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Hey, Picky peeps! It was another great weekend around the Picky Palace. We had planned on being out of town this weekend, but our plans fell through, so we stuck around the house.
Cooking
It’s not a weekend around here without some culinary adventures. I did a mixture of fun cooking and meal prep for next week.
Yogurt
Our yogurt stash was waning, so I whipped up a new batch of yogurt. I’ve finagled my own method of yogurt-making that just takes 30 minutes of active work on the stovetop. Check it out here if you’re interested. It’s the easiest and safest food DIY I’ve ever done!
Also, I remembered to save the whey this time, which I’ll use to bake bread next weekend.
Macarons
Macarons were the weekend adventure at the Picky Palace.
First of all, I bought a cheap carton of eggs instead of our usual expensive eggs to play with a macaron recipe. I felt a little guilty about that, but I’m not spending .50 an egg for a recipe that may or may not be a disaster. Sorry, mother Earth.
Anyway, the FIRST cheap egg I cracked open had two yolks. Mr. Picky Pincher said it was good luck!
Plenty of Monsanto jokes were made, of course. I was peeved because two egg yolks meant less egg whites for my macarons. Grumble grumble.
Anyhoo, the first batch of macarons I attempted was a resounding success! I used a Food Network Magazine recipe that Picky Nikki gave me. I made a vanilla-flavored cookie with a vanilla bean whipped cream filling, and a second tangelo filling. The result was heaven:
I was so proud that they baked correctly that I took an oven selfie.
Mr. Picky Pincher also took a picture of me taking a selfie. Behind the scenes action right here, y’all!
In fact, these macarons were SO perfect that I wanted to make a second batch. Work has been really rough lately and last week a few coworkers kindly stepped in to help with my workload. They even stayed late on Friday, poor things. I wanted to thank them with some homemade macarons.
I decided to go with a spiced cinnamon pear macaron since we had a lot of pears lying around.
I whipped up a spiced pear compote and mixed it into some homemade buttercream icing to make my filling (1 cup powdered sugar + 8 tablespoons room temperature butter = perfect buttercream). I was sooooo sure that my macarons would be perfect so I didn’t worry about jinxing myself by making the filling first (aha).
The first batch of macarons came out cracked and didn’t have feet. Apparently that means I over-mixed the batter, so it was ruined.
I bucked up and made a second batch, which technically came out of the oven perfectly.
Except for one little problem.
I traced my forms on the parchment paper with a Sharpie and FORGOT TO FLIP IT OVER.
I just … why?
“Well.”
This second batch was ruined because I don’t want my coworkers eating Sharpie. Oh my.
We had a good laugh about it and I do plan to attempt a third batch–with food-safe templates. Third time’s a charm, right?
Kombucha
Mr. Picky Pincher let his kombucha bottle-condition a little longer than usual. The result was super-fizzy and wonderful kombucha! He made another batch on Sunday night so we should have some great probiotic drinks here in a few weeks.
Waffles
Mr. Picky Pincher used Pappagiorgio The Sourdough Starter to make Sunday morning waffles. He cooked a few batches and froze them for easy weekday breakfasts. Woohoo!
Butternut squash
I got off my butt and decided to jazz up our dinners for next week (stay tuned!). One meal calls for butternut squash, which is a pain to cook on weeknights. I broke down the squash and roasted it ahead of time. I froze it for easy weeknight eating. Score!
Tangelos
This is the time of year when HEB puts out a really good sale on a different fruit each week. Last week it was plums and this week it was blackberries, pears, and tangelos. Naturally I stocked up!
I washed the blackberries and froze them. They’re great for making pancake syrup.
Then I zested the tangelos, peeled them, and separated them into slices. I was left with a mound of tangelo peels, which I brought to a boil on the stove in water with cinnamon. Frugal win for a DIY air freshener!
