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Tips for Winter Cleaning
You may be in the practice of spring cleaning, where you focus on deep cleaning areas of your home every spring. While this is a great time to clean areas of your home that don’t get much attention, why not move it a little earlier in your year like winter cleaning? By focusing on this near the beginning of the year, you start your year off right and have less to do in the springtime. Make a List of the Tasks You Have Been Avoiding You can start your winter cleaning new year simply by knowing what needs to be done. Write down all the tasks (cleaning or otherwise) that…
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More Soup Month: Sous Vide Chicken and Bok Choy Soup
It’s still Soup Month! Sous Vide Chicken and Bok Choy Soup is another soup recipe for these winter months! And it uses a cool cooking technique called sous vide (under pressure). In sous vide, the food is typically vacuum-sealed in a bag and cooked to a precise temperature while in a water bath. Sous vide can also refer to simply precision cooking in a water bath without a vacuum bag as well. In either version, it is difficult ( possible if you leave it in the bath too, too long!)to overcook the food with this method because the temperature cannot get any higher than the one you select. Also, the…
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Tips for Selecting New Daily Routines You Will Stick to
Do you find yourself caught in a cycle of starting a new routine with a bunch of new habits, then failing pretty soon after you begin? You are not a failure, and hope is not lost! All you need is a little tweaking to your routines in order to help them stick. Analyze the Habits and Why You Are Including Them If you don’t know why you are including a certain habit, you are not going to stick to it. Habit building should always start with the WHY. Begin by writing down the habits you are thinking about introducing into your routine, then next to each one, write about your…
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National Meat Month: Reverse Sear Strip Steaks
Hello, all you meat-lovers! January is National Meat Month and this week, January 24 – 31 is National Meat Week! The month focus on all meats and meat week focuses on BBQ. I ate a lot more meat as a child than I do now — same with my husband. However, he loves a good steak — on occasion — even now and relishes the opportunity to visit a steak house to get a really good cut of meat cooked right. But now, sitting at a steakhouse — not ideal. So, steak at home! What is a Reverse Sear? The reverse sear is a cooking method where a thick cut…
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Instant Pot® Chicken Noodle Soup
I love January! It’s my birth month, and it’s National Soup Month. Soup is warm and filling and there are so many different tasty varieties. This recipe today is for a classic… Nothing beats a delicious bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup. Unfortunately, it can be a bit time-consuming to prepare from scratch with a chicken carcass. As a kid, we usually had the canned version of chicken soup — I think most of us did! Lots of salt! It seemed fine to my unrefined kiddie palate but now that I am an adult…not so much! Homemade soup is a different beast! It may seem daunting to some…but not with…
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Is There Actually a Perfect Daily Routine?
When it comes to daily routines, the buzz seems to be about including certain tasks to your morning or nighttime routine in order to make it “ideal”. But the truth is, there is no perfect routine, so you don’t need to try to chase one. It is much better to create a routine with habits that benefit you, help you find balance in your life, and help with any challenges you have related to your habits. Good and Bad Habits in Your Routine The perfect daily routine for you is going to be one where you become aware of all your habits, the good and the bad. Before you can…
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Do You Have Quarantine Fatigue?
Quarantine fatigue is not just feeling tired and out of energy from isolation, though that is definitely a catalyst for it. This type of fatigue is more about being mentally exhausted from quarantine in general. You tend to stop washing your hands as much, don’t worry about wearing a mask unless it is mandatory, and don’t take all the careful steps to protect yourself and others that you did in the beginning. If this sounds like you, here are some things you can do to remedy it. Understand That it is Completely Normal Quarantine fatigue is completely normal, and something most people in isolation are experiencing. This is the result…
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Why You Need to Write Down and Track Habits
When you get into choosing new habits for your daily routines, one thing that can benefit you the most is writing everything down. But writing down what your habits are, choosing the actual routine, and keeping track of it can be very useful. It Holds You Accountable Writing down your habits and routines is going to hold you accountable. You know what they are, and can track each day you get them done. Even if you are just accountable to yourself, you will feel good about crossing them off each day and knowing you are keeping a promise to yourself. If you can tell others about it too, that adds…
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What is Habit Stacking?
Habit stacking is the process of taking habits that fit together and putting them into a routine. After all, this is really all a routine is. It is a collection of habits you “stack” because they fit in well with one phase of your day, whether it is a morning routine or a lunchtime routine. Here are some things to know about habit stacking and how you can take advantage of it with your own routines and habits. Using Cues for Your Habits A big part of habit stacking is having cues for each of your habits. These are signs that tell you what habit is coming up next. For…
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More on Pizza Week: Cast Iron Pizza Margherita
This is my second post this week about National Pizza Week. I have included a recipe for a pizza made using a cast iron pan. Yum! But with that, I decided to take a quick look at using pizza stones versus cast iron when making your homemade pizza creations. Pizza Stones vs Cast Iron Pizza stones are made out of terra cotta materials and can be purchased in a number of sizes and shapes including square and round. Why is a pizza stone good for your pizza? The material that the stone is made up of is porous and soaks up any liquid in the crust making it crispier. Crispy…
