Peach Blueberry Pot Pies and Time Management
Enjoy the last of the summer fruit with these easy peach blueberry pot pies, and a glimpse into the daily routine of a mommy blogger.
This is the moment I have been anticipating for over 7 years.
I don’t mean anticipating, like omg I can’t wait! I mean anticipating like, I know it’s coming, and I need to be ready and in a good place.
When I was pregnant with my first kid, I didn’t really know what I would do work-wise when he arrived. I didn’t know if I was going to want to be a stay at home mom, or go straight back to my job as an architectural designer and be a working mom. Luckily I worked for a small firm and my boss was amazing and just sort of gave me time (unpaid) to figure it out and decide. Once my son was born it became clear that I would be staying home for at least the first few years. Unfortunately, during those first few years my industry took a big hit, and when I was ready to go back to work, my position was no longer. I had to figure it out! I really liked the idea of working from home, and so I started blogging around 3 years ago, when my oldest was 4 and my little guy was 2.
I started up suuuuper slow and really had no clue what I was doing. But I did know that by the time my kiddos were both full day in school, I wanted things to be well off the ground and running like a well-oiled machine. I’m by no means saying that I’m fully there, or that I have all the answers about how to be a superstar blogger, but, to piggyback off my last post about my challenges with back to school and finding a balance between blogging and home life, I thought I’d share the daily routine that (I’m hoping!) will allow me to do all the things, while maintaining what little sanity I have left after 7 1/2 years of being a stay/work at home mom.
I know I’m always SO curious to know how other working moms do it all, especially the bloggers, but if this isn’t something that interests you, feel free to scroll down to the bottom of the post, where you’ll find the recipe for these delicious, simple, and seasonal peach blueberry pot pies. I think it’s way easier than making a whole pie, and just a fantastic way to enjoy these summer fruits that are gonna be gone before you know it! Savor them while you still can 😉
Now that both my boys are full day in school, I want to structure my day so that I’m fully available to them during the limited times that they are at home. So, early mornings and late afternoons into the evening. The second grader gets on the bus a little after 8, and then my husband drops the kindergartner off at his supplemental, transitional kindergarten program (we don’t have full day kindergarten in our school district, boo.) on his way to work shortly thereafter. So…
7:15 am : I get up, and sip my coffee while I make the kids breakfast and pack their lunches. Also a lot of pestering happens- to get them to dress themselves, eat, and brush their teeth.
8:00 am: They are off, and I sit down to read blogs and schedule my social media posts. I think mornings are the best time to do this, while the content is really fresh. I try to share around 4-6 tweets per day (of other bloggers’ content), 3-4 Facebook posts, and I schedule pins (with ViralTag) to hit every 5 minutes during the peak hours. I also do a little on Google+. I use Feedly to quickly scroll through the blogs I subscribe to, opening a new tab for those I want to share or comment on. Then I just work through them, tab by tab. It takes about 2 hours for me to complete all that plus answer any emails and manage my calendar.
10:00 am: I’m a big smoothie drinker, and lately I’ve been adding dates and oats for natural sweetness and bulk. Soaking them in a little water for an hour or so helps them blend up a lot smoother, so I get that started in my blender jar and then head upstairs for a little workout. I have an elliptical so I hop on for around 20 minutes while listening to a podcast or audiobook. Cool down with that smoothie and get a little housework done (make the beds, do a load of wash, tidy up, clean a toilet or two, etc.)
10:45 am: Get cleaned up and looking presentable. I don’t do a ton of makeup during the week, but I’m pale and freckly so SPF is a must. I focus on CC cream, concealer, brows and lashes. I’m a firm believer that taking those few minutes to look your best helps you to feel better throughout the day and be more productive.
11:15 am: Head into the office to work on writing a post. If all the pics are edited and uploaded too, I’ll also schedule it to go live and schedule the Facebook post and tweets that go along with it. (I use Hootsuite to schedule tweets that promote my own content, and Buffer for the rest.)
12:10 am: Time to head over to the preschool to pick up my younger son and bring him to kindergarten. If I finish my post a little early, I might run a quick errand to pick up groceries and/or lunch on my way.
