Review: Instant Pot and a Recipe for Instant Duck Confit!

There's a word going through the cooking world right now - Instant Pot!

So what is this device that everyone is so excited about? It's basically what you would get if a pressure cooker, slow cooker, and rice cooker all had a baby. Yes, it can do all of those things.

What most people are excited about though is the pressure cooking. Pressure cookers have historically been a little scary. I remember whenever my mom used hers and she told me that if I came into the kitchen, I would explode. Needless to say, I've never been excited about attempting to pressure cook anything.

...until the Instant Pot came along! I'm not going to lie, the first few times (and every time after) I still hold some residual pressure cooker fear but the Instant Pot feels so safe, that I'm slowly getting over my fear of pressure.

So what's the verdict???

Pros:

• SPEED - My biggest gripe about slow cooking has always been time. If something takes 8-10 hours to cook and I forget to put it in on time I'm either SOL or we are eating dinner at 10pm. Not fun. The Instant Pot does everything a slow cooker can do in a fraction of the time. Need to slow cook something for 8 hours? Put it in the Instant Pot for an hour. 
• Flavor - I'm pretty sure the pressure helps get more flavor out of the meals. This isn't an opinion - like I think there's some science behind it.
• Quick buttons - Every now and then I'll wing it but it's still hard to know how long something needs to be under pressure. Luckily there are some preset buttons like meat, poultry, beans/chili, etc so you can push one of those and the pot will set itself to the ideal time for what you're making.
• 7-in-1 - it's a pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, saute dish, yogurt maker, and warmer. While you probably won't use all of these functions at once, having a multi-use appliance is great because many slow/pressure cooked dishes are best when you brown the meat first. No one wants to dirty an extra pan but have no fear - you can saute right in the Instant Pot! Then you get your pressure on and afterwards it will keep it warm for you. BAM 3 of the uses right there.

Cons:

• BUTTONS - seriously, there are about 20 buttons on this thing. A very advanced slow cooker has about 4. There's a much steeper learning curve and you will need to read the instructions. Don't like instructions? Read above where I talk about pressure cookers historically exploding. Bet you're reading the instructions now!
• Sealing valve - The pressure cooker has a little valve that seals in the pressure. When your cooking time is up, you can either let the pressure decrease on it's own or you can release the pressure valve and a rush of steam will shoot out. Obviously, this is terrifying. I usually poke it from across the room with the longest spoon I have. Dan has frequently asked that I warn him when I do this because even though he doesn't know the worries about pressure cookers, releasing the valve sounds like an explosion. My other issue with the sealing valve - unless the recipe says, I'm not usually sure when to release it and when to let the pressure go down on its own. I think letting the pressure release has the benefit of longer cooking (more tender, more flavor) and being safer. However, it will lead to an extra build up of moisture since the steam is not escaping - for some recipes, this will not be ideal.
• Low heat sauteing - I've been using the saute function to brown meats before pressure cooking but it doesn't feel like the heat gets high enough to really get a good brown sear on there. If you really want a good hard sear, I would recommend using a frying pan first. It still works fine for pre-cooking things like onions or ground meat. 

All in all, it's an amazing small appliance. Yes, there is a learning curve but luckily a lot of people are paving the way. Most of the food bloggers that I follow have already been testing our recipes and there are a lot of cookbooks. I got Paleo Cooking with Your Instant Pot a couple of months ago and pre-ordered another Instant Pot cookbook for this summer. 

So my verdict - get one but do your research. Don't be afraid of your machine but use the internet, Pinterst, and cookbooks to get some guidance for your first few recipes. Once you get the hang of the buttons, don't be afraid to experiment! A few times, I've definitely thrown in some slow cooking meat and put it under pressure instead and it totally worked.

Like... that time I made Duck Confit! Duck confit is one of my favorite dishes but is notoriously very time consuming. I've made it in the slow cooker before but it misses the sear it needs and takes a long time to cook.... which makes it sound perfect for the instant pot.

The first step is break down your duck. You might be able to get one broken down from a butcher shop but in stores, I always see a whole duck for sale. Duck confit is usually just the thighs but I use the breasts as well as to not waste. 

The biggest thing here - SAVE ALL THE EXTRA SKIN AND FAT. Duck Confit has to be slow cooked in duck fat. You can buy some but it's really expensive and your duck comes with lots! I cut off all the extra skin and fat and cook it on low to make my own fat. 

Here are my little duck skin pieces frying. Just make sure your temperature doesn't get too high because it will crackle. Also be sure to watch them and make sure they're cooking evenly so you can get as much fat as possible. 

While you are rendering your fat, you can start to get a sear on your duck thighs and breast skin. To do this, set the Instant Pot to saute mode. I actually found that this didn't get them hot enough so it might be better to sear them off in a frying pan. You only need to do the skin side.

Once your duck is seared and the duck fat is ready, you can turn off the Instant Pot and strain your fat into it.

Once that's done, you're ready to pressure cook! Close off your Instant Pot and make sure the valve is on the sealing mode. I wasn't sure how long to cook it, so I just hit the poultry button. The default was 15 min but I increased it to 30 so it really would get tender.

