Baking Day - The Reality

I am counting today as a success! It's coming up on 3:00 PM here and our freezer is now restocked. My plan for the day had to be changed when little man woke up barking like a seal today. God gave us a wonderful rainy day together to cook, clean, do puzzles, and watch (too much) TV. The really good thing about it is that since he helped make everything and tasted it all, he's very excited to eat some new snacks.

This is how my kitchen looked when the day started:And here's my little helper:
2 dozen Pumpkin Butterscotch muffins - these are SOOOO good! Little man ate 3 fresh from the oven. The picture doesn't really show the oozing, butterscotchy goodness leaking out the top and sides of these bite size wonders.
2 dozen Bacon, Egg and Cheese biscuit cups - I used half white and half whole wheat flour for the biscuit dough. Next time I'll go with all white - the whole wheat is a little chewy. Or maybe I made the biscuit layer too thick? Either way, these are breakfast for the next 2 weeks for DH.

1 batch Chewy Granola bars with dark chocolate chips and cranberries - yummy, easy to make, and I usually always have the ingredients on hand. I have been omitting the white sugar and subbing whole what flour for months in these. Nobody notices and I can sneak in a few more nutrition points.And the most major undertaking of the day is spaghetti sauce. I have no recipe for this, it's just a mix of fresh and frozen veggies and tomato sauce. That's how my mom has made hers for years and that's how I learned. This is what went into today's batch:
5 cloves garlic, 6 shredded carrots, 2 quart sized bags frozen tomatoes from dad's garden last year, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1.5 pints fresh mushrooms, 1 box frozen spinach, 1/2 cup mom's homemade basil pesto, 3 jars Tomato and Basil spaghetti sauce, 3 jars worth of water, 1 can diced tomatoes, 2 small cans tomato paste, a heaping handful Italian seasoning, 1 T black pepper, 2 t red pepper flakes

It's been simmering since 9:00 this morning. I'm getting ready to let it cool so I can run it through the food processor before bed. Yes, little man has texture issues with food - this is one easy way to get him a meal loaded with nutrients. I anticipate this batch will yield about 14 cups of sauce.

Here's the kitchen at the halfway point:Crock pot, oven, 2 stove burners, and the dishwasher were all running!!!! For now, it's almost all clean and little man is sleeping. I'm going to try to relax for a few minutes before tackling dinner ...