It's Binge-worthy!

Spring is surely around the corner and we anticipate (warmer?) fresh air and outside play.  Anything above freezing is going to feel balmy! In the meantime, the snow, ice, and wind have kept us inside more days than not since mid-February.

You, too, perhaps?

My kids are growing stir crazy, especially since at least four of their activities have been cancelled because of of weather. I'm a bit of a homebody myself so I've contented myself by staying home and binging on the things I love.

Here are a few things I enjoy binging on and maybe you will, too:

Now that season 5 is over {sniff}, it might be time to re-watch the previous seasons of  Downton Abbey.  I watched all four seasons last summer and loved the flow of the story without needing to wait a week between episodes.

Or...there is time to get caught up on the first three seasons of Call the Midwifebefore the fourth season premiers in the United States on March 29.  Binge on one season a week and you'll be done just in time!

Maddie and I are finishing up the last of five books in the All-of-a-Kind Family seriesby Sydney Taylor.  We've probably been progressing too slowly to call it a true binge, but I've certainly appreciated seeing the series through to its end, even if I did like the first book better than any of the books that followed.  Our next series will be The Melendy Quartetby Elizabeth Enright.

With little more than chocolate, butter, sugar, and 5 (yes, 5!) eggs, this chocolate cake  is worth every delectable bite. 

It's not only junk food we've binged on this winter, though.  I've experimented with a variety of  roasted veggies like cabbage, cauliflower, and tomatoes. Warm from the oven or eaten chilled the next day, it's all good!

tomatoes ready to go into the oven to be slow-roasted
6 hours @ 200 degrees

Why not binge on more soup before spring arrives? My favorite this winter was Thai coconut soup with chicken and rice or you could try this more traditional whole-grain chicken soup with rice.

I've been on a  food book binge since I wrote about it at the end of last year. After I published that post, I kept reading more, including a few favorites: A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Tableand Bread and  Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipeswhich had a recipe for the dark chocolate sea-salted toffee I made this afternoon. From the size of the pan, it appears we'll be binging on pieces of this for days on end.

dark chocolate sea-salted toffee

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Note: When I first considered writing about this topic, I had just downloaded the Serial podcast to my iPod and thought I might include it in my binge list. I turned the first episode on during a long weekend run, but it left me uneasy.  Though there were houses and people all within view, the subject matter was unsettling while I was essentially alone.

I have been known to binge-listen to a few other podcasts, though, particularly while changing the sheets on our two sets of bunk beds! Do you know how long it takes to wrangle sheets onto a top bunk?!

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Have you been binging on anything during these last cold weeks of winter?

Have you listened to Serial?
I did eventually finish the series, but only when I was safely and securely inside my house!

Any tips on changing bunk bed sheets?