So Today I Made...

[amberfocus]

...one batch of cornbread blueberry muffins, peanut butter cookies, hotdog and hamburger buns and two loaves of bread. I am a machine. I also put a full Sunday dinner on the table (beef chuck pot roast, corn on the cob, broccoli and cauliflower. Everything was organic except the corn, but at least it was from California.

I have been doing a lot of reading about sustainable farming this month and about the way the food industry works in America. Books I've read lately besides The Omnivore's Dilemma, are In Defense of Food, An Everlasting Meal, To Buy or Not to Buy Organic, The Cook's Illustrated Poultry Cookbook (which has a lot of non-cooking information in it, really), and I am about to start American Wasteland. We joined the local food co-op as well. I am having far more fun than a person should wandering the aisles there and reading labels. And grinding my own peanut butter was a blast. Yes, I am easily amused. But you have not lived until you've made peanut butter cookies with freshly ground peanut butter, a pasture-raised organic duck egg, and pure organic raw cane sugar. Superb!

I am starting to think about writing again. It's been almost a full month and it's been a good break. Not quite sure if I am totally ready to get back into it, but thinking about it without dread or apathy is kind of nice. Maybe I will take a shot at it soon. Not going to put pressure on myself though. It'll happen when it happens and the words decide it's time to flow again.

Comments

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we have a local grain mill, Fairhaven Mill, that I get my flour from. I haven't bought wheat berries yet as I don't have my own grain mill, but when I do they will sell 25 or 50 pound bags of it. They also sell 50 pound and 25 pound bags of freshly ground flour directly to the public, which is the next best thing. Right now I am using up all of my five pound bags of unbleached white flour and whole wheat flour. I bought rather a lot a while back before I'd done the research and found out I could go to the mill directly for the bigger bags. It is in the same town that the beef farmer lives in so we can go at the same time and save a trip. I love that it is so local, just the next county over.

I am saving up for a new chest freezer and then a half a beef and after that a grain mill is on my list. I am also eyeing a yogurt maker I saw at the food co-op. I know I can make yogurt without the maker, but it saves a couple of steps and it is really tempting. I haven't attmpted the yogurt yet, but it's on my agenda for this week. Have you ever made it?

[azriona.livejournal.com]

And here I thought I was being productive this weekend with a massive load of meatballs, chocolate cake, and penuche. Ah well. I've got pizza crusts, pie crusts, and cinnamon rolls on my list, though; does intention count for anything?

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Hey, you were being productive! You have a toddler under foot. That means everything you do takes twice as long. LOL

[develish1]

aaaand, now I'm hungry, lol