Soup's Up Split Pea Soup with Pic 7704

Damsel

Thanks Carol for the lovely compliment! Now as far as energy, I'm just naturally this way. I can't stand not being in motion. Cooking fills the need to stay in motion and the desire to be creative. If I'm stressed cooking helps to calm me down. DH & the kids don't complain :) It likely helps that I detest shopping unless - it is a kitchen type shop with neat stuff, an antique shop, or fruit-veggie stand. DH thinks he lucked out on marrying someone who hates to shop. It also helps that I am anti-preservatives, salt, & sugar so that gives me more incentive to make my own. Then I love gardening so a large veggie garden is a must. Actually square foot wise it isn't that big but I do the square foot method of growing up instead of out so it is quite productive. Fresh herbs were the reason the veggie garden went in to begin with. With respect to expenses - I don't grocery shop like others do and never have. Most of the things I buy are bought in bulk and are on hand all the time. My average grocery bill of groceries bought in a grocery store would run about $70-month for mostly dairy & produce. That supplements what I have on hand for the 2 of us plus the kids who shop at home. The downside to all of this is my kids are very discriminating foodies. Two are excellent cooks in their own right - we send pics of our dinners back and forth most nights and they are both teaching their spouses to cook. DD is a very serious foodie in that she & her spouse flew to Nova Scotia for the weekend just to eat at a restaurant she saw on the foodnetwork. The other two would never starve but aren't into gourmet as much.

On today's cooking agenda - I'm making a small batch of sausage will post pics later, doing up pumpkin for pies, keeping an eye on the peameal bacon in progress, searching for venison sausage recipes, making a hearty stew for dinner to be served with a loaf of bread from the breadmaker.