New Things to try ...

So, today, I made a little trip to my favorite grocery, Whole Foods! No matter how many times I go there, I get excited becuase I know I will always find something new and healthy to try. My biggest struggle when I go there is my wallet! Speaking of my wallet, once I left the store, and was driving home, I thought about this ... why is it that we think nothing of dropping money in a fast food drive thru or a restaurant, and fill up on mostly fat, sodium and that cholesterol laden food, but if someone mentions shopping in a store like Whole Foods, the usual response is something like this ... "I would love to eat better, but I can't afford to shop there -- they cost too much." Well, I would say that shopping on a budget is the norm for me, and it most certainly can be done!! In fact, more and more of my food comes into my house as fresh and healthy and organic, whenever possible.

Today, I was on a mission of sorts. A wonderful lady, whom I am proud to call a friend of mine, has recently begun milling her own wheat and baking her own bread. I am fascinated with the entire concept, but cannot afford to jump in and do this on a lark. I need to know that I am going to commit to it, and need to save up some money to get going with this, as it is a somewhat costly undertaking. My sweet husband reminded me last night that I have a breadmaker, and he was sweet enough to go get it out for me, so that is my first checkoff. I need to see if the breadmaker motor I have is able to sustain the making of whole wheat breads. If so, I am good on that for a while, and if not, I will have to brave the yeast monster. Yep, the yeast monster is my nemesis! I seem to do it wrong every time I touch it -- kill it, so my dough doesn't rise right, then there is the kneading and all of that. Martha Stewart, I am not! Maybe sort of a mini Martha at times, but nonetheless, I like convenience and simple too! Soooo, I need to be able to have a functional bread making machine and let it tackle the yeast monster for me!

For now, I am using organic stone ground whole wheat flour, pure honey, and all the good stuff to make my bread. If this goes well, the next step will be to work on a grain mill, and grind my own wheat. Now, I am sure getting to that point will take a little time, but as I said, I don't want to go in over my head ... one step at a time! I feel certain that grinding my own grains would be the way to go --- again, buying it in a bag, even at Whole Foods still has its possible issues. If I do it myself from scratch, I have that control over what is coming in my house and untimately finding its way to my stomach.

I am so committed to my journey now that I find that I seek out new and better ways to give myself the opportunity to be healthy, so I must constantly seek ways to improve tomorrow on what I do today.

Will be posting tomorrow on the first batch of whole wheat bread --- let's hope it comes out well!!! I am so excited.

And, my daughter in law has been instrumental in getting me to learn to make my own sushi. She got sushi classes and a rice cooker as part of her birthday gifts, and I was sitting there thinking what a waste it is for me to buy sushi when, again, if I make my own, I have control over what goes in it, and how it is made -- and I can make mine with brown rice, which is not always an option in other places.

GOOD TIMES!!!!