So, we are really enjoying our new, quiet, efficient, pretty dishwasher. That has probably also contributed to my desire to cook and bake more--and more often as well!
This weekend after I made a loaf of pumpkin nut bread, I also made 3 individual sized mozzarella meat loaves (used the French's onions and Cheeze-it cracker crumbs in the meat loaf). I also made a small "family sized" meatloaf that will probably serve as lunches for a couple of days (I love a meatloaf sandwich!)
Then I whipped up a batch of pumpkin
muffins (24), a sausage/egg casserole that will serve as dinner tonight (and probably breakfast tomorrow). I had 2 lbs. of sausage so I sliced up the other pound and cooked up patties. I hard boiled some eggs and used up the rest of the dozen in the muffins, meatloaf(s) and finally, in a batch of brownies.I'm not sharing all this to brag about what a great home-maker I am! For over a year my son as gone at trade school and my husband worked evenings so I really got out of the habit of cooking and baking. Then when my son came home, I was back at work full-time and my husband continued to work (different job) evenings, so we just grabbed whatever we felt like for dinner.
Now that we're all three on a similar work schedule, it's fun to cook and bake again! It's also much more frugal. Over the past couple of years we did a lot of "grab and go" at fast food and even quick, but not necessarily healthy foods at home. Now we're back on track for a more frugal food budget and eating more healthfully again.
I'm sharing all this to show that even those who don't have a lot of time to cook and bake from scratch, you can fit it in with a little planning. Start slowly - one or two items a week, making double batches of whatever you fix and ad more and more each week. Before long, you'll have 1/2 a week planned, cooked and baked in a couple of hours.
I'll be sharing a list of my favorite cookbooks and bulk cooking/baking recipes in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!
