Who knew I could bake?!

So this week I have continued my bread kick!! I decided hey if I can make the ciabatta rolls that my sister Nit posted the recipe for on her blog, then I could make anything!! Well...that may not be entirely true, lol however I decided that I wanted to try the Honey Whole Wheat Bread recipe on the back fo the whole wheat flour bag that I had. So I got everything out and while I was baking the ciabatta bread, I started on this loaf bread recipe. I am guessing I was feeling ambitious that day because I was babysitting Brooklyn (who is 8 weeks old) whatever possessed me to bake twice in one day while babysitting I will never know, but  I can say that I won't be that ambitious again..lol Anyway back to the bread...so after getting the ingredients together I realized I was going to need a large work space so I cleaned off the kitchen table and proceeded to use it. Cliff assisted me in cooking while Grace (bless her heart) tried tending to the (very fussy) baby. But I was already in and couldn't turn back because the water was in the yeast!! I was scared to death baking this bread ( I was doing it all by hand mind you!! NO BREAD MAKER HERE..lol) So in the middle of kneading the dough, the baby decided she was hungry and we had to take a break and make a bottle, I was just hoping that it wouldn't cause my bread any issues, all I could think of was 6.5 cups of flour is a lot of waste if this doesn't work out!. I had no idea when I began this how time consuming it would be. So it came time to roll out the dough and wouldn't you know I don't even own a rolling pin (guess I should put that on my would love to acquire list) but I did have a  wine bottle so I washed it and floured that baby up and it worked just as well as a rolling pin!!  I didn't even have a dough mat!! I used a large round pizza pan, Tito always says I am industrious!! Guess I am haha! 

So after all the kneading and rising and punching and rolling and pinching and rolling and pinching and rolling and rising the bread was finally in the oven!! I was excited and the smell was wonderful!! To make the baking time go by faster the girls and I put the movie Fame into the DVD player and watched it. Halfway through I took the bread out and placed it on the cooling rack, I wasn't sure if it would taste good, but it was very pretty.

 After a not too long hour wait for the bread to cool, because we were still watching the movie, it was time to cut the bread!!

And it was AWESOME!! The kids couldn't wait to try it. Before I knew it, half the loaf was gone!! So I must say that my bread making experience was a success and I won't be buying 9 million ingredient bread from the store anymore!

So exciting. Now I am going to have to try and tweak the recipe and not put any white flour in it. I wonder how it will turn out? HMMM, hopefully better then the whole wheat ciabatta rolls I tried out that day. Yes, I tweaked my sister's recipe to see if I could make it into a whole wheat recipe, ummm lets just say that bread is good toasted or with some type of sweet butter on it but not plain. I think I will just have to make the ciabatta rolls according to the recipe. It did make pretty good ciabatta croutons though..lol Anyway, if you make the bread ENJOY and tell me how it turns out!!

Loves Angela

Week of Cooking

So we have been introducing the kids to natural and organic foods for the last week. Dinner has been very enjoyable. Sitting around the table together, holding hands to say the blessing every body making their plates take those first bites and then trying to figure out what organic and whats natural and whats not. I have had a little difficulty explaining the difference between natural and organic to the kids,  as I am not sure myself how to tell the difference. What I have discovered is that my whole family loves homemade bread. I have asked myself several times why have I not tried this before. I get great joy making food and listening to all the yums and requests for more. I have discovered that whole wheat pasta is kid friendly  but not whole wheat with flax mixed in it. it changes the texture to much for them.

I have also discovered the reason my family wasn't eating salad in the years past was because bagged salad has a very strange uninviting flavor to it. My friend Dodi, makes salad that I LOVE!! I asked her what her secret was...she said, don't buy bagged lettuce (romaine in-particular) she said buy it fresh. Well we did and I am happy to say everyone is eating salad with their dinner every evening!! How awesome is that.  (Well Cliff isn't, and Grace had to be convinced that green lettuce did taste just as good as white lettuce (iceberg). I told her the greener it was meant the more nutritious it was. Once she tried it, she loved it.

My mom thinks me making home made bread may not be a good thing, but I think it is. I love knowing there aren't all the extras in the bread that you can't pronounce. I have been very surprised at how excited the kids are about the changes in our diet. I wasn't expecting them to be so easy going about it and they are willing to try most things. They also love the Amish friendship bread I made, and I am delighted cause the bread (which is more like cake) is made from ingredients you can pronounce!!

So far so good on our journey. I am excited, sometimes its hard staying away from the quick foods at the store or the box snack cakes that I know the kids love. But I believe that in time they will stop wanting that stuff if I stick to my guns!!  (Wish me luck:O)

Little White Monster

So far our switch to mostly organic has been easy. I am using up what non organic stuff we have because I don't want to be wasteful by throwing out food. The change has come for the most part pretty easy with the exception of a few items. The kids have come on board and are at least trying things. (I made a peanut butter smoothie for Cliff and Tito last night and they both loved it, Cliff didn't know I used rice milk!! ) Some things they like (for instance Annie's White Cheddar Bunnies) and some things they don't (for instance all natural cashew butter). They had no clue about the change to organic meat and they couldn't taste a difference. I certainly can. Especially when I take the meat out of its packaging, it never smells.