I also wasn't sure if I should release the pressure at the end or let it naturally go down. I went for a mix of both and released the pressure after about 15 minutes. I think not releasing the pressure creates a lot of steam though and that doesn't work as well for duck confit.

When I took it out, the sear had lost it's crisp. I decided to heat them up on the stove (in the same pan I rendered the fat in). This re-crisped them up and added a lot of flavor.

In the end, it turned out really well and I saved all of my duck fat for further cooking as well as making a duck stock from the bones. 

The recipe worked out really well but it definitely wasn't quite a one-pot meal. I liked the way it turned out by re-searing the duck after the pressure cooking. 

February 2017 - Habit Check In #2

I'm really loving how this structure for my goals has given me more to write about! I've been trying to throw out some other posts in between as well but obviously that has to work around time and well, having something to write about. I have a few adventures next month that should give some more blog fodder and I also want to review more of the kitchen and wine gadgets that I use every day.

Anyways, here's how February went!

Family Time

This has easily become the highlight of my week. We've started really planning our weekends around when we can get our family walk in and this month, it wasn't easy. Each of the weeks, we had some big conflict trying to keep us from our walk but we made it anyways.

Week 1, we were out of town for my work. I have to work Superbowl every year and we usually make it into a little weekend getaway to LA. We usually walk on Saturdays but had gone to Universal Studios instead. While the quantity of walking would probably count it, the spirit wasn't there. Instead, we planned to go Sunday morning before work. It ended up being really hectic between eat breakfast, packing, and making sure I got to work on time - but we did it. It was a short mile-ish loop around the parcourse near my parent's house but it was something.

Weeks 2-3 we were dealing with busy weekends and bad weather. We had a hardcore workout one week and race the next and both weekends it was supposed to be rainy on the day we could do our hike. Hiking isn't quite as fun if it's super muddy, especially with a dog, so we timed our walks to breaks in the weather and just found paved trails - usually waterfront. While not a true hike, it gave us some awesome views and helped us find some new paths.

Week 4 should have just been a disaster. We went back and forth on where to go - the weather was finally nice enough for a real hike, but we had plans that we'd be late for if we did something too intensive. We'd been loving the water so we decided to do Torrey Pines - but when we parked we saw lots of "no dogs" signs. I didn't want to drive around looking for something else since we'd already lost so much time so we decided just to take the dog to a nearby dog beach. We had so much fun playing and splashing around and got the bonus of finding a new fun beach. We'll have to circle back to Torrey Pines another day but it always sucks to leave the dog at home when we go on an adventure.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

I don't really have much to say on this one. I've definitely been working out a lot and mostly sticking to the schedule I set myself but I'm not perfect and I missed a lot of days as well. For some reason, every Monday this month, something came up to keep my climbing partners and myself out of the gym. I also missed a lot of Body Pump classes either because I had another workout or just something fun came up... like free beer tasting. All these things totally happen but for March I'd like to pull it in and try to really hit my weekly schedule.

On the plus side - while I've missed a bunch of gym time, I've been walking a whole lot more with the dog. Usually, they're just little short walks around the block but they've been a nice way for both of us to get a little sunshine and exercise. We've also tried to do work around the garden whenever it's been sunny out and it's nice putting those muscles to some functional use.

The 2017 kilometer challenge is going well too! Extra walks mean extra chipping away at it, even if they're on the short side. At the end of last month, I had 64km and this month I had 119. That means I'm being consistent (giving myself a break on the 3 shorter days this month) which is great for me and great for the dog. Also, last year, I had 244 km for the whole year. That means that in 2 months, I've gone half as far as I did.. IN A YEAR. It's crazy and I'm so proud at how we've made something as simple as going on more walks, runs, and hikes into such a regular habit.

Meal Planning

This one continues to challenge me. I did add a section for planning out dinners in my daily planner but I'm still not being consistent. To help get on track though, I did a few stocking up dinners. What are those? That's when I cook something really big that I know will last a few nights and then we just have to find sides to go with them (usually making tacos). Examples are pulled pork, brisket, and chili. The added benefit is that they're made in the slow cooker or pressure cooker so I can prep them and let them cook while doing other things!

Brisket!!!!!

Slow cooked pork!!!!

Take an Annual Trip with my Husband

Not much progress here which is bad because our trip is coming up really fast. What I really need to do is get our taxes together so we can see if we have a bigger budget for excursions and things.... Obviously next month there needs to be a lot of work here, but I did try to get an idea of the budget and things.

Read a Book a Week

In January, I read way over the book/week goal which was awesome. For February, I was right on track, and that was ok too. I knew that some months would be harder to meet the goal and February was one of those - but I met it anyways! Just barely!

In addition to being pressed for time, I also read a couple of longer books - like over 500 pages. All four of my books this month were really fast reads that I hated putting down and that was probably the real driver behind finishing this month.

All in all, I read 4 books in 4 weeks coming in exactly at my goal.

Edit: these screenshots come from Goodreads. A book social media site I use to track my reading. I also usually write reviews of all the books I read in case you're interesting in the reasons behind my scores.

