Delicious and Nutritious

Hair nets are not flattering!

If you've been wondering why I haven't been posting as much, there is a reason.  I have been working.  (Gasp!!)  I haven't worked outside the home since before getting my promotion to MOM.  It's been over 11 years.  But given that Big Dad wasn't working but a few hours a week, and my friend wanted help, I said "Yes!", and I have been working as a Sous Chef for a few weeks.

My friend is the Head Chef at The Option Institute, and she was a little short-handed for their busiest season.  I was joking when I asked if she wanted me to come and help her cook.  But she wasn't concerned about my lack of professional training and experience.  She'd been to my house and she knew I could cook.

I have one week left to work there.  The fantastic news is that Big Dad now has full-time (albeit temporary) work.  So I get to do my Mommy Gig full-time again!  I confess, it has been challenging, and fun to work again.  But my kids miss me (they tell me over and over!) and I miss them.  The girls even drew pictures of me as a chef which we hung up at Option.

Sher Bear drew me wearing a chef's hat.

I've always loved to cook.  And I take cooking for my family very seriously.  I have often thought that giving my family the nutritious food they need to grow and be well is one of my most important charges as a mother.  But while making my famously delicious Cheesy Potato Soup yesterday, I was thinking.

When I am cooking at Option, I want the food to taste fabulous.  I don't get to choose the menu, the recipes or the ingredients.  So I am not focusing on the nutritious aspects of the cuisine.  I am focusing on how it tastes.  I want the food that I cook at Option to be delicious.  Good enough doesn't cut it.  I am shooting for over the top scrumptious!

And then it occurred to me, I don't do that at home.  Why?  At home, I focus so much on the nutritious aspects of the food that I am content to leave it at that.  I know the food I serve at home is fresh, organic and has all the nutrients a growing body could want.  I am, in fact, pretty hard core about that.  But if my kids don't like how it tastes - eh?  I haven't really cared so much.  I figure, if they had their way, they'd eat pizza, hot dogs and mac and cheese all day long.  Eating is about supplying nutritious food to your body - it's not about joy.  Or is it?

Campster's drawing has me a bit cross-eyed!

Working as a chef has made me think differently about food.  Sure, I still want the best food for my family.  I won't buy fruits and veggies that have pesticides sprayed on them, or milk that has been pasturized and homogenized.  I want my beef to be grass-fed.  But now I am focusing on how I can make it really delicious, too.  Because eating is about sharing the joy of food, not just a dull exercise in filling up the stomach.  I don't want my kids to learn to dislike eating.

Which got me thinking about learning.  So many of us do the same with our home schools.  We focus so much on getting "the good stuff" into them - as if they are buckets to be filled - that we stop focusing on the wonder and the joy of discovering the world around us together.

I am going to seek this year to make our learning together delicious and nutritious.  Bon appetit!

Wish you were here!