My kitchen smells good

I’ve been trying to make more and more food from scratch at home. Not because I’m trying to be the “perfect mother” or because I’m a masochist (although sometimes I wonder because it can be a hassle). I’m doing it because then we know what’s in our food. There’s so much that we eat that we don’t know what’s in it (well, we read labels but only about half of any given label is comprehensible) and I’m trying to cut that down a bit. Plus processed foods don’t usually taste as good since they’re often made blander to be made more palatable for the masses to increase sales.

Relax, I don’t make all any of my own bread or my own peanut butter. I rarely even manage to make hummus since my family eats it like it’s as critical to life as water and I can’t keep up. Half of the “homemade” things we make have something packaged in them (not packaged flour, sugar, etc. but a seasoning package).

I’m actually enjoying making these things. The first and second time anyway. Then they tend to get a bit boring. I’m actually getting my husband to broaden his food horizons, which is exciting, AND we’re setting a healthy example for our kid. Plus, combined with meal planning, it’s making our lives a bit easier since I make a lot of them the night before for the next day which avoids the dinner time crunch and often allows me to do a lot of the chopping combined with that night’s dinner chopping.

I MUST note here that I DO NOT do all the cooking. My husband does a lot of the cooking as well. He doesn’t help with the cooking, he does a good portion of the cooking. Usually he helps with the meal planning though – that’s definitely not 50/50. He also does 100% of the “pull the toddler off me while I try to make dinner” on my nights because my son is very attached to me but never as much as when I’m either trying to cook or when I’m about to leave (after he’s spent an hour playing and completely ignoring me). Currently, his favorite toy is the upstairs pantry and pulling out “vingegar”, “hot chocolate” (yes, that one he pronounces perfectly), “flower oil” (canola oil), and “cackers” (crackers).

Stay tuned for some foods!