End of the Line:

Guys, yesterday was so insane that after I blogged about it, I forgot to publish.  Anyway, I FINALLY did it!  I made wheat bread today, and it was SO easy!  I was really surprised how much time it DIDN'T take!  I mixed the yeast into the warm water, added honey and butter, then stirred in the flour until it was the lump you see below.  After kneading it for a while, I left it in a greased bowl for a few hours, then punched it down and baked it for 40 minutes.  There was a slight hiccup when I had to run an errand right in the middle of the timer and entrusted the bread removal to my 11 year old.  She took it out on time, I ran home for a quick second, admired how beautiful it looked, thought about how I should probably take a picture, didn't, and then had to run out the door again.

When I got home, it looked like THIS.  They had RIPPED OFF THE ENTIRE TOP OF THE LOAF!  I'm really torn between being really annoyed, and finding it very funny.  I bet they don't realize that this is their sandwich bread for tomorrow.  Have fun with that, guys.

Day 30:

Remember how I was going to make bread today, guys?  Well...it didn't happen.  I was running crazy all day long except for that brief and beautiful nap on the couch before kids came home.  I thought about starting it really fast before bed, but that would ruin the fun. I'll get back with you all tomorrow when I have the time to really enjoy the process!

Day 29:

I still haven't found the absolute perfect wheat bread recipe, but I am one step closer.  Today, I ground my own wheat; something I have been kind of avoiding since starting this challenge.  Knowing that I had tons of cans of white flour out in the garage, I knew that I didn't really have to, and I remembered it being a lot messier than it really was.  Where my kids were concerned, the wheat grinder was a super star, and they were all extremely eager to help.  Tommorrow, on the final day of this challenge, I really, really, REALLY will make homemade wheat bread.  I almost promise.

For lunch today, I ate one of my favorite things that I've talked about before; frozen peaches, all warmed up, topped with a little bit of stevia.  As you can see, they aren't perfectly devoid of frost, and I have left the peels on.  This was very much on purpose.  First of all, I freeze peaches because it is SO much faster than canning them.  I wash, quarter them, lay them out on cookie sheets and freeze them that way, then scrape them off the pan the next day and put them in gallon baggies.  Freezing them separately first makes it so they don't all end up in a frozen, nasty, nearly unusable lump at the bottom of the bag that you have to chisel out with a butter knife and a hammer.  Ask me how I know this.  Second, I would like to say that I leave the peels on because it adds more fiber and significantly increases the health benefits of preserved peaches (I can them with peels on too), but that really isn't why I do it.  I have a limited amount of time that I am willing to devote to food preservation, and it's not worth it to me to spend such a huge allotment of my time resource on removing something I don't really care about.  Sure, I prefer to eat them later without the peel, but I really am not picky enough to not eat them if it hasn't been removed.

Tonight, it's pork (prepared, shredded and frozen) and veggie soup!  My family is getting MOST anxious to eat "normally" again.  I have to admit, the grapes at WinCo were mighty tempting.  I think they will be the first thing I buy when I go back to normal shopping!

Day 28:

I came across my bread dilemma again; I either make too much and it goes bad, or I don't make enough, and my kids are all in a panic about what to eat when they want sandwiches.  (I know.  Their lives are SO difficult.)  Another bread issue we have is the little kids get to it, shred a slice to bits, and then put it back in the bag.  Really, guys?  This was the only place you could think of for the disposal of your bread bits?  Maybe...oh, say, your MOUTH?!  If not that then perhaps the garbage?  The sink disposal?!  So, we end up with a whole bag of little shredded bread bits that everyone knows has been mangled by (probably dirty) little hands.  Ew.

So, we're back at bread baking time, again using flour, sugar and salt from our food storage, as well as milk mixed halfway with dehydrated milk.  I have had this recipe memorized ever since the Great Bread Boycott of (I think) 2015.  (I boycott so many things that I forget when I do them.)  Although, apparently, my memory isn't as amazing when I'm trying to make bread really fast before bed, because I just realized that I forgot to add the butter and had to run down to put it in 10 minutes into the mixing cycle.  One of the things I have learned about using homemade bread for family eating: don't slice it when it's straight out of the machine, unless you're doing fat ol' slices to serve immediately.  Those slices do NOT make amazing sandwiches unless you like really fat sandwiches.  I always wait for it to cool, and then cut them nice and thin.  This makes it last longer, and makes the sandwiches small enough to fit in a sandwich baggie.