Me Time

This month I learned that me time can come in a lot of shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's just listening to my body or my needs. Earlier in the month, Dan and I went to a free bootcamp workout and it kicked our butts. The next day, I was so sore and instead of pushing myself, I just took a day off. I cancelled my gym plans, I made a really simple dinner, and then I just soaked in the tub for an hour. It felt so good, and the next day I felt better... but the next day was Valentine's Day and I had another dilemma. I could go to the gym, but then I'd be home late and be rushing to make dinner and get things done and wouldn't be able to just enjoy the night and spend time with Dan so I decided to take another day off from the gym. I love working out and I'm so happy with what's happening with my fitness but I think finding the balance and knowing when to take some time off so that I don't overdo it or stress myself out is important too.

I'm also learning that I don't want me time to be lazy time. I could totally veg out in front of the TV all day but I'm trying to make my free time work for me. Lately I've been doing a lot of gardening when I have down time or making more time to make sure I eat solid meals while I work from home. While I'm still moving - I feel a lot better in general when I'm being productive.

Fabulous February

but hey - this outfit was pretty cute
so not a total fail?

This was basically a fail. I mean, it's not like I dress terrible or anything. The few times I did go out, I styled my hair and picked a cute outfit. I just think that, in general, my style is fitness chic and I'm totally ok with that. I like dressing up when I get the chance but I'm still going to be rocking yoga pants and tank tops most of the time. I don't need to force cuteness or dress up to run errands - that's just not my thing.

This probably ended up being more of a "Feel Good February." I think I've come a long way from some of the things that caused me to be more self-conscious. All of the habits above are leading me to feel great, have more energy, and most importantly, have a sound mind. I've tried to treat myself better day to day including little things like eating a good breakfast each morning and trying to get some sunshine each day. Working out more has also coincided with drinking a lot less and getting better sleep. All of the habits together are having the effect of making me feel really good and that's awesome.

My monthly goal for next month was going to be Mo' Money March - in attempt to save more money. However, we're going to need to do a lot of spending in related to the last bit of planning for our trip so I think I might take this the other direction and work on ways to make mo' money. I still have an Etsy shop and despite awesome sales in January, February was really slow. I want to find ways to connect with potential buyers more and try to naturally grow interest in my shop.

I also will be wrapping up my class which means I have some open time to study for a certification that will open up some moonlighting possibilities for me. I should also try spending less money but I like the idea of focusing on ways I can make more money as well... it seems more sustainable long term.

Why I Don't Eat Strict Paleo Anymore

A lot of this blog has been dedicated to Paleo and Whole 30 eating. Like a lot. Like several years of me trying to make worldwide recipes Paleo friendly... and now we're ditching it.

BUT WHY?!

Well, there are a few reasons that are too hard to explain on Instagram so I thought it was time for a blog post.

1) Food In vs. Energy Out

Paleo emphasizes not really needing to count calories. If you're really eating strict paleo, your calorie count will be lower. It is definitely the biggest positive of eating Paleo and why so many people find success with it. Think about it - you're cutting sugar which has a ton of empty calories (things that give energy reserves but don't make you less hungry) and many carbs (which do help the hunger side but also provide a lot of energy that needs to be burned).

What this really sums up to - a non-Paleo diet usually leads to higher energy reserves (aka calories) that will convert to fat if you're not burning them....

Post Whole30 - Literally starving

And I had the opposite problem. As I ramped up our fitness by working out more and training for half marathons,I was really really hungry. Paleo wasn't always giving me as many calories in as I was burning out. That's why I lost so much weight on Whole 30 (like 15 pounds in a month) despite not being very big to begin with. I was burning up all my fat reserves while training for the half marathon and I would come home from a long run and spend the whole day eating. The problem was that all these Whole30 compliant foods were not filling me up so I'd have to snack all day to try to replenish the 1000+ calories I burned on my run.

On any given day, my exercise leads me to burn 300-800 extra calories and the easiest way to get those back was just to let myself eat things we liked like Mac & Cheese or pasta or cookies. We earned it.

So - I started looking at food more like that - what does my body need? Did I burn a lot of calories today that I need to replenish? Am I still eating plenty of protein and vegetables?

This is largely known as Macros which are huge in the workout world. It's keeping track of what out versus how much you exercise and adjusting your diet for optimum fitness. While I'm not super mathematical about it, I do track my workouts and know how many calories I burn a day and take that into consideration when I'm planning our dinners.

After this we got Mac & Cheese and went beer tasting. Because Macros.

2) Ok I Guess I Do Like Bread

One of the reasons I was so ok with Paleo to begin with was that bread and pasta and lot of those things didn't really excite me. They felt like vehicles for sandwich filling or sauce and it felt like I could just translate those to a salad or put sauce on vegetables instead. That worked really well for a while and I really didn't miss the carb-filled vehicles.

But that slowly changed.

Mac and Cheese is BAE

First, I started growing a love for Mac and Cheese. Despite several attempts, it never tasted as good when I tried to make it paleo friendly or with quinoa or something else. There is substitute for ooey gooey cheesey pasta.... so that became part of our 80/20 (eat paleo 80% of the time and 20% of the time cheat).

And then I fell in love with butter. That sounds gross but I discovered grass fed Irish butter Kerrygold and it was so creamy and delicious, I wanted to eat it on everything. While it was great for cooking, especially on steaks or fish... everyone knows good butter needs good bread. I started buying sourdough and making toast occasionally... and then more frequently... and now it's basically my breakfast staple.

