Updates

The change process has been slow, but good.  I’ve lost some weight and I have incorporatedsome routines that I hope to become habits that are definitely beneficial to myhealth.  Overall, I’m feeling good aboutmy progress, confident that it will continue, and I’m happy with the changesthat I’ve made.

I have done the unthinkable. I have actually made baby food for son #2.  I honestly had written myself off as a lostcause.  Those little jars and packets of organicbaby food are so accessible and so darn easy. And then one day I tasted it. Ugh.  I should have known.  I’ve never seen bananas that color, so ofcourse they wouldn’t taste like bananas. You call that squash?  C’mon.  Squash actually is a bit sweet, nothing likethat mush in that jar.  That’s when theguilt really started to set in.  Yes, Ihave a happy, healthy little boy, but I know that his food could be some muchbetter and just as importantly taste so much better.  It was time to start making baby food.  I’ll admit, I haven’t gone all out like I didthe first time around.  I supplement withjars, but mostly for protein.  Themajority of fruits, starches, and veggies are all being made by me.  And what a difference!  It tastes like food from the earth, not blandmush.  Wouldn’t you know it, my littleguy now loves bananas.

His first birthday is approaching.  I always feel like that first year goes somuch quicker than any of the others. Just like the first son, I want to make a cake that won’t put him insugar shock and create a cranky mess of a boy for the rest of the day.  I decided to go with the same recipe that Iused the first time around with the exception of the icing.  I’ll definitely make cream cheese icing thistime.  The cake and icing were a hit atthe last party, but my preference is the cream cheese icing.  This party will be a bit different.  The timing is unfortunate since we have ahuge amount of events happening all within hours of each other.  My dad is getting remarried, so we decided todo a brunch the next morning to celebrate my soon to be one year old’sbirthday.  This cake will incorporateperfectly into a brunch menu.  Here isthe recipe again:

Pumpkin Apple Harvest Cake
By Cait Johnson, author of Witch in the Kitchen

1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup organic sugar
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Whipped cream or confectioners’ sugar for topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare an 8-inch round cake pan bygreasing and flouring it.
2. Combine pumpkin, eggs, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add flour,cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, and salt, stirring to combine. Add apples andnuts, stirring again. Pour mixture into prepared pan (smooth it out as thepumpkin makes it bake in whatever shape it goes in there with).
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes outclean.
4. Cool the cake, still in the pan, on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invertthe cake onto the rack, remove pan, and cool cake completely.
5. When ready to serve, turn cake on to a pretty plate and top with whippedcream or confectioners’ sugar, if desired, or serve plain.

I am so excited for another autumn birthday and a chance toreuse this recipe.

The last update is that I am anticipating a pretty majorsurgery in January.  One of my goals isto make and freeze a variety of 30 meals beforehand.  It will be a challenge, but I have been menuplanning and I’m actually looking forward to getting started.  If you want to follow me and my organizing,planning craziness, I am posting my progress on my other blog.