yummy in my tummy

I get asked all the time about my baking. Mostly, where does it go?

And the truth is: I eat it.

Ok, that is not the whole truth. Let me break it down a bit because there is some kind of method to the madness in the kitchen.

This is what I ate yesterday, a typical day:
Breakfast: cereal (usually something really bad like Cinnamon Life or Frosted Mini Wheats) and milk
Mid morning snack: scone
Lunch: Roasted Chicken Macaroni and Cheese (I bought a rotisserie chicken from my grocery people this week and have been stretching it out over lunches. Since Dave is a veg, our dinners are always vegetarian and if Andrew and I eat meat, we do so at lunch. I am finding since becoming pregnant I feel a whole lot better, more energetic, less fatigued, when we have a little meat at lunch. So now we have meat almost everyday).
Afternoon snack: I think I had a couple of cookies around 3 o'clock.
Dinner: While I am cooking, if I am famished by this point, I have been snacking on sesame seeds or nuts. I made Spicy Potato Tacos with jack cheese and refried beans for dinner. And a fruit salad. Then, I had a cookie after dinner. Dave did too. Andrew just went to bed. Dave had bought me some Ben and Jerry's yesterday because Andrew was being "I'm looking into boarding schools for 2 year olds" crazy, but I wasn't hungry after dinner. Well, after that cookie. So I have yet to crack it open.

And that is it. I don't find myself eating much when I am not hungry. When I am bored I pull out one of my ga-zillion hobbies. If I am bored and fatigued, I succomb to bad television. But I don't find myself snacking when I am bored. I don't really know why. I have definitely had times in my life when I would snack when bored, but not really in years.

So, I usually have cookies and scones or muffins kicking around. When I make cakes or pies or fancy things, they are usually for a group that meets at our place on Thursday nights and they help me eat it. Usually quite willingly.

A batch of cookies usually lasts us a week to a week and a half. We rarely finish a batch before they go stale and I throw out the last few when I realize no one is interested in them anymore. The last batch has been great. Good shelf life, still taste really good and a real crowd pleaser. I would be surprised if I ended up throwing out any of them. I would say they will last us until Saturday or Sunday. ;)

So, every week when I sit down at the computer to place our grocery order I plan 5 dinners, 3 lunches, the next batch of cookies, the dessert for Thursday night and the breakfast goodie (scones or muffins or whatnot). That will last us a week.

I also like having bread around too. I sometimes will melt cheese on it for my afternoon snacks or use it for sandwiches, croutons, breadcrumbs, etc. It is just a handy thing to have around. I need to make bread soon. We have been out of bread for almost a week. Not that I am panicking. But there have been times when I have thought: stink. I haven't made bread yet.

So that is probably way more than you wanted to know about the Rice family diet. And I am not sure if it solves any mystery about the baking. I think, just like everybody, I have some good habits and some bad habits. I think I probably eat more carbs and sugars than I need. But I think I have healthy portions and don't eat when I am not hungry (sometimes I don't eat when I am hungry and that can be a real problem!). I also avoid processed snacks and foods (well, except for the cereal!). So I definitely have room for improvement, but am not too worried about it right now. I feel good as far as food goes and when that changes, I'll make some changes. But until then...I still plan on baking regularly and loving it!

Bon appetite!