Getting Ready

Today, I did five loads of laundry. I also baked a dozen mini loaves of zucchini walnut bread, two loaves of regular bread, and made a batch of tortillas.

Bubba helped.

Check out that concentration!

Also, check out how he's commandeered my stand mixer and is using it as a binky holder. That kid, I tell ya! It's his world and we're just living in it as far as he's concerned.

So why all the cooking? Well, we're heading on our very first road trip as a family tomorrow evening. We'll be driving to Austin, Texas, because we're sort of crazy like that. Actually, we did the math and even if we can't do the 16 hour drive in one shot and have to stay the night somewhere, it's still cheaper than a plane ticket would have been. Also, we won't have to rent a car or pay for any extra baggage. You know with having little man there WILL be extra baggage too! So, we're driving. I've driven by myself to Los Angeles from here before, and from here to Oklahoma with another person so I don't think it will be a problem at all.

Before anyone out there in Internet land gets any funny ideas, I'll just let you know that my little dogs were not invited along. That means they will be staying home, along with a lovely friend who has offered to house/dog sit. I hate the thought of my dogs being in a kennel and always feel better having someone with them in our house instead.

So, what's the occasion? Well, my sister in law is getting married! We're super excited because her fiancé, who we met for the first time at Christmas, is a pretty nice guy. They live on the East Coast so it's sort of a destination wedding for everyone. I've never been to Austin before but it sounds like fun. I'm also looking forward to taking a little side trip on the way home to see the Alamo.

The food is for the road trip part. I don't know about you, but every road trip I've ever taken in my whole life has started with a stop for junk food. When you're trying to eliminate all the processed food from your diet, it's pretty obvious that you need to find a different solution for those road munchies! I'm going to make sandwiches with one loaf of bread, and then just bring the other along with some cheese and fruit. I also made a bunch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at my husband's request.

I was trying to use up stuff that we had in the house, so the last giant zucchini from my neighbor dictated the zucchini bread. I had a quarter of it left afterward, so I diced that up and cooked it in leftover Bolognese sauce that was in the freezer from last week and we had that with some pasta for dinner. I made the tortillas because I needed to use up the rest of my eggs and I don't like them without toast or tortillas. We'll have those for lunch tomorrow. Any that we don't manage to eat will be left for the dog sitter, because I know he likes homemade tortillas. The zucchini bread and the cookies also helped use up some eggs. The zucchini bread also got the last of the walnuts and the cookies got the last of the chocolate chips. I even threw in some dried cranberries that I had from last week just to use them up as well.

Tomorrow, I need to pack our bags and run some last minute errands before we leave. It will be hectic, but I'm looking forward to it!