Friday Things
1. Isabelle turned 9 months old this week! She had a fantastic checkup, measuring 81st percentile for height and 60th for weight, and didn’t need any shots. Just in the last couple of days she has started REALLY moving around and legit crawling, getting herself all over the place. Naturally, she’s drawn to everything she can’t play with (i.e. dog toys and rawhides).
2. My husband has turned to reverse psychology to get Dominic to eat food at dinnertime and it’s crazy/weird/concerning/frustrating? how well it works, ha! He didn’t want to take a bite of meatloaf the other night, so my husband said, “Dominic, whatever you do, DON’T eat that meatloaf. Don’t do it. I’m serious.” He proceeded to eat all of it, and with a smirk on his face the majority of the time. This kid, he makes me laugh like no other.
3. Joseph had his very first stomach flu last week, eeeeeeeek! It was his first time waking up sick through the night, and I felt so, so bad for him. Luckily it lasted less than 24 hours, but then I got it on Sunday (mine was even faster, less than 12 hours), but apparently it ravaged his class at school, including one of his teachers. So glad to be on the other side of that, and that Dominic and Isabelle didn’t get it!
4. In other news, we currently have a non-functioning washing machine thanks to a broken pump, ugh. (THANK THE LORD IT HAPPENED AFTER THE STOMACH FLU, OMG)
5. Thanks to Jess for texting me this article earlier this week, it totally speaks to my season of life right now >> I Realized I Was Building a Life I Didn’t Want. More and bigger isn’t always better. When I get FOMO, I remind myself that I built this business so I could be my own boss and make my own rules, and right now that means enjoying my babies while they are still little and at home during the day and actually WANT to be with me :)
6. On a related note, I got a new planner for 2019, Cultivate What Matters. It’s not a day organizer or calendar (I use Trello and Google Calendar for keeping my schedule and to-do list in order), but rather a really awesome planner for working through your goals and then breaking them down into monthly action items. I am IN LOVE with this process!
7. Talk to me about air frying! We recently received the Breville Smart Oven Air (disclosure: Breville sent it to us to try out), which has an air fry function and I can’t wait to try it. If you have an air fryer, what are your favorite things to make in it??
8. I keep craving Mexican food after seeing these beef enchiladas continue to pop up under trending recipes.
9. What shows are you watching? We’re tapped out and on the hunt for something new!
10. TGIF! I hope you have a cozy weekend!
Air Fryer: I did a whole chicken (rub with olive oil, season, and cook at 350 for 30 minutes on each side) and it was WONDERFUL. I have done a lot of veggies in my air fryer–roasted broccoli, zucchini coated in seasoned breadcrumbs, “fried” okra…it makes things taste fried without all the oil. I would love to have more recipes for my air fryer and would love to eventually see an “Air Fryer” category in your recipe index! I love all your recipes!
Oo Hoo. How sweets these child’s . i have a baby he also like this types of recipes . so that’s why i like all this types of recipes.
I love my air fryer, the Breville is my dream one. Mine is a basket type, 6qt with 1800 watts so it’s strong and fast. I tried an off brand of the toaster oven style and while I love the shelves, that one was not strong enough and incredibly loud. I returned it and purchased a replacement of my original that died. Our favorites are grilled cheese, hash browns, salmon, sweet potatoes (chips, fries, baked), egg casseroles, toasted ravioli, croutons, anything leftover from takeout. I haven’t used it to bake yet. Oh, bacon is even better than in an oven, perfect crispiness and still with a little chewy. It’s my favorite appliance now. Have fun with it. I can’t wait to see what you do.
 Hi Michelle, thank you for the planner suggestion. As a small business owner myself, I would love to hear more about how you use Trello and Cultivate!  I already use several layers of Google calendar with business and family and personal goals  intersecting.
 But I’m ready to use something more strategic for goal development with a small business and not lose sight of personal goals. Thanks!Â
Binge-worthy show: Outlander. O…M…G…I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with this show.
Girl, I know what you mean about the stomach flu! Glad you all are over it – but so sorry about your washer!
Your babies are so precious – that Dominic seems like so much fun! Glad his Daddy got him to eat!
I know how you love British comedies – this one is Australian, and I LOVE it! It’s called 800 Words – is on Amazon Acorn. It was on PBS here and I looked it up and started at the beginning. Small town (like Doc Martin) in New Zealand and everyone knows everything about everyone! Three seasons with a fourth supposed to be coming.
Have a great weekend!
Dominic is such a gem… he makes me insane, is so, so funny, and the best hugger :) And thank you for the recommendations, will check them out!
Have you seen Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? We absolutely love it. It’s funny-yet-
serious. And the 50’s clothing–oh my! It’s fabulous!
No but I’ve heard a lot about it! Will check it out.
My favorite thing to make in the air fryer is salmon. I cook a 1 lb. salmon fillet for 12-14 mins. at 400 degrees and it turns out perfect.
I would have never thought of salmon, thanks for the suggestion!
Love your weekly pics of the kids and Goldies!  Probably one of the few  who still does not have an Insta pot or air fryer but absolutely no room for them.  Just started watching on Netflix- Wanted, Rake and Travelers.  Also like The Good Cop.  Love period pieces and just haven’t decided which one to start.  We were slow to pick up Amazon and Netflix so it’s quite overwhelming there is so much out there.
