Skip to main content

bread and produce and such.

i brought my bread machine out of retirement today. it is currently concocting some italian herb bread to go with our soup tonight. i hope. it always amazes me how that little paddle in the bottom of the mixer can actually do everything it does. anyway, i’m hoping it will be yummy… especially since i had to play w/ the recipe a little bit. (of course.) it calls for 3 and a half cups of bread flour, which i don’t have. so i used 2 cups of AP flour and a cup and a half of whole wheat (because i’ve officially turned into my mother and can’t make anything with just white flour…) it also called for 1/4 cup of parmesan, which i’m out of (yeah, i didn’t actually PLAN to make this bread… the idea just sort of occurred to me as i was wandering the aisles at qfc this afternoon). so anyway, i hope it’s good.

i should really use the breadmaker more often. i don’t know why i don’t. we got it as a wedding gift from my aunt marilynne and uncle loren - yep, the one that just died – so i’m thinking of him as my bread is baking ;) and we used it a lot back then. made sandwich bread and everything. then after we moved back to WA, i don’t think it’s been used once.

anyway, i went to the yakima fruit market today and i can’t say i was overly impressed. the prices are good, but they didn’t seem to have any more organic or local produce than a typical grocery store w/ a good organic section. sooo… i’m kind of back at square one here. i visited the issaquah farmer’s market on saturday and got some great organic salad greens for a great price from a lady there, but that was all i wound up with. i wanted to get some strawberries, but i just can’t bring myself to pay $4 a pint. especially when my own strawberry plants have lots of berries on them and some are starting to ripen up already. so i decided to be patient instead. for some reason, shopping at a farmer’s market is very confusing to me. part of the problem is money. i have a specifically set budget for groceries, and i have a pretty good grasp of how far that money goes at the grocery store when i’m buying everything i want for the week. when i start getting this here and that there, i get really confused about it and numbers just start swirling around in my head… i’m not really a math person.  the other trouble i have is with having to reverse my thinking. since i’m not exactly the best or most adventurous cook, i have to be very specific in my planning. i’m not good at opening a cupboard or the fridge, seeing what i’ve got, and then somehow coming up with dinner from that. when i plan our meals, i pick out what we want to eat first, and then make my shopping list accordingly. when you go to the farmer’s market, you see what they’ve got that is in season and looks good. i always wind up looking at stuff that looks really yummy, but then i don’t know what i would do with it if i bought it. or i could buy whatever they’ve got that looks good, and have a bunch of random stuff that doesn’t really go together in any logical way to make a week’s worth of meals, but i blew a wad of cash and now i don’t have much left with which to buy the stuff that does turn into meals. you see?  aaagggghhh!!!! it drives me nuts that this is the only way i know how to shop and cook. i feel so non-creative and inadequate.

but it’s all a learning process, right? i suppose my family won’t starve… they might not be very happy with me for a while.

i’m also considering the organic farm box delivery from full circle farms. it’s $40 a week to have it delivered to a drop-off location that’s just a block or two from my house, or i could pay $5 more to get it delivered to my door. of course, that leads into the reverse planning thing as well, so i’m not entirely sure. anyway. i’m over-thinking things again, as usual. and i need to go get my soup started.

Comments

  1. HippyChickJune 17, 2010 at 2:12 PM

    I enjoy farmer's markets, too! What I do is buy whatever looks good (if the price is reasonable) if I don't have a specific recipe in mind, and then I Google the ingredient when I get home and find a recipe that looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. LisaJune 18, 2010 at 3:25 PM

    By the way, I was at Remlinger Farms in Carnation and thought of you. The prices aren't AS good as Yakima's, but the have lots of regular stuff and all sorts of other stuff too. Just a thought...

    ReplyDelete
  3. LizJune 21, 2010 at 11:53 PM

    FYI: we get the small box from full circle. We eat a lot of produce and the small box was a bit much to eat in a week for us- we pick it up from a nearby place and it's $31 a week. We love it, and the fact we can sub out whatever we want for other things weekly is wonderful. Anyhow, good luck!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

all comments are moderated. unkind comments will be deleted.

you may like...

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2!  i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical.  we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice.  allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...
Post a Comment
read more »

does home ec even exist anymore?

my last post got me thinking about how i somehow missed 'learning' all of those things which are essential in running a successful home. i'm wondering who dropped the ball on this (because, i can't possibly take responsibility for my own shortcomings here). i guess traditionally, one learns these things from their parents. i suppose i did learn a lot of my domestic skills at home. for example, the husband is supposed to eat the leftovers in the fridge. when making a bed, the 'top' of the top sheet goes down so that when you fold the edge over the blanket, the 'top' side is then up. why this matters when you are just going to cover the whole thing with a pillow and comforter is totally beyond me. but that's how you do it. so yes, my mother taught me how to iron, do laundry, clean a toilet, etc. my dad taught me how to plant a garden, mow a lawn, appreciate baseball, etc. and then there's home ec. do people still take home ec? i took it ...
4 comments
read more »

week 33 in pictures

I don’t have a picture for sunday… will have to have one of the kids draw something. monday: here, we have layla, expressing her death-wish. her newfound talent in hula hooping is manifesting itself all over the place, and in odd, and sometimes precarious, positions. here, she’s balanced at the very top of the big, metal slide, which is balanced on top of the little plastic climber, which is on the edge of the deck. maybe the magic wand in her hand has cast some safety spell around her. she lived, but succeeded in giving me a heart attack first.   tuesday:      layla, micah and I took a picnic to the park. on the way back, micah was determined to carry the cooler. you can’t see it very well in the picture, but it also has 3 filled water bottles clipped to the front of the handle. he didn’t make it very far before he gave it back to me. wednesday:      notice what’s going on in the background of this picture: our backyard neighbors were h...
Post a Comment
read more »

homemaking 101... ponderings, ramblings... the usual.

so i've been analyzing lately (because that's what i do) why i get so frustrated with myself, my shortcomings in the areas of housekeeping and organization, creativity, cooking, etc. it would seem that i'm trying to live up to the expectations of june cleaver, or my grandmother, or something equally unrealistic. no, i don't expect to push the vacuum and baste a turkey in heels and pearls, (besides, i have the roomba , remember?), but i do expect more of myself than i have been giving currently. why? i've been doing what i usually do when i have an issue i want to know more about; i check out every book the library has on the subject (organization problems anyone?). there are a LOT of books out there written by homemakers, for homemakers with a lot of different slants on the whole subject. interestingly enough, the view that disturbs me the most is not the one that suggests that God has decreed it so that women have no other calling than to be wives and mothers (alt...
5 comments
read more »

smoothie-crazy!

I’ve always been into smoothies. but I kind of go in phases with them. there will be times that I have the ALL THE TIME, and then other times when I’ve forgotten about them and don’t have them at all. right now, I’m on a major smoothie kick. I was reminded of their sweet, wonderful yumminess a while back when I read a post on the pioneer woman’s site about smoothies . of course, she’s all photography-savvy and has a clean kitchen and whatnot, and I don’t, but this is my take on smoothies. actually, it’s just today’s take on smoothies. it changes daily, depending on what I have on hand or what I’m in the mood for. as you’ll notice, it’s also a shameless plug for my 3rd favorite kitchen appliance. (the first being my coffeemaker, obviously, and the second being my coffee grinder.) so today’s smoothie consisted of the segments of 1 clementine (I have a 5 lb. box that I need to use up before they are not so good… plus, I figure the vitamin c will not hurt me any.), a BUNCH of frozen raspb...
2 comments
read more »