Mini Monthly Goals

At the beginning of the year, I said I didn't have any goals for 2013. I lied. Well, I didn't have any goals at that time, but I find myself making "mini" goals each month. My plan-making obsessions cannot be denied, I guess. I call them mini because they only last a month (or two), and if I don't fulfill them, whatever. I won't stress it.

For January and February, my goal was to make a new recipe each weekend out of the Smitten Kitchen cookbook I got for Christmas. Except for the one weekend we were in Maine, I made a different recipe, mostly breakfast because I'm working my way through the cookbook beginning to end. And because breakfast is the best meal of the day, duh. Here's what I made:

Peach and sour cream pancakes - these were delicious! You cooked the pancake with peach slices smooshed into it. Didn't even need syrup.

Cinnamon toast french toast - I took this to a baby shower brunch, and it was a hit. The trick is toasting butter and cinnamon-sugar on the bread before making the bread into french toast. Genius.

Whole-wheat raspberry ricotta scones - I actually made these with blackberries (which were a whopping $3 cheaper than raspberries), and this was probably my favorite recipe out of the bunch. The ricotta made it so the scones weren't all dry and crumbly, and the whole-wheat flour helped me justify eating 4/5 of the scones. 

Almond date breakfast bars - awful. In Deb's defense, I substituted ingredients and more-than-likely doubled or tripled the amount of orange zest called for.

Maple bacon biscuits, pictured above - good but I couldn't think too much about what I was eating. (hint: you add the bacon fat to the biscuits)

Big breakfast latkes - Large, crispy potato pancakes topped with sour cream, of course they were good. These were Spencer's favorite. The man sure does love his latkes. 

Gooey cinnamon squares - a combination of snickerdoodles and St. Louis gooey butter cake. Eh. Fine. I might have over-cooked it, but either way, I'll stick with the cookies. (I'll one day make these)

This month's goal is to exercise every day but Sunday. for the entire month. gulp. I generally exercise 3 or 4 times a week, so 6 times is a big deal. But to make it easy on myself, I'm letting 15 minutes of yoga/mat work, 10-20 minutes of jump rope, or going out for a run all count. This week has been all of the first two and none of the last because I can't seem to force myself outside. The weather is too miserable, and I'm too sick of being cold. That being said, my legs are more sore from those 15 minutes of jump rope than from a 6-mile run. Go figure.

Other possible monthly goals will be to take a picture every day, do a small act of service every day, go sans bread or dairy for a month. I'm stewing on a few possibilities, and the best part of doing monthly goals in this way is that I don't have to decide what my goal is until that month comes. Maybe one month, if I get super brave, I'll do a middle part with my hair. Because, you know, I really want my goals to better me as a person.