What am I doing here?

I am taking maternity leave… and there is only so much baby talk one can do in a day. For me cooking is therapy, and insurance-- I can control the flavors, the ingredients, the carbon footprint, the cost, the calories. And it alleviates boredom. The third week after Jasper was born I started cooking dinner every night… I have cooked 6 nights out of seven since then, until July 4—when I got sick. Initially I was going to keep track of all the meals, and all my cooking, and obviously I haven’t done that—but here’s to getting back in the saddle. My goals with this log are to :

1. record the recipes, so I can find them again!

2.record the CSA box we get once a week, so I can use the contents list not just as inspiration now, but in the future, too.

3. keep track of what I am eating so as to help post-partum weight loss.

On the third point—I’ve lost a lot, but have a lot to go, and have stalled out on the losing. So hopefully writing down what I eat will make me more conscious of my decisions.

Some eating/cooking rules I have made for myself:

-goal is to cook/have prepared/provide food (i.e. leftovers can fall under this rubric) at least 5 nights out of 7

-one night Matt can cook

-one night for eating out/takeout (I think this will only be twice a month)

-no cookies/cakes/breakfast breads unless I make them

-bake bread at least every other week (doesn’t have to be all of the bread we eat, but that is a stretch goal)

-cook my way through the Steak recipes i n Simple to Spectacular (in progress; I will pick another theme/cookbook when we are done)

-provide lunches 3/5 days for Matt

-Use up all of the CSA box/ use as inspiration for the week’s food (generally on track with this).

Okay, that’s it for now.