Thank you to Diane of Mackville Road for sharing her homeschool recipe this week. Diane is enjoying the simple life in Vermont where she is a homeschooling momma of two children.

Diane's Recipe

You know how there are some people who cook by the book -- make a list of the needed ingredients, go to the store to get them, page open to the recipe, follow the directions and voila! a wonderful meal?

And you know how there are those people who don't require a recipe? There are those people who cook by feel and taste and smell. They are able to use whatever is on hand to make a scrumptious, filling, and comforting meal. I aspire to be one of those kind of people.

Of course, there's a time and a place for the fancy recipe -- the special acquisition of unusual ingredients, the painstaking care of following the directions to get it all just right and in the end (if you're lucky and you've followed it just so) you end up with exactly what the cookbook said that you would. Once, I wanted to get out of high school early. It was no time for whimsy or experimentation with test taking -- it was time to study the book and repeat the necessary formula to get to where I wanted to be. I never did so well on a test! And that was the key to getting out of high school and the key to moving on to what I wanted to do with my life. In that instance it was important to follow the prescribed route.

What I wish for my kids: I want for them to be able to go into the kitchen (life) and see what's there. What looks appealing? What do they choose? What would be a healthy choice? Or what might be indulgent and satisfying? What's available to them given the season, the place, the time? Do they know how to find the ingredients for what they want to make? Or can they grow those ingredients themselves? Or is there a neighbor or friend they might be able to barter with or buy from to get what they need? So long as they know how to find the raw ingredients and how to put it all together for themselves I think they will be happy in the kitchen (life). I want them to know how to feed themselves from scratch.

So this is what we do: when necessary, we follow a recipe. All the rest of the time we follow our cravings. That may sound selfish or maybe even unhealthy if you imagine that our cravings are all about, say, chocolate. But they aren't. Food (life) can be eaten merely just to sustain ourselves OR it can be nourishment and comfort and sacrament.

All that said, we are, in fact, huge fans of doughnuts... : )