The bread might still just be a vehicle for my butter but the combination of sourdough and creamy butter is perfection and I love it.

Also - have you tried Avocado toast? It's like really really good. Also, not Paleo.

3) Sometimes It's Just Easier

Yea, I said you were easy.

Look, I like cooking. However, it's hard to have a job and workout a lot and take classes and read a bunch of books and balance everything. Sometimes you just want something easy. Sometimes that's heating up a frozen enchilada from Trader Joe's or running to the Mexican restaurant on the corner. Eating clean 100% of the time? No one has time for that. I have every kitchen tool to make cooking easier but sometimes there's no substitution for the 5 minutes it takes to run to Del Taco. It's not every day but sometimes you have those days where you need food quickly and can't whip a totally clean meal. Even when I do have time - pasta or tacos are just easy dinners that I know will check off all of our Macro boxes. 

4) We Still Eat REALLY Healthy

Pasta AND veggies because we're healthy like that

I was Paleo for a long time and if anything, I learned a lot about food. I think the biggest take away, and something I plan on sticking to for life, is to know what we're eating.

I'm obsessed with labels. I check what we buy and try to limit excess chemicals or sugars. We avoid "fat free" like the plague and instead stick with items that have a few natural ingredients. I still make most things from scratch. Dan begs me to make paleo ranch because he likes it better than the store bought stuff.

I still have tons of Paleo cookbooks and follow Paleo bloggers. I still make Paleo recipes. Our default dinners are still mostly meat and vegetables. Maybe I'll snack on a piece of toast and maybe we'll have a pasta night once or twice a week but we do it in the cleanest way possible. I buy fresh bread. I make our own pasta sauces that have more vegetables than you'd believe.

Not being strict Paleo does not mean we don't eat clean. Sure - we have our beer and donut dates. Yes, we are obsessed with Mac and Cheese, but those are still the exception. On any given night we have a plate full of broccoli, some meat, and maybe a side of rice.... and then we'll have a cookie because hey, we workout.

We went on a hike so it's ok!!!

January 2017 - Habit Check In #1

Since this year's resolution is more about building habits than setting a goal for year, I'm going to check in monthly on how those habits are going. That gives some more blog content and also keeps me accountable. A habit isn't something you can just rush through at the end of the year and say you did it, it's about showing up every day or week or month and putting your best effort forward.

So let's see how January went!

Family Time

Dan and I have been doing so well on our weekly walks.

Also, family time is more than just having a set activity to do every day. It's about being present. It's about the little moments like joking around with each other while we're home and sneaking hugs and kisses (Harley gets VERY jealous). It's about date nights (in addition to our weekly hikes). Between work and family, I had to spend some time in LA away from Dan and we really just missed each-others presence. I think something about making time for each other outside of the house has really added to that.

There's also a funny thing about habits - the others involved started to get really used to them too. Week 4 I was on the last day of a cold and while I felt better, I wasn't super excited about going for a hike. However, Dan and Harley REALLY wanted to. I probably would have skipped the week but they encouraged me to get out so we picked a really easy hike (more of a walk) and got to enjoy the sunshine which ended up feeling really nice.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

This has been going so well. As I said in my original post, one week this month I did 10 workouts in a week. Don't worry - I'm well aware that it's not sustainable. The next week it was 6 workouts. The week after was a little less due to travel, rain, and a cold limiting my workout options. The point is that I still made time for it when I could. I obviously couldn't meet my friends at the gym if I was in another city but I got outside for a walk as soon as the rain cleared. I tried to work my travel schedule around not missing all of my gym classes as well. Being sick just really threw a wrench in things but once I got better I was SO antsy to workout again because my standard now is exercise instead of apathy. Habits are about making a new normal for yourself and laying in bed for a few days was not part of my normal.

It was kind of nice to start the year with this lesson - life happens. You can't always follow your strict schedule, especially if it requires you to be in a certain place or the cooperation of the forces. With that said... progress was still made.

I love MapMyRun Challenges. Some months I'm awesome at them, some months I'm terrible. Last year there was a challenge to run 1,000 kilometers in 2016. It went so well they re-did it for 2017 with 1,017 kilometers. The picture on the left is how I did last year. I didn't get to 1,000 last year. Not even close (but to be fair, one of my half marathons didn't track properly so it's off by like 22km). I don't think I'll get to 1,017 this year (its like 11 miles/ 19km a week which is tough with climbing and body pump) either... but I want to do a whole lot better. So far this month (on the right), I've crushed it by already going about 1/4 of the distance I did last year. Sometimes goals or habits aren't about reaching a certain number but just doing a little bit better than you did last time. If I keep up this pace, I should get to around 700 km this year. That's like 450 miles on my feet and a huge step up from last year's number.

Meal Planning

This one is so tough. We had a good week but then I had to go out of town just to come home for a week, spend most of it sick, and leave again. That makes it so hard to buy groceries and plan meals. I worked with that the best I could. The first week that we did our meal planning had another big hiccup - I planned out a week of meals, forgetting that 1) some of the meals had many servings and could last a couple of days 2) it was Restaurant Week and we had some meals planned around that. On the plus side, Dan was left with a lot of leftovers while I was out of town so it wasn't a huge waste.

