Kitchen Confessions

Have you ever made something that everyone loved and then they wanted the recipe from you?  Well, that happened to me yesterday.  I had packed a large slice of pumpkin bread in my son's lunch and he ended up sharing it with some friends at lunch time.  One of his friends told her mother about the pumpkin bread and how much she loved it, and could she get the recipe from me.  I immediately received a text from my friend asking for the recipe.  I thought about it for a few seconds and thought it was pretty funny.  I take pride in the fact that I really do love to cook and bake from scratch. I try to reduce the amount of processed food my family eats.  I'd really rather go for fresh ingredients.

But, sometimes, and here is my confession, I go for "the box".  There are times that you just need a quickie, something you can make fast. Sometimes "the box" is really great, and why bother with making sure you have all the ingredients and measuring each one.  Besides, sometimes the prep work for baking could take up to 20 minutes.  What if you don't have 20 minutes? So, I do think there are times that it is OK to reach for the box. But, here is THE question.  Someone asks you, "Did you make this?" Well, of course I made it.  My hands did open the box, I added the eggs and the oil and water.  I mixed it, put it in the pan and turned the oven on.  I made it. But, what people really mean is, did you make this from scratch? And if you didn't, do you reveal your secret? So, when my friend asked me for the recipe for the pumpkin bread I just had to laugh.  I told her my secret, stating that out of the few things that I make from a box it is pumpkin bread and that it is from Trader Joe's. Oh, sure I know how to make pumpkin bread from scratch, but as I said to my friend, "when something is this good from a box, you don't mess around in the kitchen".  I offered to pick up some boxes for her, to which she took me up on my offer and asked for 5 boxes!

When my son came home from school and mentioned that his friend loved the pumpkin bread, I told him how I had already talked (texted) with her mother. When I told him that the bread was a Trader Joe's mix he said, "Really, this isn't homemade? Why did you give away your secret?" I thought, you know, though I love to spend time in the kitchen, sometimes you have got to be realistic, save some time and go for the box.  No one will ever know, unless you tell them.

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