Back to cooking again????

Well my 40 Day "thing" is over.  Whatever that means.  If you want to read about what went on with me, it's here and here.  But basically I gave up cooking as much from scratch, looking on recipe websites all the time, and making big meals that required a lot of time or cleaning up until Easter.

It really did change a lot in me.  I see food differently.  I see the poor as closer to my heart.  And I see my time as much more precious.

I never realized how much time I was spending on doing something that really IS a good thing.  But somehow I got lost in it.  It became more about being that "cool" mom who made muffins every day.  And about escaping life.  It was very easy to just sit for hours and look at food, instead of living life.  I was going about it the wrong way.  And it became about not eating this or that.  No beef for me because of antibiotics and fat, or no goldfish for my kids because it contained dyes.  I WAS CONSUMED WITH FOOD...

Whew.  Got that off my chest.  Here I was thinking about, making, cleaning up, shopping for, dreaming about food.  And there are some people that have rice for dinner.  And then rice again the next night.  Oh and then rice again.  And then maybe even nothing at all the next, only to go to bed dreaming about rice.

Remind us of anyone we know...the Isrealites had manna every day for 40 years.  And they survived and they needed nothing else.  I don't want to complain as they did.  I want to be grateful for what I have, and know that I have been given much.  I want food to be a gift, and a way to bless others.  I saved a lot of money on groceries and can now use that money to send candy, toys, etc with Blaine when he goes to Haiti (more on that soon!)

I think I finally get that balance.  So you will be seeing recipes and food here again.  But this time, there will be a different heart behind the pics.  And sometimes, there will even be hydrogenated oil or food coloring in it :)