It turned out to be quite a crazy week. The rather ambitious menu plan week 5 had a number of days where things didn’t go according to plan. As a result, I have a package of ribs in the freezer (for the sauce) and only made the beef stew scheduled earlier in the week today.

Regarding the “fresh bread” listed this week: I’m trying out the master recipe from “Artesian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day”. I made the first loaf today and it turned out quite well. It will be interesting to see how the dough develops over the next several days. I also made about 5 quarts of veggie stock today so that’s filling up the freezer.

Anyway, here’s what I think is happening this week food wise around here.

Saturday (3 of us)

• beef stew
• fresh bread

Sunday (3 of us)

• leftover chicken casserole
• fresh bread
• salad

Monday (3 of us)

• Sausage cabbage soup (from Essential Pepin)
• salad
• fresh bread

Tuesday (3 of us)

• breakfast for dinner – scrambled eggs
• bockwurst (fresh made from Ready Meats butcher shop)
• banana or cranberry bread

Wednesday (none of us- eat at church)

Thursday (2 of us)

• quiche
• salad

Friday (2 of them – I’m off to chaperone a confirmation retreat)

• frozen pizza

• A busy week with lots to keep me busy.
• Time to bake bread.
• Wandering around the “little” home show at the Metrodome with G. It was such a different feeling than the times I’ve done that in the past.
• Getting to see DS1 before he went back to school.
• Reconnecting with work friends.
• Time to read and reflect.
• Sunshine and mild temperatures in January in Minnesota (even though that means the lawn is probably dead. Who wants grass anyway?)
• Finding some really cool bread baking and cooking resources.
• I’m grateful the tree is still up. And I’ll be grateful next week when it’s down and put away.

It looks like a weird little list this week, but that’s the kind of week it was.

Again, still just dinner with the idea that breakfast around here is pretty simple and lunch is leftovers or whatever.

Saturday (2 of us)

• Potato Leek soup, bread and salad

Sunday (2 of us)

• Lunch – leftovers
• Dinner – at a church event

Monday (3 of us…but I have a 7pm meeting)

• Homemade sauce
• whole wheat pasta
• alfredo sauce (for DS2 –doesn’t like tomato)
• salad
• garlic bread

Tuesday (3 of us)

• Slow cooked pork roast
• boiled potatoes

Wednesday (community dinner at church)

Thursday (2 of us)

• Stew

Friday (3 of us)

• Chicken wild-rice hotdish (with broccoli instead of green beans)

The last few days have been crazy busy. As a result we totally blew past Twelfth Night and our Epiphany celebration consisted of a frozen pizza and watching “Cowboys and Aliens”. (DS2 gave it a thumbs up. “If aliens tried to take over when we have fire power like in “War of the Worlds” and “Independence Day” why couldn’t they have arrived when we didn’t have anything?” OK. I guess.)

Of course, going to all these meetings means that I’m collecting things for my to do list. Which means I can see the end of my calm, evenly paced days. You didn’t think it would last a whole month, did you?

And I’m not the first person to have droves of people come up to her, once they’ve learned of her recent departure from the 8-5 grind and say “Now that you have all this free time…” followed by a suggestion of getting involved in some worthwhile task or another.

And I’m not the first person that has to learn to kindly, but firmly say “No, I’m sorry. I can’t.”

When I decided that I was going to do work that fulfilled what I believe to be my call to service in the world I gave myself permission to say “No” to a lot of things. “No” to a steady paycheck. “No” to jobs that I really don’t want to take so that I’m available for the work I really want to do.

But that means I have to be careful about saying “Yes” to the things I know I have to do, even if they’re not fun, or relaxing, or important to you.

Because I didn’t really retire. It just looks like it from your vantage point.

I only had regular all purpose flour so it’s just basically white bread but it looks brown because I used molasses (one of the options in the recipe).

• 1 cup water (110 degrees)
• 1 packet quick rise yeast
• 3/4 C white flour
• More flour until it “feels right” and for kneading
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons dark molasses
• 2 tablespoons EVOO

The loaf turn out a little more…spherical than I intended, but the crumb was good (didn’t get a shot of that, sorry) and I was pleased that it didn’t turn out like a brick.

Basic Bread v.2011

But it turn out soft. Soft like that Wonder bread stuff almost! Hard to cut without squishing it flat (like you used to do as a kid when you ate that tasty pasty stuff.) And because it was round it was pretty hard to slice evenly. I ended up slicing wedges for people. Not that the boys or G minded, but I didn’t think I would have made good sandwiches, if you know what I mean. Might have been good for fondue though.

Anyway, we ate most of it at the first meal and I only put a little bit out for the wildlife by the end of the week. Technically, that’s wasting it, because I should have made breadcrumbs with it. I’ll chalk that up to the haze of the new year holiday and the trying to figure out who I was going to be feeding what on which days.

Be that as it may, yesterday I made my second attempt. This time I’ve picked up some whole wheat flour as well as some wheat berries. I wanted to just taste the difference the whole wheat flour and wheat berries would make so I kept everything else the same.

Flour, water, wheat berries, yeast, salt, molasses and oil

This time I was better at shaping the loaf, too. I used only about 3/4 cup white flour and the rest whole wheat flour. That plus the addition of the wheat berries and I think I have a better taste, but it is also a little harder for the yeast to rise up all that whole wheat.

Note, I poured almost boiling water over the wheat berries and soaked them for a couple of hours before beginning to mix the bread. Hopefully, they softened up enough to not break teeth!

About 1/3 cup wheat berries (unsoaked)

I definitely like the look of this loaf better, even if it didn’t rise as high as I would have liked.

Basic Bread v.2012

Looks ready for butter or cheese or something!

