Today I think I'll...

cook!

I felt like cooking when I woke up this morning, and although I enjoy cooking I hardly ever feel like I'd rather do that than something else. So happy day for my family!

It's good too, because today was Bountiful Basket day. In this week's basket is:

• 8 Fuji apples
• 8 bananas
• 1 quart strawberries
• 6 navel oranges
• 3 grapefruits
• 8 onions (which includes a few extra from my bff D. Because D doesn't do onions.)
• 5 baking potatoes
• 3 broccoli crowns
• 1 cauliflower
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 head of romaine lettuce

I still had some produce left over from last time so cooking had to be done to clear out the old stuff in order to make room in the fridge for the new. I've baked an apple pie already this morning with the rest of the apples from last time, and started some beef stew. The beef stew used up the remainder of a big bottle of V-8 juice that needed to go, 8 or so button mushrooms, two onions, the last of a head of garlic, a couple of tomatoes, plus celery and carrots that I bought at the grocery store.

I still have half a head of cabbage (which I will use to make bieroc later today) and some blackberries which will become gelato. I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks for gelato and I'm excited about trying it. I need cream and rock salt before I can start.

Since I started getting these baskets I've been wondering how long fresh produce sits in trucks and warehouses before the grocery store sets it out for sale. My mushrooms, tomatoes and blackberries are still good and they've been in my fridge for two weeks. Things like that from the store only last a day or two before I have to use them, or what usually happens is that it goes bad before I get to it and I have to throw it out.

When I bring home my bountiful basket I feel rich. I see all these good things to eat, and I look around at my home and my family. I feel fortunate that I have the skills and the time and other resources to make it all into meals that will benefit my family.

It's abundance. It's blessedness. I'm grateful.