Weekending it

Since I had Friday off, I was able to get a lot of chores done during the day which left the weekend feeling like a real weekend.  It was ideal to go to the laundromat on Friday afternoon!  Wish I could do it like that every week.  The place was clean and empty and I was in and out quick with all 8 loads going at the same time.  I was also able to do actual meal planning and list making on Friday and on Saturday Dan and I tag-teamed a grocery trip and for once we left with everything on the list.  Both laundry and grocery shopping were a little crazy without a trusty granny cart to lug things back and forth but we made do with two IKEA bags.  It made for a good arm workout.

Also on Saturday we walked to 86th street to get some Easter gifts and a couple of needs on our list.  We spent the afternoon hanging out and watching basketball.  Dan had me fill out a bracket for March Madness and I was doing really well until Xavier lost last night in an epic final shot by Wisconsin.  We didn't get to see that game but now everything is messed-up since I had Xavier going to the final against Kansas.  But, I really don't care too much about basketball - I care about the pedicure I get if my bracket beats Dan's.

This weekend Dan and I had a great time cooking together.  He is getting the hang of his sous chef role and is gaining so much confidence in the kitchen!  Now I can just tell him what I need and he'll do it without a lot of direction.  On Saturday we whipped out 125 meatballs from the Pioneer Woman cookbook.  It's her freezer meatball recipe. 

We froze four batches of 25 and used the rest to make Sweet and Sour Meatballs over rice for dinner (Dan cut the fresh pineapple, made the sauce, and made the rice without any help from me!).  It was a lot of work but now we have four meals already prepped.

Later that night I made three batches of Rice Krispie treats for church the next day.  Moral of that story:  don't put foil on the bottom of the pans.  We had to peel the treats off the foil. 

Sunday was a chaotic day but after some rest time we went back to the kitchen and made stuffed shells, also from the Pioneer Woman cookbook.  That cookbook is great!  It is bright and colorful and everything is very easy to follow.  We haven't made something we didn't like yet!  The stuffed shells recipe made a whole box of shells so we froze half the batch and devoured the other half for dinner that night.  It's extra special because it has a red sauce AND a creamy white sauce.  Mmmm - but they didn't photograph well. 

We were really proud of our great team work this weekend.  I'm so grateful that Dan likes helping out in the kitchen and that our communication is improving and making for great bonding time