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| Still busy! |
Continuing with the work regularly done in this small but efficient kitchen:
I made two more dietary changes after consulting with a nutritionist. First, I changed my breakfasts from grain based to fat/protein based. Instead of oatmeal, I now eat an egg accompanied by 1/4 cup of a mixture of hamburger/sausage/bacon. I cook the meat mixture up in big batches,
then freeze it in 1/2 cup portions for two day's eating.
Second, I started adding sourdough starter to my bread sponge. Sourdough is a grain fermentation, and according to www.healthline.com, benefits of sourdough bread can include: improved nutrition profile, easier to digest, and may be better for blood sugar control. My own observation: it also tastes great! Because my kitchen is busy enough, I choose to make a new starter each time I bake rather than try to keep track of a continuous starter. Several days before I bake, I make the starter with yeast, flour and water.
I add the starter to the sponge, which I make the night before I bake. That allows the sponge to ferment a little also. It's a wonderful sour-y, yeast-y smell when I get up in the morning! You can see all those lively bubbles. This makes 4-5 loaves of bread.
Knead and rise; knead, pan, and rise again.
Bake. I've done a little research on why the loaves split. The most likely is not letting them rise quite enough before putting them in the oven. I increased the rise time a little before my last bake; inconsistent results. I'll keep fooling with the rise time, but since it's strictly an appearance issue, I'll be primarily following another suggestion, which is: eat and enjoy. I can always call it Rustic, right?
This bread slicing guide keeps the slices as consistent as they're going to be with a loaf that's not entirely consistent...
Bag up as 1/2 loaf sizes, then store in the deep freeze in these two cloth bags. My deep freeze is organized with colored cloth bags, and I chose these two because they were made and given to me by my Mom, whose bread recipe is the foundation for my own bread baking.
Other food preparation I do is for convenience.
I like to cook grains and freeze them in 1/2 cup portion sizes. Quinoa and brown rice are my current favorites.
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| Love those little quinoa volcanoes! |
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| Brown rice, a little tamer. |
I often use hard boiled eggs for quick lunches, either on a green salad or as the base for egg salad, so I keep some on hand.
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| I see my bowl is looking a little rustic! |
Seasoned baked chicken is another go-to for more substantial lunches or quick dinners.
So, that's my busy kitchen. It's a lot of work and with so many variables, something is always running out and needing replenished. But the result of tasty, prepared-by-my-hand, minimally processed food is satisfying primarily to the tooth, secondarily to our overall health, and thirdly to our budget.
