Groceries List and Then Some

It's been quite a while, clearly.

Today I bring you glad tidings from the world of "Emily's-face-feels-like-a-snot-filled-balloon-is-trying-to-expand-inside-her-skull."

It is Veteran's Day today, so I have spent the entire day hanging with my own personal vet. I even made, get this, BREAKFAST IN BED for him. Yeah. That's right. I'm awesome. 

Okay, enough patting myself on the back. He's playing Halo 4 for the next eternity, so I have sometime to hang out next to him doing randomly productive things. This means I have things to show you!

I've spent the last few hours compiling and creating a list of all the things I think I need when I go to the grocery store. See, I'm sick and tired of just writing random stuff down and forgetting half of the stuff I actually need when I go shopping. I also can't stand just spending extra money on things we don't need. So I have for you, a list that you can go through, check what you need, and take shopping with you!

Ta Da!
QuietContemplations Downloadables folder in Dropbox

That should be a link to both the .PDF and .docx files so you can print as is, or add and subtract things to fit YOUR lifestyle :D I don't think you need to have a Dropbox account to open it, but I'm not positive. Let me know if it doesn't work I guess?
Anyway, Use it as a template, or use it as a your list, I don't care! I just hope it helps people like me shop smarter and lighter or whatever.

A few things about the list:
-If there is a space after an item it is to denote what kind of item you may want. Ex: Beef:_______, you can insert the specific cut of beef after printing the list. It can also be used for a specific quantity of items
-The "fresh - frozen" and "boxed - canned," etc. are all ways of organizing the specific item(s) you need that day. For example, I might not need fresh AND frozen corn on the same day. This way you know specifics and can give it to someone else to easily pick up items that you picked out.
-I have somethings in different categories, like eggs under dairy, cuz that's really the only place they fit. However, I have ice cream under the snacks category, not under dairy. It's just the way I shop by types of food, rather than where they are located. Sorry if it's weird.

So there you have it folks. A lovely list for a lovely trip.

Cleaning...AGAIN!

I have a problem. I hate cleaning. My other problem is that my house is dirty. What am I to do?!

I may hate cleaning, but I love making lists and subsequently crossing things off said list. 

Combining both my hatred for cleaning and my love of lists I have devised a way to trick myself into cleaning as a means of reward for crossing something exciting of my newest list. 

As it stands right now, I have to clean my house from top to bottom. I've broken it down by room. It looks like this: 

CLEANING TO DO LIST: 

First Floor: 

Entry

            Sweep floor

            Mop floor

            Vacuum rugs

Organize shoes

            Dust baseboards

Basement

            Organize toys

            Re-arrange furniture and music equipment

            Vacuum floor

            Dust all surfaces (including baseboards)

            Wash blankets and pillows

            Clean fridge

Stairs (lower)  

            Collect garbage

            Organize miscellaneous stuff

            Vacuum all surfaces

            Remove all items from stairs

            Dust railings, lights and baseboards

Garage

            Open, organize and remove all boxes

            Sweep entire garage

            Reorganize contents

            Remove all unnecessary items

            Park cars accordingly

Main Floor:

Kitchen

            Dishes

                        Empty dishwasher

                        Load dishwasher

                        Get rid of mismatched/unused items

            Counters

                        Clean off

                        Put away all food

                        Find spots for

                                    -toaster

                                    -Keurig

                                    -coffee maker

                                    -espresso machine

                                    -vegetable steamer

                                    -can opener

            Stove and Oven

                        Clean stove top

                        Put away all pots and pans

                        Clean oven

            Clean out cupboards and dispose of unneeded items

            Clean out fridge and freezer

            Sweep, and mop all floors

            Clean above cupboards (dust/reorganize)

Dining Room

            Clean off table

            Wash tablecloth and placemats

            Clean birdcage

            Dust baseboards

            Clean art table

            Dust all surfaces

            Hem curtains

            Vacuum rug

Living Room

            Fold all laundry

            Clean out couch

            Put away all toys

            Organize DVDs and video games

            Dust all surfaces

            Hem curtains

            Wash pillows and blanket

            Clean off coffee table

            Vacuum floor

            Designate spot for drying rack

            Clean desk

            Give old clothes away

            Finish Laundry

            Organize knitting supplies

Main Floor Bathroom/Laundry Room

            Sweep and mop floor

            Throw anything unnecessary away

            Clean cupboards

            DO LAUNDRY

            Clean Buster’s litter box

            Get dog food

            Fix up Buster’s bed

            Put laundry away

            Clean out drawers

            Clean toilet, sink and mirror

            Dust baseboards

Second Floor:

Stairs (upper)

            Bring everything upstairs and put away

            Vacuum all floors

            Dust lamps, railings and baseboards

Upstairs Hallway and Office

            Throw away garbage

            Put all Legos in respective drawers

            Clean table

            Attach Lego boards to top of table

            Fix lamp

            Vacuum – NOTHING ON THE FLOOR

            Prep floor for carpet cleaning

            Organize Desk

            Dust all surfaces

Kids'/Guest Bathroom

            Clean sink, counter, toilet, mirror and tub

            Sweep and mop floor

            Wash all mats and towels

            Put bath toys away

            Organize linen closet

Kids' Room

            Vacuum floors

            Wash blankets, sheets and pillows

            Make beds

            Put away all toys

            Put away all DVDs

            Organize toy box

            Organize Legos

            Put away/go through clothes

            Dust all surfaces and baseboards

Master Bedroom/Closet

            Put away all clothing

            Make bed

            Wash all sheets, blankets and pillows

            Reorganize dresser

            Clean TV stand and repurpose as night stand

            Clean under the bed

            DO MORE LAUNDRY

            Vacuum floors

            Organize closet and remove unnecessary paraphernalia

            Move side table downstairs

            Hem curtains

            Rearrange the room?!

Master Bathroom

            Wash all mats and towels

            Empty trash

            Clean grout in shower

            Clean toilet, shower, shower door, mirror and sink

            Sweep and mop floor

            Clean our drawers

            Decoupage hair dryer holder


Yeah...I gotta do all of that before I can get on track with my newest cleaning regimen (which I'm hoping will stick)

Some of those things are like, well duh, but others are just on there so I can at least feel like I'm accomplishing some smaller things along the way. That's why laundry is on there so much. We have a lot of laundry.

So, regimen is next, but I think I'll make this post shorter by showing it in a different post.

Chicken Noodle Soup...In July

I made Chicken Noodle soup the other day. It's totally July, middle of summer here. The heat the day I made it was somewhere in the ninety degrees Fahrenheit range. It was a cool 68 in my house :).

But anyway, Chicken Noodle Soup is like, one of my favorite foods ever. Mostly because it's just so frickin' good. But I hate the canned stuff cuz it never tastes right. It's always to watered down and tastes way too much of celery. So here is my delicious chicken noodle soup recipe.


-Four boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized morsels.
-Two packages of gluten free fusili pasta (or one giant egg noodle bag. YUM!)
-One medium size package of baby carrots (I love carrots and noodles more than the rest of the soup)
-One full thing of celery (I get the ones that are trimmed when I buy it. I get two, what are they, hearts? in a bag and just cut the ends off and chop them up into celery pieces
-Two small or one large yellow onion (I love this part too cuz they're DELICIOUS)
-About a tablespoon of minced garlic (I use the jarred stuff cuz I'm lazy)
-Two large cartons of chicken stock, your preference
-Enough chicken bouillon to make at LEAST 8 cups of chicken stock, if not more (i made 14 cups...worth it)
-Homemade chicken stock if you've got it (I had about two cups of it in the freezer from when I boiled some leftover chicken bones a while back)
-salt and pepper to taste
-a WEE bit of oregano, don't want it overpower anything
-Some olive oil for cooking
-I think I used some garlic powder as well...idk


So, dice up your onions and heat your pot (which should be pretty big, btw) on high with about a 1/4 cup of olive oil in the bottom. You're going to add the garlic, wait for it to heat up and then sweat the onions on a lower heat setting while you cut up your celery and chicken, so you want enough oil to coat the onions pretty well. While the onions are sweating, cut up your celery and carrots (if you want to). Then add them to the pot. You might need to add a little more oil to get things evenly coated. Cook these on the low temp while you cut up your chicken. Then add the chicken and cook on a high for about four minutes, until the chicken is mostly cooked through (Not completely). While this is happening, open your chicken stock and get it ready to go. Then go ahead and pour it in. Now add water, a cup at a time, until you think you have enough liquid to compensate for all of the stuff going into the soup (remember, you still have to add noodles). Like I said, I added 14 cups...it depends on the size of your pot. Once you've done that, measure out your bouillon accordingly (mine called for 1 tsp for each cup of water I had). Stir well and let it all come to a boil. Then add your noodles and let it cook. Add spices to taste and VOILA! Chicken Noodle soup. It's actually a pretty easy meal when all is said and done. Plus, you have TONS of leftovers, which is nice if you love chicken noodle soup like I do :D


Hope you enjoy the recipes cuz I have more that I'll post up here from time to time. 