I also got to use my meal planning skills a bit with my parents. For those who don't know, my mom hasn't been feeling great and therefore hasn't been cooking as much... which really affects how much my dad eats. I decided that while I was here I'd cook him a nice dinner each night. I think before I come back, I might reach into my recipe database to find something I can make in bulk for him and freeze so he has some easy meals on hand.

We did try a couple of new recipes though and that was AWESOME. Not going to lie, Dan would probably be pretty happy with me just making brocolli, quinoa, and some meat every day but I love variety and finding some new, simple recipes is amazing - like trying out this fish poached in tomato sauce that I saw on Instagram a couple of times. It takes about 10-15 minutes and was amazing. It also uses cod which is a cheaper, more sustainable fish than salmon so that was a double win.

Take an Annual Trip with my Husband

This is the only habit on here that really is an annual thing. However, a big trip isn't just something you wake up and go on and there's been progress here. One of my goals for this month was to book our flights. I had a goal price for our tickets and ended up finding a great flight that fit in that budget. That gives us a little more money for excursions while we are in Europe which is awesome!

My goal for next month is to start booking some of those excursions and figuring our what we're going to do in the 8-10 hours we have in each city so we can maximize our time!

Read a Book a Week

I destroyed this goal this month. 4-5 books would have put me on pace for this goal. I read 7.

I'd like to thank the library for processing my holds faster than my book-a-week pace, pushing me to finish books faster. Honorable Mention goes out to book club for forcing me to read one non-library book so I could host a meetup.

The end of January also marked a new beginning - the beginning of Spring classes! Last spring I took a few online classes at the community college. I had to take a break last Summer and Fall for the wedding but I'm excited to pick up another half course this Spring. I'll have to take off the second half of Spring for our trip but Summer and Fall should also be free for me to continue my education. The goal would be to take a class each semester or half semester in perpetuity to always continue building my skills and knowledge base. You might wonder how this fits here but I count the text book as a book I'm reading this year so there.

Also a big thank you to kitty for keeping firmly grounded in  my reading hammock. 

Me Time

This one took a turn for the worse - which also happens. I've obviously been spending a little more time taking care of other people this month and that's ok. Me time isn't supposed to be selfish time. Sometimes we're needed other places and there's it's own satisfaction in knowing you're helping someone else.

I also started an online class the last week of the month. It's only a 8 week class but I'm sure it will cut into my "me time" for the next two months as well, but cutting into "me" fun time in order to make "me" a better person seems like a pretty fair trade off.

Me time was also about me realizing while it sucked and I felt like a jerk, I had to duck out on plans while I was sick so I wasn't stressing my body more. It also meant not scheduling every minute of my life out which left Dan and I with a totally free weekend at the end of the month. It was great to really let myself push out the last of the cold, read another book, and take care of a lot of little house projects that had been put off due to the rain. While I would have loved to add more video game playing to this list, it felt good just to be a little productive too.

---

I think I'm going to start creating monthly challenges for myself as well. At first I was thinking following a friend into a Frugal February but I already had some expenses planned for this month that would make it feel like a weak effort so we'll push that one back a bit. Instead I'd like to go with a "Fabulous February" - and make a better attempt to dress nicer and do my makeup and hair (especially with my new short look that requires a bit of styling). I'd love to build up the habit of looking a bit nicer each day.

So that's January. As a whole - If this is how the rest of the year goes, I'm going to have a good one. The nice thing about habits is that they don't happen all at once. They're a thing you grow on and get a little better at every day or week or month. January laid a great groundwork for good habits and I'm excited to see where February takes us.

Review: Food Saver

One of the gifts we got for our wedding was a Food Saver. This was an item I knew I'd love and use but the price was a little steep to justify buying myself so I was really excited that someone got it for us. For those who don't know - I love buying meat in bulk and then freezing it. This is great for saving money but over time, the meat definitely loses integrity and gets freezer burn. Now that I'm typing this out, I probably should have just bought the thing...

Anyways... so far I am loving the Food Saver!!

Once we got back from our honeymoon, I made it my mission to buy all the meat at Costco... actually, let me rewind. The closest Costco to our house is a Costco Business Center. It's still accessible by regular members but it's catered more to business owners. Things are sold in SUPER bulk but at prices (per unit) even cheaper than regular Costco. Sounded like a perfect mission for Food Saver.

So, I went to Costco to pick up some meat for burgers and ended up with a 10 lb log of ground beef. Easy solution - divide it up and freeze it! I decided to go with 2lb bags so each one had enough for several burgers and if I didn't want to use all of it, I could just take out a part and seal it again!

It worked awesome! I now have 4 bags of beef in my fridge and the rest I made into burger patties. I actually feel like removing the oxygen has made the meat better too.... The booklet said that the meat may darker but I've noticed all the meat I've sealed has looked redder and fresher (compare to the top right package which was the original log). 

I also suggest using a kitchen scale. They're really cheap and totally get a lot of surprise use (some recipes prefer grams to traditional measurements because they're more accurate) and great for knowing how much you're freezing.

The Food Saver came in handy later that day too. I also bought a top sirloin at Costco... and it turned out to be two of them! They were pretty big also so one was enough for dinner. I seasoned both, cooked one, and vacuum sealed the other. Down the road when we want steak again, I've also saved myself the trouble of seasoning it. 

