Oh horror....I just lost 45 minutes or more of writing!  Yesterday was fairly short and breezy, and I should have kept to that today.  That will teach me to save to clipboard before posting.  Let's see if I can reconstruct, but it will have to be shorter than before.

I just got back from my walk...in the rain.  I knew I was in trouble when I pulled out of the garage and saw dark clouds to the northwest.  I hoped I could squeeze in my 30 minutes before it let loose.  I did!  I'm sitting here now in my still-damp clothes, determined to stick to my goal of blogging, or at least writing something, anything, every day.  It's now pouring rain, and I feel great.

It started sprinkling about one minute into my walk.  I didn't hear or see and thunder or lightning, so I figured I'd see what happened, keeping close to my car in case I needed to run to it for shelter.  It was fairly cool and comfortable, and even though my mind said "Fool, it's raining, you're going to get wet!" I persisted.  About eight minutes later, I made the first loop of what is becoming my regular route, and the sprinkling had stopped.  After that, it sputtered intermittently, as I ventured farther away from the car, feeling good about my decision to tough it out, when I formerly would have allowed myself almost any excuse to stop.   Even if I didn't get all my time in, I wanted to go through the motions as long as possible, training my brain to accept this new activity as a daily habit.  Five minutes left to go, and the sprinkles came a little more earnestly this time.  As I neared the car, the dryish spots on my shirt were fewer and farther between than the wettish spots.  I felt like a die-hard, health-conscious walker now, braving the big, bad elements!   (I won't allow myself to worry about what I'll do in snow and ice just yet.)  Just as serious rain began to pelt the windshield, I ducked inside my car, having logged in 32 minutes.  All I missed was my stretching, which I did at home. 

I've walked off and on for the past several years, and by 2008, I had gotten pretty consistent about it, having worked myself up to 5 miles a day, several days a week.  This was usually a combination of walking outside at the track and using Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds videos at home.  I highly recommend these, by the way.  When I first started using them, I was a non-exerciser, and could barely make it through the 1-mile walk, only 15 minutes including warm up and cool down.  I don't remember the timeframe, but I grew in strength to the point that I could do 4 miles!  

One problem.  Our house is on a concrete slab, and the thin carpet isn't very well padded, so (as my husband warned me I would if I didn't start using mats), I began to have some major foot pain.  Even the easy, low-impact moves on the videos had taken their toll on my feet after so much repetition, and I had all the symptoms of plantar fasciitis (sp?).    It seemed to happen overnight.  The pain was severe, and I felt like a handicapped person, looking for the closest parking spots, even contemplating using the scooter thingys at Walmart.  I could not bear to stay on my feet for very long, so grocery shopping and cooking became very difficult.  This could not be me, at 35 years old!  I was still overweight, but at a size 12, was the smallest size I had been since having kids, and I had quite a bit of physical stamina.  Needless to say, any unnecessary walking came to an abrupt halt, and we bought foam mats - the ugly, gray, puzzle-piece ones -  to pad the kitchen's tile floor, and any other place in the house where I had to stand for any length of time, like in front of the bathroom sink.  

I didn't go to the doctor, having no health insurance at the time.  That was probably dumb, but I was afraid they'd say I needed surgery, which terrified me.  I looked into different options, custom orthotics, etc.  Mostly I just tried to stay down, and wore sensible shoes with thick padded insoles everywhere, like it or not.  I thought I had really goofed up, and wished to heaven that I had listened to David's frequent warnings about taking better care of my feet.  I saw visions of me becoming a carbon copy of my mother, seriously overweight, unable to walk to the mailbox and back or do any kind of physical activity. 

To be continued...

I'm still trying to get the hang of this blogging thing....I think of things to write all the time, sometimes even start posts, but I always get interrupted and never seem to finish them.  So today I've decided to publish however far I get no matter what.  