Zap Had Adventures
I tried to use “Zap’s room” as an office this weekend because, well, it’s actually our office and not HIS room. He didn’t like this and monitored me the entire time I was in the room. Possessive, much?
“Mahm, stahp.”
He was also upset that I had a freelancing deadline, which meant I couldn’t play with the cat laser. His subsequent ‘love me’ face: 
Cats sleep in the weirdest positions! Here is his downward-facing cat:
Freelance Writing
My full time gig has been difficult lately, but life on the freelance front is going pretty well. I have a few regular clients, which means a little stream of income which I’ll use to grow the blog.
And buy Girl Scout cookies, but whatever. 😉
On Saturday I used the office to work through a tight writing deadline. Ever-helpful Zap wanted to be my muse and oversaw the project.
I do admit that it’s tough making time for a full-time job, blog, and several writing clients. All these side projects are not for the faint of heart, but it’s really stuff that I enjoy doing, so it’s worth it. 🙂
Stop–Hammock Time!
Mr. Picky Pincher enjoyed the temperate soon-to-be-spring weather by hooking up a hammock in the back yard. He drank his homemade stout beer and listened to the birds.
The best part?
It didn’t cost a thing. 😉
Oh, I got a haircut
Also, this is me going makeup-free!
I usually get my hair cut once a year, so this week I got an annual trim. I got a lot of hair chopped off because it’s been annoying me lately. I love the look of long hair, but if I don’t style it in the morning, it looks like crap. With my new hairstyle I don’t even have to BRUSH it in the morning and it looks good. *Angels singing*
This means using less styling products and focusing on more important things than my appearance. 🙂
I went to Great Clips and the cut cost $20 after tip. I usually wait for an $8 haircut coupon from them, but I was in desperate need of a change.
Also, if you go to Great Clips, make sure to do the online check-in. Otherwise you’ll wait half an hour for a haircut.
Gardening
This weekend’s big accomplishment was the garden! Mr. Picky Pincher built five raised beds and shoveled in tons of dirt (with some help from Picky Nikki and myself).
We had extra dirt so we filled our old pots from our patio gardening days. We’ll fill them with tomatoes and peppers so we can make our own marinara and salsa. Ole!
Here’s a view of the completed five raised beds. Our master plan is to have ten, but we’ll see how we do with five during our first growing season. After just a week, our radishes and lettuce have already sprouted and are going strong.
We’re fans of highly functional space, so an expansive mass of green grass doesn’t make sense for our back yard.
I’m having an issue with ants on our strawberries, so I’ll try to pour coffee grounds around the plants to deter them. Hopefully it works!
We went to our local nursery on Sunday afternoon and bought a peach tree, plum tree, blackberry vine, fig tree, aloe vera, and a magnolia tree. We still have space for one more fruit tree in our back yard, but we’ll pick one out another day. We decided to go with self-pollinating fruit trees and wanted to do our research before buying the final tree.
We plan to dig up the bushes near the house and build a trellis for the blackberry vine. I can’t wait until we can harvest fresh blackberries for pies. Ahhhh.
We want to know: How did you save money this week?
Wow, Mrs. Picky Pincher! You look good with your new haircut! Zap the Kitten is so cute! <3
Well, I saved money this weekend by scoring the game, Uno, I wanted for 50 cents at an Estate Sale! Didn't even have to pay $10.00 for a regular game of it since there was so many loose cards in the one I bought. Out of all of the loose cards, I managed to make one deck out of them and I was one red skip card short of another deck… Oh well. 🙁 After successfully not playing well the first time with my mom, I read the rules on the internet and it seemed like an easy game to play correctly! A lot better than the way we were playing it from childhood. Dx
I think I spent too much money this month since I am a little low money-wise this month, so I'm winding down my spending for the rest of the month. But if things get too bad, I always have my savings to back me up. <3
Have a wonderful Sunday! ^ o^
Thank you! Great find with that board game! I’ve seen quite a few of those at the thrift store for about $1–but you’re never sure if they come with all the pieces. It’s still worth the gamble since brand new they can cost about $20.
