Current Protein Status
Used up today:
- Remaining flank steak
Still available:
- Chicken thighs from my mom
- Leftover spaghetti and meat sauce
Cinnamon Sticks Are Apparently Different Than Cinnamon Toast
This morning started with the usual breakfast routine:
- bacon
- cereal
- toast
But lately the kids have developed a new obsession.
Apparently cinnamon toast is no longer acceptable.
Now they have to:
- Toast the bread
- Butter the bread
- Slice it into strips
- Sprinkle cinnamon on top
And somehow this transforms it into something called “cinnamon sticks.”
I genuinely do not understand why this is different than cinnamon toast.
But everyone eats it happily, and several of them can make it themselves, so I’m not asking questions.
Lunch: Teaching Steak Skills
For lunch, I wanted to finish off the remaining flank steak from Monday night.
This turned into a cooking lesson for my 11-year-old.
I had her:
- cut the steak into small pieces
- heat the pan
- add the butter
- sear the steak
One thing I specifically showed her is that when the pan is properly hot, you don’t immediately start stirring.
You let the meat sit for a minute and develop some browning first.
Then you toss it around.
It cooks incredibly quickly when the pan is hot enough.
After the steak came out, we used the same pan to warm up those refrigerated Costco naan bread pieces.
The kids had:
- steak
- naan bread
- fruit
- vegetables
Simple lunch, but also a good opportunity to keep building cooking confidence.
Costco Snack Cup System
This afternoon we headed to Costco.
Before we left, everyone built snack cups.
These are the character cups I’ve collected over the years from Dollar Tree.
The system is simple:
- kids choose snacks
- snacks go in the cup
- trash goes back into the cup
- cup comes back into the house
It keeps wrappers from multiplying throughout my vehicle and makes cleanup much easier.
It’s one of those tiny systems that saves me a surprising amount of frustration.
Four-Hour Focaccia Pizza Experiment
The big kitchen project today was testing a faster version of my half-sheet pan focaccia pizza.
People ask all the time if it can be done faster.
So today I decided to find out.
Final Time
4 hours and 27 minutes from start to finish
And according to my family, the results were excellent.
What I Changed
First Rise
Normally I do a much longer rise.
Today I accelerated things by:
- using slightly warmer water
- preheating the mixing bowl with hot water
- placing the dough on top of the dishwasher while it was running
- covering it with a blanket to create a warmer environment
That first rise lasted only one hour.
Second Rise
After Costco, I transferred the dough to my extra-deep half-sheet pan.
Because it was so warm outside, I covered it and placed it on the deck.
That became the second rise location.
Again:
Only one hour.
Normally I would allow much longer.
Results
The pizza baked beautifully.
The texture was still soft and airy.
The crust still had the characteristics I want from focaccia.
And nobody complained.
In fact, everyone thought it was delicious.
So this may become a legitimate faster option moving forward.
I’m not ready to completely abandon the longer rise yet, but this was a very successful experiment.
Costco Restock
Today’s Costco trip was all about rebuilding protein inventory.
I picked up:
- 2 packages ground beef
- chicken breasts
- chicken thighs
The goal is to restock the freezer before summer gets busier.
Current plan:
Saturday
- Process ground beef
- Possibly make freezer proteins
Sunday or Monday
- Cook chicken
- Continue building dinner insurance inventory
Dinner
Everyone else enjoyed the focaccia pizza experiment.
Meanwhile, I had a large salad topped with the chicken thighs my mom brought over earlier this week.
Looking Ahead
Tomorrow should be an unusual food day.
Breakfast will likely be normal.
But with a wedding on the calendar we’ll all be away from home quite a bit. I promise to take more pictures tomorrow!