All Things Hold Together

Proverbs31 from Bringing Good Home tagged me with a newly created meme: 8 Things From My Kitchen.

So, here are 8 things from my kitchen…

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1. We have no ready-to-eat food in our kitchen right now. Well, besides fruit. Ever since I went on a frugality kick, I stopped buying anything that is already made. The problem is that I haven’t started making snacks and so forth ahead of time, so basically, I have had to cook a snack every day this week. (Yeah, I do know how foolish that is.) We made crackers, popcorn, cookies, soft pretzels, even a cake one day. The kids have never been so spoiled! This weekend, I am going to make homemade granola bars to last us the week. Maybe we will have popcorn a few days, too.

2. My kids love to cook. This has made #1 a lot easier because instead of having to make snacks and having to find something for them to do, I can keep them occupied with cooking projects.

3. I hate having the kids in the kitchen with me. Cooking is my relaxation. My craft. My “me time.” And do you know how hard it is to cook with three boys in the kitchen to trip over? I used to ban them from the kitchen, but I have recently started to soften on this. One day The D was telling me that he really wants to learn to cook as well as I do, but he never will if I don’t teach him. Smart boy. Compliments always go a long way in getting what we want. (I don’t think he was manipulating me, though.)

4. My compromise is that I try to have cooking projects a few times a week that the kids can help with. It took a lot of practice before I got so I wasn’t constantly fighting the urge to make them all get out, but they love being involved in doing something I love. As hard as it is, sometimes I even let them help with dinner. Sometimes.

5. I make sausage and pancakes (or occasionally waffles) every Saturday. This is a tradition that dates back to when I was a working single mom and the older boys were in day care. I felt like I never saw them, so we always had special customs like that. We stopped for a time, but then The D told Bob that he really missed the “big breakfast,” so we started doing it again.

6. I love my Kitchen Aid mixer. It was a wedding gift from a relative who loves to cook. I was not into cooking then and I never used it for anything more than cookies or cake mix for the first few years. But then I started making bread with it. Oh man! I LOVE that thing. It does the mixing and the kneading. The ingredients go in and the dough comes out ready to go in a bowl to rise.

7. I love homemade bread. We all do. We will eat a whole loaf at one meal sometimes, though I try to encourage moderation.

8. My amazing husband cleans the kitchen every night. The real secret to why I can spend so much time baking and making things from scratch. No matter how much of a mess I make, he will clean it for me - joyfully. What a blessing! In his home growing up, his mom cooked and his dad cleaned the kitchen, so he naturally started doing this in our home. I try to clean up after myself when I cook, so he doesn’t have to, but cleaning is not my strong suit - especially when I get called away to referee a scuffle between the boys or help Little E find a costume or action figure. So, every evening, my amazing husband cleans the kitchen and I wake up to a sparkling kitchen to mess up!

So, there are 8 things about my kitchen, though I am sure I could list many more.

There are not really any rules to this meme, which was just started last Sunday. Just list 8 things about your kitchen/cooking.

Now, to tag some people. Kate at I Think Therefore I Blog, Sprittibee, Amy at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31, and mjpuzzlemom at What a Crock. I was going to tag Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie, but proverbs31 already did when she tagged me.