I came across your post from Pinterest, and just wanted to say that it was so refreshing to read! I loved hearing about your weekend. Your cat is adorable. Your haircut looks great. I usually cut my own bangs and my husband cuts the back for me. 🙂 Thanks for the great article, and I am definitely going to be reading more!!
Oh my gosh, I just want to carry you around in my pocket so I can hear compliments all day. Thank you so much for finding our Picky corner of the internet!
Solid busy weekend as usual Ms. PP.
As usual we had a busy weekend as well, or I should say a busy week in general given Spring Break. I was able to work from home 3 days and took 2 days vacation. Little son had 2 half day camps and we went away the previous weekend for some awesome adventures.
This extended time at home allowed us to finally get out garden started and in good shape. Dug, planted, staked, trellised, the works. I am super proud and excited. It was solid work in clean fresh air, under the sun. Good for the soul and the body. Everything looks great, now to see what actually comes up/germinates. The plans were lofty! I put in asparagus beans, radishes, carrots, bush beans, water melon, cukes, cantaloupe, and bought tomato, pepper and eggplant plants. Also planted spinach, arugula, bok choi and snap peas.
Cooking also as per usual: yogurt, crispy tofu, cabbage with pork, zucchini noodles sautéed in butter, chicken cubes, tuna salad (i actually use canned salmon instead of tuna), oven roasted cod, made smoothies almost everyday. And put 2 roosters in the freezer (actually one had started crowing so it was time to go).
I am happy your macaroons came out, they can be pretty intimidating. I remember trying to make them as a child and they always seemed to fail. Now I stay away from sugar.
And in an interesting coincidence we also put out our hammock!
Have a great week!!
By the way: there is nothing odd/frankensteinish or Monsantoish about a double yolker. I got a few from my hens too. It usually happens with young layers. I love double yolks!
Wow, you put my weekend to shame! I should proooobaby stay away from sugar, but I freakin’ love baking too much not to lick my fingers after every batch. 🙂 Let me know what comes up in the garden! I am tickled pink that our radishes are already so huge. It’s a great feeling to grow your own food. :3
I will snap a few pictures when everything comes up.
Your raised beds are fantastic by theway, very sturdy and professionally done. I envy all the space you seem to have! Definitely go for the blackberry and raspberry thickets. I have a few tiny twigs that I trying to grow to hopefully have a good enough crop for my son and I. A few years back we had lots of strawberries but they died (possibly too much water). I am now yet again trying to grow them. I have not had ants problems so I do not know what to recommend. I am also curious how much/often you water your plants. With our TX weather I just started watering both mornings before going tp work and early evenings.
Yes, it is very rewardind and satisfying growing (part) of your own food. In my opinion everyone should garden and raise a few chickens! We’d all be healthier for it!
Thank you! Mr. Picky Pincher built them and they’re his pride and joy. 🙂 It’s funny because we have a fairly small back yard. I need to post our house plans so I can show the square footage. It’s funny you mention the watering because Mr. Picky Pincher installed an irrigation system last night. We have it on a timer to water in the morning before sunrise and in the evening after sunset–so it sounds like we’re on similar watering schedules. I think I’ll buy some diatomaceous earth to combat the ants–I’ll order some online. We have a snail problem, but leaving out cups of beer seems to kill them off.
Such an eventful weekend for you! Love the haircut! That’s one thing I’m not frugal on is haircuts for myself. I cut Mr. Daisy and Little Daisy’s hair, but I pay to have mine done. I go to a higher end salon because with the haircuts and I get a shampoo with a head massage (can you say heaven?), FREE WINE, and a relaxing ambiance. It’s definitely worth the $30 to me because it’s Mommy-time 🙂 I’m excited to see your garden adventures! We are still in 30 degree weather in Ohio, boo! We won’t start planting until May and I’m getting very anxious!
