Baking

I do not like to cook. I have never liked to cook. But, on those rare occasions when I develop an urge to cook, it usually involves baking. This is usually an extra rare thing, because I'm not into sweets or deserts very much.

However, as mentioned in previous posts, I am six months pregnant right now. This is my fourth pregnancy and the first one where I seem to be wanting sweets. Every time I go to the grocery store I am tempted to buy all sorts of things that I don't need. I usually forgo the extras, but today at the store the pumpkin pies were a great price, so I bought one.

When we get home, child number one is wanting to claim a reward for pooping in the toilet earlier that morning. Until recently we would let her have some computer game time, but that no longer interests her. I give her some alternative choices, and she came up with baking. During the last month or two, we have given her the opportunity to assist us with some baking (usually with her Daddy). She has helped make cakes, cookies, pies, scrambled eggs, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This is a great way to introduce so many useful ideas to her. I consider cooking to be a course in beginning physics and chemistry. She helps count. She learns about measuring and fractions. Not to mention how you can combine ingredients together to create something new. She even loves helping cook things that she has no intention of eating. So today we agreed on a recipe of cranberry-orange muffins. They turned out nicely (except slightly overdone so that they stuck to the muffin papers. She did decide that she liked them enough to eat one as her lunch-time dessert instead of her Halloween candy. Mommy eats one too, and then inherits child number two's muffin. (since child number two is a picky eater and difficult to predict. She thought she wanted a muffin until she tasted it.)

As a result, I'm feeling good that I accomplished a baking task with my daughter. Then comes nap time, school work, and video time and Mommy is still hungry. We have enough leftovers in the refrigerator that I don't need to cook dinner, but I'm wanting sweets. I want another dessert. We have pumpkin pie. We have muffins. We have Halloween candy. We have ice cream in the freezer. But it's not enough. I have the fixings for apple pie that I've been meaning to make. I have a wonderful recipe. The kids are enjoying a favorite video that is nice and long. I can peel and cut apples while I watch the video with them. Apple pie is easy to make (especially as I just happen to have some ready made crusts in the freezer). I succumbed to the temptation and we ended up with more desserts than we needed for dinner tonight. My husband is not complaining. However, my Ob/Gyn may wonder about the amount of weight I'm gaining at my next visit. Last time around I used the excuse that it was the holidays. Oh yeah, I guess it is again.