I've been making a lot of changes recently.  I completely rearranged my kitchen and got rid of a lot of clutter.  Reorganized my office, started a new weight training program, a new menu plan...and the list goes on.  All of these changes make me stop and think about nearly everything before I do it, which (case in point - my son just this moment had to ask me where the sugar is!  My poor family is also having to readjust!!) I think is probably a good thing.  Instead of doing things on autopilot, I become more aware of myself...what I'm doing, what I'm eating, what I'm feeling.  Part of me says, "OK, that's enough changes for now, get used to what you've already done for a while."  But another part of me feels so energized by "newness," that I just want to keep going, to see what else I can improve.  My goal in all of this is to start living my life more intentionally, more purposefully, instead of just letting things happen.

So blogging is another thing I'm going to try to add to my day, instead of letting the words swirl around in my head.  I've just gotten back from my morning walk - you guessed it, another change - and some of the thinking I do during that time will show up here.

No preview, no "Save as Draft" to edit later....just hit "Add New Entry."  NOW.  Yay!!!

My freezer truly is my second pantry, and as such, I stock it with all kinds of flavor-enhancing ingredients for my cooking.  This saves money because items that are used only in small quantity and have limited storage life aren't wasted.  It's also easier to be resourceful with otherwise plain staples or leftovers if you have something tasty to make them over with ready to go.  Here are just a few "extras" I keep in my freezer to add pizazz to my cooking.  I don't necessarily have all of them in there at the same time, but I constantly add bits of this and that, according to whatever I'm cooking and the season.

• fresh orange/lemon zest & juice
• tomato paste cubes
• leftover broth, stock, or wine cubes
• fresh minced parsley
• fresh minced garlic
• fresh ginger
• chopped onions and peppers
• crumbled cooked bacon or sausage

To freeze zest and herbs, mince them fine and flash freeze for a few minutes. Then brush them quickly (so they don't thaw) into a small container (I like Tupperware Midgets) or onto a piece of parchment paper.  Fold the paper into a little package, label it, and put it in a freezer bag with any other packets you happen to have.  Frozen herbs are best used in a cooked dish, not for garnish or salads.

Ginger can be minced or shredded with a microplane and treates as above, or just put the whole knob in a freezer bag.

Pour leftover liquids into ice cube trays or measuring cups (1/4 or 1/2 cup size), according to the amount you would mostly likely use them in your recipes.  When frozen, empty them into labeled freezer bags or containers.

To freeze tomato paste, flash freeze it in tablespoon-sized lumps on a plate.  When frozen, move them to a bag or container.

Freezing cooked and seasoned meat in small portions - 1/4 lb. to 1/2 lb. packages depending on your family size - will liven up a pot of beans, make a satisfying last-minute omelet, or can be the basis for quick fried rice (using leftover or frozen rice).

For more info on freezing, I recommend the book, The Freezer Cooking Manual which can be purchased on my website, www.breadclass.com/booksandvideos.html

I don't often write about quick breads, but this latest cold snap has had me making lots of vegetable soup and beans. And for me, nothing goes better with these than a golden, yummy hunk of cornbread! For years I bounced between several different recipes, not really satisfied enough with any of them to call them "my" recipe, until I read a great book called The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon. It helped me realize why I couldn't find just the right taste I was looking for by defining the difference between Northern and Southern recipes. As soon as I read that, it dawned on me that my perfect cornbread is neither Northern nor Southern, it's a cross between the two! That was hard to admit at first, because I'm a very proud native of Texas.
Kamut Cornbread

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons fresh kamut flour
1 cup freshly-milled popcorn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Realsalt, or other sea salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil or melted butter

*if you prefer sweet cornbread, (really, how could you?)  add 2-4 tablespoons organic cane sugar, aka evaporated cane juice crystals

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a medium mixing bowl, add dry ingredients and stir to combine.  In a 2-cup measuring cup, measure milk and oil; add eggs and beat together.  Pour about half of this liquid into the dry ingredients, stirring until no longer lumpy.  Add remaining liquid and stir until combined.  Pour batter into a greased 9" square baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

What an amazing thing to hold your very own book in your hands!  After nearly two years of work,  my book is finally finished! 