Thank you! I was so so soooo tempted to cut my own hair, but I figured I’d leave this in a professional’s hands since I’ve been so busy. That’s actually not bad for $30. It’s only $20 more than my budget cut. 🙂 Oh my GOSH 30 degrees? I’m jealous. It’s in the 80s here right now and we didn’t even get a winter. It means our summer is going to be H-O-T.
Any recommendations on a good thermometer for yogurt-making? I need a new one as Jr COD broke mine and I wasn’t sure it was a good one anyway 😀. I love the tangelo peel idea for air freshener!
Excellent question! I prefer digital thermometers. We picked up a pretty cheap one for $14. I’ve broken every nice thermometer I’ve owned, so the mid-price ones should do great. 🙂
We were snowed in most of the week thanks to Stella. Hubby was looking ahead to Spring ordering berry plants and fruit trees, but preparations for that has to wait.
He cleared the 800′ driveway with his tractor with the front end bucket. Three feet of snow covering it was a job. I cringe at what it would cost to pay someone to clear it.
Hubby made home made pizzas, always a hit with my boys and we watched a movie on Netflix after snow removal was done. The next morning I was checking my ends and reminded hubby I was due for a trim. So rather than go out on the snowy roads, I took a seat on the stool, hubby clipped up my hair, caped me and gave me a trim. Convenient and free, I have him do it every 2-3 months. It combs so much easier after he takes off the split and damaged ends. He doesn’t take off much, so no one ever notices he trimmed it, even if I tell them.
So stay at home snowed in wasn’t an expensive weekend.
Sounds like a frugal weekend to me! The idea of snow is hilarious to me right now; it’s in the 80s here in Texas. It’s so cool that your hubby cuts your hair, too! I’m tempted to get Mr. Picky Pincher to do it, but he’d never forgive himself if he cut it incorrectly.
Actually the thought of going to the salon seems strange to me now. I would not go even if it were free. I received far too many bad haircuts at the salon that I paid way too much for. Stylists did what they wanted not what I asked for. Hubby does as I ask, never a bad haircut and the convenience and price cannot be beat. It saves me hundreds a year while getting great looking hair. Initially my mother thought it was odd I would ask him to do it, but she got over it and not only admitted it was a good idea, but she asked him to cut her hair for her, and now he trims hers as well. She said she was tired of paying too much at the salon and she would have asked sooner as she had seen he always does a great job, but it took me joking about her being next to take a seat and have him cut her hair as hubby had finished my youngest son’s haircut. She was complimenting him on how handsome he looks with such a nice haircut, that my husband does a great job. I said yes he gives great haircuts and he won’t cut yours too short like the salon does. She just said Ok, and she took a seat, he caped her and asked how much of a trim. She said 1/2″ off the ends and hubby trimmed her shoulder skimming bob 1/2″ just as he asked. She checked the mirror after and had a big smile and thanked him for a nice haircut. She has not been back to the salon since. Im sure your hubby would do a great job. I would suggest that being you just had a lot chopped off it is not a good time. When your hair grows out and you are ready to take off some inches is the time to ask him to give you a trim. Start small 1/4 -1/2″ off, that way if he doesn’t get it exactly right, he has room to correct it, and if he does a major hack, which I doubt he would, there is hair remaining if you have feel the salon is necessary. Then have him trim it regularly to get comfortable wielding the shears with more practice. Before you know it, you will just default to having him give you haircuts. I enjoy the bonding time and like having my husband comb my hair as he sections and trims my ends, I actually find it very relaxing versus dreading getting my hair cut when I had to go to the salon. I have met other long haired women who share similar accounts, no one but their husbands are allowed to cut their hair, just like me 🙂
I feel like we are on a streak of being less frugal since I started my new job. On the upside, I am making double what I was making before, and we certainly aren’t spending double. But I am hoping to get my act together and figure out a better rhythm for cooking and prepping weeknight meals!
