Goodness gracious, how it is already Wednesday!? Is this week flying by for anyone else out there? Yesterday passed by in a flash but I managed to snap some pictures throughout the day, so I figured Iād bring you guys along for the ride!
My morning began at 4:30 a.m. when our power went out and randomly reset the noise machine in Chaseās room to the creepiest heartbeat sound. Heās used to a steady stream of white noise and the heartbeat noise woke him up in a terrifying way. I rocked Chase in his nursery, read him two books and calmed him down before putting him back in his crib a little before 5 a.m. Thankfully he seemed ready for more rest and curled up with his stuffed animals and went back to sleep. Since I was already wide awake at this point, I headed downstairs and made my way into the kitchen where I fixed myself a shortcut pumpkin spice latte with collagen and settled in to read my devotional before working for a few hours.
I spent two hours invoicing, following up with campaign stats and fixing a coding issue on the backend of the blog before making myself a smoothie for breakfast.
Yikes, that one looks a little rough but I promise it was good! I blended some almond milk with frozen cauliflower, frozen spinach, frozen banana, peanut butter and chocolate protein powder and it was a super thick delight!
I said goodbye to Ryan around 7 a.m. and about 30 minutes later Chase was up for the day. We had a rather low-key morning, complete with baking muffins, playing with trains and reading books at home. So often weāre go, go, go around here in the morning, whether weāre rushing off to preschool or heading off to the gym or a play date, and it felt so nice to ease into the morning.
In addition to our laidback morning, I opted to skip yesterdayās workout in favor of a festive fall mother-son date with Chase! The two of us headed off on an adventure to Patterson Farm where we fed goats, planted lettuce seeds and went on a hayride together.
We ended our time on the farm in the pumpkin patch where Chase and I selected two small pumpkins to bring home.
And I couldnāt resist sharing a small cup of pumpkin ice cream with Chase before we hit the road and headed out. I loved our special morning together!
On the way home, we popped into ALDI to pick up some food for the week and use the āQuarter Cartsā which Chase thinks are the coolest. I loaded up three green bags full of food and then Chase and I did a number on some honey roasted cashews on the drive home.
By the time we made it home, we were ready for a real lunch. Chase and I ate some leftover chicken soup from Sunday (well, he just picked out the carrots) and shared a grilled cheese sandwich before he was ready for his napā¦ but not until we made it through two readings of the āChase Fagan Bookā ā aka Chaseās new favorite book.
One he was sleeping, I took some time to photograph a couple of recipes for The Laughing Cowās social pages and also snacked on my photography subjects once I was done.
Yum!
I snacked while I edited the photos and got some more work done on the computer. Chase slept for a solid two hours which was awesome and woke up about 30 minutes before Ryan arrived home from his brief work trip to Arkansas. It was so nice to have Ryan home early and we took full advantage of the gorgeous sunny weather by leashing up Sadie and heading outside for a three-mile family walk.
Once we made it home, we were ready for dinner which came together quickly thanks to a little prep work I did earlier in the day. Thank goodness for the crock pot!
We dug into Lindsayās Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs (one of the 10 Blogger Recipes I Make Again and Again) and once again loved every bite! Oh and this dinner reminds meā¦ Iāve been thinking about buying an Instant Pot but we use our crock pot ALL the time and Iām wondering if itās really worth it or if it will just be another kitchen gadget that will end up collecting dust. Everyone is raving about the Instant Pot lately and Iām admittedly easily swayed by positive Amazon reviews and there are a billion on this bad boy. Thoughts!?
After dinner, we did the whole bath + bed time thing with Chase before climbing into bed and crashing hard after reading for a bit. I ended up finishing Watch Me Disappear and it was only okayā¦ intriguing enough to keep me reading but not amazing enough to recommend.
Hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday!
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Sounds like a great day, what a fun date for you and Chase! I have been considering the Instant Pot as well, it sounds awesome.
What a great family day! My little loves laughing cow cheese as well.
Sounds like an amazing mommy and son day! Makes me wish I could roll back time. Cherish these memories!
Love, love my Instant Pot but directions enclosed are horrible.
Follow ones on Facebook and Instagram and that will help you out a ton.
Thanks for the tip! I hate it when directions are difficult to understand/overwhelming!
