Another day done...

...and you know, cooking (and especially the cleaning up) is really time-consuming!! I realize you've let out a collective "no kidding!!!", but indulge me. In a society where it's just too easy and tempting to pop something in the microwave or go through the drive-thru, slowing down and putting a complete meal together (from scratch) is like slamming on the brakes. I understand why busy parents with kids going 100 different directions feel they simply can't do it. You have my admiration for the many hats you wear and balls you simultaneously juggle. Still, there's something magical and peaceful about preparing a meal.

The dishes? That's another story, although it's sure nice to have a clean kitchen at the end.

When I was a kid, my mother worked full-time then came home and cooked....she took a 10-minute nap and had a vodka gimlet first...which I totally get now. Sometimes on Sundays, she'd make as many as 13 loaves of zucchini bread (5-6 at a time to save energy) or apple pies totally from scratch, freezing them so that my dad could thaw one any time he wanted. I thought it was pretty awesome but I totally took her extreme efforts for granted. Now I think - how did our moms do it??

While I'll never be like my mother, I do enjoy baking. Tonight while making dinner I used her beat-up old pans to bake two loaves of zucchini bread and a loaf of squash bread. I had to use the two largest pieces of fruit I'd ever seen, and this was a perfect opportunity to cure my sweet tooth! I used market flour, eggs, and the fruit - the primary ingredients. The zucchini made two loaves of bread (it cost $2), and there's still some left.

Yes, squash and zucchini are fruits. According to Wikipedia, "botanically, the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower." Can I say "ewww" without seeming immature?? ; ) j/k

While they baked I made more whole wheat pasta and a chicken breast, and ate them with my fresh pesto. I'm thinking that I should've used pine nuts. The sauce was good but not as good as I'd hoped. : ( And wow - a little goes a LONG way. I also had fresh green beans simmered in a saucepan with bacon, onion, and garlic. MMM! That was a lot of fresh flavor on one plate.

For breakfast - buckwheat blueberry pancakes. I've heard more than once from friends who don't care for buckwheat flavor, but I'm not sure why. Maybe I don't notice because I have gotten used to whole-wheat pancakes. They seem similar to me. I had a BLT for lunch...ANYTHING on that Homestead Bakery bread tastes amazing.

Lastly, I still had $9.50 remaining from my $100, so I was able to go to Common Ground today and buy another dozen eggs. : ) Thanks to Kelly, by the way, who passed along great boiling suggestions in response to my "failure" post.