I cooked both loaves for about 30 minutes at 450 degrees with a pan of water on the floor of the oven and spritzing with water a couple of times during the cooking.

I’d love to eat “only what’s in season” but in this neighborhood that’s a pretty limited set of options. And if you haven’t “put by” some of the bounty of the summer – because you never planted a garden or whatever – it’s a little late to start now.

When you look at all those lovely “locavore” books and websites what isn’t immediately apparent is that this is really a privileged option. And by privileged I mean privileged to live in USDA Zone 6+. Let me break this to you gently, we can’t grow stuff in the ground year round here. In fact, the energy it takes to grow something in a hothouse is questionable on the “sustainable” part of the goal. Leslie Kruempel says something similar in this article from October 2010. But I haven’t found any other articles that make this point. (Be sure and check out the comments – especially the one about coffee. um, yeah!)

In looking for “seasonal” food recipes for the post-holiday period, again almost all the cookbook and online resources are written by people not living in zone 4. I found one yesterday : Beth Dooley has a couple of cookbooks centered around what she calls “northern heartland” region. But they are only hardcover so I’ll have to get myself over to a bookstore to see if they’re worth the hefty price tag (close to $30 per book).

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups was also written from zone 4.

The blog writers aren’t much help. The local food blogs that I can find only post about once a week and seem to think that everyone is looking for the fancy weekend cooking options. Look, I already have 3 different butternut squash soup recipes. What are my other options for regular family week day meals?

I know there are lots of folks in the upper midwest who try to follow the Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical equation. What I want to know is: So what are you cooking these days?

The fact remains that I have not been so calm or felt emotionally so stable through the holidays as I have this year. While it’s true that I struggled with concentration the past few weeks and for a while thought I was falling back down the rabbit-hole, the simple fact remains that I have not felt this good in the winter for many years.

It could very well be because of factors well out of my control: we haven’t had measurable snow that stayed on the ground until Saturday night (December 31.) The temperatures have been mild and mostly the days sunny. So while it’s annoying to drive with the sun shining right in your eyes at the low angle it has this time of year, I’ve at least been getting my requisite amount of intense light most days.

I’ve spent a great deal of time in the kitchen these past three weeks. Sometimes I think I’m almost “over” the domestic itch but then I run across a book (electronic – no clutter!) like Make the Bread; Buy the Butter by Jennifer Rees and get all inspired again. I made bread last week. I only had regular flour so it wasn’t as hearty and tasty as I used to make, but I made bread. Like John Lennon did when he stayed home with Sean. Today, I think I might make yogurt.

Granted there have been stretches of days when I haven’t gotten out of my sweats and haven’t showered. Sometimes for a few days at a stretch. But I’m chalking that up to saving water and being frugal not depression or winter blues or the like. Really! Ok. I’m going to stop protesting because then it sounds like I’m being defensive. The fact is that too much hot water and soap dries out my skin in the winter and if I can get by without using it because I’m not going out in public, so much the better in my book.

Anyway. The point of my musing today (if I need a point) is that the last three weeks have been a lovely gift. I’ve worked as I felt like it. I’ve done a few exercises (mostly stretches and “prepping”). I’ve cooked a great deal of really tasty food. I’ve cleaned the “public” areas of the house and managed to mostly maintain them. I’ve started serious de-cluttering in the non-public areas.

Look, I know it’s not an accomplishment on the scale of curing cancer but it’s little steps that are going to get me where I want to go.

When I sat down to write this post I thought that my point was that my progress (such as it is) was because I was removing things from the equation. Mostly I removed everything surrounding having to work for a corporation (including showering and dressing in uncomfortable clothing most days). But as I’ve noodled through this post I’ve realized that it’s not only been a process of subtraction. I’ve added several important pieces. The pattern seems to be growing rather organically, and that’s probably a good thing for sustainability, but I think I can see a new rhythm starting to emerge.

In all likelihood it will take much longer than I’d like for it to fully develop. I’m still the impatient one in this equation. But the old rhythm was worn out. I was worn out. (still am, really). A new rhythm has to be more holistically healthy. More life-giving. Easier to maintain. It’s a new pace; a new stride; a new year.

OK. So here’s my attempt at another week. Pretty soon, I feel like I’ll be able to start recycling some of these ideas and getting a rotation going. Then it won’t take so much brain power; at least until the season changes. Right?

Again, these are just the dinners unless otherwise noted. Breakfast at Chez Journey is usually oatmeal or cereal and lunch is leftovers or whatever grazing you can manage on your own.

Saturday (New Year’s Eve) (4 of us, I think)

Brunch (5 of us including G’s cousin’s son from Sweden)

• Salmon quiche
• salad
• bread

Dinner (sometime before the boys leave for their parties)

• Steak (grilled because it’s still 42 degrees in Minneapolis!)
• salad
• sweet potato oven fries
• bread

Sunday (2012!!!) (4/3 of us as DS1 heads off to visit friends in Seattle)

Brunch (after church)

• cinnamon rolls
• scrambled eggs
• bacon

Dinner (4 of us; DS1 gone to Seattle, but JH is coming over for dinner)

• Baked camembert (locally made)
• french bread
• Swedish meatballs
• boiled potatoes
• salad
• lingon berries

Monday (3 of us)

• left overs – I don’t know what, let’s just clean out this refrigerator!

Tuesday (3 of us)

• Seriously, I can’t cook another meal in a row…. how about frozen pizza?

Wednesday (nothing. eat at church)

Thursday (2 of us)

• Soup (TBD)
• Salad
• bread

Friday (3 of us)

• TBD… this is why I haven’t been successful planning meals in the past. I get a couple of weeks in and my brain goes blank. Inspire me, internet!