I am like a squirell with my NUT stash.

Baking, planning, canning, planning, cooking, planning.... I feel completely back to school crazy. I want to get this two kid in school thing right so we are planning like crazy. I don't know if it will get us anywhere, but we are trying. So far we are planning to make whole wheat waffle batter at the beginning of the week and give the kids warm, fresh waffles from the waffle iron in the mornings with some fruit and yogurt before school. I hate sending them to school after eating a bowl of cold cereal (which is their preference). I am sure the sugar crash happens about 45 minutes after school starts and then their little tummies wait all morning for lunch. Which leads me to my next worry. What to feed them for lunch? Portland Public Schools has just started a new food program with much fresher choices, but Carson is still a skeptic. She wants to bring cold lunch this year which means Sam does too. The answer......I am currently obsessing over Bento Blogs. I can't imagine the time spent on these dramatic scenes in a bento box, but it does give me some ideas outside of pb&j. Luckily, they go to a Japanese Immersion school so there are kids with full on sushi style bento and they aren't set on chips and a sandwich. I think I have some good ideas and some yummy treats in mind. I remember how much I enjoyed my Hostess Ho-Hos and Twinkies, but I can't in good conscious send these in their lunch boxes now that we know they aren't really made of food, but chemicals.

Now for the kicker. We have decided to bake our own bread. We invested in the book Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Dear God, do I really need another project? Anyway, the idea is that at the beginning of the week you make a big hunk of dough that keeps in the fridge all week. Our friends have the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, but we opted for the one made with whole wheat flour since the last thing I need is more white flour in my bread filled life.
This weekend I made blueberry nectarine jam. I have two trays of roma tomatoes slow roasting in the oven right now and Sharon is whipping up the WW waffle mix as I write this. I am sure we will peter out within a month, but for now it is fun.