Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Just Ingredients Please (except for the strawberry poptarts)

Being self-employed can be marvelous for the spirit but tough on the budget. I've made a game out of saving money and it's paying off in other ways too. Making bread from scratch along with cookies, rolls, pizza dough is so much fun. I did this all the time when Joe and I were first married, I just got out of the habit. It costs pennies to make a loaf of bread. Today I made rye and we ate it with dinner. The crust was so crispy and eating it while it was still warm solved the cold butter/tearing bread issue. woohoo! Other menu items this week include bean and rice burritos that I am making in bulk to freeze for convenience and chicken pot pie. Making all of these dishes in the traditional way, with the ingredients instead of a box, is so rewarding. There are so many great recipes for flour tortillas and they are quick and easy to make. They freeze well, too. Another benefit of making your own breads/meals from scratch is quality control. With genetically modified grains and vegetables being the norm in this country you can almost guarantee that prepackaged foods contain at least one. The only way to guard against it is to buy organic or products labeled non-gmo. If you don't have the time to knead, rest, repeat for breads you can purchase a bread machine. I have the toastmaster bread box which is easy to use and clean. And if you buy one used (check freecycle for a free one!) you can download almost any manual online. So happy bread making! Who knew being frugal could be so much fun?

PS: I took pics of my bread and pizza dough only to find out that my camera, a pretty standard model Canon Powershot G2, isn't compatible with window's vista and canon does not plan to update the drivers for vista! great...

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