 

 

No More Bricks!  Successful Whole Grain Bread Made Quick & Easy 

It's so much more than a cookbook!  It's a one-stop guide to teach you HOW and WHY to make whole grain bread...in just 30 minutes a week (or less) of total hands-on time.

 

You see, I used to run a brick factory right in my own kitchen!    For years, I tried and tried to make delicious whole grain bread, but all I could get were dry, hard bricks.

Finally, I figured out that I had to "un-learn" what many other cookbooks had taught me to believe about breadmaking...and then I began to make successful bread every time!  No more bricks! 

After three years of teaching literally hundreds of people how to make bread through the classes I offer in our city, I decided to write down my system so that I could reach as many people as possible, without having to leave my family so often.  And that's how my book was born.

Directions are included for any kind of mixer, machine, or even your own two hands.  The convenient master recipes are scaled for 1,2,3, or 6 loaves of bread, eliminating the guesswork on your part. 

Each of the master recipes can be quickly adapted into one of over 30 variations, including: loaf breads, all shapes of dinner rolls, hamburger buns, bread bowls, sweet breads, pizza, and meals-in-a-loaf. 

 

You will be amazed at the questions this book will finally answer for you.  If you've ever wondered:  

** How long should I knead my bread? 

** What's the best way to freeze bread or dough?

** Can  I really get my kids (or husband or parents) to eat whole grain bread?   

** My bread is heavy and dense - what am I doing wrong?

** How can I have time to make bread for my family when I'm so busy? 

** What's the big deal about grinding your own flour, and what if I just don't want to do that?

** Gluten - what exactly is it and what's all the fuss about it?

** Can I use other grains in my bread besides wheat?

...then this is the book you've been looking for!  Written by a homeschool mom with homeschooling families in mind, you'll enjoy reading the user-friendly format with 75 step-by-step photos, plus illustrations, charts, and handy checklists!  (148 pages, softbound)

No More Bricks! retails for $19.95, but I'm offering a special price to my readers and class attendees of just $14.95, when you use the link below. 

Save $5 when you enter this coupon code:  breadclass

Around the middle of July, David was hired by a large company in Fort Worth, TX, about 600 miles from us here in Missouri.   He had never set foot in Texas before (and I STILL married him???) but I was born and raised about 2 hours away from where his job would be.  I hadn't been back to visit for 15 years, and I could hardly wait to show the kids my old house, schools, and other places where I spent time as a kid.  Hooray!  Now I could really adjust my thinking to move there, because David had an actual offer letter and a start date. 

Oh, though.  I have to remind myself for the 100th time that HE is moving, not US.  Not yet.  We can't afford the time or money to make a vacation out of his moving down there, so he will go on without us.  He has just one week to quickly find an apartment in an unfamiliar city, get his TX driver's license, find a bank, and so many other things, not to mention try to rest up and prepare himself to start a brand new job.  

The kids and I planned to go visit him around Labor Day, once he'd settled in a little.  After that, we knew it would have to be at least Thanksgiving before we might see each other again.   We wondered what in the world we were doing, separating our family this way.  How would our marriage be affected, and what about our two boys?  At 11 & 13, they needed their dad to be around!  We counted down the days with mixed feelings of anticipation and dread.

WHIPLASH!

Just days before he was due to leave, several calls came in all at once for jobs here at home.  For months, we'd been begging for crumbs, and now we had a virtual buffet of job offers!   He picked the one he liked best, interviewed the next day, was hired, and started work the following day! 

The new job is still 1.5 hours away, so we went ahead and leased an apartment in the city for David to stay at during the week.  It's not an ideal situation, but at least we can see him every weekend, which is a lot better than waiting 2-3 months between visits!  And, if there's ever an emergency, he can get to us fairly quickly.  This is our 4th week living this way, and it still feels really weird.  I feel like I have to keep telling the kids, "It's OK, we're not getting divorced!"  I hope it won't be too much longer before our house sells and we can all be under the same roof again.