i've been cooking

yes folks, i've been cooking. breakfast and dinner for seven days in a row -- quite a milestone by my usual standard.

breakfast has been varried, fresh fruit smoothies, eggs in all sorts of fashion (egg in a hole, scrambled, boiled) and oatmeal. i've also tried a couple of firsts with dinner. i've deveined shrimp, poached sole, cooked veggie lassagna from scratch, made beef tacos, taco salad, baked trout (not my best dish), cat in the hat mac n' cheese, a garden veggie dip and home made baby food.

i've had a lot of fun trying new recipies and building on my cooking skills. eric's a big fan of my pancakes and beef tacos. maggie LOVED the poached sole (as did i) and ryan has been a keen observer in all the prep and taken well to eating solid foods, though i am yet to offer him some of the good homemade stuff. that'll be next week.

though the cooking has been fun, the cleaning has been less so. i'm starting to evaluate recipies based on the number of dishes is takes to use -- the sole dish used two saucepans, one deep skillet, one casserole dish plus the dinner plates. not to mention the utensils and stove top that also need to be cleaned up afterwards;-)

from shopping for the fresh ingredients at the market, managing maggie and ryan, answering the phone and all that jazz it has felt downright overwhelming at times, but -- it has been very rewarding for the family time it has given. i had no idea what we were all missing. i just hope i can keep up with the momentum.