Bon Appetit

Food.  It's one of the hardest things I've worked on over the last decade. I have learned so much and we are a lot less reliant on a grocery store than ever before. It's March in Maine and I made this soup...only thing that did not come from us is the barley. Other than that, homemade and homegrown. Mighty awesome that almost all my meals still revolve around that which I'm trying to use up.

But, I am also throwing in the towel a bit with the food.  Everything I make is so time consuming. I'm at the very end of my pregnancy, a 100% homemade/homegrown meal is tiring me out! I need less standing, less chopping, less time intensive, less clean up.  Particularly since our dishwasher is officially broken.  I don't want to give less to my own littles or the kids I work with at work or the kids I see through my volunteer activities and something just had to give.  I decided temporarily it will be the food. So, I bought a bunch of convenience foods and am going to spend the next 2-3 weeks alternating between homemade/homegrown (for I still have a lot to use up!) and store bought.  Surprisingly, I'm 100% okay with it. It's all about balance, realizing what I can and cannot keep up and adapting.  Now, I just need to convince my oldest, "Mama, our cart has NEVER looked like this. Is this even okay?"  Absolutely. Enjoy that store bought sweet potato fry. Bon Appetit.