Zucchini Pizza Boats

Zucchini Pizza Boats are based off a recipe I saw online where I only looked at the thumbnail and guessed on everything else while I was buying stuff and looked at the recipe when I got home.

In any event, Ingredients:
-Two medium, or one large zucchini per adult and one small to medium per child, sliced length wise, like a hot dog bun, seeded (use a spoon for this and just scrape out a center)
-Cheese of choice. I used mozzerella and a co-jack on mine. Delicious (again, pre-shredded).
-Sauce of choice. Theoretically you could use whatever sauce you want. I got some Ragu pizza sauce, but wish I would've gone with some kind of red pasta sauce instead. I'm sure an alfredo would taste delicious on it as well. Suit your tastes
-Pizza meat. Pepperoni, sausages, what ever you like. I went vegetarian for mine.
-Other stuff you want on a pizza. Just remember, they're not huge things to build your pizza on. they're a skinny zucchini
-Olive Oil
-Salt
-Pepper
-Garlic powder




Directions:
-Set oven to 350. Gather ingredients
-Wash the zucchini and and cut off both ends
-Cut in half length wise
-Scoop out the seeds a little bit (I don't mind eating them, so I wouldn't worry about it)
-Get drizzle just a little Olive oil on each boat. Use a spoon to cover the entire top surface.
-Salt, Pepper and garlic powder to taste
-Spoon sauce on to boat
-top with cheese, meat, more cheese and whatever (I recommend cheese being the top layer
-Bake for 40 minutes
-Voila. Pizza boats


I tried making them with yellow squash as well (summer squash?) and it wasn't bad, but it definitely had a "squashier" taste to it. I liked the zucchini better, plus it cooks a bit more evenly. 


Again, no pictures cuz I ate it all up before I thought to take any. 

This week I made Chicken Noodle soup and I was supposed to make Mac and Cheese. I can upload my methods for those as well later. They're pretty easy. Aaaand delicious.


Until next time.

Loaded Baked Potatoes

I am not a chef. I only understand basic knife techniques (most of which I learned from watching Good Eats all the time on food network). No, I am merely a lady who loves to eat. And I like to eat good food. Thank God found a guy who actually enjoys cooking and is amazing at it.

Now, that being said, I am not terrible when it comes to making food. But I am lazy. I don't like standing around waiting for my food to cook, because I usually begin cooking when hunger strikes me.  I'm not going to stand around the stove for two hours waiting for food to cook. This probably means I probably will never actually try cooking something that takes three hours in the oven (sans the occasional Thanksgiving turkey...maybe) 

I digress.

My point is, I cook food that tastes good and is hell-a easy to make, that fills you up. 

Which is why I am going to share my staple dinner recipes with you, Beginning with Loaded Baked Potatoes (mostly because we had them this last week and Andrew raved about them). They're simple, take almost no effort on your part, and you can personalize them, so the seven year old can eat chili and the five year old can have bacon and cheese. 

So here's a shopping list (for a family of four):

• 4 LARGE Yukon Gold potatoes or potatoes of your choice (I just LOVE the buttery taste of the golden ones)-If you can't find one about the size of a your fist plus half I'd get two smaller ones to even it out (sometimes our grocery store doesn't have a very good potato selection). Use personal judgement, of course. 
• A family size can of Hormel Chili or what ever your favorite chili is. If your choice doesn't have family size, get four normal size cans (unless it's Chunky soup, and then just get two). Think a serving of soup per person.
• Cheese of choice. We buy pre shredded stuff cuz shredding cheese hurts my hands a lot. I try to get stuff that will melt really well too. Boring cheddar is delicious, but I'm sure lots of others are good too. 
• Butter
• Sour Cream
• Bacon 
• Nacho chips
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Hot sauce
• Anything else you could ever dream to put in a potato

Like I said, it's anything you want it to be. I just really like chili in my potatoes. And cheese. And bacon...

-So, set your oven for 350

-Wash your potatoes up nice and good since they're being baked in the skin

-Poke 'em a bunch with a fork. I like to pretend I'm stabbing spiders (be careful of your hand while doing this)

-Stick 'em in the oven for an hour or until you can poke through them cleanly and with out resistance (I'm not very precise...sorry)

-Around the 40 minute mark, gather your other ingredients and set your table (BAM factored it right into the cooking process!)

