued with the automatic settings and the keep warm function while I work. I’ve used it twice and was blown away. First time I tried a little 4 lb pork shoulder roast- from the time I put it in until we were eating was 1 hour and 20 min, and it was like butter. I saved the juices from the roast and in a couple days made a dish with the saved broth, some pre-soaked beans, a big onion, a cut up red pepper, a bag of spinach and a pack of cut up italian sausages. Incredible- it does so well with beans, but what we were amazed with was the way it cooked the sausage slices into the most tender meatball-like things. We couldn’t get enough of that sausage and the consistency was unlike any sausage we ever tried before. My next hopeful thing to make in there is a couple of little meatloaves. Can’t wait!
I have enjoyed reading your blog and wish you and your family a very wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!
You should definitely get an InstantPot! I love mine so much that both my mom and sister went out and each bought one and are hooked now too. I’ve made so many things, but my favorites are the things that normally take forever if you cook them the traditional way(spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, beans etc.). The thing that made me buy the IP in the first place was that you can cook frozen chicken breasts/thighs in 20 mins!!! Don’t even need to defrost the chicken! Here’s my go-to, no brains required, weekday meal:
Place 1.5 lbs frozen boneless chicken thighs or breast in the InstantPot with garlic powder, dried onion flakes, salt, 1/2 cup water & 1 cup of green salsa (I use Herdes brand). Cook on high for 20 mins. When the timer goes off I open the pot using the quick release method. Shred the chicken in the pot, and add canned pinto beans. Use the “sauté” function to cook the soup for about 5 more mins. Serve with your choice of avocado, sour cream, cheese & tortilla chips! It’s a little spicy, but still a big hit with my kids (ages 2 & 4) and my husband (age 34 LOL).Â
Merry Christmas! Your boys are adorable! Book recommendation  – “Her Nowhere” by Brigetta Schwaiger. It was the first and only book I have read using the Kindle App. I LOOOOOOOVVVVEEEDDD it.Â
If you haven’t read, “The Nightingale,” you should consider it. It’s a story of two sisters living in France during the beginning of WWII and throughout the 4 yrs of war. Each sister had an important and dramatic role of survival . Very well written and an easy read. Historically accurate, too.
i got an instapot when they were marked down on amazon. people rave about them but I’m not so sure we need one.
Michelle,
I have been following you for years now, rarely (if ever) commenting, but making and loving many, many of your recipes. I just wanted to share with you that my family and I have been living in Naples, Italy for the past 3 years and will be leaving next month to head back to the US. Â Reading about your Italian grandmother and then seeing the Italian traditions carried on in your family (such as “aallll the fish” on Christmas Eve) really bring a smile to face and to my heart as I have seen firsthand these traditions and also because we have really come to love this country. Â Thank you for sharing that part of your life with readers because it is something I will cherish after we leave.Â
Also, I bookmarked your Neapolitan pizza recipe and sent it to several of my friends that have already moved from here. Â I can’t wait to have the little bite of Naples to bring me back! :)Â
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Love my Instand Pot and my favorite thing so far is hard boiled eggs — seriously! They peel so easily that it’s worth using it for something so simple. It has taken a bit of getting used to but I can’t imagine not having one now. Sure speeds things up so we’re at least having nutrious dinners vs. fast food on nights with homework and sports. Merry Christmas!
Merry christmas to you Michelle and yor lovely family.
Hi Michelle, and warm wishes for the holiday!
Yes, YES, Â Y E S ….you need an Instant Pot; or two! Â I have the 6 and 8 quarts Duo, and they both are used so much they never leave the counter! Â You will LOVE it!!
I love series books, and time travel (girls gotta dream, right?!) so the “Out of Time” series is one of my favorites.Â
I’m binge-watching Alaskan Bush People; love this family.Â
Thanks for sharing YOUR beautiful family with us!
Merry Christmas! I enjoy watching your cute family grow. Very sweet.
Joseph gets more and more handsome every day! Dominic looks so cute in his pjs and I love how his hair sticks up! Sounds like you have great plans for the holiday – enjoy!
I don’t have an instant pot but all of my friends are talking about theirs. They are making everything with it!
Kari
http://sweetteasweetie.com/
Merry Christmas,Michelle!!
I would love to hear how you like the soft cream cheese chocolate chip cookies recipe!
Have a wonderful holiday!
Love love love my Instant Pot. I have the 7-in-1. I ended up getting rid of my slow cooker and rice cooker once I got used to using the IP. Get the America’s Test Kitchen recipe book, too. I’ve made bunches of their recipes in the pot. I’ve also used it for making yogurt–so easy! Takes a bit of getting used to, but now I can’t live without it. Merry Christmas and many blessings!
Ref. the Instant Pot, I have two friends who own one and say they are absolutely wonderful. I have put off getting one, however, because I have lately discovered some reservations about crock pot cooking in general. While chatting with a friend – now 79 and a very experienced cook – we discovered that we both felt that nothing ever comes out quite as well in a crock pot as in the Le Creuset pots we both happen to use. Still mulling over this…
Lovely photos, as ever. About to try the SoftBatch cookie recipe.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
PS – never made a gingerbread house and truly never wanted to! Â I don’t get the fascination with making them. Â For me, they seem like golf – painstaking, slow, a pain in the neck, and a case of “let’s be done with this already!”! Â Haha!
Any of the Inspector Gamache novels by Louise Penny – there are several and they are wonderful and thought provoking. Â I have binge watched some of the same show that you have, but here’s some others: Â The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Parks and Recs, Frasier, Midsomer Murders, Poirot, Frankie and Grace (or is it Grace and Frankie?!), Bloodline, Rosemary and Thyme.
