Food is a need. Many of our kids weren't exposed to nutritious or even, perhaps, regular meals. This kind of neglect leads to weird behaviours like hoarding in hidey holes, desire for only snack food, and sometimes overeating.

To me food is love. When I cook, it expresses my affection to those I feed. It is a value that, the moment our kiddo was with us, I began to express. I think kids know, at their core, that when somebody *makes* something for them, it is a nurturing act and they respond to it. Perhaps, not overtly, but it begins the expectation within that the preparer intends to take care of you.

Smells can be triggers for both bad and good things to a child of trauma. In our kiddo's case, I guessed that the smell of bread wasn't going to be a trigger for bad things--she probably hadn't smelled much (if any) baking bread in her life.

So, one of my favourite and inexpensive ways to nurture, show love, and create a positive trigger is to bake bread. The ingredients cost about a nickel and using a bread maker really simplifies things. I personally use a Breadman Breadmaker that my wife bought me. I'm guessing that you could also use a mixer instead--at least for the kneading.

I usually do a 2 lb loaf. Here's the recipe:

• 1.5 cups of warm water (80 F or so)
• 1.5 tablespoons of canola oil
• 0.25 cups of table sugar
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons of dry milk
• 4 cups of bread flour (we buy it in large bags at Costco)
• 2.25 teaspoons of active dry yeast (again, we buy yeast in large quantities at Costco--the individual sachets just seem overly expensive to me)

I put the bread maker on the white cycle and hit the start button. Three hours later, we have a wonderful fresh loaf of bread and the house smells great.

I've noticed when I set the timer on the bread maker to start the loaf in the wee hours of the morning, the smell seems to help our kiddo (who is decidedly not a morning person) wake in a better mood.