Planning for 2014

It may seem odd that I'm writing to you about 2014 right now, in June of 2013.  But really it's not that odd.  

The reason I bring it up is because today my husband and I put some things on the calendar for 2014.  Not big, huge, amazing things.  But things that require a little money.  So immediately after we put those things on the calendar, I then put them in our budget, because a couple years ago I learned a valuable lesson:

$$$ ÷ now = $$$

...but...

$$$ ÷ time = $

I wrote a little more about it in this post.  The concept is called "sinking funds" and it's so simple, it's brilliant.  You start putting a little money away now for future commitments (annual bills, trips, big purchases) so that when you need to write the check for the large amount later, it doesn't hurt.

Seriously, I encourage you to start doing this.  Keep it simple and pull out some envelopes, write next years plans on them, and start putting a small amount in them each month.  Or transfer it into another bank account, separate from your regular checking account, and record it in a notebook.  One day you'll be glad you did.  

Like in 2014.  

Dessert: Bread Pudding

1. Get yourself some yummy nummy bread.  I used Panera's cinnamon raisin bread.

2. Slice it up and broil it in the oven for a few minutes until it's nicely toasted.  Eat.  

Or if you can muster up the strength, continue to step 3.  =)

3. Gather your other ingredients.  For my bread pudding I used vanilla extract, half n half plus some milk, butter, eggs, and sugar.  Oh and caramel.  Lots of caramel...

4. Mix all of  your ingredients.  Rough measurements would be 2 cups liquid, 2 tablespoons butter, teaspoon or two of vanilla, 3 eggs, small scoop of sugar, and caramel.  Lots of caramel.  ;)

5. Cut up the bread into large chunks.  Pour the mixture over your bread.  Make sure all of your bread gets moistened.  Stick it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 25-35 minutes, or until set.  

6. Top with some more caramel.  EAT.  Repeat.

Dinner: Pineapple Teriyaki Burgers!

Though I have not been blogging much, I can assure you I've been doing several other things.  Like eating, for example.

photo credit:  http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/05/grilled-hawaiian-teriyaki-burger.html

My twin sis recently told me about a food blog called Skinny Taste.  I initially thought this was another one of those healthy sites that gave you normal-recipes-turned-gross because it substituted yummy stuff for yucky stuff and then - viola! - the dish is automatically considered delicious for its lack of calories.  I don't like those kinds of recipes.

Well, this site does that.  Kind of.  But not really, because all the recipes (that I've tried so far) really ARE delicious.  Like her Chicken Tikka Masala.  I am a huge fan and a huge critic of chicken tikka masala and this recipe was fantastic!  No heavy cream, no butter...Pioneer Woman would not be happy (until she took a bite).  And definitely not too shabby when paired with some homemade na'an.  =)

Don't judge the bad pic...I didn't plan on posting this publicly.

Another example is her Teriyaki Burger.  I, for one, am NOT a burger person.  I almost shouldn't be American for two reasons: I can't stand ranch dressing, and I could easily live without eating hamburgers.  So why did I try this recipe?  Mostly because it gave me a chance to try out my new pineapple corer/slicer (it worked awesome, btw), but also because my kids absolutely love hamburgers.  I might have also been tempted to try it when I noticed that sriracha sauce went into the hamburger mixture (no worries...the spice doesn't stick.  My kids ate it and never knew.  But I did put loads extra in the teriyaki sauce!).  I also loved the addition of the grilled pineapple.  

The consensus?  This burger was amazing.  So amazing that I called my twin sis and told her how amazing it was.  And she knows I don't eat burgers.   

Look at my iphone camera skills!  This was the actual burger I ate.