Becoming My Mother

Oh My Word! I think I am becoming my mother LOL!  Do you ever find yourself thinking that?  More and more I find myself doing things she does and I probably do it all the time without even realising it.  Except that sometimes, just sometimes, I catch myself and today was one of those times.

From time to time people I know have asked me how do I manage to fit in all the things I do?  I guess because I usually find it hard to sit still for just 5 minutes and even then I am usually doing something else at the same time.  My mother is the same.  Although I do way less these days than I used to and I am learning to sit and relax more.

But I am NOT superwoman (sorry to have to shatter any illusions you may be under folks LOL!)

I am NOT a particularly organised person either - least ways I don't think of myself as very organised but I do like to be methodical and make plans for things.  Believe it or not I actually take great pleasure in weighing out my food, calculating calories and planning my meals which has made dieting fun for me.  I am that sad kind of person who will have a tub in the cupboard full of perfectly weighed portions of dry pasta and couscous all neatly labelled with calorie counts - yes - both cooked and dry calculations and I can happily lose an afternoon restocking these supplies.  

HEY!  Maybe there is a bit of an organised person in there just tryin to get out?  Shame it doesn't overflow into other areas of my life.  Believe me - I could use it.

So where is this post going?  I am clearly drifting here - sorry.  I baked today is where it's going and I thought I'd share one of my mother's secrets as a result.  It was this that made me realise I am becoming more like my mother all the time!

I've always taken time to prep when I bake but I now bake in bulk and also plan ahead for future baking.  Sometimes I will bake one day and then do a bit more the next to stock up the freezer or take something fresh baked that morning into work.  Since I've taken the time to drag the ingredients out of the cupboard which I hate doing  - I'm short so it usually involves step ladders plus pulling lots of things out to get to other things behind -  I figure I might as well weigh out enough for several more batches while I'm at it.  

Sometimes I do this and then bag them all up with a tag and simply pop them back in the cupboard.  I regularly do this with my muesli bars so all I have to do is grab it, dump it into a bowl and add the wet ingredients.  Of course if you do this you have to be sure to write instructions on a label.  I have been known to forget and then make something up only to realise an ingredient was missing!

My mother was a cook by profession and while I didn't do much cooking in her kitchen - I have long hair which she'd take one look at and usher me out! - I've obviously seen enough throughout the years to have picked up her good habits.  Sadly she's no longer able to cook like she used to but she can still be found weighing out and bagging ingredients for my sister who has always lived at home with her and who bakes for the Country Market.

Today it was Mom's Zucchini Bread I was making and whilst I probably won't eat any (the diet remember) I have to say it does smell delish!  Each batch makes up two 1lb loaves and if you make them with just a few spoonfuls less you can even get a small individual loaf from each batch.  I love to dress these mini loaves up with a small doily, cellophane, a pretty tag and ribbon then pop them into a little brown paper sack and hand deliver them.

So just a couple of batches weighed out and bagged up (top photo) will yield 4 large and 2 individual loaves.  I will be baking these later this evening when I use the oven again for dinner - yep, just like my mother - I now multi-cook in my oven in one go.  She does this to save on electricity and I never used to bother but clearly this is just something else that proves I am my mother's daughter LOL!

And just for those of you who might be hoping this was a craft post I'm sharing a quick pic of a card I made to keep in touch with a friend going through a tough time right now.  It was made using up scraps that I had been playing around with a while ago.  Seems I can always get my hands a few of these WMS homespun stamped flowers.  I always stamp up extras whenever I craft with them so I can keep some on hand in a hurry.

And just because I could; I even decorated up the envelope.  But hey - how pretty would this look coming through your door?  I often do this to Jessy's care packages too :-)  She loves it and it means she knows exactly who the package is from!

Blessings

Suezie