I agree. You can also use the instant pot as a slow cooker, so thatās a bonus. I reach for my slow cooker more often, but love my IP for hard boiled eggs, yogurt, and five minute mac n cheese! š
Love your Mom/Son date idea š Pumpkin ice cream sounds delicious!
I’ve noticed the hype about the instant pot lately too but I’m still on the fence about buying one!
Ditto about the instructions from the Instant pot! Don’t look at those. The manual is horrible. I learned lots from blogs and videos. It is a little intimidating at first. I have had mine about a month and love it so far.
Honey garlic chicken thighs? I’m starting to get into cooking (easy cooking — hello crock pot) and I love this recipe!!
First that smoothie looked gross but so do most of my smoothies because I always put spinach in them no matter what so they always kind of turn brown.
Second, I LOVE ALDI!!!!! I won’t go anywhere else anymore, especially because my toddler can handle one store max so we stick with Aldi.
Third, YOU NEED AND INSTA POT! My MIL actually got me an off brand from Aldi 2 years ago and it still rocks! I actually just made theleangreenbeans.com pasta with meat sauce in it last night at the last minute because she had it on her instastories and being 11 weeks pregnant I don’t want to eat anything at night and it was super easy for the rest of the family. My husband said I could make it every week. I like the electric pressure cooker more then my crockpot because I don’t have to plan ahead. Yes sometimes I am awesome and know what I am making for the week. But for over a month now my family has been lucky if I make dinner the pressure cooker has been a lifesaver. Everything is ready in no time! GET ONE!
Do you ever have problems getting the cauliflower in your smoothies to actually disappear? I can never get it to liquify in my blender. Might be the blender, though. :'(
I am SO glad you asked about the Insta pot. Like you, I am in LOVE with my crockpot and use it constantly. I am afraid my familiarity with it will prevent me from making use of the “new gadget” that I also also worried will be a dust collector! I need to check this post again in a couple of days to read the comments. š Looking forward to see what you decide….
I have the EXACT same concerns. I’m just so comfortable with my crock pot!
My mom got us an instant pot about a year ago and we are OBSESSED. It does EVERYTHING. I make rice in it, I saute veggies and brown meats in it (then just pour in some liquids and make a stew in under an hour!) It has a setting for a slow cooker too that I just used this week to make homemade chicken broth for chicken noodle soup. Last week, I meant to make something in the slow cooker but I forgot to set it. Instead, I busted out the Instant Pot, set it to high pressure for 90 minutes…boom, in about 2 hours something that would have taken all day was done. Same level of effort from me. I promise you won’t miss your crock pot!
That little laughing cow snack would be the best app for pre-thanksgiving dinner!
Hi Julie! Would you mind sharing what stroller that is? Ours leans too far back, but we still want one with sturdy wheels, which it looks like yours has! Thanks!
Absolutely! It’s the Chicco Tre and we love it!
Sounds like the like it was a great day!! I just love that you and Chase have mommy & son dates! Hope you have a great Wednesday! Xoxo
I loved seeing your IG story at the pumpkin patch! You two are so darn cute. That chicken thigh recipe aounds amazing– must try!
Our sound soother(same one) did that too! If you keep batteries in it , when the power goes out it will not default to heartbeat. Totally worth it!!
So smart! I’ve never used the batteries in it but I’ll absolutely add them in tonight. Thanks for the tip!
The heartbeat sound is a little creepy. However, I do think it works wonders when they are infants, since they say it mimics the noises of the womb. My son went in his crib the first night home from the hospital and slept for 6 hours with that thing beating, so who knows?!
What a fun way to spend the morning!
Which sound machine do you use? We’ve been using an old iPhone with a white noise app, but a legit sound machine would probably be a better option.
We have the MyBaby Sound Spa! I registered for it on Amazon! http://bit.ly/2iylNll
Julie, I shared your concerns about the Instant Pot, but my s/o convinced me I would love it and he was right! We’ve had a ton of fun trying new recipes. I find myself using the instant pot several times a week. My favorite feature is the saute function – it’s so nice to cook everything in one pot!
You’re slowly convincing me…
I would agree about that feature of the IP… I don’t like to dirty up more dishes than necessary, and it’s very nice to do everything in the same pot. It does take a while for the IP to get to pressure… longer than I had assumed, so when something says it will take 10 minutes, that is 10 minutes after it reaches the appropriate pressure… so more like a total of 15-20 minutes… it’s still great though!
