September 4th, 2003 - Thursday

Cooking

Awhile back I sent a plea to my notify list (see? You should go sign up - link's down at the bottom!) because I was feeling confused about my journal. I've had it since 1998 and I'm pretty firmly attached to it. On the one hand, I can't imagine just stopping because it's part of me. Plus, I'm just not good at all with writing in a paper journal. On the other, I was feeling like it's a waste since I'm not updating it very regularly.

So, I asked for ideas as to what I could write about just to give myself a little boost to get back on track. I got a lot of nice suggestions but I think Carrie's response really helped most of all. She told me to just chatter - not to think so hard about any one theme or idea, and go with the flow. If nothing else, it would help to get me back into the habit.

She also gave me a more specific writing challenge. She wrote:

How has your cooking changed, if at all, since becoming a mom? Do you focus more on nutrition and ingredients, or do you not have the time to spare?

Hmmmm.

George would probably be a smart ass and say, yes it's changed and become too infrequent. Har har.

In some ways, that's true though. For much of Hayley's early introduction to life, I just didn't cook very often. Either George cooked, or else we'd have something pre-cooked that just needed heating. In between, I'd cook things that could be prepared in less than five minutes and that didn't require stirring or basting, or any fussing at all. That was because Hayley would not handle being put down, even in the bouncy seat for very long and the thought of making a fabulous dinner while she screamed and cried just didn't work for me. By the time George would get home from work, I'd be too tired from carrying her around all day to be very inspired.

In the past couple of months, she started to improve a little because she's older now and is much more content to sit and play or crawl around to explore. I can block off the living room and close all the doors down the hall except for the one to her room and she's "stuck" in the kitchen or hallway where I can see her or in her room where it's childproofed. Then I can put supper together while she plays.

Murphy's Law though? This capability to cook again coincided with our Summer Of Death, also known as the Summer of Ridiculous Humidity. All of a sudden I had the time to cook but humidity levels - even with our a/c in the living room - left me with no energy to whip up anything in the kitchen and no desire to even consider turning the oven on unless it was to heat up a pizza for ten minutes.

Fall is coming though. No, really it is. The days are still pretty warm but the evenings are cooling down and it's downright chilly at night so I know that it's coming. This means I can turn the oven on again and we can have chicken more often. It means I can make chili without feeling silly. I made chili in July and although it was good, it was a little wrong in so many ways.

With Hayley continuing to make progress in wanting to play with things while I do stuff that needs to be done, I look forward to cooking more often. I've also been thinking of making her a little kitchen play set - you know, a little stove and counter so that she can "cook" with me since she's at an age where she's starting to imitate us more and more (note to self: this means you *really* have to stop swearing so much).

As for nutrition, it's usually in the back of my mind. Now that she's really not impressed with stuff from a jar anymore (unless it's fruit or custard), I want to make more of an effort to buy more fresh vegetables. We have a long habit of eating canned veggies which is still better than nothing but when I look at the sodium content on the labels, I think I'd much rather boil up some fresh beans or carrots than give Hayley what we're used to having.

Other than the vegetable situation, we don't really eat a whole ton of unhealthy meals anyway. Snacks, yes. Snacks around here are chips and cookies and chocolate. Not exactly model behavior. When it comes to meals though, I don't make a habit of deep-frying things or using lard or anything like that, so often whatever we eat for supper can also be Hayley's supper.

If we're having chicken or something like skillet mac and beef, I just make sure to cut up her portion really well so I know it's bite-sized for her little mouth. I don't worry too much about spices. The ones I most commonly use are garlic, onion powder, basil, and oregano, so I can usually give her seasoned food. She enjoys it more, and having tasted the unseasoned jarred stuff, I don't blame her. I'm not normally a hot and spicy person, as much as I like it, so it works out well.

If we're having something that she can't eat - such as tonight's pizza - then I have to think about that ahead of time and have a back up plan. Tonight I was lucky because we still had some leftover chicken so I just chopped that up for her. Other times I'll make her a grilled cheese sandwich, which she loves, or some toast.

Speaking of all this food, I turned my recipe area into a weblog. I'm hoping that as I get back into the swing of things that I'll be able to both use the weblog and add even more recipes.

I miss cooking. I really do enjoy it and I hope that I'll slip easily back into the habit of doing it more often. I hope that Hayley will enjoy cooking as she grows up and that I can teach her everything from how to make the perfect omelette to the joys of not measuring your spices.

Now I just have to make her that little kitchen area so we can get started as soon as possible!