It feels good to get back in the kitchen. Today was the first day I really made anything in a long time. It's tiring and time-consuming, but I like it. Mostly I have found that I have to spend the evening preparing food for the next day and beyond. This is time I would otherwise probably have spent watching TV, so I can't say it would time be better spent if I wasn't doing this. I think the time away from this project has given me some perspective. For instance, I noticed that when I am eating only food made from scratch, I am hungry much of the time. But it is a different kind of hunger than I am used to feeling. It is much more tolerable, it feels natural, as though humans were designed to spend part of the day hungry, that it iss just they way the machine works. For instance, today I spent a very long time making a pumpkin stew. (Much of the delay being due to my sous-chef being a 10-month old who just started walking.) Even though I was engaged in food preparation for several hours, and I felt hungry for most of that time, I didn't feel compelled to eat anything. I just felt a sense of looking forward to the next meal when I would get to sit down and eat what I was making. I'm not engaged in this project as a weightloss scheme, and I am not adverse to eating snacks so I think it is interesting that it seems to be leading to naturally eating less food and focusing on it less, even when I am involved more directly in every aspect of the food I am consuming.
Anyway, here's the rundown for today.
Breakfast: Oatmeal with frozen mixed berries. Coffee
Lunch: Rice with shrimp, yellow and red cherry tomatoes, broccoli, olive oil, crushed red pepper, garlic salt, salt and pepper
Snacks: Toasted Pumpkin seeds, whole wheat bread (I made this last night from the bread recipe I posted last month. This time the yeast worked. Much better!) with butter
Dinner: Pumpkin Stew (I will post the recipe), Salad: Tatsoi, Chard, Kale, Carrots, Broccoli and Tomatoes. DR made a Balsamic Vinagrette: Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, White Wine Vinegar,
Franks Red Hot, Worcestershire Sauce, Bay Leave, Salt, Pepper
Dessert: Rice with butter and sugar.
I am currently making
Granola for tomorrow's breakfast, so I have had some tastes of the dried fruit and nuts that go into making that as well.
Have you heard of the book, "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day?" They just came out with a healthier version, and the recipe literally takes 5 minutes a day for amazing bread. Their master recipe and others are listed on their website at www.artisanbreadinfive.com. I hope that helps! Way to go on continuing your challenge! I love the results of cooking from scratch at home. It's amazingly better. Take care!
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