If you are like me and love cooking, crafting or really anything, then you are likely on Pinterest! You have spent hours making boards and pinning things for the house you want, the trip you want to take, a party that you want to have, or a meal that you will someday make. I had been pinning things for a few years and realized that I was spending many hours pinning and not that much time using the things that I have pinned they were there for when I needed them, when I got the house, had the baby/ children, made that project, or was going to take that trip. I thought to myself: why? Why was it all for that “some time” that never seemed to be now? I talked to my best friend and she was feeling the same way: we pin but do not use. So we decided to get together once a week and make something we had pinned!
It started out with cupcakes! Then it went to cupcakes and crafts which later escalated to outfit planning and hair and makeup. I started using the recipes that I had pinned (which is great because I had what I would call a cookbook addition). Pinterest made it easy put in a few keywords for what I had: chicken, asparagus, and pasta and I had loads of ideas on what I could make for that night’s meal. I am also a make ahead of time kind of person and found out that I can freeze things that I never really thought I was able to before. Now when I want homemade cinnamon rolls I make the recipe and freeze whatever is going to be over and above what I will be wanting to eat (two people do not need 12 or 30 cinnamon rolls).
This allows us to have nice fresh cinnamon rolls on a different day and only need to pull them out of the freezer to defrost and proof overnight and ta-da! I use this same trick with lots of things such as cookies, dinner rolls, pie crust and pizza crust. This saves time, money and the unwanted calories you get by feeling obligated to finish something before it goes bad. The above things I freeze before I bake them but there are things like muffins that I bake and freeze after. These things are great to pull out the night before or in the morning before heading out for breakfast/ snack. All of our lives are busy and knowing that a homemade treat is so easy for us to have makes my day a little happier. I find spending the time to make these wonderful things when you find the time and then being able to use them for weeks/ months makes me feel like life just got a little easier.
I have also found that knowing that these things can be frozen with no problem has helped me out in other ways as well. I love having fresh fruit and herbs in the house. We all know fresh things do not stay fresh for long and that great intention of eating all those fresh strawberries that you got because they were on sale and smelled so amazing that they just needed to go home with you are now almost to the point of going in the trash. Not a problem! Again I found freezing things to be a great answer. Sure you could just freeze them in a bag as I had lots of times just to find them in the back of your freezer a few years later, but I now find putting them with other fruits to make a smoothie or baking them into some muffins that you will freeze for later a better option. This theory applies to most things: tomatoes- roasting them for a soup or a pasta sauce only takes about 15 min, herbs- place in an ice cube tray with olive oil covering them freeze then place in a bag that is labeled and that next time you need it is ready! Pesto can be saved in the same manner as the herbs and is easier to portion out when you want to use it. This all saves you money and time and really who could not use more of that!
