There’s a chill in the air, the leaves are changing colors and my oven is working overtime! I finally made up my mind that there was no “good bread” for sale at the store and I knew I could do better. A few hours of internet research later I was making my first batch of sandwich bread – without a bread maker. I specify without a bread maker because I have always been far too intimidated by the steps necessary to actually make the bread that it was easier to have a machine do it for me. However, I’ve owned two bread makers and neither of them actually made anything easier except the actual kneading of the dough. They were big and bulky to store and rarely worked according to program. So, I set off of an adventure to make bread. My first batch was okay. Acceptable but not really a good substitute for store bought bread. I tried again, even learning how to freeze the dough and buying a new, better loaf pan. This batch was better and inspired me to make a few more tweaks to the process and my most recent batch of bread is the best yet. I love seeing the bread come out of the oven and know that this is something that I’ve created for the good of my family. My teenagers are even accepting of the bread – seeming to even enjoy it. The only complaint so far from my son is that it doesn’t fit well in the toaster. So, I am back to research to find a pan or recipe that will make a taller loaf of bread. Making fresh bread every other day or so has made me appreciative of what housewives have been doing for decades before the proliferation of store bought bread into our homes. It seems to be a process that has trickled into more and more of my cooking. I find that instead of buying instant rice, I didn’t hesitate at buying the large bulk bag of long grain rice that takes three times as long to cook. Tortilla shells are a staple in our home and last week I made my first batch of homemade tortillas which were a hit! It was such a different texture and flavor from the store tortilla shells that I don’t know if we’ll go back. I am enjoying this journey into real homemade foods – not just foods that are assembled at home.
No posts…time to start fresh!
Well, after many failed attempts, the old blog is staying firmly planted in the past. I guess it is time to start anew!
Anyone who knows me knows that I will talk for hours about child care, and children, and new toys, and new supplies, and…well, you get the gist of it. But now I have another passion to add to my conversations – running!!! I started running after my surgery this summer after weeks of only being able to walk as exercise and being still too wobbly feeling to get up on the bike and found out something surprising….I LOVE RUNNING!! I usually run 3-4 times a week now and I have to remind myself to mix it up with some yoga or biking which used to be favorites!
Now that the weather is turning chilly I am faced with the dilemma of running indoor on the treadmill (BORING!!!) or freezing outside. I will have to discuss this more in later blogs as I am being called away….
A new blog!
After many, many issues with posting and logging into my old blog I have hopefully found a new home on WordPress! I will be trying to move over as many entries from the old blog as possible until I am all up and running here.
