happy at home

LET THEM EAT CAKEAs I have said many times before, feeding my family well is something I really put a lot of time and energy into. I enjoy the process, start to finish, from meal planning, shopping, cooking, and even washing dishes. For the most part, our family eats a very balanced diet with an emphasis on whole foods and a minimum of processed items. I generally follow the advice of popular food author Michael Pollan: "don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food".
Today, I detoured from my normal food preferences, and really hit my stride, at least in my children's opinion. In one dish, I made their every gastronomic dream come true.

Pillsbury chocolate cake mix + Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting + multi-colored sprinkles = children's culinary delight.

I made it last night after they were asleep. I had purchased the cake mix and frosting for pennies (on sale and with coupons), with the intention of giving them to the food bank. Except that my two year old got into them when I wasn't looking and made them unfit for donation.

Their eyes lit up when they saw the cake sitting on the counter this morning. They stood by the dessert table at our church's fellowship meal, pointing out the cake and excitedly telling anyone that would listen that THEIR mom brought that cake.

It's funny, often when I am cooking, I think to myself that when the boys are grown and out of the house, they will look back fondly on the healthy, good foods I made for them. And maybe that will be the case, I don't know. Right now though, a boxed cake and canned icing makes me the coolest mom around.