Further in Life

Today I am starting to get my arse in gear. I have had a flu and it has knocked me down for the better of 3 - 3 1/2 weeks. My love took great care of me, even working from home several days. The furries kept their distance for several days. Mommy had a temp of 102.5, guess I was too hot to lie on. Loki whined alot, I didn't have the strength to hold him for several day, and his nervousness turned into a couple episodes of is IBS exhibiting itself. Ming stared at me for several days and wouldn't eat. she still follows me everywhere. I wasn't very safe walking, and she still isn't sure about me. My love made puppy food, yogurt, did laundry, meals for himself (I had no willingness for food) and was just generally absolutely wonderful!

We are going to the big city on Sunday to visit friends, hubby's best person from the wedding, her sister and a mutual friend of theirs. We haven't been to the city in forever. He is salavating on coffee shops and buffets.

I am trying to cook more and more of our food. Getting back in the swing is taking some time though. But before I regress again - what I am learning about food.
The making of food is taking an order and making sense. If I take the milk, and I make yogurt I can make a gallon of yogurt for the price of a gallon of milk. This is 4 times less than buying it. I can take a fourth of the made yogurt and make Greek yogurt, just by straining off the whey.

Then I can take the whey and use it instead of water in making the bread. If I make enough for 4 - 8 loaves I can flavor the bread, make it more "sourdough" and can freeze either the dough or made bread and always have some available.

I can take milk and make 2 kinds of starters to make cheese. Basically all of cheese, that is practical to make in the home, is either made from a yogurt starter or a buttermilk starter. I can make soft cheese for cooking, melting, crackers and make a hard cheese to put back and have available for sandwiches and company.

I am learning about having deserts and snacks ready. I can make the starter for Amish Friendship Bread and then freeze and have available. I still have the goal of cookies in the freezer, ready for anytime and visitors. I would love to make English Muffins, just to see if I can. And also because we eat so much of them, it would be handy.

Life has changed so much for me in the kitchen, from the single girl eating melted cheese over the sink, from the microwave. I want to cook wonderful suppers for my husand and I love to sit down together to eat a meal! This is very special to me. Summer is the hardest time to figure food, it is so hot you don't want alot, but by 9pm, man are we hungry. In the 1st few months I cried over trying to figure what to cook, especially mixing vegetarian (I've been one for about 25 years now) and carnivore. But I have come to some standards of fixing a vegetarian meal and adding meat as a side.

I am not really into following recipes, but using them as guides. And I like to be creative. Last week I made a lovely supper with a field green salad with fruit, a yogurt Indian salad and a desert with strawberries, blueberries, 1/2 a muffin and cinnamon and sugar with sweet yogurt. But unfortunately I used all my creativity in one meal. My husand is soooooooo sweet. I also do a mean fried rice, but man that can be hot to cook! in this weather.

Also I am still struggling to keep up with other things. I have started making Christmas gifts and would love time each nite to knit, crochet, quilt - but alas, that doesn't always work. But I have also noticed how much I enjoy getting the kitchen in order, how doing dishes has become meditative and how cooking and fixing meals, is such an act of giving to your family each day.

Musings from a Housewife,