I am a creature of habit. I tend to repeat my schedules, my “rules for life”, my menus…..and very often without much thought of why I do things the way I do. This last week I made some changes after listening and taking in what two of my family members remarked about what they enjoyed and what they were hungry for. Daughter mentioned that she loves my french toast…and son asked for texas toast sandwiches like his Meme makes….peppered turkey with longhorn cheese simply on texas toast bread.
Three stores later I found the bread she uses and while I was at it I bought a pint of whipping cream thinking that I’d make bowtie pasts with it. This morning after cleaning the kitchen I thought, hmmm texas toast and whipping creme would make a divine french toast and we have a jar of sliced peaches too….and suddenly Madison had a breakfast that literally made her squeal with delight…two pieces of french toast and a peach on the side with sugar free syrup on it. Meanwhile the roast was in the oven for dinner and I made 1/4 of the roast into bite sized bites and browned onions and garlic with it, then added tomatoes and peppers, carrots and potatoes to make a soup for lunch. The whole house smells so yummy right now.Later I will make a pan of Granny Gin’s cornbread, for it reminds me of a lovely lady that I so love in Arkansas and I will hug her as I set it on the table and share that its her recipe at lunch. Chaser is still sleeping, the kitchen is scrubbed and put away (somehow food smells motivate me to clean up well afterwards after I cook things like onions and garlic….its like an energy scent…it smells so good you don’t mind staying to scrub)
Meanwhile I thought, “there’s got to be more of life than what I am allowing” Yes. Allowing. The money spent on groceries was not different, yet we bought things that truly produced delight for a few meals. I have flowers on the table from my dh who left them before he left town for me…and again I realized that in this economy, baking not only pleases my family, it serves a real purpose with a growing boy. By having homemade cookies, biscuits, cornbread, rolls served with meals, our meat, chicken, and fish goes further. They are not simply filling up on meat. By offering a side pasta, a dessert, and at times a soup or salad, they are not focused on the $4.99 meats. We are a meat eater family and its not that that is going to change, but learning to offer it with complimentary things will help fill them up while not feeling like I am controlling how much they get. Last Saturday I had a 3 package of chicken breasts. By turning them into tenders, adding garlic mashed potatoes and homemade biscuits as well as green beans, they thought they had an amazing meal for 5….last spring if I had only made that amount of tenders (2.5 apiece) they would have felt stiffed. But taking the time to roast garlic and make the potatoes especially tasty meant they didn’t eat as much of them. Taste has alot to do with amounts I find in my family…if its flavored well and tasty, they eat less. Just bland….they keep eating trying to get that “taste”
My coffee got 1/2 tsp of that cream and let me tell you its not the same as coffee mate, its sooo much better….why oh why do I keep myself from enjoying $1.19 of whipping cream that we get 3+ uses for in one pint? Because somewhere in my thwarted little head I have the voice that says “that’s unnecessary and naughty to buy such an extravagance” ugh who believes that? Not I when I stop to confront it. Same voice that whispers loudly “I don’t like to exercise” when in fact I enjoy it….yes, Satan again trying to spread his lies.
The things I do based on the lies in my head…I am working on identifying them and confronting them….for anything that keeps me in isolation, fear, frustration, and pittance is definately not of God.
This is a season of harvest and I am so thankful for the crop of new thinking God is bringing to my household!
God is good!