I have also had several people give me their wheat bread recipes, and I think I'll try those during these last few days of The Challenge.

Day 27:

Today, Savannah (7) decided to make waffles from our food storage pancake mix that Paul made last week.  The kitchen was a catastrophic disaster, but at least I didn't have to make anyone breakfast.  This was good because I was out running anyway...and then I realized that I locked my keys in the car and Paul had to come rescue me.  By "rescue", I mean drive over to where I was, remind me that the back venting window opens too far, and help unceremoniously shove me through it into a dignified heap on the back seat so I could unlock it myself.  (One of these days, I really should invest in a spare key.)

We had corn tortillas from the freezer with melted cheese in them for lunch, along with some canned apricots.  For dinner, I went crazy and bought a real, live onion to mix with some ham, and food storage mashed potatoes.  YUM!!!  I could have used dehydrated onion, and for experiment integrity, I should have.  It really was deliscious though.  But, I'm regretting eating as much as I did because I now have severe onion breath, and we're about to go to a church adult social.  (It's a dance, but I haven't told Paul this.  He just knows it's a social, and may mutiny if he knew.  In all fairness, he had equal access to the church bulletin last Sunday and could have read it himself.  I know.  I'm a terrible person.  A terrible person who truly loves dancing.)

Day 26:

Nicole almost cried when I told her we only had 4 days left of this challenge.  This has been such an enlightening experience, you guys.  One of the things I hadn't really expected was how empty the fridge and pantry would be all the time.  I'm so used to having tons of crackers, cereals, noodle packages, fresh fruit and veggies filling up our kitchen.  Not having those things is so odd.  Now, we have tupperware containers holding leftovers of main dishes, and occasionally opened jars of fruit.  With just those in the fridge with eggs, butter, milk and cheese, it's really empty!  The plus side is that it makes the refrigerator WAY easier to clean!

Tonight, I made Fried Rice, and it was gone before I hardly blinked.  (Having four guests over for dinner probably impacted that.)  I sauteed the rice and deydrated onion in butter, then added tomato bouillon and water, lowered the heat and covered it.  It was gone in a flash!  Nicole even ate it and didn't leave to Grandma's house for "real food". 🤣  The only sad thing...I totally forgot to take a picture of it.  Picture pink-ish/ red-ish rice, guys.  Then imagine a fantastic sauteed oniony smell.  Mmmmmm! 

I buckled down and dealt with the cooled cooked pork and beef, packaging them in serving sizes in saran wrap and putting them in a gallon baggie in the freezer.  It has made meal prep so much faster!

In other good news, I didn't even eat one chocolate chip today.  Progress!

Day 25:

Guys, I was on form today.  Honestly, I can't say that every day, but today, I got stuff done.  Laundry is 100% caught up, everyone made it out the door on time, I read books to the kids at the bus stop, sorted out the baby's extra clothes, went walking with my mom, got completely caught up on dishes...twice (!), gathered all of the clutter from downstairs into a small pile for the kid who owned that after-school chore, bought all the painting supplies I will need to paint two bathrooms, replaced a lightswitch cover, worked on making a hat on my hat loom, and then purchased and spray painted a toilet paper holder.  Oh, and while I did all of this, I binge watched Father Brown and kept my kid and one extra alive and fed. There is one thing I didn't do though.  Remember how I was going to cut all that pork into steaks?  Well, that's not going to happen.  I just cooked it all.  There was a ton of it too.  I was tired of it looking at me in that condescending, accusatory manner every time I opened the fridge.  But, I will deal with all of that tomorrow after it has cooled off in the fridge.  Father Brown was more important.  😉 We have to pick our priorities, people.

Today, we had pork, homecanned apricots and leftover spaghetti. 

And, maybe I ate a lot of frozen chocolate chips too.  Perhaps.  Only 5 more days!  I have to admit to missing fresh veggies.