Last fall, shortly after my baby was born, a friend of mine brought me some lunch. She brought a salad, some apple chips and a bowl of pumpkin soup. That pumpkin soup seriously rocked my world! It was made with ‘real’ pumpkin, not from canned pumpkin (I’m not knocking canned pumpkin – I use it all the time – but what a difference!) and it was pureed and topped with a drizzle of roasted pumpkin oil. So gourmet! (and incredibly thoughtful because let’s face it, lunch like that wasn’t happening very often during those early baby days!)

(bringing food to a mom of a newborn – best thing ever!!)

I remember feeling so healthy after eating that soup, knowing it was just a bowl of pure goodness. Normally I prefer chunky soups but for some reason, a squash soup like that pumpkin soup or this Slow Cooker Curried Butternut Squash Soup is just perfect pureed smooth.

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Patience. Something I’ve been majorly lacking in lately and I’m not proud of it. I’m not sure being patient has ever been a strong characteristic of mine but the older I get, the busier I get, the more unorganized I feel, the less patient I’ve become. It’s one of those things that I know I have to work on…but how does one actively work on patience? Can someone chime in here with any advice? Experienced moms, women, people…talk to me about this please. This is something I’m truly trying to change.

If I was a more patient person, I would probably cook with my kids more. Just sayin’. Here’s the thing, it’s not that I don’t enjoy my kids cooking with me, I actually love when they take interest in what I’m making or ask to help. I just think that most of the time when I’m cooking – I’m cooking fast. And fast cooking and kids usually don’t go together. Fast and baking don’t work well together either so maybe that explains my lack of enthusiasm for baking too. 😉

A couple of Sundays ago I decided my daughter and I were going to cook together. My son had a couple of basketball games (my husband coaches) and I knew that our littlest one would most likely not be able to hang out at the games all day. So it was a good day to spend some time at home, make a nice meal, and include my daughter in the process. It was such a nice feeling to know there was no rush to be anywhere for the day, that the boys were coming home later in the afternoon and that we would be able to all have dinner together. Dinner that my girl and I cooked up together. We even made some extra to share with my husband’s parents.

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