The Weekly Digress

The best pancakes I've ever made, an $18 BROWN noise machine, barrel leg overalls, and a lot more!

To be completely frank, I really only have some recipes and some shopping scores to share with y’all today. I’m still reading The Covenant of Water (and absolutely LOVING IT. It is so well written, so intriguing, and the exact kind of story I love to read — a sweeping drama, if you will. I’m not even halfway through (it’s a 700+ page book) and don’t want it to end), still watching The Pitt (which is bar none the best show on TV right now. Even if you aren’t typically into medical dramas, the cast of characters and the format of the show are both so good. NO SPOILERS! We just finished hour 4 and are heading into hour 5 this weekend), and still listening to Doechii radio on Spotify during my workouts. So today’s digress will be short but powerful — like me.

MAKING

When Allie was here last weekend, she made these absolutely PERFECT banana muffins. Sally’s Baking Addiction never strikes out, and these are no exception. They taste like banana bread which, IMO, is the perfect banana muffin. Add nuts or chocolate chips if you’re feeling crazy, but they’re perfect on their own.

Another absolutely delicious dish is this Skillet Lasagna from Skinnytaste. The ingredients are super simple and uncomplicated, but the flavor is perfection. I loved the low-fat cottage cheese sub for ricotta, which is wild for me because I will not each cottage cheese out of the container. I’ve realized if it’s used in a recipe, I’m fine with it but a spoonful of cottage cheese makes me gag. Also, we added crushed red pepper to the spices for some heat. Speaking of heat, it heats up great for leftovers!

So after I made this dish, I had leftover low-fat cottage cheese in the fridge and was pondering what to do with it when I thought to myself “I bet there’s some sort of protein pancake recipe involving cottage cheese.” And wouldn’t you know I was right! Guys, I made these pancakes this morning (Friday), and they were… the best pancakes I’ve ever made at home? Like, the cottage cheese not only adds protein to the meal but gives the pancakes a creamy flavor and fluffy texture and they were PHENOMENAL. I’m so excited about them, I’ll be making them for Zac this weekend. You must try.

Confetti plates from Felt+Fat

Lastly, I feel like we need to talk about how fucking awesome and easy a stir fry dinner is? Literally it’s any protein, any veggie, and a killer sauce and you’re done in like 10 minutes. I looked up this stir fry sauce this week, made it, cooked some ground chicken, chopped up some bokchoy and broccolini, added rice to the mix, and it was SO DAMN GOOD. Zac and I polished off the entire skillet! Save this stir fry sauce recipe for the future.

SHOPPING

So, Ziggy has one sound machine in his room but I decided he needed a second one for surround no-sound. This is mostly because you can hear everything in our house no matter what room you’re in, and while I’m sure it’s not great to get a baby used to sound machines so young, I don’t really care? I need two to sleep, so like… it is what it is. Anyway, I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on a machine, so I ordered this $18 BROWN noise machine from Amazon (brown noise > white noise) and it’s so great? Like, I’m kind of jealous of it and may get one for our room. It has a ton of different settings for sound and light and whatnot, but I keep the light off, put it on brown noise in a continuous loop, and ask the gods to let my baby sleep. Seems to be working so far!

I’ve been very happy with my wash day routine, BUT. BUT!!! This is so random, but I saw the comedian Chris Fleming respond to someone in his comments asking what he uses for his curls, and I ordered a bottle to try because I had just been admiring how good his hair looked. I’ve never heard of the brand Amika, but I got the curl corps defining cream and it’s pretty stellar. It smells SO GOOD, and my curls had held their form all week long, even after workouts. I’m going to keep using it and will report in.

Another comedian I love, Emma Pope, was wearing this big salad hat in one of her latest reels and it stopped me dead in my tracks. A big salad was Elaine’s order at the diner in Seinfeld, so I immediately ordered this hat. It’s from a very fun apparel brand called Cold Cream. Check them out!

Y’all know I’m an overall girlie (I mentioned this in last week’s digress), so when I saw these barrel leg GAP overalls, I said ABSOLUTELY and immediately ordered some. They just arrived yesterday and are perfection. Give me a white t-shirt and some overalls, and I’m a happy farm girl.

“You’re beautiful, but you need to shave your mustache” were the last words my sister said to me before she boarded her flight home last weekend. This prompted me to order a new Finishing Touch Flawless facial hair remover because mine is SO OLD and was losing steam. They’ve updated the design a bit (to make it sleeker) and the one I got from Target is on sale for $15 right now! And, no — it doesn’t make your hair grow back thicker. If it did, I wouldn’t still be touting it after like 7 years.

Have a great weekend and see you here again next Friday!

— EGM