What a great day!
We love our instant pot. I love being able to make fresh chicken or beef broth in under an hour and not losing any liquids. With chicken broth, the whole chicken comes out so moist and basically falls off the bone. Another favorite is chilli. My friend makes mash potatoes almost everyday in her IP. I think our main love comes from everything can basically be done under an hour – an hour an a half if you want to include the pressure compress/decompress time. I usually just manually vent it myself. Check out YouTube for great recipes!
Additional comment: if you are going to get one, wait until Black Friday and buy the 8 quarts one. Go big or go home! Last Black Friday, I think half the people I worked with bought one. There were over a dozen Amazon deliveries to the office 2 days after š
Great tip!!! I’ll definitely wait for the sale!
We love our instant pot but I work full time so it comes in handy! When I’m home during the day, etc. I always go to my crock pot though!
Love my Instant Pot! My suggestion would be to just get rid of your current slow cooker and replace it with your Instant Pot, since the Instant Pot does everything. I love using the Pressure Cooker function as well as the sautĆ© function. You won’t regret switching!
I’m enjoying my Instant pot. Made a great curried sweet potato & carrot soup the other night in no time.
I’ve had an Instant Pot for about 2 months now and love it! The easiest thing I’ve made is pork loin. I bought it pre-marinated, put it in the pot with a little bit of water, pushed the button, worked on a couple easy sides while it was cooking, and dinner was ready in 30 minutes.
I’ve also successfully used it to make yogurt, cook beans in an hour, and am cooking steelcut oats right now while I drink my coffee. I love that you can dump everything in and push a button, then go do something else. I think it’s saved us money not eating out as much because on nights when I failed to plan dinner, I can make something last minute and easy with the Instant Pot.
Forgot to add that I had a Pressure Cooker XL for a year before that, which is similar, but I only used it a handful of times. It had a coated interior which was really hard to clean. I love that the pot of the Instant Pot is stainless steel and can be scrubbed clean very easily.
I love seeing these glimpses into your day! I’m with you on the InstaPot- it sounds great, but it’s just another thing!
I received an Instant Pot as a wedding gift earlier this year and I’m sad to say I haven’t used it yet. Part of the reason is because I’m intimidated by it. I’m going to take some tips from here and looks up online how to use it. I have a lot of Lindsay’s Instant Pot recipes saved & I really want to make them!
i’m so ready for the temperatures to drop here so that i can break out my crockpot!! and maybe even head to a pumpkin patch. you and chase are the absolute cutest, and your fall morning date sounds absolutely perfect!! i’m in my late 20’s, but a day picking pumpkins and eating ice cream with my mom would be a dreaaaam! š
We just bought our Instant Pot last weekend and so far I’ve only used to to make homemade yogurt (goodbye to the yogurt maker I bough a month ago).
We’ll be trying it out this weekend to make some stew using the slow cooker mode.
I can’t wait to try it out for hard boiled eggs soon, too.
We got it for a great deal at Kohl’s. On sale, extra $10 off AND and extra 20% off. I don’t think I would have bought it if I didn’t have all the deals though.
crock pot is for slow cooking instant is for fast, easy as that. do you have things you need made quickly? soups, stews, rice, and more in 20 minutes or less. it’s more likely that you’ll get the instant pot and your crock pot will be the one collecting dust. though with meat things, the crock pot/slow method is likely better for flavor purposes and of course, the crock pot is best for pot luck type set-ups. there’s definitely room in your kitchen for both and it’s one of those “i didn’t even know i needed this, but now i can’t live without it” type gadgets. good luck deciding! maybe wait for a black friday/cyber monday deal so it’s not such a tough choice? xox
You and Chase’s morning at the pumpkin patch looked so nice! Plus, it ended with ice cream. A total win! I’ve read good things about the Instant Pot, but I also don’t like having too many things, so I’m torn!
http://www.poweredbysass.com/2017/10/25/the-importance-of-having-gratitude/
I was actually thinking that super thick smoothie looked SO good!
I’m thinking of getting an instant pot too, I keep seeing so many delicious looking recipes for it!
Our daighterās sound machine does the same thing when the power goes out and the heartbeat is SO CREEPY! I woke up in the middle of the night terrified that there was someone in the house!
