Friday, November 30, 2012

Cooking & Baking Season

My favorite spaghetti sauce

During the summer, I must confess, I am not super inspired to cook.  Staying indoors, over a hot stove and near a hot oven, in a hot state, while just plain hot, drains me.

Plus I'm slow, and even with prep, it takes a while.  You can't rush awesome, and if it's made with love, it takes time.

Of course we also have to account for tiny hands, requests, fusses, and messes, 'cause that's how we roll with two tiny boys!

To top that off, who wants to be indoors when we can be playing in the sunshine until dang near bedtime!

Enter the Fall Equinox, and the Winter Solstice that looms ahead.

The slowing down begins.

The winds shift.

The cool Fall breezes come, we're back into the full swing of preparing, and loving hot meals and baked goodness of all kinds.  We're not just scrambling for leftovers and what I have in the freezer, or (gasp) getting something to-go.  Ahem, sometimes a little too often.

We're ready to slither indoors late in the afternoon, after we've soaked up as much radiant sunshine as our sweet faces can absorb.

Our bodies demand warmth, and hearty nourishment, three warm meals a day.  Warm breakfast and dinner are the best when the cool weather slows us down.  It fills our belly, and we relax, and release, and prepare for our slow beginning or nightly mini-hibernation.

Just like my Grandmothers' homes, ours smells like food all day.  I just love the idea of the boys living in a home where we do all the work, and they bare witness to the being a part of the mysteries of our rhythm, and preparing that which nourishes and sustains us.

So far this week, we've cooked up a rich vegetable soup, fresh veggies, put the Thanksgiving Day ham bone to good use with a huge pot of butter beans, and just finished a huge pot of beans and rice.  I'm ready to make another huge batch of spaghetti sauces -one veggie and one meaty.  Most of the pie is gone (wipes tears) so we'll be making sweet something soon.

We love it.

Warm hearty meals are so good for the soul.

What are your favorite hearty wintery meals?

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