Now the big question... the bag refills. The Food Saver comes with a starter pack of 4 bags and 1 roll. The rolls are cool because you just create your own bag at the size you need so you're not wasting any of the material. Since I went pretty crazy at Costco, I decided to also get a replacement package. It comes with 5 rolls (which are 20ft long) and 36 bags. It's pretty pricey at $40 but doing the math, if you use 1 ft for each package you make with the rolls (you will probably use less) then it's about $.30 a bag. Definitely not cheap but if it holds up much better in the freezer, I think a 30 cent premium on our meals isn't too bad. We finally worked through the starter roll that comes with the food saver so it took about 3 months. That means I won't need to buy more refills until the middle of 2018. Not bad.

Other than that, you do need quite a bit of clearance to fit the bag into the vacuum seal which seems a little wasteful too. I few times I didn't get it in well and the machine just tried to vacuum forever. 

Mostly though, I love it! So far everything we have defrosted from the Food Saver freezer bags has tasted great and definitely held up really well. It's only been a couple of months so it will be interesting to check in on some of that ground beef down the road and see if it still holds up.

2017 - No Resolutions, Just Habits

I think this post will make the most sense if you read my last one about 2016 resolutions so I highly recommend doing that now. Ok - all good? Great!

So - if you read my last post, you know that I had... quite the year in 2016. I got married, I bought a house, and had some huge life changes. I also had the really normal experience of feeling self conscious and like a really imperfect human. I gave myself a couple of weeks to feel sad and wonder what was wrong me and then I decided to stop being sad and to be awesome again. 

How does one do that? You throw yourself into meaningful habits. Some people might call them resolutions but resolutions always feel really tied to New Years. They also feel like something that expires when the year is over. I had two problems with this - I started at the end of 2016 so it didn't feel like something I was doing just for this new year.... and I wanted these to be lifelong changes. 

Family Time

When I felt really disconnected last year, I remembered that even though I sometimes feel lonely, I'm not alone. I have a husband. That's like a built in friend for life that will have to jump through a lot of hoops to not have to put up with me (sucker). I think he kind of likes me too so that's good. We came back from our honeymoon and I wanted to see all of my friends and show off our house and talk about our wedding and honeymoon - but they didn't seem to want to do that. Instead Dan and I spent a lot of time together. We put together our house. We went on hikes and walks. He came with my to visit my parents and cheered me on my races. We continued our mission of drinking every stout in San Diego. One person can't always be the whole world for you but sometimes one person is enough to make a really big difference and I'm happy Dan is my person. 

It reminded me that as much as I am a social butterfly that loves hosting parties and spending time with lots of friends - spending quality time with my husband is just as important. I decided that once a week we should at least go on a long walk or hike together. Two weeks in, it's been really fun. In addition to some quality time together (plus dog), we've already checked out two new trails in San Diego. Next week it's supposed to rain so we'll have to find another plan but that's ok. We, of course, still have every day things like dinner and tv shows together but there's something nice about getting out of the house together... especially doing something free. And sometimes we do not free things like go on beer and donut dates. 

These two pictures were the same day. #earnedit

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

The second thing I did after our honeymoon was to get back on a workout schedule. I started pretty slowly too. One class one week, two the next... and on and on. I found out a friend and her boyfriend go to my climbing gym so I now had climbing partners and friends to keep my accountable. Dan and I take body pump together every week and I even started grabbing a second class on weekends. I take the dog for more walks than ever. Last week I logged 10 workouts so I think that's a good place to cap it (If you're wondering how I can physically bear doing that much - some days the double workouts were a short yoga class or a walk with the dog). 

I feel fantastic. Up until now I'd been feeling... lethargic. I'd get a full nights sleep and still feel tired in the middle of the day. Now I wake up on my own before my alarm and I don't get that afternoon crash. I can't wait to really measure my results at my next couple of races. 

Meal Planning

If you're like me, you think of meal planning and you think of 7 really boring copies of the same meal stuffed into various tupperware.

Yea, No. 

What I mean by meal planning is looking at my week and figuring out what to cook for dinner each night. I love cooking so that's not the problem. My problem comes with shopping. I have this very human habit of going to a store and buying everything that looks delicious. It all sounds great until I get home and forget about it and then it goes bad. Not only is it bad for money but it's really wasteful.

For a couple weeks last year, I wrote out what I wanted to make each night, what I needed for it, and when I'd go shopping for each meal. This included when we'd eat leftovers. It was super cost effective and had very little waste. It also helped me plan meals around the workout schedule. Like Thursdays - our class is at 6:30. At best, if I start dinner right when we get home, we're eating at 8:30 and usually later. Thursdays are a perfect day for slow cooking. 

It also has the added benefit of letting me be creative or reference my many cookbooks and all of Pinterest. A couple of times, I realized I had some awesome protein that I didn't have any ideas for. I got to spend time looking through recipes for something cool to do - something I wouldn't have been to throw together with out a little planning. 

I haven't been doing this the last few weeks but I want to get back on the meal planning train very soon. 

