Relaxing

Hello Everyone: Nothing like a trip to the grocery store to make for some delicious meals. In case you haven't figured out, I really enjoy doing my own cooking and baking. There's something really relaxing about the process that puts me in a good mood. It's especially wonderful when you have a grocery store and sharp eye for new things to enable my new found enjoyment. Right before I sat down to write, I put some vegetables to steam for supper. Of course I picked up a small treat for myself, a box of sprinkle chocolate covered heart shaped cookies. It would just be too pathetic to buy myself a box of chocolates and flowers for Valentine's Day. No doubt mum is looking down, envious of all the meals I'm preparing, wondering why I didn't do any of this while she was still alive. The simple reason, she just never fully appreciated my efforts. Always critical, adding that Sis cooks food the she likes it. It's like, ok, go eat there. Anyway, who cares. I don't have to deal with any of anymore. It's also nice that I have a cookbook filled with good stuff to make. It's something that's been around for who knows how long. It's kind of beat up and the recipes are dated but I manage to update them, using more healthy alternatives. One of my favorite swaps is banana or applesauce for butter or oil. It works brilliantly for baking and makes whatever taste better. A recent discovery is non-dairy coconut creamer. I used to make an olive oil cake. No faces it came out incredibly good and tasted kind of sweet. The creamer made the cake that much better. Okay, now I'm really making myself hungry/