Hitting a Groove

My daughter and I hit a groove today and we ran with it. It all started when I thought I should make use of the cheaper weekend hydro and make some cookies for the coming week. It's been so hot this summer I have done very little baking.

Our local hydro (electric) company has instituted "Time of Use" rates for electric power usage. After checking out the website I noticed, three categories of use: On-Peak, Mid-Peak and Off-Peak Use. Basically each category has it's own rate for Kwh usage. Peak hours (when everyone is cranking up the juice) is from noon until 5, when the rate is 9.9 cents/kwh. Off-Peak lasts from about 7 pm to 9 am and weekends, costing about 5 cents a kwh. That's a big difference and since we are not creating our own hydro via solar, this change is one that I need to take advantage of.

So we started with cookies, a double batch of course because my family will finish off a single batch in less than 24 hours. With my daughter adding ingredients, mixing and helping me immensely I was able to start making rice krispie squares while she put the dough on the cookie sheets. Once the first batch of cookies were baking I asked her to mash some bananas that had gone brown. With the krispie squares done, she and I began working on banana muffins. She mixed, I checked the cookies, then my son came in to mix while my daughter read the recipe and I filled the cookie tray again. Once all the muffins were in muffin cups all the cookies were baked and on cooling racks, so in the muffins went.

All the while we were putting ingredients away, wiping counters, doing a few dishes, checking laundry and preparing dinner. As soon as the muffins were baked, I got dinner in. We never turned the oven off. All in all, the oven was on for less than 2 hours and we have enough baked goods to feed an army...aka my family for the coming week.

Timing it just right is the challenge but this was not the first time we attempted this (in the past I burnt two cookie trays of dough because I forgot to set the timer and got distracted with my next recips). All the recipes we did were my standbys, so all the ingredients were in my pantry. This is where a full pantry comes in handy.

So I think today was a productive day. I even got caught up on my laundry! It was a good day!