I LOVE that you made macaroons. They are on my bucket list of things to try and make, but I have been so intimidated by them-they do look delicious, and your flavor combinations sound so yummy!
I am trying to get back to baking and food prepping on the weekends to make the week easier–thanks for the inspiration!
It’s funny how spendy-ness increases when you have big life changes. You’ll get into a better spending groove in no time. 🙂 Thank you! The other macaron batches failed, so I wanted to wait to post a recipe until I was SURE I had it down-pat. More to come. 🙂
We had a frost recently after weeks of warm weather, and I forgot to cover my pumpkin vines this weekend — they may recover, but it’s doubtful. My cabbage plants were happy as ever, of course.
I purchased four fresh, non-GMO chickens from my local chicken and pork farmer and cut them all up in one big, messy knife-wielding extravaganza. With just two of us here, and my husband not being the biggest fan of chicken, I can’t cook a whole chicken very often, so I like to cut them up and package them in one meal sizes. I saved all the skin, bones, and scrap bits and roasted them in the oven for an hour, then put them in my big crock pot with water to cook for 24 hrs. I get the richest, deepest stock that way.
I mended a dress that had a seam open in the armhole region. It would have been even better if I hadn’t discovered the hole after I was well on my way to church, but it’s fixed now.
I bought two big packages of grass-fed ground beef on sale at the store, for $4 a pound. That’s excellent for grass-fed. I’ll freeze most of it.
I made two gallons of kombucha.
I hung out all but one load of our laundry, and that was a couch cover that won’t even fit on my line.
Love the cat pictures.
Aghhh, sorry to hear about those pumpkin vines! That’s the worst. Do your pumpkins fruit in the spring planting season or are you growing them for fall? Great call on using up those chickens, too!
My plan was to grow them for late summer/early fall, but that may not happen now. Only time will tell. Every time I’ve tried to grow fall pumpkins by starting at the end of summer, they get caught by a early frost just before they are ready to be picked. So I went too early this time and got a late frost! Live and learn.
Aw dang. It’s funny how tricky gardening can be.
What can you tell me about your Kombucha experience? I’m very interested in brewing my own.
This past week, I did a staycation. I spent a lot less on food and drink than I normally would have… 🙂
I love the idea of a staycation! I’m hoping to schedule one in April!! And I echo Eric’s in learning more about making kombucha.
I love what you’ve done with your gardens. We had a few of our seeds sprout over the weekend!
Thank you both for the interest! I am writing a blog on this very soon.
Poor Mrs. PP, barefoot in the kitchen. Those macarons turned out great though!
Regarding your garden –Wow, you guys have stuff in the ground already? We’ve only just started to see daffodils and crocuses pop out.
Probably another month or two before we can put anything in the ground.
Ahahahaha! I’ve always preferred being barefoot. 🙂 It’s funny because now that we have tile my little feet get super dirty and it grosses out Mr. Picky Pincher. Oops. I am honestly in awe of how quickly the radishes came up. It’s only been a freakin’ week. But fortunately we get really mild winters here so it’s been in the 80s or so.
Is it a bad thing that as soon as I saw the ‘profile of the selfie’ pic, I immediately noticed your tons and tons and tons of storage in your kitchen? #jealous!
Congrats on the macrons turning out! I’m sure it was more than just good luck from the egg :).
Ahahaha! In all fairness, the shelves are deceptively shallow. I’ll have to take a picture of them sometime. But we do spend 90% of our time in the kitchen, so it’s definitely got some store space. 😉
Fair enough. Can never have too much storage space…
Love the raised beds. Mr. PP may need to do a guest post describing in more detail how he did it. Will be great to see when the garden is in full swing!