Really enjoy your posts. Have you seen Father Brown on Netflix? The hubs and I love murder mysteries and right behind Midsomer Murders is Father Brown. We also love Death in Paradise. I’ve had an air fryer for about a year now. You can’t beat it for deep fries if you are trying to cut the fat! I think that I’m going to use it for roasting veg next! Keep on blogging!
Thank you, Lee! Yes, we are actually watching a Father Brown episode right now :) That and Midsomer Murders and sort of our go-to to put on when we don’t have anything to watch, haha! Will check out Death in Paradise, and can’t wait to try fries!
I don’t have an air fryer yet but I noticed America’s Test Kitchen is coming out with a new book January 29th.” Air Fryer Perfection”
I did chicken wings with a Korean sauce in the air fryer last night! I linked my post about it above so that you can get the sauce recipe. I will definitely make the sauce again!
That sounds amazing, totally checking it out!
I got a free 7 qt. Air Fryer in exchange for a review. It does take up a lot of counter space & I wouldn’t have purchased one. IMO it’s like a mini convection oven & not something I need – quicker than a regular oven.
You can use any pan that is oven safe.
Even my big one will only do small batches of food – not really helpful for a family. You can only cook a single layer of food at once. Toasted cheese sandwiches (made with mayo on outsides) are excellent. “Fried” chicken came out juicy & crispy on outside. I also made a meatloaf which turned out good. Baby carrots roasted with a little olive oil were yummy. I use parchment paper or pans to cut down on clean-up.
Oooh I wouldn’t have thought about toasted cheese sandwiches, great idea! Thank you for the tips!
I would love to hear how you like the mini oven. I have tried an air fryer for things like french fries, chicken nuggests, mozzarella sticks etc.. and I loved it but can not give up counter top space for another appliance. I use my toaster oven for these things as well but the air fryer seemed to take less time. I would love to have a two in one option!
Yes, I wouldn’t have purchased an extra one, but we use a toaster oven every day, so having it built in is a plus! I’ve heard mozzarella sticks and soft pretzels are amazing in there!
Ooh, I can’t wait to hear how the air fryer works for you. Â Weelicious talks about how much she loves hers all the time and I’m on the brink!
I can’t wait to experiment!
OMG those pups get me every single week :) I love how they are always snuggling up together.
Glad you are all feeling better and thank you for your weekly posts. Love logging on and seeing what’s up. You’re the best!
Thank you for the incredibly kind words, Trish :)
Looking forward to baking along with you each month. The best thing I have had from the air fryer was a lightly breaded eggplant. Yum!
Air Fryer: We like to do anything we think will fry up good in ours like Korean Yaki mondu (their eggroll). French fries are wonderful. I have done Salmon and the latest thing I made was Salt and Pepper Wings. They were the crispiest wings that I have ever made that were not dried out to get them that crispy. Looking forward to you giving us some Air Fryer recipes.
Keep up the good work.
Can’t wait to try wings! Did you use a recipe?
#5 reminds me of What If All I Want Is a Mediocre Life? (https://www.alifeinprogress.ca/want-mediocre-life/). Â
Yessssssss, I LOVE that article. I think I shared it here when it was first published; it really, really speaks to me as well. I totally feel like that is me, but so much in today’s world is do more, be more, DO ALL THE THINGS and it’s just exhausting! I relish the simple life :)
We have been watching Broadchurch on Netflix. Took a couple of episodes to really get into it, but we are binge watching all 3 seasons now. It’s a murder mystery set in England. Â
We LOVED Broadchurch! We watched all the seasons; such a well-done show!
I got a compact air fryer for Christmas (DASH). So far I’ve mainly done vegetable and potatoes for side dishes, as well as reheat french fries and chicken nuggets for my son. I like how quickly it heats up, especially if I need to do batches of things. I kind of wish I had gotten a bigger one, but I wasn’t sure if I’d commit to using it and want another appliance sitting out or have to store. In general, it works great with hardly any oil. But it’s not much faster than my regular oven. I think I’d probably get more use from a small countertop convection oven because then I could cook more things at once.
We have the Breville Smart Oven Air and we love it! There are just the two of us and between the Breville and our Instant Pot collection we never use the stove top or oven for anything except storage of baking sheets and pans. The Breville air fryer function makes the best “fried” foods. We use parchment paper on the wire mesh baking rack to keep any crumbs or potential drips contained. Best of all , with very little or no oil, the fried food function still gives that crunchy, crisp texture. It is also big enough to do pretty good sized roasts, chicken or turkey. My husband made an amazing prime rib roast for Christmas using the reverse sear method of cooking and it was seriously awesome. Hope you enjoy yours.
Dont we all have a little Dominic in us…not wanting to conform….lol. why I admire you in having the courage to ACTUALLY build your own business. At least u dont have to endure any office politics…or any of the other awful stuff that can go on in a small office..can get crazy mean. Why your blog brings such levity to the end of my insane workweeks..so thank u…..now I have to go look up what fomo is lol.
Thank you so much for the kind words :) And FOMO means “Fear Of Missing Out” ;-)