Honey, you’re makin’ it for a MAN

A few years ago I worked as a nurse’s aid in a retirement and assisted living facility.

It was a hard job-both physically (they kinda forgot to train me, and then would tell me to lift adults into wheelchairs.  You can guess how great that made my back feel), and emotionally (what are you supposed to say to someone who is missing their husband who they were married to for 50 years?)

But it wasn’t without fun… Adorable couples who still loved each other, the woman who decided that since her family thought she was senile she might as well make up an imaginary friend (she was GREAT)

Early on, we had a resident who missed dinner.  I was told to make him a sandwich.  So I went in and made what seemed to me to be a HUGE sandwich.  (Granted, I ate about 900 calories a day that summer, so huge is relative…)

Another aide came in, took one look at it and said “Honey, you’re makin’ it for a MAN.  Don’t make it like you’re trying to feed yourself!” and proceeded to triple the amount of meat and cheese on it.

Today, I kept thinking of that as I baked.

You see, the fiance ASKED me to make pumpkin bread.  PUMPKIN.

And I kept wanting to make it healthier.  To add whole grains.  To cut out the oil.  To lower the sugar.

But the voice in the back of my head said “honey, you’re makin’ it for a MAN.  Don’t make it like you’re trying to feed yourself” and I made it in full fat, full sugar, white flour glory.  The first time I make the man pumpkin bread, I might as well do it right.

I had cooked down my halloween pumpkin

(canned pumpkin?  What’s that?  I don’t think I’ve bought canned pumpkin ever in my life.  We always cooked down the Jack-O-Lanterns and thanksgiving pies, pumpkin bread, and all that good stuff was made out of frozen jack-o-lantern puree)

I used my mommy’s recipe, which is made for fresh (not canned) pumpkin, and got rave reviews every time I got a care package in college.

At my graduation one of my friends met my mom and said “I love you!” and hugged her.

She just stared a little till I explained “I shared some of my care packages with him”

I did quality control

It’s important you know!

One loaf with chocolate chips, and one plain.  The fiance asked for the chocolate.  I couldn’t say no. I was still in shock he wanted anything pumpkin.

I had to test the finished product too.  Quality control, friends, quality control.  With super lazy cream cheese frosting on top (cream cheese  + agave)

Not going to lie, I am pretty excited to see what my man thinks of these.

And next time, it’ll have some whole wheat pastry flour.  Let’s not kid ourselves.