Food Choices

     I love to read blogs almost as much as I love YouTube.  The other day while I was navigating an insurmountable amount  of homesteading blogs, I came across an interesting blog 100 Days of Real Food  (You can also find this link on my homesteading page).  It is about a family who has taken a pledge to eat "real food" for 100 days.  The blog tells about them, what rules they are going to follow, and even mini pledges for readers to join.  This all sort of inspired me.  I say sort of because I have a commitment problem hahaha!  I decided instead of taking one of their real food challenges, I would make up my own.  This way I wouldn't be setting myself up for failure.  Anytime I go all out into something it never lasts very long.  So I don't really have any of it outlined yet, but I know for a fact I require high fructose corn syrup on occasion.  Factoring this in  I decided to start by eating more whole wheat and reducing the amount of white sugar in our diet. 
  The first step to conquer,  How do I add whole wheat to our diet without my children noticing (as much)?  Easy!  Bread and muffins!  These are two things we all like.  I had already planned on making banana muffins and wanted to try one of those no kneading bread recipes.  I went on a mission across the internet to find recipes I thought would work.  They had to use whole wheat and no white sugar.  It didn't take me very long to find some recipes to try.  Now there was no turning back.  I got out all the ingredients for the muffins, then mixed them up and tasted the batter.  Well they definitely had a stronger taste and heartier texture than my regular white flour muffin batter.  I was a bit worried about the outcome, but threw them in the oven and crossed my fingers.  As a side note, I don't use paper muffin cups when I bake, so if you do the same thing make sure the tin is greased or you apply cooking spray.  Twenty minutes later I realize the oven was turned down by Thing #2 and the muffins had been baking at 175 degrees.  I turned the oven up and baked them for 15 more minutes and hoped for the best.  Fifteen minutes later my muffins emerged and looked pretty good.

WW Banana Muffins

     While the muffins were baking, I started working on the bread dough.  This was a very simple recipe I found on the back of the flour bag.  I didn't even have to look for it!  Thing #2 and I worked on mixing the dough together and had fun.  It's always a great idea to let your kids help you when you bake.  First spending time together in a positive way does a family good.  Second they start learning skills they will need someday.  I always tell my sons they need to learn to cook and bake, because they shouldn't count on their wives to do everything for them.  Back to the baking.  After mixing the dough together we threw it on a baking pan ( we decided to go with the round bread rather than the loaf).  We let it sit for 90 min to rise covered in a greased peice of plastic wrap.  You could cover it with a towel and it would work just as well.  (A tip for those of us wh turn on the AC, you can put it in your bathroom with the window open and it will be warm enough to rise).  We ended up having to leave for Thing # 1's 5th grade graduation, and threw it in the fridge and crossed out fingers yet again.  When we came home I let it sit out a little before we put it in the oven.  We baked it for the amount of time specified on the pacakge, but it relaly could have stayed in another 5 minutes.  You will have to watch your bread as every oven is different.  The bread came our beautifully.  We sliced into it right away and tried it out.  The boys LOVED it!   Mom earns a star!  We tried the muffins the next day and they were tasty.  Actually Sage has eaten them every day and he is a picky eater.  The boys have had them for breakfast and for snacks.  

WW Homemade Bread (do you see the little face?)

     I may start a page for our own Real Food Challenge.  I also went out and bought a bunch of fresh veggies.  I figured the boys and I could come up with some recipes and try new foods ( or things we don't like).  In other news today is the last day of school for both boys, I continue looking for a job, and  the garden is still alive.

RECIPES FOR MUFFINS AND BREAD ON RECIPE PAGE.