Lazier Pasta

I just wrote a post about an article here by "I'm a Lazy Mom" on how to make macaroni and cheese entirely in the microwave.  After investigation, I learned that the average box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese has 1 1/4 cups of tiny macaroni, so I would guess that you could use this method for a similar type of pasta- I would say small and/or thin would work best, but I haven't experimented yet-- if I do I'll let you know.  You could then, of course, add your own sauce or whatever else you put on pasta.  Especially in the summer, I like to top pasta with only EVOO, italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.   Just a thought.

Link: Lazier Mac n' Cheese

Click here to read  a post by "I'm a Lazy Mom" on how to make macaroni and cheese entirely in the microwave.  Awesome.  Especially on days like today when I do not, by any means, want to turn on the stove or the oven to make my house even hotter on this 90 degree summer day.
Macaroni and cheese out of a box = lazy + yummy
Macaroni and cheese out of a box and made entirely in the microwave = even lazier + yummy + awesome

Dining Alfresco

I've posted before (here) about a super lazy dinner that I put into action last night.  Its amazingly easy for me to be impressed with myself- and on this occasion I decided I'd share with you.
Sweatheart was not going to be home for dinner, and the kids and I were headed to the pool.  I, of course, was not in the mood to cook or clean being that it was- well- a day that the kids needed to be fed and cleaned-up after.  Instead, I mixed some re-fried beans, some salsa and some shredded cheese, microwaved it for a few minutes, picked up a bag of tortilla chips, and walked out the door.  The kids and I dined alfresco by the pool, which led to no whining about eating  (I let them come and go from the table to eat and swim and back again) and no clean-up.  Genius.  I know.  I can almost hear your applause from here.

Link: How to be a More Patient Mom Overnight

Click here to read an article on "Life... Your Way" about being a more patient mom.  I'll give you a hint.  Its about sleep.  Man am I guilty.  I stay up way to late watching TV and playing on the computer, then I'm cranky in the morning.  Huh.  Not hard to put two and two together.  Anyway, I really needed to read this today and so I thought I'd share :)

Posting Posts

So now I've learned a new way to "work to be lazy" with my blog.  I often thing of a bunch of ideas at one time, but just posting all of them since like a waste, so I have "discovered" that I can alter the "post options" on the blog and can write something anytime and then schedule them to appear at a later date.

So nice.  I like to think once and post often.

Actually I like to not think at all but that's pretty... uh... lazy... but more importantly, unproductive.

So anyway, just letting you in on my new secret.  This post was written on May 23rd and will be posted to the public on June 6th.  So, if you're reading this, happy June :)

Link: Real Mothers Love Fathers

Click here to read an article from "Life... Your Way" about keeping our marriages alive and real.  Its something I needed to read today.  Thought I'd pass it along just in case it could help you too.

Meal Swap Revisited

So, a while ago I wrote "this" post about a meal swap I was about to join.  Can I just say, "WOW".  This has been successful x 100.

Partly because my friends are the awesomest coolest cooks.  Ever.

Partly because my awesome cooking friends cook things that aren't in my usual repertoire, so on the "meal swap dinner" nights we're not eating the same old thing.  Again.

Partly because I didn't make the dinners (obviously) so its like getting take-out 6 times a month.

Partly because I can "Work to be Lazy" by cooking 6 meals all at one time then just pulling something from the freezer 6 other nights.  

Partly because its cheaper to cook 6 meals of the same thing.  So I can be "Lazy AND Cheap", which you know I love.

Partly because I can think about dinners once and not have to think about it for 6 dinner times that month.

Partly because I can cook the batch meals after the TinyTwo have gone to bed and kind of enjoy creating a meal without anyone screaming at me... having to take someone to the potty... having to referree... having to have little people "help"... having to stop what I'm doing to get someone's toys out from under the couch......

Last but certainly not least...

Partly because we have an excuse every month to get together to actually swap the dinners and so we stay and talk and drink coffee and eat whatever yummy thing my friend "who has 2 small children, is pregnant with her 3rd, which will make 3 under 3, and yet gets much more accomplished in any given morning than I do in a week" has made us.

Nemesis #2: Dishes

I didn't get any comments about whether its nemesises or nemesisi or nemesi that I talked about here.  Maybe I could look it up.  Or not.

Anyway- I hate dishes.  I actually hate dishes more than laundry.  Which is a lot.  Dishes are so much more constant and I can not WAIT until the TinyTwo can clean them for me without breaking all of them along the way.  I'd love it if they could put all the dishes away too.

Sigh.
One day.
Well, today isn't that day, so I obviously have a lazy plan to bide my time until I can make  train  bribe get someone smaller  younger  under my power else to do it.

First, I don't use serving dishes.  Ever.  Even when I have company.  I decided its more like a restaurant where they "plate" the food.  Or it could be that its lazier to just put it straight from the pan onto the plate.  Either way its the same result.  I'm sorry Mom.  I know I just embarassed you with this public confession.  Mom always puts the food in serving dishes.  Even when its just people she's biologically related too.  Then again, she does have other people to help with the dishes now.  Maybe that's why.  Maybe I'll start to use serving dishes when I can make  train  bribe get someone smaller  younger  under my power else to clean them.  Ask me in a few years.  Maybe I'll become more like Martha Stewart too.  Or not. 

So- bringing the topic back- my new trick, to add to the first, is to immediately put any extra food into a covered dish and throw the cooking pan into the sink to soak.  If someone wants seconds, they can get it out of this dish and I will tell myself that I don't care that the food is now in a container that is larger than necessary.  I certainly will not dirty a new, smaller container, even though an incorrect food to "container size" ratio irks me.  I'm weird that way.  It certainly does not irk me enough to do anything about it though.

This quick pre-dinner step makes the after dinner clean-up very easy, as it includes only the plates we ate on and a quick swipe of the cooking pots.  Since they've been soaking, they're super easy to clean without any scrubbing.  I hate scrubbing.  The remaining left-overs then just have to be covered and thrown in the fridge.   Is the term "remaining left-overs" a bit redundant?  Oh well.  I'm guessing you got the point.

Anyone have any lazy tricks to help with dishes?  I would LOVE to hear them, since dishes are my all time worst of the nemesisi.

Lazy Wardrobe Downsizing

I posted here and  here about how to easily minimize your wardrobe to only the clothes you actually wear in a two week time period.  This is great, I think, for the kids.  For me, however, I hang up almost all my clothes.  That doesn't really lend itself to ignoring laundry for 2 weeks.  Instead I do the old trip of flipping all my hangers around so they face the opposite direction.  When you hang something back up, you hang it up the normal way.  In a set amount of time (2 weeks or 6 months or every season)  you look at the clothes still hanging backwards and seriously consider getting rid of them.  I've found the smaller my wardrobe gets, the more I feel like I have to wear, because I do actually wear everything in my closet.  Its a nice feeling and an easy and lazy way to get it.