I LOVE my Instant Pot… way more than my slow cooker. It is so easy to use. Let me know if you want links for some delicious recipes I’ve made in it. I’ve made dinners, soft-boiled eggs, spaghetti squash, etc. I love that it has so many functions and is so fast.
I’d be interested in those recipes, too. Julie, if you get one, do you mind sharing recipes you find/use with it? I just have a slow cooker, but it seems like instant pots are all the rage now.
Some of my favorites are:
Nom Nom Paleo blog has a lot of IP recipes, including this one – http://nomnompaleo.com/post/131794514903/pressure-cooker-spaghetti-squash
http://www.skinnytaste.com/instant-pot-chicken-tikka-masala-with-cauliflower-and-peas/
https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/
Some good roundups:
https://www.foodiecrush.com/31-instant-pot-recipes/
http://www.thekitchn.com/10-instant-pot-recipes-ready-in-30-minutes-or-less-250085?utm_source=k_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10022017&recip_id=47008
The smoothie sounds so good! I miss making really thick cauliflower smoothies, especially ones that taste like chocolate or peanut butter, or both!
I love my Instant Pot! Just don’t be fooled by the recipes that say “Dinner in just four minutes!” Um, no. They never account for the time it takes the pot to come to pressure lol! So not instant dinner, BUT it does infuse flavor into your food very deeply, making even basic spaghetti and meatballs with store bought sauce taste amazing! Let me know if you need some foolproof basic recipe links to try out.
I got myself an instant pot last fall and I only used it a hand full of times. Iām not a huge fan.
What a fun mommy-son date! How fun to have Ryan home early too! I also love days when my husband gets home early. But how did it make it to Arkansas and back so fast? In like a few hours?
I totally want a instant pot too! apparently you can use it as a slow cooker AND can saute veggies so it’s really an all in ONE!!! If you get one I want a full review!!
Love mama son dates…so special xo
Looove my instant pot. Itās also a slow cooker so you can put your old slow cooker away. Although it takes a while to get to pressure you can cook things like rice and steamed veggies faster without watching it to see when it is done. It beeps and then you know. So nochecking and accidentally burning stuff. You can also sautĆ© in it things like I onions or meat then actually cook the soup or Stew right in it after.
Aw your trip to the farm looks so fun! And I’ve really been wanting to invest in an instant pot or a sous vide. I’m thinking of adding all sorts of kitchen gadgets to my christmas wish list. I just finished The Girl in Cabin 10 last night. I really want to start reading some non fiction books, but I just LOVE the mysteries!
It took me a while to decide but got and instapot at black friday for really good deal. It also took me a little while to get used to cooking with it. Once you get your groove using it, it’s a real nice tool. I use the saute then pressure feature all the time. I make one pot spaghetti and meat sauce (so easy and good) and various soups mostly.
That is so crazy about the alarm – we had a power surge at 3:30am Tuesday (in Florida) and it woke us up, too. It always makes all the electronics that beep beep (washer, microwave, etc.) and our house alarm has a delayed beep response. Of course there’s no easy going back to sleep when you hear your house alarm beep in any mode in the middle of the night.
Echoing others, just recently got the instant pot and I love it! It’s true, things aren’t as fast as they claim since the pot has to “heat up” but I love the fact that you can do everything in one dish, so clean up is a breeze. And it’s still much faster than the crockpot. We are a pasta/carb loving family and they cook perfectly in the instant pot, along with all your other ingredients!
Insant Pot is LIFE!!!! I had it for a very long time before I became comfortable w if. It is pretty intimidating. Get yourself a few cookbooks or join the “instant pot community” & you’re set!! My mom even owns TWO!!
I havenāt touched my crockpot since I bought my
Instant Pot on Prime Day. Now I have two! (The 8qt and the 3qt mini). Thereās a learning curve, so I challenged myself to cook with them as much as I possibly could at first to really learn the ins and outs. Iāve had a few flops, but mostly great successes. Food is so flavorful and moist, and it makes amazing soup SOOO fast. Plus it will give you more blogging material! š
Julie,
Where did you learn to code? I am a newish blogger and want to start understanding things on the back end of my blog better but know I need to know a little more about coding. Did you take a course etc?
Everything I’ve learned is from Googling! It’s an ongoing process for sure!