Your boys are adorable – even the furry one! :) YES, you need an Instant Pot! I have my 2nd one coming this evening my MIL got me for Christmas & would LOVE for you to post some recipes for me!! And I hope you & your family have a very merry Christmas & happy new year!
Hi Michelle, do you know that you have audio on your website? I purchased the Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker, 6Qt/1000W from Amazon as 1 of my gifts to my sister and her family, they have already used it a couple of times, they are really enjoying it even though it is taking time to figure out all of the cook times. I have one but not that brand and I am still adjusting to mine. I grew up with pressure cookers and I love how things were always delicious. The thing about the Instant Pot is that the insert is stainless steel, mine is not, but I am going to purchase one. I have heard rave reviews about the book, “The Nightengale” by Kristin Hannah, I don’t read much like I use to but I am getting that one. Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday! Thanks for a great year.
Hi Michelle,
Just want to wish your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season. Thank you for all your hard work sending us so many enticing recipes to try. I can’t believe how fast Joseph is growing, he’s a cute little man!
May your whole family be blessed with joy and health.
On a last sad note, it breaks my heart to see Duke’s face staring all by his lonesome.I’m sure he’s missing his dear buddy Einstein. I miss seeing him too.
Most of my reading is with my 11 year old right now. We are reading The Murk by Robert Lettrick. It’s actually pretty good, I want to know what happens in the Okefenokee Swamp. :) He’s in 6th grade and we have to do a slideshow on Google about it for his book report. I am reading on the side during math tutoring, The Demon Accords by John Conroe. They are excellent and include vampires and the government, witches, warlocks and many others. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, and book 11 comes out New Years. Another good series about the last Druid is by Kevin Hearne. The series is called The Iron Druid, and I really enjoyed this series until the last book, both my dad and I did not like what he did with the main character. We felt it was forced to fulfill the contract of so many books.
Anyway, your boys are getting so big! Baby Dominic is adorable and Joseph, so handsome. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you! Â I can recommend “I Let You Go”. It was an interesting book. Â Also, I totally binge watched Wentworth! It’s an Australian drama. It’s available on Canadian Netflix, and I hope it’s available to you too. Couldn’t stop watching it.Â
We’ve made gingerbread houses every year since my youngest was about 4. My kids have loved doing it, from picking out the candy at the bulk store, to decorating it, to then picking off all the candy once I gave them the ok!Â
Enjoy the holidays. Your boys are precious.Â
Hi BEB,
With your busy schedule, you should get a Instant pot. I brought one last year and it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s save me a lot of time preparing my stew, Dulce of leche and even soup. I saw Wal Mart sale it for 69-79$.
Happy holidays!
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Book recommendations: A Man Called Ove, It Ends with Us, The Life We Bury, Sarah’s Key. Also recommend Modern Mrs. Darcy blog for recommendations.
I love my Instant Pot and sometimes wonder how I ever got along without it. It makes the best beans I’ve ever eaten, so good that’s almost enough all by itself.
One of the best features doesn’t get mentioned much, the sauté function. I typically brown or sauté most things (even grains) before I cook them and being able to use the same pan is very convenient. I finally broke down and bought a second pot, a good move. These are the nicest stainless steel pots, a major selling point for me — no Teflon, thank you very much. I got tired of emptying and washing the pot so I could cook something else so it has paid off.
You asked about books. I just finished reading “The Couple Next Door” by Shari Lapena and couldn’t put it down. It was a great, fun read with interesting turns.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I thought of you as I was shopping in Babies R Us for our granddaughter. I came across a wall of safety latches for every kind of door or door handle one might have in their house. You had mentioned a while back, that you needed a special safety latch for a door. If you have not found one check out this store.
We have two Instant Pots, the 6 qt. and the 8 qt. We absolutely love them. It has completely revolutionized the way we cook our meals. My husband is the IP chef in the family and he has made everything in them, from BBQ baby back ribs to cheesecake. Trust me, the cheesecake is fantastic. Between the two IP’s, and our Breville convection oven I haven’t used my stove or oven in over two years. My oven is used to store all my baking sheets! We even cook turkey in the IP. You won’t regret the purchase. Check out the Instant Pot Community on Facebook. You will get the best ideas and recipes from them.
I have the same question about the Instant Pot! I hope you get one so I can read your review :).
Have you checked out the podcast, ‘What Should I Read Next’ by ‘Modern Mrs Darcy’s Anne Bogel. Sooo so many great book recommendations! This year I loved ‘The Happiness Project’ books (Gretchen Rubin) and The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer (I love children’s literature and young adult fiction).
My husband just started watching WestWorld and said it’s good.
Merry Christmas!!!
Happy Christmas to you and your family x
Did you end up with a good response to the baking recipes you requested from readers?
I was curious since you haven’t mentioned them. Merry Christmas!
Awww Joseph looks so cozy and adorable as always. OMG I Can’t believe how much Dominic looks so much like you!! Love all your pictures!! ( not sure if that’s a beauty mark near Dukes eye…I like it looks cute!))
 Have a Womderful Holiday!!! ???
Babies and a puppy, I love your Friday Things pictures!! Just made your Nougat recipe, Â added to our Christmas baking list! All of the best this holiday.
Hi Michelle – I highly recommend that you read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (historical fiction.) I just finished Wally Lamb’s new book – I’ll Take You There and I loved it. Liane Moriarty has written some good ones too, however, her last one wasn’t a favorite of mine. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd was another good one. Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family and all the best in 2017!
Merry Christmas to you and your family Michelle and Happy Holidays x