Basics

Baking and cooking. My two most favorite things to do this time of year. I get to make big gooey batches of macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, ginger snaps, meatloaf, apple pies, the most heavenly risotto, pumpkin bread and not to be forgotten, pumpkin pie. I make it. I eat it. I live for the smell of it all in my kitchen.

So, it's funny to me that up until recently I was a wee bit nervous about making my daughter's food. Steam, puree, serve ... apples to applesauce, pears to pear puree. It seemed so easy I thought for sure I must be missing something. But no, baby food is just so wonderfully basic. Babies get to enjoy the pure taste of all these amazing foods, simply prepared, and my problem was only that I don't do that same thing often enough.

Tonight she got her first taste of zucchini. I love zucchini! Zucchini bread, fried zucchini, zucchini topped with butter and parmesan, roasted zucchini. All amazing and delicious but completely altered from their natural state. After my little love made an ick face at her first taste of zucchini I, of course, mildly panicked. She couldn't possibly hate her very first vegetable. So I took a taste to show her how delicious that soupy green mush in front of her could be. And then I thought, wow, that really is good! I don't remember the last time I really tasted zucchini. I'm not sure I've ever even thought about eating it plain. But it was absolutely delicious and it's hard to believe I've missed out on that taste all these years.

I'm curious about what other goodness I've been missing out on. This is not to say I'm forsaking banana bread, meaty tomato sauce, raspberry jam or creamy butternut squash soup anytime soon. But I am excited to take some quiet food moments here and there to rediscover fruits and vegetables as my little lady discovers them for the first time.