Sweet Hearts

A long time ago and very far away, I fell in love with food. I spent my free time at the public library or bookstore, studying cookbooks on every topic, and wouldn’t hesitate at the idea of spending my entire weekend shopping for ingredients and cooking. I’d happily lose myself in the process of preparing a duck confit, cultivating a sourdough starter, or building the layers of a fancy cake.

That was before, and this is now. Now my life is mostly about parenting, so by necessity it’s all about multitasking. Right now, as I write this, my daughter is breathing over my shoulder, the phone is ringing, and my son is requiring some chocolate milk.

I have to steal time to read cookbooks, and sometimes manage to carry out my plans to cook something that requires hours of advance prep. But mostly, because I’m not the girl I used to be, I’ve also had to reconcile myself to using some store-bought products that help make my desire to cook something a reality rather than pure fantasy. I just make sure the ingredient list is short and easy to pronounce – after all I am not Sandra Lee, people.

So yesterday – GASP – I pulled out a package of store-bought cookie mix so that during one free hour of our day, we made some Valentine treats for the kids’ teachers. We made jam heart sandwich cookies with Betty Crocker cookie mix and some raspberry jam that I heated and strained. Sweet and easy.