{"id":3261,"date":"2009-01-06T15:36:42","date_gmt":"2009-01-06T22:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T00:35:22","slug":"whats-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/2009\/01\/06\/whats-cooking\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Cooking?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first week of January is nearly past! I have only a few minutes to write this post, so it’s a bit scattered. I signed up to participate in Creative Every Day 2009, so here’s my first post about it. For Christmas I received some culinary items: a jumbo muffin pan, four really heavy cookie\/jelly roll sheets, 6 tart pans, 4 mini loaf pans, and 2 mini cake pans, along with a book called Small-Batch Baking<\/a>. I really enjoy baking (even more than cooking), but most baked goods are indulgences. And as we should know but have forgotten, an indulgence is a treat, something enjoyed specially; however, the quantities most recipes create are many dozens of cookies or large pies and cakes that a family of three does not need.<\/p>\n

This morning I put the loaf pans to use by making more pumpkin bread. I’ve found that large loaves don’t get consumed quickly enough, and another point to baking small is to reduce the amount of temptation to overeat. I was really pleased with the results and look forward to making more goodies. The recipes in the book make very small amounts; for example, a recipe for a cake makes 2 little cakes (slightly larger than a jumbo muffin) or a half a dozen cookies.<\/p>\n

I’ve also decided this year to get creative about food in a different way. I received three other books, some of which provide ideas to ponder and one of which also has recipes. One of my relatives has undergone a significant weight loss, and she and I discussed eating habits and the need to remain healthy, and how excess weight impinges on health. Eating differently — heathfully and in less quantity — is also a creative response to environmental issues. <\/p>\n

I realize I have, for too many years, consumed food mindlessly in quantities that would shock a large percentage of the world population. As I watch my daughter learn to eat and to feed herself, I’ve felt my conscience poked and prodded. She follows her natural hunger and satiation. It’s been so long since I stopped at satiation. I know what hunger feels like but often eat as recreation, and I often eat beyond simple fullness. So many<\/em> people live on much, much less. And in fact, as my relative and I discussed, our sense of proportion is extremely skewed. We have grown accustomed to large servings and lost the understanding of how truly little a body needs<\/em> to thrive. By reducing how much I consume, I can save our family money, and some of that money will go to organizations such as Feeding America<\/a> and Heifer International<\/a>. So the books I will be reading are: <\/p>\n