-Open chili, follow stove top (or microwave! who cares!) directions (unless you were super fancy and made your own chili in which case, never mind). Whatever you do, just keep it warm until dinnerz time.

-If you need to, you would now prepare your veggies or other potato ingredients (grating cheese for instance)

-When potatoes are done, remove from oven, place one serving on each dish. 

-Cut potatoes length wise with a knife in a zig-zag pattern in the center only

-When cool enough to touch safely, push two ends of potato together to effectively blossom them open, releasing steam

-Add desired toppings in desired order

-Sit down, say a prayer, dig in!

What followed our dinner last week was a great murmur of "Thesepotatoesrreallygood"

Like I said: Easy, delicious, hearty and FAST. Start 'em at five, dinner by six. 

Loaded baked potatoes: The way I made them they had lots of protein, some dairy, a starch and whatever else you might want to put on there. Not necessarily SUPER healthy, but better than a nasty burger from McDonald's. 

I would have had pictures if I had had the foresight to be this awesome, but hopefully next time I make something I will think to do that.

Next post: Zucchini Pizza Boats

Yeah, I'm bad about being consistent...

It has been a very long time since I posted, but I have a reason: we have had le children (that's French for "the children") for the last two weeks and I get to chill with them everyday until Mr. Andrew gets home from work. Then I get to chill with him. It's a good deal.

News in the life of Emily: I went back to working at Starbucks. I couldn't stay away apparently, so now I get to don the green apron two days a week and put all my earnings toward my wedding.

Speaking of the wedding, we changed the date. It's a year later now, which is actually AWESOME because that means we get to have the venue we wanted in the first place for our reception. Bitchin'.

In other news, I ordered my dress (again). That means I will have it in approximately two weeks. I have also ordered my shoes. Kind of weird now that I have over a year before the big day, ha! According to my theknot.com profile, it's 491 days away.

My love and I have been to two weddings since the last time I posted, both of which were lovely, but both of which made me wish we were getting married NOW. I can't wait :)

In the mean time, we bought a new car. It's a Subaru Outback, which is apparently a "dad car" but whatever. Andrew seems to love it and I got the Beemer so I'm pretty okay with it as well.

As for my adventures in cleaning the house, we have successfully checked off the kitchen, dining room, bedroom, my desk area, the kids room, the bathroom and laundry/dog room, but we have regressed a little bit because I don't clean as quickly as the rooms get dirty. Such is life. My food calendar has been working marvelously though! We make dinner with delicious ingredients ALMOST every night, and the rest of the time it's leftovers or a treat, like going out with friends. I feel like I'm getting in the swing of this "homemaker" thing, though I still like to get out of the house and do stuff, so these past few weeks have been good.

Right now, all four of my little buddies are sitting on the couch playing a video game. On a gameboy. ONE gameboy. They're all kind of silly. I take it back, Buster is asleep, not playing a game. I need to convince Andrew to make dinner sooner or later (cuz he cooks more often than I do. I lucked out in that respect!) cuz we need things like, food and what not, but other than that my life is pretty laid back.

More updates later I suppose!

BRILLIANCE...thanks to Spongebob

Actually, it's cuz of Squidward, but either way, I was watching Spongebob Squarepants when Squidward broke out an ingenious object: His Sunday Relaxation Box.


...

WHAT?!

...

Fuckin' brilliant. A box. Full of stuff. That relaxes you. That you can pull out when ever the hell you want. JUST TO RELAX.

Squidward's had a pillow (that he could place "just so" on his couch), a flower in a vase, flower fragrance and something else that I can't quite remember.

Mine would have other things
Tea
A candle
Probably still a pillow
Slippers?
A book that I love
Maybe even a movie that I love
A great CD (probably a mix of calming songs...maybe just instrumental)
Cookies
A drink mix of some kind (like, lemonade or iced tea...not booze...booze if you want it...)
New socks
Bubble bath?!

I mean, think of what a great gift it would make?!
Get a cute box and decorate it, then fill it with 'relaxing' things your recipient will enjoy. Andrew would love a pillow and a new video game. And some new jammie pants. :) My mom would love a new bed buddy (one of those rice bags you microwave and put on your sore muscles)

So, anyway. I just thought I would share the wonderful idea I got...from watching Spongebob. Take that people who say TV is bad...Spongebob is brilliant. (They use the word prestidigitation in one of the first few episodes. Betcha don't know what that means :P)

Just wanted to share that before I forgot it.
Also, I painted my nails today. There were great expectations for it and I got kind of disappointed when it didn't really work. Oh well. That's what I get for not being ambidextrous.

LATER!