If you give a mom a cookie...

Now that I have one daughter home for the summer and another on the way, there's bound to be big changes in my kitchen.  It seems like once kids go off to college they become wild and crazy eating machines.  There's the freshman fifteen, pizza orgies in the middle of the night, and candy bars for breakfast.  And they come home expecting more of the same.  It's too bad, we were doing so well with our lean 'empty nester' grocery carts...a couple of tomatoes, a nice piece of fish, some asparagus, and a package of English muffins. Maybe the odd can of beer nuts. 

It's not going to be easy coping with all the extra calories these next few months.  With college kids in the house junk food will be lurking in the cupboards and baiting us from the kitchen counter.  The girls will be begging me to bake cakes, cookies and brownies at all hours of the day and night.  I'll wake up to those new peanut butter Oreos, down half a bag of Buffalo Wing Doritos by mid morning and move on to the S'Mores Pop-Tarts before dinner.   

And then there's the ice cream.  It's a pity because I've gotten so good at averting my eyes as I push the cart down the freezer aisle...I even crane my neck a little bit further in the opposite direction as I pass the Dove Bars.  But this summer it'll all be for naught.  I'll bet the girls are going to want Ben and Jerry's.  Or haagen daz.  And at my age weight gain has serious consequences.  Probably the Vanilla Swiss Almond.   It can lead to skyrocketing cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure.  Or the Rum Raisin.  By the end of the summer I'll need a gastric bypass...oh God, I bet they'll want the Crème Brulée...

We had our first grocery run and yup, the bags were fuller.  Like a good mother I told her to go wild and pick out whatever she wanted, to stock up because there was really nothing for a college girl in our cupboards.  As I expected she was deep into the aisles before I even got to the onions.  At checked out I couldn't bring myself to look as the conveyor belt chugged along.  I would just have to muster some self control, and after all, it was only for the summer.  

On the drive home I couldn't help but feel a bit hungry in anticipation of all the tempting treats I'd managed to avoid for so long.  I held my breath as I unpacked the bags.  Ah hah!  There was a six pack of...organic ginger root beer, two containers of pomegranate and passion fruit...skyr, and...a box of chai tea.  Gosh, what kind of habits is she picking up at that college? 

Oh, and a pint of blackberries.  I knew it!  She's going to want muffins.