Ok so about the sugar. Like I said the change has been easy for the most part. I even bought some organic cane sugar. It smells different but there is no taste difference. Which is great, because I have tried stevia and do not like it. Here is my problem. My kids love kool aid and sweet tea. At 4 dollars for a 1 pound bag of organic sugar I can't afford to make Kool aid (which I have an issue with any way because there is nothing natural about it) and tea by the gallon. So last night I broke down and bought regular old sugar. I have a difficult time, now that I am becoming educated on what is in the food we eat, feeding things to my kids that I know is bad for them. The process for the children is going to have to be slower and of course the children brought to our attention that they don't get to pick and choose at their Dad's house what they eat. I told them I understood that, but it was still my job to educate them about what we are doing and then when they are able to make the choices for themselves they will have the knowledge they need to make an educated choice.

Sno-balls!! My secret love!! This is one thing that I know is not good for me. But I just don't want to give them up!! Maybe in time as my body gets used to the natural sugars we eat I will quit craving them..We will see.

So last night we made homemade smoothies according to Grace's memory of what she made at camp. She did not like it.(neither did I) So we took what we made and put in the freezer because I didn't want to waste it. Well I decided I wanted to try a different twist so I added two ice cream scoops of mango sorbet!! OMG!! It was wonderful. The girls of course didn't like it, but then they don't like mango. I however think I have found a new favorite drink. I just have to tweak the sugar content (again that sneaky substance is sneaking in).

So wish me luck on trying to get rid of this little white monster from my diet!!

Loves Angela

By the way I am going to dry to make homemade bread today. Wish me luck!!

Green inside and out

So I have finally taken the time to begin making several important life style changes for me and my family. I started by ordering all "GREEN" products from Alice.com on Thursday. I was so excited. To know that everything I will be using is safe for the environment and safe for me to use in my home. I have in the last few years developed severe allergies to certain foods and products. I can't use anything with bleach (chlorine) in it. I hurt in my chest and burn in my throat all day even when I wear a mask. So I haven't used bleach products in a few years. Anyway. I decided the other day when I was placing my order on Alice.com that I would just "DO IT" I would just make the jump even though I knew it would cost more I was ready and would just change our budget to fit our new lifestyle. I was tired of making excuses. After I bought all that stuff, I went to the commissary the next day and realized they have a large portion of if available there. I was so excited and its a little cheaper at the commissary. So I will still have to use Alice for some things like storage bags and stuff. (they didn't have that at the commissary.) I am excited to know that my commissary is going green too.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET!!
OMG!! I have been dying to go to this store for a long time. Finally on Saturday we went. Tito took me because its in Metairie, LA and that's about an hour and 15 minutes from us. I was so overwhelmed when we walked into the store. I should have went with a plan but I didn't. Spent a whole lot of money but got enough groceries to last the rest of the month. I was not that impressed with their local produce section. They didn't have much so I decided that I would use our local farmers market for my produce. Their meats there where awesome looking. I can't wait to try them and see if there is a difference. Tito and I fell in love with all the different cheeses and enjoyed being able to taste them before we bought them. I was very excited to find local milk that was hormone and antibiotic free!! We also found eggs that are farm raised. they were more expensive but I told Tito I wanted to buy eggs that you just walked out to the hen house and got. So we chose the vital farms brand. they say organic. we will see. the reason I say this is I have tried the cage free eggs before but they were fed a soy diet and I had an allergic reaction to them. So we only bought a small container of them to see how I do. The strawberries I chose from there were organic, and oh my goodness. You can really taste the difference. I was amazed! I think next year I may try and grow my own. It took me a little bit to realize that when they used the word "Conventional" in the store that that meant it was just like what was in a regular grocery store. We bought a loaf of bread that was wonderful (but I think I still want to try and make my own). I finally found cashew butter and it was awesome. All natural too. No added sugar:O) It actually tasted very similar to peanut butter.
So when we got home, I had to put the chicken into smaller packaging and was bracing myself for the icky chicken smell. I have over the years developed an aversion to chicken because it smells horrible and is slimy when you take it out of the pack. Well when I opened this hormone and antibiotic, cage free chicken breast package...there was no smell and it wasn't slimy!! I was in shock!! I can't wait to cook with this chicken no more gagging!! Yay!!

After we went to the store I talked with Tito about going green. I told him I really wanted to try and recycle stuff and be more earth friendly. He agreed. I told him it makes no sense to only have do this. If we are going to do it, then we need to put our best foot forward. I later asked my mom if she thought I was nuts. She said no, she has always wanted to make the switch but it was just too expensive. So see I get it honest!! So I will be driving to NOLA twice a month for some organic meats, unless I find some place closer!!

Finally what started all of this.
Well my sister in laws are very earth conscious and I have always admired them for that. But what really set it off was I watched FOOD INC. It just really touched me and I knew that it was time. It makes since to me that we pump our food full of antibiotics and then we eat it and wonder why we have diseases that the antibiotics can't fight. I have always been a person that did not like to take a lot of meds. So why would I eat foods that are full of meds and chemicals.

Ok so maybe this whole post was a soap box. But I don't care!! I am so excited about the changes we are making in our lives. and we are really going to try and start eating seasonally too. Whew. that will be a chore for me..lol guess I better learn how to fix them greens, but in a healthier way!!:O)



So till I post some new healthy recipes remember, REUSe, REDUCE, RECYCLE!!