1:00 pm: Back home and now it’s baking time. I try out recipes with a little notebook by my side, so I can tweak and jot notes. All the baking, note taking, and dish washing brings me to around…
3:30 pm: …where it’s now time to start putting the kids’ after school meal together. Also, I head out to the bus stop to greet them and make sure they get home safe.
3:45 pm: Focusing on them; feeding, talking about their day, going through any school paperwork, and getting them to do their homework.
4:45 pm: They’re pretty well squared away and probably busy playing or watching cartoons, so I’ll steal a few minutes to snap some food pics and maybe even get the photo editing started. A lot of times I’ll check emails again at this point.
5:30 pm: My husband usually gets home around this time, so one of 3 things will happen- a) he’s got a plan for dinner so I can keep working, b) we have an appointment, baseball game or practice to get the kids to, or c) I start making dinner.
6:15 pm: We sit down to a family meal most nights. My older son always joins us but we’re still working on getting the younger one to take part. A lot of times he’s there in the kitchen with us, but can’t sit still at the table and won’t eat what we’ve prepared.
7:30 pm: After I’ve cleaned all the dishes and given the kitchen a thorough scrub-down, we all head upstairs to start the process of getting ready for bed. The kids go in the bath, their clothes are laid out for the next day, and they get into their jammies (and so do I!) and get their teeth brushed.
8:15 pm: I’ve been reading to them on my iPad. I really like how ebooks cut down on expense and clutter, and also allow me to read to them with the lights out.
9:30 pm: By now they’re probably asleep, so I grab my laptop and lounge out on my bed, check emails again, and do some more reading and social media scheduling. I try to keep it on the lighter side so I can just unwind. A lot of times I use this time to look for recipe inspiration, take a few notes, etc. My husband is usually beside me in bed, and I’m half-watching a show with him and we’re catching up with each other. We’re both out cold by 11:30 and then the whole thing starts again the next day!
Hope that wasn’t too boring for y’all but like I said, I’m always curious how others juggle it all, so I thought you might like a little peek into my day. I’ve been following this workflow for a couple of weeks now and I’m pretty happy with the way it’s working out. I’m anticipating that my baking time slot will be switching places with my photography time slot after Daylight Savings ends, but other than that, I’m hopeful that this routine will serve me well throughout the school year and maybe even beyond. I want to extend a special thank you to my friend Vijay, who blogs at Nosh On It. He clued me in to using Feedly and Buffer, and it’s really helped me to streamline things. With this schedule, I’ve found that my Fridays have opened way up, and I’ve been able to enjoy a little personal down time every week. Saturdays are always busy with family activities, and then Sunday I usually need a jump start on my work week, so I really appreciate having the freedom to run errands or just relax on that one day every week.
Are you juggling more than one job? What are some of the key things that have helped you to manage all your responsibilities?
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Peach Blueberry Pot Pies
Ingredients
- 2 fresh peaches
- 1 1/2 cups (222 g) fresh blueberries
- 1/2 cup (118.29 ml) water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, (juice of half a lemon)
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 batch Simply Perfect Pie Crust
- 1 egg, (large)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons coarse sanding sugar,, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Peel and pit the peaches, and cut them into ½-inch chunks. Place them in a large bowl along with the blueberries, water, cornstarch, vanilla, salt, and lemon juice. Toss to coat.
- Tip the fruit mixture into heat safe bowls and dot with butter.
- Roll out the pie dough to a thickness of ⅛-inch. Top the bowls with circles of dough, and cut a few vents to allow the steam to escape.
- Place the egg and milk in a small bowl and beat together with a fork until combined. Brush over the pie crust and sprinkle with coarse sugar for garnish.
- Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the fruit is softened and the pie crust is golden brown. Serve warm.
Thanks for sharing a “behind the scenes” look into your daily life! You are doing ahhmazing!! So inspiring! And these peach blueberry pot pies are such a fun summer dessert!
These are kinda genius!!
I love a good pot pie, but I’ve never tried it with fruit! What a delicious idea.
The peaches and blueberries together are perfect. And I love the way it is served, so delicious!