Absolutely! We want to see how the plants develop and make note of anything we’d like to do differently. We do plan to build five more for a total of ten. Woop woop!
haha… the downward-facing cat and the Monsanto jokes would be enough to keep me occupied for a weekend. 🙂
I’m with you on the hair. I’m totally wash and go. It has been several years since I put a blow drier, hot iron or any kind of product on my hair. Although I do get (and LOVE) highlights a couple of times a year.
I also stopped wearing most makeup, except for special occasions. However, as you know, my weakness is lipstick. It is just my thing. 🙂
Hey, bravo on minimizing the beauty routine! I’ve found it adds another 15 minutes to my morning at least, and I feel so much better.
You inspired me to name my sourdough starter. He has been christened Mimi Siku!
Hahaha, what’s the translation on that one?
No translation. It’s from Jungle 2 Jungle. Lol
Oh, well that’s not as sophisticated as I thought hahaha
I live in rural Oklahoma. How sophistated can I be?! Not all sourdough can be Italian. Lol
I can hear the banjoes… 😉
Your energy and ambition levels far exceed what happens in my household so I enjoy living your weekend adventures virtually, but then I need to take a nap. 😀😀😀😀
Oh thank you! I would love to take a nap every day–if not all day. I honestly think I will take a 2-hour nap each day once we retire early. 🙂
Your hair is adorable! I have reaaaaally long hair (down to my butt) and have given up on brushing it most days. I throw it in a braid and be done with it. Lately, the static has been killing me and I want to chop it all off (think Claire Underwood) but I am too cheap to spend the money on good cut (it’s been about 3 years since my last hair cut.)
My cat gets very upset when I use her (my) desk to write on. She shows her displeasure by making sure her fluffy tail is exactly in the middle of whatever I am doing.
The macaroons look like they’re to die for, and I can’t get over your kitchen-more pictures please?
Thank you! Ooooh, I love the look of long, braided hair. I was trying to be brave and cut mine myself, but I didn’t have the patience. Maybe snag a good pair of shears from Sally’s Beauty Supply and try a DIY cut? There are a lot of YouTube tutorials on it, too.
Hee hee hee, cats are so territorial! They want to ignore us until we touch their stuff and suddenly they won’t leave.
Sure, you got it! I need to be better about showing off the neat nooks and crannies we built into the kitchen for storage. I loves it. 🙂
Sounds like a fun filled weekend. I have to admit I wish it were just a little bit warmer so I could lay outside and soak up the rays 🙂 It’s warming up and maybe this weekend I’ll have a chance to get some free Vitamin D 🙂
You know, our area gets damn near 300 days of sun a year. Most people would love that, but my vampire skin hates it, hahaha. I’m sure some sun would be lovely if you live in a chilly area!
Ha! Love the picture of Mr Picky Pincher enjoying a cold one in the hammock. It’s 30 deg and windy, at least my beer would stay cold if I tried that right now 🙂
That’s awesome that you have the garden going already. I could use a longer growing season. It will be another month or two before we get anything going up here.
Brrrrr! Well thanks for inspiring him to brew his own beer! I think he just needed to see that it was doable. 🙂 Unfortunately our summers are cooking-eggs-on-the-sidewalk hot, so I’m not too sure if much will grow then, but we’ll see!
Well, my weekend was completely used up bringing my son into the world!
Things are just getting back into a somewhat normal flow.
LOVE those raised garden beds. I need to do this in my yard, I have two pallet crates that I am going to tear down and use the wood from.
Yayyyy, congratulations again! What a busy weekend indeed. 😉 We thought about building ours out of wood–are you going to build the raised beds once a year or so? I love the look of the wood but I’m curious to see how long it lasts.
I’m going to make sure that Mrs. Vigilante never reads this post, because when she sees your kitchen she’s going to insist that we replace our beautiful dark cherry cabinets with white.
My way of saying “Nice kitchen!”
Oh ho ho ho! Why thank you! I remember being met with fierce resistance from Mr. Picky Pincher with my insistence for melamine cabinets. It makes the house look less cluttered, I think.