My Kitchen is BUSY!!! (Part II)

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.

Love those little quinoa volcanoes!

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. 

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.