Take an Annual Trip with my Husband

Not very long into our honeymoon Dan said "We should take a trip like this every year." My response: "You are absolutely right." Up until that honeymoon, we hadn't taken a trip that wasn't for a race, wedding, or family. That's crazy. It was so nice to be away from all our stress and also not have to be anywhere at a certain time. 

I'm so excited we already have our trip to Europe planned. It's something we've talked about since we first started dating and we are finally making it a reality. It will definitely be a very different trip than our honeymoon in Mexico but I know it is going to be one awesome adventure. 

Read a Book a Week

This is a goal I had in high school and re-visited a couple of years ago. The last two years, I came just a few books short of my goal of 52. So far this year I've read 4 books in 2 weeks so I'm ahead of the game a little bit. I like getting a head start in January because life happens and you just can't always set aside reading time. Although - part of this habit is to make sure reading time is a priority. Sunny day? Go lay in the backyard and read. Rainy day? Go curl up on the couch and read. Sick day? Lay in bed with some tea and Emergen-c.... and read. Waiting for something? Read. Mad? Read. Bored? Read. Hungry? Make a sandwich and read while you eat. 

Read.

Me Time

I am definitely the kind of person who stretches myself too thin whenever I can. I hate saying no to things because I hate when people do it to me and I know I always have a great time when I go out. Sometimes though, I just want things a little quieter. I also get the feeling that most people already are deep into the habit of just saying no when they need time for themselves and maybe it's time I did it too. 

Finally, at the beginning of this year, I was able to find a little pocket of time that was truly for me. While reading may seem like "me time" I'm usually up against a deadline for book club or the library so sometimes I'm rushing a book in when I'd kind of rather be doing something else. That something else is playing video games. It may seem silly, but it's one of my passions and I hadn't truly been able to play one since 2015. I was a little worried I'd turn on my PS4 and forget what buttons did what but it came back so naturally and being able to really escape to another world was just what I needed. The games I like usually have a good amount of adventure and problem solving (Assassain's Creed, Batman Arkham, God of War) so taking the animus to the French Revolution lately has been so good for my brain. 

And Yea All the Stuff From Last Year

I still want to be patient and find balance and go to Mexico and not be a Bridezilla (I think I'm going to NAIL this one) and watch my temper. Resolutions shouldn't be about doing something for a year and then stopping. They should be about making positive changes for life.... then you're not getting older, you're just getting more awesome.

2016 Resolutions Re-Visited

Hey blog world - it's been a while. Normally this is the point where I apologize profusely and give lots of excuses on why I didn't write. I had a lot of excuses too - planning a wedding, travel, family illness, burnout.... but the truth is... I did write, a lot. I have so many drafts saved.... but I felt really self conscious and got the feeling that I didn't have any place to stand on a pedal-stool and give my opinions on things because I don't have it all figured out and most of the time I'm really really not sure of things myself - so I decided to not post the posts I'd written and to not write the things in my head or share the opinions I was creating. I'd go on long walks or runs (aka thinking time) and draft blog posts in my head.... and not do anything with them. I'd try out a new gadget I'd bought or received and think about how amazing it was (or wasn't) and want to tell someone... but not. Eventually, I decided that maybe it was good to at least circle back to my annual resolution posts, even if they were a little late.

And for my insecurities? They're still there. Some have worked themselves out through time or patience (not my strengths but I'm working on it) or just brutally throwing myself into any other passion within reach. Others are still forcefully there but they kind of came to a head this weekend with two friendships I was feeling a little disconnected from. One responded to me with coldness and bluntness and the other said "Why didn't you just tell me how you felt?" It always sucks to have your feelings disregarded but the bright side is that everyone is different and while someone might hurt you, someone else will show you kindness that reminds you why you do this and why you want to keep writing your blog even if you feel insecure sometimes.

So back to the main event - New Years Resolutions!!!! Looking at the list from last year is kind of a wonderful thing. While 2016 was a terrible year for most, it was the year I got married and bought a house and I will always remember the good that came from it. It was also the year I knocked off the most off my resolution list. While I can't give myself a 100% because a lot of the items weren't "all or nothing" - I have to admit, I didn't fail any of the items either. I had some missteps but in the end it all came out ok.

Here goes...

Not Be a Bridezilla

Well, I had my moments. I feel like I burned some of my Bridezilla-ing early on and it showed me I need to keep my cool and be more understanding. Looking back, I wish I hadn't over re-acted early on because it just made for some tough patches with friends and in the big picture, it all worked out ok. I think the hardest part about weddings is that it's not always obvious what's a huge deal and what's a little deal and it makes everything seem really huge. Spoiler alert big deal stuff is: family, groom, and marriage license showing up. Yea, food and clothes and alcohol are important too but you can get married without them. After that cheetahs and people having fun. Lastly, things looking nice. Everything else is a cherry on top. Spoiler again - the stuff I got mad about didn't even make that list. I'm an idiot sometimes.

 I still had some stressful moments later but I think I kept a better perspective as it got closer to the wedding and my priorities changed. Everything ended up looking amazing and all important people were accounted for. Our guests had a great time, we have amazing memories and pictures, and mostly, I got a pretty great husband out of the deal. I give this resolution a C.

