Comfort food to the rescue

Having two kids pretty close together has had it's challenges, just like anything in life. There are highs and lows and sometimes those lows leave us feeling pretty defeated. We as a family seem to be (for the first time ever) in a cycle of sick kids. Connor out of the clear blue developed RSV and a double ear infection at the same time. Three days later, little Liam wasn't himself, it turned out to not be sickness instead it's his two year molars. Around and around we have gone with the sniffles, dribbles and cranky kids, all of which seems to run relatively smoothly until Liam picked up a stomach bug. My heart broke for this little person, who wasn't afraid of what was going on to him. Steve and I were frantically trying to get him and his bed changed in the middle of the night and the whole time he was saying "okay" and "thank you". Even with his maturity and grace in this situation, for me, it felt like I'd been balancing all of my dishes on my head and this new "plate" brought the whole stack crashing to the floor.

Two days into his feeling icky, I too was feeling wiped out. I can't take this away, make him feel like himself and it breaks my heart seeing him so ill. Sleepless nights have been spent listening to the baby monitor for his stomach to change it's mind about what he'd eaten, even though all day he's kept his B.R.A.T diet food down.

Thursday, we decided we'd make Breakfast for dinner. There's something so comforting about having Pancakes, Eggs, French Toast or any of your favorite breakfast foods, for dinner. So at 11am, I was able to sneak away from the little ones and get the Bread Machine going on some dough for our favorite, Egg Bread recipe. I have tried using the Bread Machine for the entire bread making process, but have found the crust to be a little too crunchy. So I just use the dough cycle and then I let it rise and bake it in the oven.

Fresh, homemade bread is the BEST for French Toast!! You can slice the loaf to your desired thickness, the bread has a heartier consistency so it doesn't get mushy when dipped in the egg mixture and it tastes amazing.

Just the smell of cinnamon in the kitchen was renewing my spirits. Making me feel as though this last week hadn't been as hard on all of us as it had felt. Liam was given one slice, which he ate most of (which was great!), Connor ate 3 slices!! He was a hungry little hippo. A few hours after dinner, with our bellies full and our spirits high, we engaged in a fun game of "keepaway" with a plush basketball. They were chasing each other, blocking, tackling, whatever they could do to get a hold of that ball. It was a wonderful evening filled with smiles and lots of Laughter.

I am amazed at how a simple dinner of egg, flour, sugar, salt, yeast and milk could have such a renewing factor on this family's spirit. Comfort Food. Sometimes that's all it takes.

If you'd like my recipe for Egg Bread, please let me know. I'd love to share it with you!