Eat What You Want Day

Once Screen Free Week was over, we spent too much time on screens. Sigh.

May 11 was Eat What You Want Day so dinner was FFY (Fend For Yourself) but I just so happened to make a new recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff if anyone wanted any.

Instant Pot Hawaiian Meatballs

Craveworthy for me, that's for sure. 

Air Fryer French Bread Pizza

I've learned some things from Six Sisters' Stuff over the years. Because of them, I am not scared of using my Instant Pot. Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken with rice is one of my go to recipes when I'm in a hurry.

I don't have a lot of experience with my air fryer but thanks to Six Sisters' Stuff again, I got to try out another new recipe. Air Fryer French Bread Pizza.

Simple and I like the result. Great crunch. And pizza's my favorite food anyway. I look forward to trying other types of pizza besides pepperoni now that I know this is a thing. 

Catching Up March 2025 part 3

March 16 was Artichoke Hearts Day. We used it as an excuse to make a yummy alfredo pizza.

March 17 was St. Patrick's Day. I made two recipes from Sarah M. Eden from The Fiction Kitchen Trio Cookbook. Dublin Coddle and Katie's Irish Soda Bread. 

For dessert we had Oreo Mint Truffles.

 

March 18 was Sloppy Joe Day. We had open faced sloppy joes. It was also Forgive Mom and Dad Day. I kept asking the kids to forgive me for silly reasons. 

Lucky, Jeremy, and I went to see one of Jr.'s orchestra concerts that day. I love that he enjoys orchestra so much because music is very important to me.

See Lucky hiding behind that book? The elementary school read-a-thon was going on during that time so Lucky wanted to get as many minutes in as possible. He ended up being one of the top readers in the school and got a prize for it. The read-a-thon was Roald Dahl themed this year. One morning, Jeremy, Jet, and I were able to go to Parents and Pastries with Lucky.

March 19 was Poultry Day. We ate chicken that day. 

It was also Chocolate Caramel Day. I may have celebrated that observed the next day by making Olloch the Glutton's Caramel Biscuit Bars to go with our Vernal Equinox (March 20) food, Easy Fairy Folk Tortilla Pizzas, both from The Fablehaven Cookbook.

 

March 21 was Fragrance Day and French Bread Day. We took some of those artichoke hearts and made Cheesy Artichoke Bread from the Six Sisters' Stuff cookbook, A Year With Six Sisters' Stuff.

March 22 was World Water Day. It rained. 

I got a little break from the rain when I went out to the water of the lake. I was just going to take a quick jaunt out to look at the pelicans on the lake then I kept going and going and going. There were plenty of birds to see. What else was I supposed to do? I ended up making a complete loop around the Geneva Ponds between Vineyard Beach and Lindon Boat Harbor.

I finally got some sun... but it was in my eyes. Did I mention that March 22 was also National Goof Off Day?

After my morning off, my ministering sister invited me to her house for lunch with my other ministering sister to celebrate Nauryz, a celebration of the new year and Spring and a renewal of nature. We enjoyed some traditional foods from Kazakhstan. 

What a wonderful day for that.

Later I went for a nice little drive up the canyon. Beautiful on that rainy day.

Some Other Things We Did in October

Here are some other things we did in October.

Tried some new recipes using substitutions as needed. And did a little more shelf cooking.

Jr. Jr., Jet, and I dressed up and went to Jr.'s Halloween orchestra concert.

Jr. had another concert where he performed in a "rockestra" with other students from around the school district. They played rock music with their strings. It was conducted by Mark Wood. Jr. got a fun t shirt for participating.

 

Jet, Jeremy, and I went to the "Grand Lunch" at the elementary school with Lucky.

 

Lucky had white ribbon week (internet safety) at school so he got to dress up for Mustache Day and Pajama Day and Crazy Hair Day.

I took a bit more Me Time and went walking in Provo Canyon. There were still some Fall colors. I went to a place where I often see American dippers. I didn't bring binoculars or birding camera so didn't think I would get a good look if there was one. However, I looked down from the bridge I was on and right there up close was a dipper. Ha Ha. So I did get a good look. Nice.

Will You Be My Valentine? Yes.

I asked Jeremy to be my Valentine. He said Yes.

He gave me the sucker.

Throughout the beginning of February leading up to Valentine's Day, I followed an idea given by Six Sisters' Stuff. I printed out little cards that they had on their website and attached them to little gifts for Jeremy. It wasn't every day but it was frequent. I also didn't buy anything specific for it. I just used things I had around home. I just happened to buy bananas earlier in the week when that one came up later in the week. I didn't spend money on this but it was a way that Jeremy knew I loved him and was thinking of him.

He expressed several times how much he liked that I did this for him. He even followed my example and made a little card to print out and attach to a present for me. He is a sweetheart.

Jr. Jr. and Lucky both designed Valentine's cards for the students in their class (with some help from Dad) and Jr. Jr. decorated a box. I got a big kick out of it.

 

On Valentine's Day, the kids and I made heart-shaped pizza. Yumm.

One of the crusts cracked in half so we made a broken heart pizza.

The day after, Jeremy and I planned to go on a date. We were going to walk a certain trail, birding, but it was so cold and windy that day, we ended up eating our Winco salads (traditional date food), while watching birds from the van. Lots of water fowl. Then we drove to another spot and spent a few minutes watching more water fowl from the van. It is interesting that you can see different birds at different spots even though they are both on the water. At the first spot we saw wigeons, Canada geese, green-wing teals, gulls, some mallards, and a few other birds like that. At the second spot we saw more mallards, but we also saw wood ducks and a goldeneye.

 

That evening, Jeremy and I took some time for ourselves again. While four of our kids were at activities, we attended a UCB meeting over Zoom, talking about birding in Yellowstone. You know we love Yellowstone. And birds.

 

Oh, yeah. One more thing. Jr. said on Valentine's Day it was Singles Awareness Day so he asked if he could put a Singles packet in his water bottle. I told him he could and anybody else who asked.