It's Sunday!

For the best part of the last three years, my Sundays have all followed the same pattern - church, home for lunch, visit Mama at the nursing home, home to clean, make supper, get ready for the morning, and bed.  Since my mother has passed away, I have had empty Sunday afternoons.  I do housework, but mostly I cook.  Today I made egg and english muffin sandwiches with grapefruit for breakfast, peanut butter and chocolate biscotti because my jar was empty (not the greatest recipe ever), hot cross buns for my husband, and lasagna for supper.  Since I was making the lasagna, I made a whole batch of pasta and made several small ones for the freezer for when we need a fast supper.  Too bad I didn't buy enough cheese, but I improvised with spinach and beef.  I love to cook - I learned from my mother who loved to cook.  It has passed through the family since my brother and sister are also excellent cooks, as are my children and now my grandchildren are cooking.  Somewhere through the years the idea has spread to many people that cooking is mysterious, difficult, and time consuming.  It did take time today, but that is because I had so many projects going and trashed the kitchen.  There are a few things that are more trouble to make than they are worth (I always buy an angel cake mix rather than separate a dozen eggs!), and with the proliferation of cooking how-to videos on the internet most recipes are very easy to master.

One of the best points about cooking is that it is a wonderful activity to do with your children.  Remember how parents are concerned about school readiness?  Cooking involves counting, measuring, literacy (you need to read the recipe), science (how the ingredients mix together and nutrition), colors (when the eggs are mixed into the sugar it becomes?), and social skills (there is a give and take of working together).  I will be talking more about cooking with children in future posts, but here is a great recipe to try with your children.  It comes from my brother and his wife, who often win blue ribbons for their baked goods at the Dutchess County Fair.  This year my brother entered the Lowell Inn Crescent rolls that my family has always made for holiday dinners (and had to brave the traffic from Chelsea Clinton's wedding to do so), but in a grave miscarriage of justice, the judge said that they were "too yeasty". 

Granola

    3 cups rolled oats                  1/2 cup flour (I use whole wheat)        

    1/2 cups sunflower seeds       1/2 cup honey

    1/2 cups cashews                  1/2 cup oil                                                 

    1/2 cup pumpkin seeds          1/2 cup bran

    1/2 cup wheat germ

 Any other nuts you wish to add       dried fruit, if you like

Mix well, bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or so.  Stir every 10 minutes

Children love to measure and mix.  I use walnuts rather than cashews partly to save money and partly because of the Omega-3s in the walnuts that promote heart and brain health.  Believe it or not, the wheat germ and bran were cheaper in Wegman's Nature's Marketplace than in the cereal aisle.

Today I also washed my winter coat and put it away because I am done with winter.  I did sit and enjoy the sun shining in until I realized that the glittering was the sun sparkling on the cobwebs.  I also washed my quilt and hung it on the line - not because I am industrious but because my Harvey threw up on it.  I hate to discourage you, but some things never end - they just change.  Now the blind 15 year old cat is leaving hairballs on my bed rather that the three year old who used to leave last night's mac and cheese, green beans, and beets!