Me and my crazy ideas. Yes, they usually start with a book or article I've read. This time it was "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It documents a year-long experiment of her family to live on foods that they grow themselves or that were grown within a close radius to their farm in Virginia. It also gives a lot of interesting and thought-provoking information about the food industry, marketing, etc. At times it got a little Fast-Food-Nation-y for me, but I really like the idea behind it. (Barbara – you had me at homegrown tomatoes! No need for the endless discussion of the fossil fuels needed to plant, fertilize, harvest, and transport bananas to the US for year round consumption!)
Anyway, I live "in town" (not on a farm) and both my husband and I work full time, so I'm being reasonable about all of this, but I am trying to incorporate some ideas from the book into my everyday life. For example – for a long time we have been on a quest to eat less high fructose corn syrup. It's in EVERYTHING!! Even stuff that's not really sweet, like bread. For a while, we'd found certain varieties of Baker's Inn bread at the grocery store that didn't have it, but then they stopped carrying those varieties. Grrrr.
So, I'm going to see just how hard it is to bake bread instead of buying it. Here's my first effort, using this recipe. I mixed it up in about 30 minutes, went out to dinner with some out-of-town friends, then punched it down and baked it after I got home. I let it cool overnight and voila!
That’s awesome!
Cool! I got a bread maker, and I LOVE it. I don’t make nearly enough bread (but I also don’t eat much bread – not a big sandwich fan; I don’t pack them well for lunches), but I totally prefer homemade bread.
I keep thinking of trying to do a container garden to grow veggies. I know that a single plant can produce a ton of fruit (ask me about the year my grandfather thought the cherry tomato plants looked too small, and he planted three for 4 people — and how I had about a pint of cherry tomatoes in my lunch every day for MONTHS!)… but I’ve also thought about seeing if my friends want to get a small community garden plot, so no one person is burdened with dozens of zucchini.
Yummy – it sure smells good – email me a nice thick warm slice and I’ll add some real butter!
I love home baked bread! My grandma taught me to make it. Even better warm with grandmas home made preserves! Mmmm! Good job!
Impressive! Looks pretty darn good.
Mom
I don’t know if you eat meat, but I was checking out sources for local grass-fed beef in Missouri. Turns out there are several in the Springfield area. Check out http://www.eatwild.com/products/missouri.html.
Thanks for your review of the book; I’ve been waiting to get it from my library, and I want to read it even more now! If you haven’t tried the 24-hour no-knead bread that’s been all over the blogs, you may want to–it’s really yumsters!
Mmmm, freshly baked bread… My daughter just had her check-up and her doctor told me all sorts of scary stuff about high fructose corn syrup. Eeks.
That is so great! I am planning on doing a lot more research into sustainability when I get a new place later this year. No opportunity to garden where I am now.
I love the no knead recipe for bread. If you have a dutch oven, it is fantastic!
That bread looks delicious! That is a fantastic book – very motivating. Small steps can turn into large ones. I want to try Kelli’s no-knead recipe too. Good luck with your changes!