One Productive Day

So after a great week, Avelea decided she was going to be a bit clingy today, but somehow, I got a lot done!

To begin, yesterday, I downloaded How To Make Iced Coffee and decided to try cold brewing coffee. It’s not hard, you just have to plan ahead. To start, you put 1/4 c. of coffee grounds and 1 c. cold water to sit for 10+ hours. The eBook says you can do it in any container and strain it, or you can put the grounds in a filter that you dip into the water. I did mine in my french press over night.

Then this morning I pressed it and put it in a coffee cup to refrigerate and save for later.

Then, tonight after a very productive day, when I finished my scheduled work, I made Ansen and I both some iced coffees. Just add some milk (or almond milk, which is thicker and yummy), some ice, and some flavoring (could be chocolate syrup, creamer, or even syrup). Vuah-lah!

And it was delicious! And it went really well with the cinnamon rolls:

I started with this recipe in my bread machine. I added some almond and vanilla flavoring and I subbed 1 c. of flour for wheat and then dumped it out to roll out:

I thought I’d use a spatula to spread the butter, but this worked better:

I’m pretty sure that’s how my mom does it anyways. Then I topped it with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips.

I rolled it and used my mom’s secret… scissors! They make it easy to cut them. I made 2 pans and they’re delicious!!

Also, I’m a solution girl. I like to find solutions to problems, so here are a couple I did today.

First, I hate it when you freeze meat and it sticks together, so I always do this first:

I put them on a cookie sheet on wax paper for just long enough to freeze the outside, then I put them in a ziploc bag. You can do this with chicken, port, whatever. I buy pork loin a lot and cut them for chops and freeze like this. And it’s cheaper than buying the already individually frozen! Just don’t leave them in there for more than about a day, or they’ll be freezer burnt.

While waiting for the steaks to freeze and my cinnamon roll dough to rise, I also refilled my mayo!

I really like the squeeze bottle, but it’s expensive. So, I buy the regular stuff and refill. The best way I’ve found is to stick a plastic bag in a large plastic cup. Then you fold the zip part over the edge to keep it open and from falling in. Use a spatula to scoop it in. Zip up the bag, clip off the corner and use it like a pastry bag to squeeze it in the small opening on the squeeze bottle. You just have to be careful that you don’t put more mayo in the bag than will fit in the squeeze bottle.

And all that with a clingy baby! It does feel good to accomplish stuff!