Saturday: Apple Cider Focaccia Round Two, My Frozen Pizza Trick & a Clean Grill

Got up this morning and the kids immediately went back for the leftovers from yesterday’s Apple Cider Cinnamon Focaccia experiment.

Good news: they said it was just as good the second day.

One kid added peanut butter on top, which actually sounded pretty fantastic.

And I made a little more frosting.

Because why not?

So I’m officially calling the first experiment a success. I definitely want to make a second version, and I might even do that tomorrow since I’ll be home for part of the day.

This time I’m leaving the cinnamon out of the dough, and I want to play around with getting more of that cinnamon mixture folded throughout it.

Stay tuned.

Lunch Was Round Two

For lunch, we mostly pulled out last night’s dinner and did it again.

Spaghetti.

Spaghetti squash.

Meat sauce.

Vegetables.

Easy.

But I also remembered that I had some pizza stashed in the freezer.

A couple of weeks ago, when my parents were watching the kids, they ordered pizza from a local place and ended up with too much. My mom put the extra slices into individual baggies and froze them.

And since my air fryer was still sitting on the counter from yesterday’s geography co-op lunch, I pulled out a few slices.

My Trick for Reheating Thick Frozen Pizza

I didn’t get a picture because we were moving about a million miles an hour today, but this works really well.

If I’m reheating a thicker piece of pizza straight from frozen, I don’t immediately use the air-fry setting.

I’ve found that if I do, the outside can get super crisp—almost burnt—while the center is still cold.

Instead:

Bake setting first: about 10 minutes.

Air fry second: about 5 minutes.

The gentler heat gives the frozen center time to warm up, and then the air fryer finishes by crisping everything.

It’s one of those tiny things that makes freezer pizza taste so much better.

And once again: the freezer is a pause on food, not where food goes to die forever.

The Four-Year-Old Mass Snack Feast

We went to Mass this afternoon, which falls right around Daphne’s normal afternoon snack time.

So I packed her usual little snack feast.

Cucumbers, apples, strawberries, carrots, Goldfish, pretzels and some salami.

For the strawberries, I use my little paper towel trick: put a piece of paper towel in with the cut fruit to help absorb some of the extra moisture.

Is it a lot of snacks?

Yes.

Does it keep a four-year-old happily occupied during the exact time of day when she normally expects to eat?

Also yes.

It works really well for us.

Dinner at My Parents’ House

After Mass, we went to my parents’ house for dinner.

She made roasted chicken and a whole spread of sides, and I took exactly zero pictures because we were busy having fun.

But I did do something arguably more important:

I brought home the leftovers.

I’ve got plenty of roasted chicken, green beans and potatoes in the refrigerator now.

Which means tomorrow’s lunch is essentially done before Sunday even starts.

The Holiday Catalog Has Arrived

Also today: the Amazon holiday catalog showed up.

And immediately everyone started pouring over it.

It reminded me so much of being a kid and getting the giant JCPenney catalog. Going through all those pages of toys and deciding what you wanted was practically an activity in itself.

There’s something very funny and sweet about watching my kids do essentially the same thing all these years later.

Apparently the paper toy catalog still has some magic left in it.

And the Grill Is Ready for Fall

I also managed to get outside today and give my grill a serious cleaning.

I scraped everything down, cleaned it all out and got rid of all the buildup from our summer grilling.

It was one of those jobs I’d been meaning to get to, and it feels very satisfying to have it done. I also used some Dawn dish detergent and scrubbed the outside and lower shelf too.

Because grilling season is absolutely not over just because summer is.

So heading into Sunday, we’re in pretty good shape.

I’ve got roasted chicken, potatoes and green beans ready for lunch.

I’m planning a Costco trip to restock for the week—and I’m actually excited because I haven’t personally been to Costco in about three weeks. I was traveling, and Chris handled last weekend’s run.

The grill is clean.

We’re having a bonfire tomorrow night.

And there’s a very good chance Apple Cider Cinnamon Focaccia: Version Two is happening.