Snickerdoodles - Now and Later

My weekend hours at home are very precious to me.  I love every minute of it, from giving myself permission to sleep in (which I very seldom do) and actually planning on snuggles and tickles with Stormy as well as "me" time to do personal research and hobbies.  It can be challenging because I have a large chore routine to get through.

Every weekend, I have the same chores to accomplish.  From baking bread, and cookies, to scrubbing the kitchen and bath, laundry, pre-school with Stormy, maintaining the on-line store, food storage and foraging.  I try to accomplish as much as I can on Saturdays because so much of Sunday is set aside for worship.

I wish that I could do some of these chores throughout the week but I come home tired from work.  I don't have a physically challenging job but it emotionally drains me.  I work for a dentist and I pretty much do whatever needs to be done in the office, from assisting chairside, to making appointments and sterilization.  My main job is as a financial coordinator, which is a nice way of saying that I'm the person that does all the collections from insurance companies and people.  

Everyday I deal with people who are in horrible pain and do not have any money.  We live in an depressed economical area where the majority live from paycheck to paycheck.  They literally have to choose between dental care or paying their electrical bill.  Seldom a day goes by where there is not someone in tears that sits at my desk. It stresses me out to the max to take a persons last dollar.

To help me out and save me time in the kitchen, I make my on convenience mixes.  This weekend, I really wanted to make Snickerdoodles and I did bake up a batch of them.  While I had all the ingredients out I also measured the ingredients into 3 more batches for the future.  Every time I bake, I do my best to make multiple batches for the future.  It is just as easy to make 4 batches as it is one.  On weekends, where I am really pressed for time, have unexpected company or need a quick gift, I can grab a jar.  Right now, in my pantry I have mixes for cakes, cookies, breads, cream of whatever soup, and other soups. 

I prefer  to use canning jars for my mixes, but when it doesn't fit in a jar I use our vacuum sealer.  Jars are easier to clean than the bags, and yes, I reuse my food saver bags, unless I use them for meat products.

Why not just buy the mixes or the pre-made baked goods?  Because I am very picky about my ingredients.  Packaged goods that you purchase are full of refined flours and sugars and GMO, non-organic crops.  Not what I want for my family.  There are times that we fail.   Hubby brought home poptarts the other days and the kids really enjoyed them.   I fussed at him a bit but every now and then they sneak in.

So there you are.  One of my kitchen secrets that I would love to share with you.  Almost all your recipes can be adapted and there are plenty of cookbooks and websites to get you going.  One of my go to websites is budget101.com

Lovin' life eating a Snickerdoodle.