Ever read the acknowledgements in the front of a parenting book that say something like, “A big thanks to my sister, who took care of my kids while I was writing this book.” Get the irony there? The author can’t take care of her kids…while she’s writing a parenting book. Hahaha…makes total sense, and cracks me up.
But, I’ve got to admit: The last few weeks while I was finishing Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy – I certainly didn’t do everything I was describing in the book. We did continue to eat real food. It was all homemade. I totally drew the line at ordering pizza when I was writing about avoiding take-out. But I was very much squeaking by each day, not doing anything to prepare food ahead of time to make life easier. I should have just stopped for a few hours and spent some much needed time putting healthy convenience food into the freezer! But I was determined to finish the book, even if it meant that I was scrambling eggs or asking the kids to cook more often than normal.
We didn’t starve, we didn’t make compromises, and we all stayed healthy – even if I was fumbling around with last minute Creamy Mac and Cheese and frozen peas more often than is typical. All that to say – with the book finished and at the printer, I have had so much fun this week in the kitchen – practicing what I had written about, using many of the recipes I had shared in the book, enjoying the methods that make life so much easier each day as we work to eat healthy, whole foods!
Here’s another bit of irony: While I was making each of these foods this week, I was SO wishing I had my book right in front of me! (I didn’t get my proof copy until I had all of this food already made.) Without the book, I kept having to run to the computer to look at the recipes on my site, double checking ingredients and measurements. It wasn’t the end of the world – especially if Matt was sitting at the computer because that is, of course, always a convenient time to flirt.
Did I just write that out loud? {blush}
Ummm, but anyway. It sure is nice to have the book in my kitchen now. And I’ll just have to find other opportunities to flirt. (Goodness, now I’m all flustered. I should really just move on and start talking about my pizza crust. {cough}
Yes indeed, I made a double batch of Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, which will be wonderful for the boys to take out of the freezer and make individual pizzas in the toaster oven.
I also made a double batch of Whole Wheat Quick Mix.
In preparation for our trip, I made Chewy Granola Bars, Breakfast Cookies, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins (recipe coming soon).
I had a blast! I’m talking about the cooking session – not the flirting. I think. Oh, never mind. ;)
If you’re interested, you can read my thoughts on The Great Marriage Flirt here.
Done any flirting extra cooking lately?
Nope, no extra cooking done here. It kills me to be on my feet too long. However, a few weeks back I made two casseroles and one went into the freezer. It was nice to have an extra.
I flirt with my hubby everyday. It may be txt or something. We work opposite shift that way one of us are with the kid.
Will you be taking a cooler to store the granola bars in, for your trip? Or will they stay fine the way they are, room temp?
I took them in a cooler, but didn’t put any ice or anything. They would have been okay outside a cooler, since it’s not summer!
Desperately trying to do extra cooking over here to get ready for new baby. It’s exhausting, but I know I’ll be happy that I did it later when we have lots of quick healthy meals on hand.
When sweetheart goes out there is often a quick “flirt”, if not one of our dc will remind me that we didn’t :-> So sweet.
I’ve been trying to double up batches when I make things. With three kids ages 5 and under, I don’t have the time right now to do a whole day/half day of freezer cooking. I do, however, double up on certain items. Yesterday I made blueberry strawberry cream bread, so I made two loaves instead of one and put one in the freezer. When I make pizza sauce, I double the batch and freeze half for later. I make extra-large batches of chili to freeze half for future meals. Etc Etc. Not rocket science but it does help out.
We are going on a 4day trip to DC and your travel snacks look great. Do they hold up well without refrigeration? I’ve made your breakfast cookies before but they never lasted past breakfast ;)
These will hold up great without refrigeration. :)
Hello Laura, I just love reading your blog. You have inspired me to make menus each week for us to follow.. Sometimes we are able to stick to them pretty good and other we will swap this day for that day. But, anyhoot. I was so excited about your quick mix recipe. I have been making my own pancake mix for about 8 month.. but, this one contain a lot of sugar (which I did cut back on) but when you posted yours it was a lot easier to make but, I didn’t add the oil to the mix… Only because I don’t have time and I don’t have a stand mixer. So, I tried making pancakes from your mix by just adding 2 T of olive oil to it before cooking. And, the pancakes turned out great. So, just to let you know if you don’t have time like I don’t. you can just add the oil step when you are mixing up the mix for pancakes, biscuits.
Thanks to much