Maintain or Gain

This one may seem a little weird. I wanted to make sure I didn't lose any more body mass last year. I wanted to either stay the same weight or build muscle. I've always wanted to be a strong girl and I think I'm above average but I wanted to push it last year. The wedding really side-lined my workout plans but afterwards, I became a more regular fixture at the climbing gym and at Body Pump class. I eventually added in some cardio (in the form of dog walks and runs so that the benefit can extend to another). I did two obstacle races at the end of the year that I strongly out-performed my past self in and have several more lined up for this year. All in all, I'm definitely stronger than I was this time last year and I'm moving more towards a fit physique than a skinny one.

My plan for this year to add in a weekly yoga class by my friend Lindsey (who also sells amazing natural products) as well and keep taking any opportunity to head outdoors with the dog for a walk, run, or hike. That will put my at something like 7-10 workouts per week. It might sound intense but since I didn't nail this goal in 2016, I definitely will this year. I give this one a B+

Start a Passive Income Business

My Etsy shop has been rocking! I really wanted to add some more patterns and things to my shop so I could just make money without doing much. I found that the hardest part of making patterns was finding good images to convert so whenever I wanted a distraction, I would just look for cool images to use. I also figured out how to use the Etsy advertising and while it's costing me a little bit, it's bringing in so many sales that it's totally worth it. It's gotten to the point where I sell a few patterns a week and I'd love to work on boosting that even more so that the income is enough to supplement the extra expenses we have now that we are homeowners. And if it's not that much - it would be fun to move it to own's account and use whatever's in it at the end of the year to splurge on an expensive treat like a fancy night out.

I've also been working on starting an active income business because I realized the only way to get rich is to really work for myself. However, those plans took a side line for wedding planning and house buying but 2017 is definitely the year to tackle that. I don't want to get to much into it but look for more later this year. This one gets an A-.

P.S. Look at this picture compared to where it was last year!!!! I didn't have a ton of time to stitch this year, and a lot of it was spent making a gift for a friend but the comparison is AMAZING. It will probably take me ten years to finish this but I should just post a picture a year so I can track my progress.

MexiCAN

WE FINALLY WENT TO MEXICO!!! We wanted something really relaxing and not super expensive after our wedding. I think some people call this kind of a trip a honeymoon but we keep telling ourselves that our trip to Europe this year is our Honeymoon... I digress.

Mexico was incredible. We went to an all-inclusive resort in San Jose del Cabo and it was amazing. We did an activity in the morning like bike riding or archery or shooting or swimming with dolphins (wait, what?) and then relaxed by the pool and ate all the food all afternoon. Oh you want to know about the dolphin thing? Well, Dan won the shooting competition and won BOGO dolphin swimming passes. That was more than enough to persuade us so we got to live that dream!

I know an all-inclusive resort isn't real Mexico but we got to the country, we spoke Spanish (even Dan said a few words!), we saw some beautiful sites, we drank a lot, and we swam with dolphins (I'm not going to let that go). I've been wanting to cross the San Diego border into TJ this year and I REALLY want to take a little road trip to Ensenada. Some friends keep suggesting it and I keep responding very affirmatively so I think we'll be making that happen. This resolution gets an A.

Watch My Temper

I will probably always be working on this one. If you read the Bridezilla section of this one, than you know I obviously didn't ace this one. This feels like the kind of thing that will be a growth project for me my whole life and I can only take it situation by situation. As I talked about in the intro to this post, I felt really self conscious after the wedding last year. The reasons were normally things that I would have gotten really mad about and sent some angry texts. Instead I kept it mostly to myself. I'd broach it a little with Dan or some outside friends (because another thing I've been working on is not gossiping as much, at least not to friends of the people involved) and it seemed like something that would work itself out. Months later when the issue seemed to be getting worse instead of better, I finally decided to stand up for myself. I'm sure it didn't go well but I'm happy I gave myself months to think about it instead of just snapping like I did other times this year.

The most important thing I've learned from this one - most of the time I'm overreacting and I just need to be more patient or understanding and it's better to be the bigger person and give it another shot. However - some of the time, you've rolled over one too many times and you need to stand up for yourself because patient and understanding or not - YOU ARE A PERSON WITH FEELINGS and maybe those feelings are little more sensitive and maybe you have a bad temper but you still deserve to be treated with respect. I give this one a B because holy fuck I came really far by the end of the year.

Keep It All About Balance

This was the shining light of my year. In a year full of craziness in the world, craziness in my life, and the usual craziness of just living in my head... I think I'm getting really close to this balance thing. The whole trying to be angry less and work out more - they're kind of a perfect partnership. When I was feeling left out and insecure and self conscious - I threw all of that energy into working out more and reading more and immersing myself into some of my passions. I created a workout schedule that is as good as having plans. Some of that workout schedule involves working out with friends who keep me accountable for showing up and yes, one of those friends is my dog. I reached out to other groups of friends and have connected more with them. I picked up from my book club hiatus with a stronger passion than ever for my group. I joined some new meetups that reflect the direction I want my life to be heading in. I played a video game for the first time in a year and half or so. I'm finding that when I feel disconnected from people, maybe it's good to focus that time on my husband, my pets, and mostly, me. I give this one an A because as the most subjective of the resolutions, and one that probably no one ever gets perfect, I feel really good about where I am.

And that's our lead in for 2017....