Simple Tricks

I've said it before and I'll say it again: There's a fine line between laziness and creative genius, and I like to think I walk that line every day. This week is no exception. This week was all about quick fixes and simple tricks. You know what the best part is? These will save you money! I wish I knew how to make that last sentence flash green and gold because that's something we all want, right? To save where we can without sacrificing too much time or energy. Can I get an amen from all the moms out there?



Simple Trick #1: Charity Hot Chocolate

Who likes supporting local schools? Who likes chocolate? If you said no to either of those questions...well...I wouldn't go fessin' that up to anyone if I were you. Anyhoo, one of my co-workers brought a huge box of chocolate bars into work a while back. The bars cost $1 each and the proceeds went to her daughter's school. Who can really say no to that? No one apparently because I ended up with three bars, not all of which I bought. I bought one for me and one for Mike. Then one of our sales guys bought all of us girls (my whole department is female) a bar. Here's the issue: I don't really eat chocolate bars. Not because I don't like them or because they're not amazing, but I;m just not really a candy person. I may have candied myself out as a kid. So the bars have sat on the half-wall next to the kitchen for a while until I had an epiphany this week. If I made all those little chocolate spoons, why couldn't I just use hot milk to melt down the candy bars? So I heated up some milk, broke off some chocolate, and let my little chocolate pieces go for a swim. They melted down really nicely with a little stirring and it was delicious and rich. This works for my next simple trick too.

I started with a dark chocolate and almond bar (you'd be surprised by how much bits of crunchy almond improve regular hot chocolate) and still have these two plus a Toblerone.

Simple Trick #2: Choffee

People, don't misunderstand me, I looooooooooooove me some Starbucks and Fido's and Frothy Monkey and Portland Brew and all those other great coffee places. I am not conveniently located near any of those places, though, so I have to get my fix on my own. My parents actually created this concoction. Basically you mix hot chocolate with coffee in whatever porportions you prefer. Instant mocha! And it doesn't cost you five bucks.

Don't you love my mug? It snowed here again, so the little snowman is really appropriate. I just use instant coffee, but you can use espresso or whatever type of java you prefer.

Simple Trick #3: Frozen Leftovers

Remember that pumpkin oatmeal from last week? I mentioned that Mike wasn't really a fan of the pumpkiny oatmeal extravaganza. That left me a lot of pumpkin oatmeal. Time to bust out the plastic wrap and break into the freezer.

The thing to remember with freezing is shape and portioning. You can freeze a lot of something at once if it's flat (no well-protected inner middle) or you can freeze little portions. I went with little portions for my oatmeal. When I want a bowl, I just pick one out of the freezer and heat it up.

I used this little leftover container to portion out my...portions.

Then it went onto a piece of plastic wrap...

...and into the fridge. I now have about ten, little pumpkiny pucks in there just waiting to be eaten.

Simple Trick #4: Brinner

Many thanks to Zach Braff and the writers of Scrubs for this fabulous concept. Breakfast for dinner is a great way to save money and a really fun way to mix up your dinner routine. Plus, you can do brinner however you want. Pancakes, eggs and bacon, cereal, whatever. We just did brinner tonight, which used a recipe I will feature next week. Till then, make use of simple tricks and save some time and money.